Aug 14, 2020
Review: Do the Right Thing
“Always do the right thing.” — The Mayor
In 1989, race relations were on the brain at the movies.
Twenty years after the height of the civil rights era, a swing towards conservativism and continued “white flight” had devastated inner-cities. Do the Right Thing is Spike Lee’s zooms in on a single summer day in a racially divided Brooklyn to highlight the dominance of white power structures on the black community.
Starting off as a comic, slice-of-life picture, the characters and daily grind play similarly to indie pictures of the ’90s like Clerks. About three-quarters of the way through, Do the Right Thing takes a turn, and it becomes clear that this is much more than a lighthearted look at a cast of characters who use colorful language.
Do the Right Thing was not nominated for Best Picture, but it’s interesting to contrast it to the film that did win, Driving Miss Daisy.
Driving Miss Daisy is a hopeful, feel-good movie that implies, “Black, white, Jewish, Christian, we’re not that different. Let’s just get along!” You could screen Miss Daisy to a room full of Proud Boys, and half of them would probably enjoy it.
“Driving Miss Daisy tastefully tracks the evolving possibility of friendship between an ornery white woman and a complex but uncomplicatedly friendly black man…It holds fast to the possibility of mutual respect and understanding across racial lines, at least between blacks and Jews.” — K. Austin Collins
Do the Right Thing doesn’t pull any punches. Critics worried that showing it would lead to race riots — implying that the movie makes some salient points worth getting fired up about, which it does.
In contrast to Daisy and despite the uplifting title, there ultimately is no “right thing” to be done in Spike Lee’s world. Racism is hard. There aren’t clear “good guys” and “bad guys.” Instead, Lee aims to capture the complexity that is just as murky in 2020 as it was in 1989 or 1969.
Highlights
While dealing with a serious subject, my favorite part was the comedy. Every character is flawed — in obvious, stereotypical ways — and represents some piece in the racial puzzle of Lee’s world. The old black men that sit around all day criticizing the same Asian store owner who sells them beer; the pizza boy and absent father, Mookie (played by Lee himself); the blatantly racist Italian; the narrator/DJ (played by Samuel L. Jackson); all Lee’s characters are over-the-top and enjoyable.
The story arc is also a work of genius. It’s hard to pull off a transition from comedy to tragedy as Lee does while simultaneously taking you on a textured journey through his neighborhood. I laughed, cried, got angry, and smiled all in the span of an hour and a half.
Lowlights
Maybe it’s intentional, but Mookie’s girlfriend is a bit of a pushover. If you’ve seen Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It, you know he can write strong female characters, so maybe Tina is supposed to be waiting for Mookie’s whim to see her. Either way, it hurts the movie a little because you can’t root for Mookie fully knowing the way he treats that girl.
Overall
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Given the lense of history, Do the Right Thing is one of the most prescient and important films of the 1980s. Keeping in mind that it was directed by and starred a 32-year old Spike Lee with a $6 million budget, it’s an incredible feat of production.
Do the Right Thing, stands the test of time better than most of the Best Picture winners of the 1980s and is well worth watching today.
