Do the Right Thing
This film was made by American famous Black Director, Spike Lee. in 1989. In the film Spike Lee was also the main actor, Mookie. Spike Lee was trying to wake up the Black people, to tell them what thing is right. Just like the name of the film “Do the Right Thing”, and it is meaningful.
Spike Lee wrote the screenplay in two weeks. The original script of Do the Right Thing ends with a stronger reconciliation between Mookie and Sal. Sal's comments to Mookie mirror Da Mayor's earlier comments in the film and hint at some common ground and perhaps Sal's understanding of why Mookie was motivated to destroy his restaurant. It is unclear why Lee changed the ending.[1]
“Do the Right Thing” was all shot Stuyvesant Avenue between Quincy and Lexington St. in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood. The color scheme style of the Street in the film was heavy. The production designer used a great deal of red and orange paint in order to help convey the sense of heat wave.
Spike Lee campaigned for Robert De Niro as Sal the pizzeria owner, but De Niro had to decline due to prior commitments. The character of Smiley was not in the original script; he was created by Roger Guenveur Smith, who was pestering Spike Lee for a role in the film.[2] In contrast to the serious nature of the film, three of the cast members were stand-up comedians – Martin Lawrence, Steve White, and Robin Harris.
Spike Lee sometimes likes to define mainstream expectations and courts controversy with his films. And “Do the Right Thing” is just one of them. Some people think Spike Lee is a fresh and powerful voice in American cinema because he is a man who dares to profess his opinion even though it might be unpopular with white people. Also others think he is a divisive pedagogue whose movies preach potentially incendiary messages. Anyway, Spike Lee has left an indelible imprint upon independent motion pictures made in the United States.
“Do the Right Thing” was Lee's third motion picture; however this was the movie that put him on the proverbial map. This film focuses on racism head-on, with the kind of clear-eyed and unflinching attitude that is rarely seen in major movies. Lee did not pander to political correctness, nor did he sermonize.In the film, he brought us a group of characters (most were black people), set up the situation, then allowed events to play out. His approach is even-handed, and those who claim the film of being discordant have not bothered to spend time considering what Lee is truly saying. Lee may be the kind of director who provokes knee-jerk reactions, but such a limited response to “Do the Right Thing” did a disservice to both the filmmaker and his product.
The story happened on the hottest day of the summer in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. We are introduced to a number of the locals, and follow their activities throughout the day. There's Sal, the owner of Sal's Famous Pizzeria. He built the business with his own hands, and has served two generations of customers. His sons, the hot-tempered Pino and the more easy-going Vito, work with him. The most important character in this film is Mookie (Spike Lee),who is a young man about twenty. He works as delivery boy of Sal’s pizza shop. His girlfriend, Tina, cares for his baby. One of Mookie's friends, Buggin' Out wants Sal to put pictures of black men on his "American Italian Wall." in the shop. Another, Radio Raheem, spends the day wandering around the neighborhood playing a boom box at maximum volume. Other residents include Da Mayor, a frequently drunk elderly gentleman who walks the streets courting the attention of the strict-and-sober Mother Sister. And all of this is watched over by Mister Senor Love Daddy, the lone D.J. at the local radio station.
Most part of this film is presented as a slice-of-life drama examining the everyday lives of those characters in the film. However, three-quarters of the way through the movie, something shocking occurs. The results are a dead man (Radio Raheem), a burnt-down building (Sal’s pizza shop), and a near-riot. Fed by the heat, the frustration and tension that have been simmering under the surface for most of the movie, events explode into the open. The results are shocking, and make a bold and bitter statement about the state of race relations in America, circa 1989. Sadly, not much has changed in the nearly 15 years since the movie was released.
The name of the film is “Do the Right Thing”, however, what is the right thing? And who has done it? In fact, they fail to do the right thing. When Radio Raheem and Buggin' Out burst into Sal's shop, they are not doing the right thing. When Sal uses a baseball hit Raheem's boom box, he is not doing the right thing. When the police use excessive force, and kill Raheem, they are not doing the right thing. Also when Mookie allows his rage and pain of Raheem’s death to come pouring out and pounding Sal’s shop, he is not doing the right thing. When the people burn Sal’s shop, they are not doing the right thing. All these wrong and sad things result the sad end of the story, a man has lost his own-built shop, a man lost a job to feed his baby, moreover a man has been killed.
I think the one of the great successes of this film is that Spike Lee presented every character, regardless of race, gender, or age, with three-dimensionality and a degree of sympathy. No one is demonized or lionized. No one individual is blamed or exonerated for the events, which transpire. Each individual with significant screen time is shown to have good and bad qualities, and we come to understand what motivates them, even if we do not agree with them. This is a rare quality for any film, especially one that deals with racial strife. It would be easy enough to turn Sal and his sons into cardboard-thin villains, but then “Do the Right Thing” would have just been another "us against them" movie, and not the provocative masterpiece it is.
In addition, I thing the shot of the photo on Sal’s “American Italian Wall” is great. These is a photo of Martin Luther King Jr and Markem X, there in flavor very afford for thought. Because Martin Luther King Jr condemns the violence while Markem X advice the violence way for self-defense. And this is a confused part, which made by film on purpose. Spike Lee wants every one to think what the right thing is.
Last but not least, the music of this film is very successful in my opinion. The song “fight the power” which sung by black music band- public enemy is very strong. It fit the theme of this film very well. I guess this song must be very popular in 1989.
References
[1] Original script for Do the Right Thing
http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/d/do-the-right-thing-script.html
[2] Do The Right Thing DVD Audio Commentary
[3] Aftab, Kaleem. Spike Lee: That's My Story and I'm Sticking to It. England: Faber and Faber Limited, 2005. ISBN 0-393-06153-1.
[4] Spike Lee's Last Word. Documentary on the Criterion Collection DVD of Do the Right Thing. 2000.
[5] Spike Lee et al. Commentary on the Criterion Collection DVD of Do the Right Thing. 2000.
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