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Do the Right Thing
With everything that is going on in this country right now, I thought it was a good time to take a look at Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, a ferocious, uncompromising, and emotionally charged look at racism that has obviously become more timely than ever. Spike Lee has always been a hit and miss director with me, but this is his masterpiece, a compelling story on the surface that creates a suspense, and I mean Hitchcock-like suspense, that we know is going to lead to an explosion, even if we're not sure exactly what kind of explosion is coming.
The 1989 drama opens on the hottest day of the year in a racially turbulent neighborhood in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is viewed primarily through the eyes of Sal (Danny Aiello), the white owner of the local pizza parlor that has somehow has survived for decades in a neighborhood that is primarily black and Puerto Rican, and Sal's delivery boy, Mookie (Spike Lee) the slick talker who knows everyone in the neighborhood, trapped in a relationship with a girl he got pregnant (Rosie Perez). The rest of the canvas is introduced but the fuse is lit when a militant black who calls himself "Buggin Out" (Giancarlo Esposito) demands that Sal hangs some photos of black people on his celebrity wall.
Lee nails the canvas he creates here with a lot of stereotyped characters who are all steeped in realism: There's the nosy old lady (Ruby Dee) who watches the neighborhood like a hawk; Radio Rhaheem (Bill Nunn) is an ignorant thug who carries around a boom box at full volume and refuses to turn it down; the old man (Ossie Davis) whose only mission in life is his next drink; Sal's two lazy sons (Richard Edson, John Turturro); and three old men (Frankie Faison, Robin Harris, Paul Benjamin) who sit on the sidewalk offering pointless commentary on the neighborhood madness.
What I love about Lee's Oscar-nominated screenplay is that he spreads the blame around with equal relish. None of the characters in this story do complete right or complete wrong. They are all deeply flawed and are all racist in one way or another. This is a point that Lee drives home with a sledgehammer. Racism is about ignorance and it doesn't solve anything and there's a little bit of it in all of us. There are innocent bystanders and collateral damage here, but everyone involved in this mess does wrong.
Lee gets some splendid performances from his ensemble cast. Danny Aiello's world weary pizza parlor owner earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Esposito, Nunn, Davis, and Dee score as well. Easily, the zenith of Spike Lee's career.
With everything that is going on in this country right now, I thought it was a good time to take a look at Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, a ferocious, uncompromising, and emotionally charged look at racism that has obviously become more timely than ever. Spike Lee has always been a hit and miss director with me, but this is his masterpiece, a compelling story on the surface that creates a suspense, and I mean Hitchcock-like suspense, that we know is going to lead to an explosion, even if we're not sure exactly what kind of explosion is coming.
The 1989 drama opens on the hottest day of the year in a racially turbulent neighborhood in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is viewed primarily through the eyes of Sal (Danny Aiello), the white owner of the local pizza parlor that has somehow has survived for decades in a neighborhood that is primarily black and Puerto Rican, and Sal's delivery boy, Mookie (Spike Lee) the slick talker who knows everyone in the neighborhood, trapped in a relationship with a girl he got pregnant (Rosie Perez). The rest of the canvas is introduced but the fuse is lit when a militant black who calls himself "Buggin Out" (Giancarlo Esposito) demands that Sal hangs some photos of black people on his celebrity wall.
Lee nails the canvas he creates here with a lot of stereotyped characters who are all steeped in realism: There's the nosy old lady (Ruby Dee) who watches the neighborhood like a hawk; Radio Rhaheem (Bill Nunn) is an ignorant thug who carries around a boom box at full volume and refuses to turn it down; the old man (Ossie Davis) whose only mission in life is his next drink; Sal's two lazy sons (Richard Edson, John Turturro); and three old men (Frankie Faison, Robin Harris, Paul Benjamin) who sit on the sidewalk offering pointless commentary on the neighborhood madness.
What I love about Lee's Oscar-nominated screenplay is that he spreads the blame around with equal relish. None of the characters in this story do complete right or complete wrong. They are all deeply flawed and are all racist in one way or another. This is a point that Lee drives home with a sledgehammer. Racism is about ignorance and it doesn't solve anything and there's a little bit of it in all of us. There are innocent bystanders and collateral damage here, but everyone involved in this mess does wrong.
Lee gets some splendid performances from his ensemble cast. Danny Aiello's world weary pizza parlor owner earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Esposito, Nunn, Davis, and Dee score as well. Easily, the zenith of Spike Lee's career.