Do The Right Thing
The hottest day of the year explodes onscreen in this vibrant look at a day in the life of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast that includes Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Robin Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Bunn, Rosie Perez, and John Turturro, Spike Lee's powerful portrait of urban racial tensions sparked controversy while earning popular and critical praise. Criterion is proud to present Do The Right Thing in a Director Approved special edition.
This disc includes the movie and the audio commentaries.
Member Reviews
Angry entertainment. - moviemonger
To accept the film, though, one must first understand its point of view, and that is maddeningly difficult. All we know for certain is that Do the Right Thing is not naturalistic. Lee cagily provides a litmus test for racial attitudes in 1989, but he does so by destroying the integrity of his characters, black and white. Sure, the movie opens up the racial problems of everyday life in New York, but it also has a very forgiving tone to what one could label as the oppressed.Definitely a Classic - zaakistan
For me Do the Right Thing was synonymous with Spike Lee, even though I had never seen the film - it's the movie that launched this director into the record books as one of the most talented directors ever. I figured it was time to see the film.
It's a scorcher in Bed-Stuy - the notoriously violent borough in NYC. While everyone gets along for the most part and as the day progresses, it seems like people can take just about anything. Hispanics, Blacks, Vietnamese and Italians go most of the day with out provoking anything but words out of their neighbours until some people begin to snap in a pizzaria.
The film is punctuated with Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" which really speaks for what is lurking in everyone's heart - a desire for good, but a desire for justice as well. The ending for me was ambiguous which kept the film from being preachy and kept the question alive: What is the right thing?all the Right moves - MalcolmTen
This is Spike's stylistic masterpiece. The colors, the camera moves, the editing are all at Level 10 here. Spike and Ernest Dickerson are a combination of filmmaking power that cannot be denied. And the thing is...this movie's so deep you might not be aware of it's awe-inspiring nature until the 2nd or 3rd time you watch it.
The nature of riots is a topic grad students have written plenty of theses about. Do The Right Thing brings you inside. You get to see it from the street. Economic tension combined with racial tension combined with heat. Add on top of that things that are normally positive: a neighborhood where everyone knows each other, a neighborhood where people hang out in the street together, plus an interracial crush.
Member Reviews
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Angry entertainment. - moviemonger
To accept the film, though, one must first understand its point of view, and that is maddeningly difficult. All we know for certain is that Do the Right Thing is not naturalistic. Lee cagily provides a litmus test for racial attitudes in 1989, but he does ...Definitely a Classic - zaakistan
For me Do the Right Thing was synonymous with Spike Lee, even though I had never seen the film - it's the movie that launched this director into the record books as one of the most talented directors ever. I figured it was time to see the film.
It's ...all the Right moves - MalcolmTen
This is Spike's stylistic masterpiece. The colors, the camera moves, the editing are all at Level 10 here. Spike and Ernest Dickerson are a combination of filmmaking power that cannot be denied. And the thing is...this movie's so deep you might not be aware ...