Do the Right Thing (1989)

Racial tensions reach boiling point in Spike Lee’s incandescent portrait of a Brooklyn neighbourhood on the hottest day of the year.

Spike Lee used to be dubbed “the black Woody Allen” until this incendiary state-of-the-nation snapshot revealed the scale of his ambition, its philosophical complexity underscored by the concluding use of two apparently contradictory quotations from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

Although restricted to the immediate environs of a multicultural community living and working in and around a brownstone block in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn (where Lee himself grew up), the film anatomises a whole cross-section of US society, and clinically demonstrates the mechanism by which a seemingly trivial dispute (in this case, over the choice of sportsmen displayed by the local pizzeria) can escalate into a full-blown race riot given the presence of aggravating factors such as the searing heat of both the weather and assorted tempers. But this is no one-sided polemic: Lee’s characters (not least his own character Mookie) are all too recognisably human in their foibles and frailties.

“Spike Lee developed a street-smart cinematic language to create this vibrant portrait of a Brooklyn community. It digs deep into the structure and operation of racism and reveals the complexities and conflicts of African-American life. An ingenious film whose subject is regrettably still so relevant today.” Helen DeWitt

“A piercing observation of how communities mix, blend and burn under pressure. Spike Lee’s unchallenged style is at its sharpest and most riveting right here.” Corrina Antrobus

“Do the Right Thing is a film about who gets to see themselves represented in public spaces (and under what conditions), so it is a fitting movie to include here amid all the unending debates about canon formulation.” Forrest Cardamenis

“A turning point for cinematic voice.” Gemma Gracewood

“Films like this serve a purpose, to enlighten people and open their minds. ‘Fight the Power’ caught my ears and I delved deeper into the Black culture I felt rooted to, Nigeria being as much a part of my formative years as England was. As an adult, I visited Brooklyn, and Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X’s ideas resonated with me: they had been fighting for a cause similar to those my people, the Tamils, fought for with such brutality, in the north of Sri Lanka, in the face of genocide. In the 1983 riots in Colombo, our family home was burned to a crisp. Films like Do the Right Thing, which hold a mirror to real violence in race-induced wars, touch my heartstrings.” Ashanti Omkar

1989 USA
Directed by
Spike Lee
Produced by
Spike Lee
Written by
Spike Lee
Featuring
Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee
Running time
120 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Do the Right Thing

Critics

Raphael Abraham
UK
Manish Agarwal
UK
Corrina Antrobus
UK
Ina Archer
USA
Grace Barber-Plentie
UK
Adam Batty
UK
John Berra
UK
Kambole Campbell
UK
Forrest Cardamenis
USA
Dylan Cave
UK
Nick Chen
UK
Ashley Clark
USA
Catharine Des Forges
UK
Helen DeWitt
UK
Mirasol Enriquez
USA
Valerie Ettenhofer
USA
Rico Gagliano
USA
Rosalind Galt
UK
Gemma Gracewood
New Zealand
Tim Grierson
USA
Bruno Guaraná
United States
Toby Haggith
UK
Lindsay Hallam
UK
Michael Hayden
UK
Odie Henderson
USA
Jordan Hoffman
USA
Maori Holmes
USA
Tanya Horeck
UK
Courtney Howard
USA
Peter Howell
Canada
El Hunt
UK
Usha Iyer
USA
Sean Jacobs
USA
Brian Jacobson
USA
Cael Keegan
USA
Lisa Kerrigan
UK
Michael Koresky
USA
Michael Leader
UK
Mike Maggiore
USA
Camilla Markvardsen
Denmark/UK
Mia Mask
USA
Patrick McGilligan
USA
Neil Mitchell
UK
Wesley Morris
USA
Charles Musser
USA
Paul O'Callaghan
UK/Germany
Ashanti Omkar
UK
Katie Rife
USA
Libby Saxton
UK
Kimberley Sheehan
UK
Michael Sicinski
USA
David Sims
USA
Mikaela Smith
UK
David Sterritt
USA
Hannah Strong
UK
Chris Stults
USA
Brian Tallerico
USA
Ginette Vincendeau
France/UK
Nag Vladermersky
UK
Meg Walters
UK/Canada
Guy Westwell
UK
Charles Whitehouse
UK
Mike Williams
UK
Norm Wilner
Canada
Jason Wood
UK
Matt Zoller Seitz
USA
Esther Zuckerman
USA

Directors

Khadar Ayderus Ahmed
Finland/Somalia
Shola Amoo
UK
Fradique Bastos
Angola
Kenneth Branagh
UK
Elegance Bratton
Cheryl Dunye
Dionne Edwards
UK
Daniel Goldhaber
USA
Barry Jenkins
USA
Isaac Julien
Daniel Kokotajlo
England
David Lowery
USA
Adam McKay
USA
Steve McQueen
UK
Nana Mensah
USA/Ghana
Benjamin Naishtat
Argentina
Ngozi Onwurah
UK/Nigeria
Pa. Ranjith
India
Clement Virgo
Canada
Wash Westmoreland
USA