Do The Right Thing

"Do The Right Thing" is a very good movie. If you have not seen this movie you are certainly missing out. The movie is directed by Spike Lee and was made in 1989. When the movie first came out it was very controversial because it depicts racial conflicts which eventually turns into a riot. The cats consist of Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, John Turturro, Ossie Davis, Rosie Perez, a young Martin Lawrence, and many other stars.

The story takes place in Brooklyn on a hot summers day. The story follows everyone in this neighborhood. The central character Mookie (Spike Lee) works as a pizza delivery boy for Sal's Famous Pizzeria run by Sal (Danny Aiello) and his sons Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson). Sal's Famous has been around for 25 years and everyone in the neighborhood grew up his pizza. But when Buggin Out (Giancarlo Esposito) wants Sal to put up black people on his wall of fame instead of all white Italian people. Conflict arises. Buggin Out wants to start a boycott of Sal's Famous and that starts trouble.

Pino one of Sal's sons does not like African American people at all and wants to move to his neighborhood where other whites are but Sal does not want. This racism by Pino adds to the conflict of race in the movie. Also when a white comes back from a bike ride he is walking back to his apartments when he accidently runs over Buggin Outs shoes and messes up his shoes. Buggin Out gets upset and gets right in his face about what he did. He brings the race card by saying what are you doing in my neighborhood anyways, this shows that everyone wants everyone to stay where they belong and that race plays a big role in everything about this neighborhood. The way Spike Lee captures the rising tension between races is incredible. Especially when the temperature rises so does the racial conflict.

The biggest example of how African American people are rebelling is Radio Raheem who plays on his huge radio "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy. For anyone who does not know the song or the group, Public Enemy is a rap group who raps about fighting the power of the white man in the song. Radio Raheem only plays this song and plays it throughout the movie. This also shows the rising conflict between races because one of the main characters wants to fight the power and is a rebel.

If you have seen the movie skip this part entirely because it contains a spoiler of the movie. In the end Buggin Out recruits Radio Raheem to boycott Sal's Famous. When Sal lets in a few people from the neighborhood to get a few slices, Radio and Buggin Out come in blasting "Fight the Power" and start demanding the Sal put black people on the wall of fame. Everyone starts yelling, cursing, and saying racial remarks until takes out his baseball bat and destroys Radio Raheem's radio. This starts a fight and eventually the police come and break it up but in the process Radio Raheem resists and gets strangled to death by New York's Finest, NYPD. When the police finally leave all the people in the neighborhood start getting together and demand answers. While this happens Mookie grabs a garbage can and throws it into the window of the pizzeria breaking the window. Causing a riot and they all burn down the pizzeria. The police and firefighters come back and fight the riot.

In the end Sal's gets burned down and Radio Raheem is dead. The racial conflict is showed in the riot. While the riot is going on the crowd is chanting "Howard Beach, Howard Beach" this was a similar event in which Spike Lee based an aspect of his movie on. When the movie first came out in 1989 people thought that when Mookie through the garbage can into the window strating the riot that it will start a real uprising in America and that it went overboard. But like Spike Lee said and I totally agree, that people over look the murder of Radio Raheem, the man was strangled to death by the police. Which in my opinion is a big deal and should not be overlooked.

Overall like I previously said this movie is good and I recommend this movie to anyone who has not seen this movie. I give it a 9/10.