DO THE RIGHT THING - 1989
Directed by Spike Lee
Starring Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Richard Edson, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Bill Nunn, Joie Lee, Rosie Perez, Roger Guinevere Smith, Paul Benjamin, Frankie Faison, Robin Harris, Steve Park, Ginny Yang, Miguel Sandoval, Rick Aiello, Steve White, Martin Lawrence, Frank Vincent, John Savage, and Samuel L. Jackson
Genre: Psychological Drama (Audio clip)
Rewatching this for the first time in several years, two things struck me about it which I guess just hadn't occurred to me before....even though I HIGHLY doubt that these are fresh takes. :)
1. This whole production is very much structured and staged like a stage play, I'm finding it hard to believe that nobody ever thought to attempted to adapt it that way. š¤ It's expansive with many different characters and lord knows that Spike (and DP Ernest Dickerson) LOVE the intimacy of those sweaty close-ups or those POV dolly shots. But it's still a VERY insular story pretty much all taking place within one square block of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn....loaded with gobs of dialogue including several monologues. There are several points when it feels more ideal as a stage play....to the point where I would welcome the opportunity to see it that way!
2. At its core, this feels much more like a morality play about empathy (or the lack thereof) than any type of call to action. There's anger bubbling up throughout and we certainly witness several reprehensible things being said AND done....but there are very few if any real protagonists. The closest we come to genuinely sympathetic characters are likely the Korean bodega owners Sonny and Kim played by Steve Park and Ginny Yang, Jade played by Joia Lee, Da Mayor played by Ossie Davis and probably Vito played by Richard Edson. At the very least, these seem to be most benevolent folks we encounter during this one VERY scorching day in New York. It's a true ensemble of flawed, put-upon people....most of whom do NOT do the right thing.
In this film, we are presented with a wide array of engaging yet highly flawed people....and under increasingly tense circumstances, those flaws just manifest themselves further. I mean it's not a controversial take to say that Radio Raheem (the late great Bill Nunn doing SO much with minimal dialogue) is pretty much a intimidating bully during most of his scenes here....he bullies the bodega owners, he's trying to bully Sal, he's bullying the other guys outside with their own radio! Does that mean that he deserved to DIE though? I would personally say no but it says a lot about how just how intensely of the moment AND prescient this movie was....as a society here and abroad, we're STILL asking similar questions 35 years later.
There are BIG questions involved for sure and many characters featured here have become iconic as a result of both those questions and some genuinely great performances behind them:
- Buggin' Out: He's a shameless rabble-rouser but as portrayed by a then quite young Giancarlo Esposito (who would eventually become THE go-to guy to play a villain mastermind for just about every major genre streaming show 30 years later), we see the appeal and the level of self-aggrandizing bulls#$t JUST under the surface. š As exemplified by that now iconic exchange with John Savage's bicyclist about halfway through the movie, his character is entertaining and aggravating in equal measure!
- Pino: Growing up in a very white-ethic part of Long Island, I knew SO many guys like this, it's kinda eerie just HOW spot-on John Turturro nails him. (Well probably not considering where the actor grew up ;)) He's SEETHING with resentment but can almost always appear more soulful and sympathetic when he's not directly expressing that.
- Mookie: If I'm being honest even though I believe him to a brilliant director, I have never been much of a fan of Spike Lee as an actor. Now he's never quite been Tarantino or Schmalyan-levels of distractingly bad. But sorry when you have him going toe-to-toe with true masters like Turturro here or Denzel or Fishburne, his textbook-like adherence to his own written words just sticks out all the more. That said, his performance here as an ambling, directionless douche - especially those gorgeous long shots of him swaggering down the street in his Dodgers jersey - it's by far his loosest performance and definitely his best.
- Sal: It's no secret that during production, the late great Danny Aiello had strong (though thoughtful) disagreements with his director regarding the actual intentions of his character. The actor didn't believe that this pizzeria owner harbored actual racist feelings towards his clientele....even after dropping certain racial insults at Raheem and Buggin' when things get to a fever pitch towards the end. Within the text of his screenplay, Lee believed otherwise....regardless that conflict just further enhances Aiello's performance. It's a brilliant, multi-layered performance which he deservedly received an Oscar nomination for. (Though several others involved with this film did not unfortunately)
And make no mistake....even though this film's conclusion along with some exchanges sprinkled throughout can get quite dark, this is generally a fun, eye-popping hang-out movie for much of its runtime. Sal's Famous actually feels like a fun hangout for most of the first 2/3....of course what helps is that the pizza looks REALLY good. :) The playful back-and-forth's between Mother Sister and Da Mayor (real-life legendary screen couple Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis) are always a kick as is much of the music.
Best Needle-drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
As far as stone-cold needle-drops are concerned, few songs could even come close to Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" which both opens the movie and plays a key part for the remainder of the movie blasting on Raheem's stereo. This fast-paced hip-hop banger was released as a single in the summer of ā89 and eventually on Public Enemyās seminal 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet. It remains not only one of THE greatest hip hop songs of all time as far as Iām concernedā¦.but also just one of the great protest songs! (Audio clip)
Butā¦.on the other end of the spectrum and when it comes to THIS movie in particular, few hot summer scenes deliver as much joy as the outdoor beer/fire hydrant l sequence set to Steel Pulse's "Can't Stand It"....especially the canny Oh-so-New-York way which this sequence kicks off. The camera pans across the covers of every NY tabloid newspaper at a newsstand with increasingly on-the-nose headlines about just HOW hot is. š Just a great, catchy song for a great sequence! (Audio clip)
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): Speaking of āFight The Powerāā¦.using that song was not only an audacious way to open the movie, but it was also the musical accompaniment to the big screen debut of Rosie Perez who would embark on a pretty strong acting career over the next few years not only with a STERLING turn in early ā90ās classic and previous episode White Men Canāt Jump but also garnering an Oscar nomination just a few years later for her supporting turn in Peter Weirās Fearless. Here she literally opens the movie with the opening credits sequence of her furiously dancing solo to āFight the Power.ā Audio clip)
Unfortunately, sheās not in the movie much beyond that ā she has two more scenes as Tina who is Mookieās girlfriend AND the mother of his son. Generally pretty thankless stuff and I would say arguably the weakest scenes in the movie but thatās not her fault ā Tina isnāt given much to do besides scold Mookie and even worse, her most memorable sequence also kind of kickstarts a mini-trend of Spikeās as a director which would go on for about ten more years and not one Iām fond of eitherā¦..to put it succinctly, as a director he would get a bit pervy with gratuitous UP-close nudity of his actresses.
Yup this was a thing in SEVERAL of his films throughout the ā90āsā¦.He Got Game, Girl Six, Jungle Fever, Mo Better Blues featuring his SISTERā¦.ugh donāt askā¦.oh yeah and Summer of Samā¦.which I had the privilege of seeing with my mother at the timeā¦.NO I was NOT expecting to watch an orgy at Platoās Retreat on the big screen with her, one of my many issues with that movie. So about 80 minutes into this movie, we are treated to an interlude where Mookie ices down Tina and the camera closes in on each of her nipples. Itās gratuitous, it stops the movie in its tracks, and sorry but it was just one example of the filmmaker doing his actresses dirty well into the ā90ās. And donāt think Iām just singling out Spike, he wasnāt the ONLY major director pulling this kind of crapā¦..cough cough VERHOEVEN cough cough. Fortunately this is something which Spike has outgrown as a filmmaker since thenā¦.(Audio clip)
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
Undoubtedly thirty-five years ago when this film was first publicly screened at the Cannes Film Festival and then released nationally in the US the following monthā¦.it made quite a splash. Folks were talking about it, especially cinephilesā¦..Spike Lee had ARRIVED as a major filmmaker. And if I can recall, much of the buzz was not only over its powerhouse ending but ONE particular scene a POV rant from various characters dishing racial epithets directly at the cameraā¦.it only lasts about 90 seconds and occurs about 48 minutes into the movie. (Audio clip)
For many myself included, THIS is the signature sequence of the movieā¦.and for good reason, itās both funny and startling in equal measure, very simple and straightforward. Itās such an effective way of conveying several themes in quick succession that Spike himself would do this same type of sequence 13 years later in the 25th Hourā¦.though all coming from just ONE key character. If Iām being honest, I have always found THAT version uttered entirely by Edward Norton to be a bit more effective, mainly because it just comes from SUCH a desperate place that he finds his character in. But stillā¦..this was first and itās pretty powerful in itself. (Audio clip)
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
He wrote this film, he rehearsed this dialogue exhaustively with the cast, he shepherded it through production, he put himself out there to heavily promote itā¦.even though itās not my personal favorite among his filmography (I happen to just enjoy Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, and Inside Man more as movies), it remains HIS signature achievement as one of our greatest living auteurs. It also remains one of the most influential films of the modern era not only for its politics but for the film-making techniques on display. Yes Iām getting hyperbolic here but who cares? For helming not only arguably the GREATEST American film of the 1980ās but also one of the greatest of all timeā¦.Spike Lee is the MVP. (Audio clip)
Final Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Oh yeah, it should also go without saying that this remains one of THE Great New York City movies. And it wouldn't be the last from Spike either....
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And that ends another DOUBLE TRUTHā¦.RUTH review!
