Do the Right Thing [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Spike Lee

Overview

Set in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, Spike Lee's thought-provoking and powerful comedy/drama chronicles the events that lead up to a race riot between the residents. The action takes place on the hottest day of the year and centers around a pizza parlor owned by Italian-American Sal. It's a popular hangout for the neighborhood youth. The events leading up to the confrontation are presented episodically and center around, Sal (Danny Aiello), his aimless employee Mookie (Spike Lee) and his pal, the radical Buggin Out (Giancarlo Esposito), who is irritated that Sal's "Wall of Fame" (containing only pictures of famous Italian-Americans) contains no African-American faces and therefore tries unsuccessfully to get the neighborhood blacks, including Mookie, to boycott the restaurant. Radio Raheem, with his blaring boom box permanently affixed to his shoulder, inadvertently becomes the catalyst for violence. As the stories unfold and many colorful satellite characters and their lives are introduced, the temperature rises. With the constant bickering between Mookie and the other employees, the harassment of Buggin Out, and other events, Sal is pushed to the breaking point and makes a fateful decision. Already stressed out and overheated, Sal snaps at closing time when Radio Raheem show up and demands service at the last minute. Violence and tragedy ensue.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/23/2019
UPC:	0715515232616
Original Release:	1989
Rating:	R
Source:	THE CRITERION COLLECTION, INC
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:00:00
Sales rank:	427

Special Features

New 4k digital restoration, approved by Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, with 5.1 Surround DTS-HD Master Audio Soundtrack; Audio Commentary from 1995 featuring Director Spike Lee, Dickerson, Production Designer Wynn Thomas, and actor Joie Lee; Introductions by Lee; Making 'Do the Right Thing," a documentary from 1989 by St. Clair Bourne, in a new 2k digital transfer; New interviews with Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter, New York City Council Member Robert Cornegy Jr., Writer Nelson George, and Filmmaker Darnell Martin; Three programs from 2000 and 2009, featuring Lee and cast and crew members Barry Alexander Brown, Chuck D. Dickerson, Richard Edson, Frankie Faison, Jon Kilik, Kevin Ladson, Steve Park, Rosie Perez, Luis Ramos, Monty Ross, John Savage, Roger Guenveur Smith, and John Turturro; Music video for Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," Directed by Lee, with remarks from rapper Chuck D; Cannes Film Festival press conference from 1989 featuring Lee along with actors Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Edson, and Joie Lee; Behind-the-Scenes footage; Deleted and extended scenes; Original storyboard, trailer, and TV Spots; Plus: An essay by critic Vinson Cunningham and extensive excerpts from the journl Lee kept during the preparation for and production of the film

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Danny Aiello	Sal,Officer Long
Ossie Davis	Da Mayor
Ruby Dee	Mother Sister
Richard Edson	Vito
Giancarlo Esposito	Buggin Out
Spike Lee	Mookie,Jade,Composer
Bill Nunn	Radio Raheem
John Turturro	Pino
Paul Benjamin	ML
Frankie R. Faison	Coconut Sid
Robin Harris	Sweet Dick Willie
Miguel Sandoval	Officer Ponte
John Savage	Clifton
Samuel L. Jackson	Mister Se?or Love Daddy(as Sam Jackson)
Rosie Perez	Tina
Roger Guenveur Smith	Smiley
Steve White	Ahmad
Martin Lawrence	Cee
Leonard L. Thomas	Punchy(as Leonard Thomas),Punchy
Christa Rivers	Ella
Frank Vincent	Charlie
Luis Antonio Ramos	Stevie(as Luis Ramos),Stevie
Richard Habersham	Eddie
Gwen McGee	Louise
Steve Park	Sonny,Korean Child,Sonny
Ginny Yang	Kim
Shawn Elliott	Puerto Rican Icee Man
Diva Osorio	Carmen
Robi Reed-Humes	Actor
Angel Ramirez	Stevie's Friends
Nelson Vasquez	Stevie's Friends
Travell Toulson	Hector
Joel Nagle	Sergeant
David Weinberg	Plain Clothes Detective
Erik Koniger	Actor
Dominic Marcus	Actor
Eric Payne	Actor
Roy Thomas	Actor
Tom Wright	Actor

Technical Credits

Spike Lee

Spike Lee	Producer,Screenwriter
Jon Kilik	Producer
Eddie Bo Smith, Jr.	Stunts
Robi Reed-Humes	Casting
Steve Kirshoff	Special Effects
Hugh O'Brien	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

Provoking both substantial praise and fierce criticism for its "inflammatory" content, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989) examined racism in all its complexity, eschewing simple answers for an ambiguous, artistically ambitious mosaic. The action is confined to one Brooklyn block on the hottest day of the summer, and the Bedford-Stuyvesant location thus becomes a multi-racial and multi-ethnic microcosm, spanning all ages and character types. The tapestry of incidents, whether humorous, intimate, or increasingly hostile, becomes a means to articulate a wide range of attitudes and beliefs, bolstered by cinematographer Ernest Dickerson's contrasting "hot" and "cool" colors and Lee's stylistic breaks from traditional narrative, such as direct address to the camera. Sal's Pizzeria may be the central site of confrontation, but it isn't just a matter of black vs. white. The final quotes from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. offer differing views about racism and violence, punctuating a film that at all points questions what is the "right thing" and never offers a clear or simple answer. Funded by Universal after School Daze's success in 1988, Do the Right Thing premiered to acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival that was matched in the U.S. despite unfounded trepidation that it would provoke violence. Considered one of the few great American films made in the 1980s (although it was largely ignored by the Oscars), Do the Right Thing confirmed Lee as one of the preeminent filmmakers to emerge from the decade, while its box office success helped galvanize a new wave of 1990s African-American cinema.