Do The Right Thing - Criterion Collection

Starring:Danny Aiello, Rick Aiello, Paul Benjamin, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Frankie Faison, Robin Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Lawrence, Joie Lee, Bill Nunn, Rosie Perez, Miguel Sandoval, John Savage, Roger Guenveur Smith, John Turturro, Steve White
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

Spike Lee's incendiary look at race relations in America, circa 1989, is so colorful and exuberant for its first three-quarters that you can almost forget the terrible confrontation that the movie inexorably builds toward. Do the Right Thing is a joyful, tumultuous masterpiece--maybe the best film ever made about race in America, revealing racial prejudices and stereotypes in all their guises and demonstrating how a deadly riot can erupt out of a series of small misunderstandings. Set on one block in Bedford-Stuyvesant on the hottest day of the summer, the movie shows the whole spectrum of life in this neighborhood and then leaves it up to us to decide if, in the end, anybody actually does the "right thing." Featuring Danny Aiello as Sal, the pizza parlor owner; Lee himself as Mookie, the lazy pizza-delivery guy; John Turturro and Richard Edson as Sal's sons; Lee's sister Joie as Mookie's sister Jade; Rosie Perez as Mookie's girlfriend Tina; Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee as the block elders, Da Mayor and Mother Sister; Giancarlo Esposito as Mookie's hot-headed friend Buggin' Out; Bill Nunn as the boom-box toting Radio Raheem; and Samuel L. Jackson as deejay Mister Señor Love Daddy. A rich and nuanced film to watch, treasure, and learn from--over and over again. --Jim Emerson

Description

The hottest day of the year explodes onscreen in this vibrant look at a day in the life of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast that includes Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Robin Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nunn, Rosie Perez, and John Turturro, Spike Lee's powerful portrait of urban racial tensions sparked controversy while earning popular and critical praise. Criterion is proud to present Do the Right Thing in a new Director Approved special edition.

Customer Reviews:

maybe he shouldve stocked some nice rainbow ices ..........2007-06-11

poor spike lee: for 20 years now he has been trying to live up to the promise of this early movie -- but sad to say, two decades down the line, there wasnt as much there as people thought there was. the imagery of the streets (based on the real life howard beach horror) is a trifle too parochial, and the actions of the protagonists just a bit too easy to project before they occur. i honestly can say i didnt like a single person here; in attempting to show their flaws, lee ignores their decency. that aside, there are images that will stay with you a long time -- but as i said earlier, this should have been the heralding of a directorial career, not the peak.

Boycott the Motherf**ker That Don't Like This Film!.......2007-05-08

Sizzling hot! Music by Public Enemy, and a film by the great Spike Lee. And it's all set in the middle of summer, on one of the hottest days ever (Spike would return to this theme again with "Summer of Sam"), and with the coolest cast ever!
Look here, string-cheese head motherf**ker: Rewind it and watch the s**ts again and again! Boycott the motherf**ker who doesn't like this film!
This is a milestone in filmmaking, it's reality...It's the Powers that be!
WAY ahead of its time, speaks to many generations to come, and excellent, awesome filmmaking with never a dull moment.
I would give this film 10 stars if possible...Classic!!
And, that's the truth Ruth!

Powerful Film.......2007-02-16

I remember not saying a word for at least fifteen minutes after watching this film..It was one the most powerful films I've ever seen and makes the viewer reach inside his/herself and examine their attitude toward racism...

spike lee's best flick.......2007-02-03

this mother conjures a time when a new spike lee movie was an event. this movie packs more emotion, beauty, exuberance and life in every minute than 99% of the movies coming out of hollywood. the music, the cinematography, the kaleidoscope of viewpoints and characters, the strong sense of place (NYC, of course), the amazing cast...all in the service of an honest, complex look at racism. Lee leaves you with two choices at the end, as symbolized by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

at the same time that i praise this wonderful movie, i have to wonder what's happened to spike lee since. mo better blues and jungle fever were interesting but never come close to the impact of this movie. crooklyn is sweet and malcolm x is a great film, but still pale compared to lee's best movie.

so, what IS the right thing?.......2007-01-25

Spike Lee's study of urban racial tensions stirred controversy when it was first released. Did he intend to advocate violence or merely record it as so many have experienced it? At the end of this film powerful quotations from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X support either view. Set in the sultry summer of inner city Brooklyn, nearly every scene in this film crackles with tension. The black neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyevesant is patrolled by white cops, and commercialized by an Italian family pizzeria that has been a mainstay for twenty-five years, and an upstart Korean grocery store. The racial tensions simmer just as much within the black community; there is only derision for a plan to boycott the pizzeria, Da Mayor is part village idiot and part wise elder, and even Mookie (Spike Lee) is caught betweeen allegiance to his black community and his Italian employer. Doing the right thing is sometimes hard not only to do but even to know.

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