Do the Right Thing (1989) Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ny631yQ-DM

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

The hardest part of life is figuring out how to Do the Right Thing.


PLOT


The 1989 film takes place in a hot summer day in Brooklyn where a chain of events change the neighborhood. African-American 25 year old Mookie lives with his sister Jade (Joie Lee) and has a son with his Latina girlfriend Tina. He works at the Italian pizzeria owned by Salvatore Frangione. He gets along best with the youngest son Vito, but his older brother Pino holds contempt for the neighbor blacks in racist fashion. The first person who visits is a friendly drunk named Da Mayor who openly sweeps the street to earn money for liquor. He openly drinks outside the brownstone of a lady his age, Mother Sister, who expresses she doesn’t like it when he drinks, but he predicts she’ll be nicer to him one day. Back at the pizzeria, one customer nicknamed Buggin’ Out gets displeased on how there is a lack of black representation due to no black celebrities in the Wall of Fame. Sal responds that he’s not obligated to do so and ejects him for his demand. Buggin’ Out then declares boycotting the pizzeria and hopes for more people to listen. As Mookie goes out for a delivery, he is told by Da Mayor to always do the right thing. As the day progresses, a group of black teenagers, Cee, Punchy, Ahmad & Ella (Martin Lawrence, Leonard L Thomas, Steve White & Christa Rivers), have too much fun in tampering with a fire hydrant and getting someone’s car wet before police intervene and fix the hydrant. Vito then tags along with Mookie for another delivery, this time to local DJ, Mister Señor Love Daddy. During their brief time together, Mook encourages the former to stand up to Pino, but Sal demands his sons to not start a fuss while working. At one point, a corner trio of older black men, ML, Coconut Sid & Sweet Dick Willie (Paul Benjamin, Frankie Faison & Robin Harris), converse over the neighborhood shifting racial dynamics and Da Mayor is even mocked by the teens for his lifestyle. At work, Mookie calls out Pino’s hypocrisy since he dislikes black people but has a tolerance for black celebrities like Magic Johnson. During another delivery, where he visits Tina, he runs into one of his friends, Radio Raheem, who shows off his custom four finger knuckle rings that spell “Love” on one hand and “Hate” on the other, along with an expensive radio where he constantly blasts Public Enemy. When Raheem goes to the pizzeria, Sal & Pino are instantly annoyed of the radio that they demand him to turn it off when inside. He even goes out to buy new batteries for his battery, but gets hostile towards the Chinese owners of a convenience store. During Mook’s break, Pino pleads with Sal to move the pizzeria in a black free neighborhood, but his dad goes against it, preferring the business fine where they are. Buggin’ Out reaches out to Da Mayor, the teens and the corner trio to join his protest, but they dismiss him. Da Mayor does get some flowers for Mother Sister to continue expressing his big heart, but he later gets ridiculed for saving a kid from getting hit by a car. Mookie even gets jealous when Sal expresses kindness to Jade by treating her to a pizza. As the day gets closer to ending, Pino demands Vito to stop hanging out with Mookie, claiming he can’t be trusted. Apart from Raheem, the only other one that takes interest in Buggin’ Out’s protest is Smiley (Roger Geunever Smith), a mentally disabled man who roams around the block with hand colored pictures of Malcolm X & Martin Luther King Junior. Just when the teens show up as the last customers, all three men invade the pizzeria with the same demand for black celebrities to be on the Wall of Fame. The tensions get so hostile that Buggin’ Out & Sal throw racial slurs at one another and the latter silences everyone by destroying Raheem’s radio with a baseball bat. Raheem would lash out and pin him down, causing everyone to fight each other until the police arrive. Buggin’ Out would be handcuffed and sent away, but Raheem gets choked to death by a cop trying to calm him down. As his body gets taken away, the whole neighborhood is devastated of this loss. Despite Da Mayor pleading with everyone to not blame the Frangiones, Mookie chooses to be defiant and lets out his own anger by throwing a garbage can into the window. That would lead to the block following that up by vandalizing the whole pizzeria to the point of igniting a fire, breaking Sal’s heart. The only thing spared from the chaos is the Chinese’s convenience store. When the cops return with the fire department to extinguish the fire, they disperse the crowd after multiple warnings by turning the hose on them which causes more arrests.  When the fire is neutralized, Smiley leaves behind one of his pictures of Malcolm and Dr. King. When the morning arrives, Da Mayor wakes up in another Sister’s home who praises his good heart. As Mook gets weekly pay from Sal, the film ends with Señor Love Daddy announcing an investigation will occur for the previous night’s incident and dedicates a song to to Raheem.

THOUGHTS

When you get into movies, Spike Lee is one of those names you’re going to remember in the same vein of Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg & Stanley Kubrick etc. He’s not the first black filmmaker, but he’s rightfully his own pioneer to the industry in his generation because the majority of his catalog are meant to be thought provoking experiences. The most definitive example is going to be what was only his third feature as writer/director/producer. The second you see Rosie Perez, who plays Tina, dance her ass off in the opening to ‘Fight the Power’, you know you won’t forget what’s about to unfold. That definitely is a banger song to play throughout as that’s about resisting the societal norms of oppression. As you become aware of that, the main reason this is one Spike’s many joints to stand the test of time is because he’s telling it like it is: America is a crazy place and everyone is responsible for how it turns out, it can never be just one person. Whether you act racist, act brutal towards one another or have an ego that ruins a positive presence, all of that affects the world we’re living in. Apart from the movie closing with Malcolm X & Dr King quotes that express their different views of violence, that is the payoff when you get to the climactic riot because not only does that reflect what continues to happen in the 21st century, but it shows quick anyone can react to anything and Raheem’s death sadly reflects similar deaths the world has witnessed. Before getting such a tragedy, we follow a fine ensemble that reflects how a chain reaction can lead to the worst day ever. As an actor, Spike holds it down as Mookie because he’s not someone trying to pick a side or anything, but more of just trying to get by. He just wants to take care of himself so that he can take care of his son, but being in the middle between his boss and his friends put him at his breaking point. It broke him seeing him lose a friend because despite being imposing, Bill Nunn truly portrayed him as a guy who had that philosophy love could conquer hate. Sadly, whatever inner love he had for himself and the attachment for his radio, it couldn’t save him from a cruel fate. And when you see that, you too would throw a garbage can out of rage. I don’t think it was the right thing per se, but just something that was inevitable after all the tension that’s as going on throughout the day. When he gets what he’s owed, all he could do is go on with his life because after all the rage that was unleashed, he knew it wouldn’t change what has happened. It definitely is a complicated feeling when it comes to discussing of Sal because Oscar nominee Danny Aiello portrays him to be a man full of pride and doesn’t really have animosity towards blacks. He knows people that annoy him come and go in any restaurant business, but only explodes under pressure. Spike doesn’t defend Sal calling Buggin’ Out a nigger the way he called him a guap, but depicts it as a moment of the inevitable unleashing which is remaining presence of racial divide. It doesn’t feel like teaches this feeling towards Pino since John Turturro makes him chilling with the hatred he expresses, but what happens to the restaurant would most likely defend how he feels when it’s all over. Oddly enough, you would feel a bit bad for Vito because Richard Edson showed him to be someone who was chill with everyone including, but with the riots destroying his lifestyle, his mindset will sure be conflicted going forward. Moving on, Giancarlo Esposito is quite an enigma as Buggin’ Out because he was someone who was  passionate with black culture due to how loud spoken he came off, but was also impulsive when going about it. It is fair to want black representation in a popular restaurant where the regulars are black like him, but his decision to still be demanding is where he can lose his argument. He may be the catalyst of what happens in the climax, but I still think he’s not to blame for Raheem’s death since it was still the cops that choked him out. With him being the one sent away in cuffs, it does bring another wonder on if what he saw will change how he wants to approach things going forward. I do feel like it is a common opinion to say Da Mayor is the heart and soul of this movie because despite being an alcoholic, Ossie Davis remained portraying him one with a heart of gold willing to give as much wisdom as possible. He’s really the only one that does the right thing when saving the kid from being hit by a car and pleading with the Feangiones to be spared, as well shouting ‘No’ when Mookie throws the garbage can. He’s the only one with a moral compass even when things get worse and that is why the observant Mother Sister, played by Davis’ wife Ruby Dee, comes around in accepting him whereas everyone else ignores. Last but not least, Samuel L Jackson truly was the voice of this movie as Señor Love Daddy because he’s seeing everything from his window and knows change has to go both ways. If people truly listen to him and take his advice to chill, then things would be much better. After what happened to Raheem, it’ll still be up to the rest of the neighborhood on how they want to move forward like Mookie. In conclusion, Do the Right Thing is one of the best movies of all time for being one of the more honest ones ever simultaneously. You want a movie that educates generations, see this now.