film: do the right thing (spike lee!)

Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing"

I was blown away by this movie. It is eloquent and in your face at the same time, as well as being aesthetically very pleasing and precise. It felt psychedelic to me. Released in 1989, I would say it was ahead of its time. Everyone wants to talk about racism when discussing this film, but it makes points that dive deeper than that- into basic, human issues.

Anyone have thoughts on this film or have reccomendations for other Spike Lee movies?

summer of sam
he got game
25th hour
clockers
malcolm x

"Gold-teeth, gold chain-wearin’, fried-chicken-and-biscuit-eatin’ monkey ape, baboon, big thigh, fast-runnin’, high-jumpin’, spear-chuckin’, 360-degree-basketball dunkin’ tit-soon spade, moulan . Take your f---in’ pizza and go back to Africa!"

Click to expand...

I second Summer of Sam, He Got Game & 25th Hour. Very good films.

"D muthafuckah D!!

wicked!
i bought a spike lee 3 pack which had clockers, do the right thing and jungle fever.
All wicked movies.

Also have malcolm X, awesome movie.


Spike Lee Jointography
(up to 1996)

Feature Films

Jackie Robinson Saga: In pre-porduction -- 1997
Girl 6 -- 1996
Clockers -- 1995
Crooklyn -- 1994
Malcolm X -- 1992
Jungle Fever -- 1991
Mo' Better Blues -- 1990
Do The Right Thing -- 1989
School Daze -- 1988
She's Gotta Have It -- 1986

I find all his movies to be slow going, but always really moving. he does some quality work!

ugh @ the term "joint"

yeah, i don't like the whole 'a spike lee joint' thing either, but since this is one of the best films ever made, i reckon i'll forgive him

anyway, the film. i'm quite surprised that i've never posted about this before, because i adore it! it is absolutely groundbreaking in its use of the camera, and expanding on the joint-parts godard and warhol postmodernism of talking *to* the audience, its use of address is perfect. the scene where all the characters do little insulting rants toward each other is brilliant.

and how about the jump-cutting down the line on the three old guys talking in front of the brick wall, until it's just them and the red background - blurring the lines between cinema, theatre, and reality. fucking brilliant.

i could go on and on, and all this is without even mentioning the fact that it is THE seminal film about racism; most other movies tend to take a point-of-view. whether it's white lefties attempting to criticise their own anglo cousins by decrying them and declaring 'black power' (like, sadly, my hero godard) or black guys like (the) van peebles(es) exploiting themselves to make unsubtle points, most films talking about race issues are polemic; pointlessly divisive.

but spike lee realises the complexities here, and lets them wage out an unwinnable battle against each other. and in the end...? nobody wins. things are ruined for all of the respective parties; radio raheem is dead - a crime that is, as usual, ignored by everybody including the audience, and everybody else is the bad guy? did mookie do the right thing? probably...but we'll never know, because there's no real answer.

if you hadn't already realised, this is in the best ten films i've ever seen.

vote now

i voted
punk

edit
i voted this many
****

so, um, who gave it one star?

no hard feelings, but i'd definitely be interested in your opinion

^true, me too...

this is a film that i saw many years ago and always wanted to re-see... i mean for years until it came 'on demand' about three months ago.
sat down- watched it again, still liked it, got more of the story than when i was more naive before... and the ending bugged me more than ever. when the first trash can is thrown... why, why him, why now? what did it accomplish?

^^^ it didn't really accomplish anything directly, but i think that it's certainly a sign that the black man isn't going to sit down and take the shit anymore, and for that it's definitely emblematic.

i, personally - and of course i can't speak for either spike lee nor the black community of america - think that the idea is that they're fighting back, finally. morally, the decision to put the bin through sal's window is probably indefensible. it's at the very least very questionable (point being that so are all sides on the race debate). still, what mookie did is say 'hey, i'm sick of being discriminated against when all i can do is scream and shout in defence'.

black people have been discriminated against for years and years and years, and what has been their defence? none, really. occasionally they would receive some sort of attention when a respected white person would stand up for them (how fucking demeaning), and even less often one of their own might reach a respectable level of credibility - martin luther king for instance. but most often, they have no fucking defence. they're discriminated against, and all they can do is cry foul; the problem is, crying foul's never done anything.

and of course, that's why lee ends the film with the two quotes: from luther king, the pacifist, and malcolm x, who realises that sometimes peace isn't the best option. when a race has been subjugated for all of modern history and nothing tried has been successful in relieving the segregation, perhaps one should look elsewhere. malcolm x did, and the answer was retaliatory violence. to an extent, i almost agree with what mookie did.

the right thing? who knows...i guess that's the point

(and wander: this ain't an attack on you, i just hope it stimulates discussion, and is merely my opinion. like i said, i don't *know* if this is what spike lee was thinking, it's just what i figure.)

no, no: that is why i didnt answer my own beggining questions. i thought for myself, too, after seeing it again but i was hoping to start some discussion on what people thought of the ending, why it makes sense and the motivations that lee might have had
(exactly what you did for us and i hope more continue now)

i watched this film again, and for its time, holy shit that must have left first time vievers at the cinemas wondering WTF.
no doubt people would have struggled to figure out if spike lees message was that of a positive or negative.
me, it was neither. he was just telling it like it was
really highlighted all aspects of race and racism at the time.

ie- the irish dude riding his bike.
the italian dude in his convertible
the black dude with boom box and the love hate scene.
the hall of fame on the wall.
the scene where it jumps from the cop dissing puerto ricans ot the chinese dude in the shop and so on all slandering one another. profound!


alot of pride and prejudice issues in the film, i think.

ill probably have more to say on this later as well.