Spike Lee's DO THE RIGHT THING is one of the most vibrant, upbeat tragedies of the American cinema. Set in a small neighborhood in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvescant region, it's the story of the various people that inhabit the block as they try to live and work under a palpable air of racial tension, culminating in a tragic and thought-provoking climax that is still widely debated. Mookie (Spike Lee) is ostensibly the main character in a rich ensemble cast. He's a pizza delivery boy for Sal's Famous Pizzeria, a local institution run by the good-hearted Sal (Danny Aiello) and his two sons, the racist Pino (John Turturro) and the quiet and sweet-natured Vito (Richard Edson). Also living on the block is the drunken sage Da Mayor (Ossie Davis), the all-seeing Mother Sister (Ruby Dee), the local DJ Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson), Mookie's sister Jade (Joie Lee) and his girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez). These characters are brought vividly to life by an amazing cast, and the entire film is filled with loud, boisterous dialogue and music, and the neighborhood itself is presented in bright, ostentatious neon colors. All of these work to both offset and accentuate the senseless tragedy that the day's end will bring.
It's a record heat wave day, and trouble starts to brew when Mookie's hot-headed friend Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) angrily notices that the Wall of Fame in Sal's is decorated only with pictures of successful Italian Americans, and no black people. Buggin' tries to get the neighborhood to boycott Sal's, but most refuse, because Sal's has been in the neighborhood for 25 years and many of the inhabitants grew up on his pizza. Buggin' finally gets the hulking Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) to join his cause, because Sal treated him rudely earlier when Radio refused to turn down the boombox he blasts twenty-four-seven. Words are exchanged, the boombox is smashed, and a riot ensues. Radio is killed by the police, and Mookie throws a trash can through the window of the pizzeria, which is eventually burned to the ground. The biggest question most viewers will be left with is why. Why would Mookie throw the trashcan, after Sal just said that he considered Mookie to be like a son to him? Was it because of Sal's affection for Jade? Was it the death of Radio Raheem? Was it because he truly believed that Sal was wrong in his actions and that the place needed to be destroyed? Or is it simply because Mookie is drifting through his life, and suddenly sees the opportunity to do something important? Why couldn't Buggin' Out have behaved less antagonistically about the pictures? Why couldn't Sal, whose clientèle is almost completely black, just have put some pictures of black people up? Lee offers no answers to any of these questions, because answering these would be deciphering human nature. The film is about ignorance in every community, and how people are too proud or too stubborn to speak out there differences and come to rational conclusions. The destruction of Sal's didn't bring Radio Raheem back to life. It didn't even make anyone feel better about the loss. But it was done in the heat of anger and it can't be taken back. The biggest tragedy for the viewer is that we all know what could have been done to prevent everything, but we also know that given the same opportunities over again, no one would have behaved differently.
It's a record heat wave day, and trouble starts to brew when Mookie's hot-headed friend Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) angrily notices that the Wall of Fame in Sal's is decorated only with pictures of successful Italian Americans, and no black people. Buggin' tries to get the neighborhood to boycott Sal's, but most refuse, because Sal's has been in the neighborhood for 25 years and many of the inhabitants grew up on his pizza. Buggin' finally gets the hulking Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) to join his cause, because Sal treated him rudely earlier when Radio refused to turn down the boombox he blasts twenty-four-seven. Words are exchanged, the boombox is smashed, and a riot ensues. Radio is killed by the police, and Mookie throws a trash can through the window of the pizzeria, which is eventually burned to the ground. The biggest question most viewers will be left with is why. Why would Mookie throw the trashcan, after Sal just said that he considered Mookie to be like a son to him? Was it because of Sal's affection for Jade? Was it the death of Radio Raheem? Was it because he truly believed that Sal was wrong in his actions and that the place needed to be destroyed? Or is it simply because Mookie is drifting through his life, and suddenly sees the opportunity to do something important? Why couldn't Buggin' Out have behaved less antagonistically about the pictures? Why couldn't Sal, whose clientèle is almost completely black, just have put some pictures of black people up? Lee offers no answers to any of these questions, because answering these would be deciphering human nature. The film is about ignorance in every community, and how people are too proud or too stubborn to speak out there differences and come to rational conclusions. The destruction of Sal's didn't bring Radio Raheem back to life. It didn't even make anyone feel better about the loss. But it was done in the heat of anger and it can't be taken back. The biggest tragedy for the viewer is that we all know what could have been done to prevent everything, but we also know that given the same opportunities over again, no one would have behaved differently.