Do the Right Thing (1989)
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A scorching summer day in Brooklyn brings simmering racial tensions to a boiling point at a local pizzeria.
The story
On a sweltering summer day in Brooklyn, Mookie, a local delivery man, works at a pizzeria owned by Italian-American Sal Frangione. The neighborhood is a tinderbox of racial tension, exacerbated by the intense heat. When a local activist, Buggin' Out, demands that the pizzeria's 'Wall of Fame' include Black celebrities, the atmosphere becomes increasingly volatile. As the temperature rises and the crowd grows, the friction between the neighborhood's African-American residents and the Italian-American owners threatens to explode into violence.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Mookie, a delivery man in Brooklyn, works for Sal Frangione, an Italian-American pizzeria owner. The neighborhood is tense, especially as a heatwave causes residents to open fire hydrants. The conflict ignites when Buggin' Out demands that Sal include Black figures on his 'Wall of Fame.' After a heated exchange where Sal uses a racial slur, a fight breaks out between Buggin' Out and the customers. During the chaos, a police officer, Gary Long, kills Buggin' Out's companion, Radio Raheem, while attempting to restrain him. The crowd, led by Mookie, reacts by trashing the pizzeria. The building is set on fire, and the mob moves to the neighboring Korean market. The film ends with a stark contrast between the violence of the riot and the peaceful imagery of the past, followed by a dedication to victims of racial violence.
- First release year
- 1989
- Runtime (minutes)
- 120
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Spike Lee
- Writers
- Spike Lee · writer
- Cast and characters
- Danny Aiello · Sal Frangione; Ossie Davis · Da Mayor; Ruby Dee · Mother Sister; Giancarlo Esposito · Buggin' Out; Bill Nunn · Radio Raheem; John Turturro · Pino Frangione; Richard Edson · Vito Frangione; Spike Lee · Mookie
- Genres
- comedy-drama; independent
- Themes
- racial tension; police brutality; urban life; social commentary
- Tone and mood
- tense; vibrant; urgent
- Premise and plot tags
- drama; social commentary; urban
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- The film was a major critical and commercial success, noted for its vivid design and influential soundtrack. It is widely recognized as one of the most important American films of the late 20th century and has been included in several 'greatest of all time' lists.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 92% · scale: percentage · review count: 151; Metacritic · score: 93 · scale: 100 · review count: 26
- Awards and nominations
- Best Original Screenplay · Academy Awards · Nomination; Best Supporting Actor (Aiello) · Academy Awards · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1999.; The street where it was filmed was renamed Do the Right Thing Way in 2015.; The film's soundtrack reached the number eleven spot on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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