After having a very average reaction to BlacKkKlansman, I wondered what the fascination with Spike Lee was. It appeared, after some research, that the movie that really kick-started his career was Do the Right Thing, and the general consensus is that it’s an amazing movie.
So what’s it about? The entire movie takes place across a 24 hour time span in a suburb of Brooklyn, in which we meet a selection of eclectic characters, most of which are African American. Our leading man, Mookie, (played by Mr. Lee himself) works as a delivery guy at an Italian-owned pizzeria on the corner, when one day his pal, Buggin’ Out (played by a young Giancarlo Esposito) notices that there are only white Italians on the restaurant’s walls. One thing leads to another, as Buggin’ Out kicks off because there are no black people on display there despite most of the customers being black, and within the hour racial tensions rise to an all time high between the Italian Americans and the African Americans.
I won’t lie to you – I can’t quite understand the hype with this one either, but I have a few theories as to why that might be. It’s more than likely that I didn’t love this film to the high degree that others do because I can’t really relate to it very much. Perhaps it’s because I’m white. Perhaps it’s because I’m British. Perhaps it’s because I use words like ‘perhaps’. Although I did find this one more compelling than Lee’s 2018 commentary on racism, there was just so little of my own life that I could compare to it.
For me, it took too long to introduce all of the characters at the start of the movie. We are given pretty lengthy insights into many, many characters, some of which are less relevant than others. It felt as though we were focused on learning all of them, even though we could have done with a little less backstory on the smaller characters. However, I understand that we did need some of this to truly grasp the situation at hand.
There were two parts to this movie that stood out as genius, the main one being the talent within the cast. On top of those already mentioned here, you have future star Rosie Perez in one of the main roles, and the late, great Ossie Davis playing ‘The Mayor’ with his usual aplomb.
Parallel to its stars, Do The Right Thing has one of those out-of-the-ordinary soundtracks that you will remember for days after watching. Public Enemy and Teddy Riley of Blackstreet fame feature prominently, and you can simply feel it in your bones that each track was chosen carefully and specifically to suit every sequence.
I also found the movie’s run time too long, sadly. Although it only runs at two hours, it felt much longer as there’s not a hell of a lot of action for long periods of time. Interestingly, I also felt this way about BlacKkKlansman, so it’s possible that Spike’s movies are just in need of some better editing.
Despite not enjoying it as some may, I cannot deny how relevant the themes within this film still are today. At the forefront, the topic of police brutality encompasses the entire feature, and as you’re probably aware, it’s something that African Americans are still being forced to face to this day. Keep in mind that Do the Right Thing came to fruition in 1989; it’s been over 30 years and the USA still have the same problems.
Without even double checking, I just knew that this movie would be in the National Film Registry over in the States. Its social and cultural significance is felt so strongly, and the aforementioned relevance it still has warrants its place in such an honourable and prolific spot.
Whilst this movie is informative, and would sit particularly well on any American Studies syllabus, I found the overall enjoyability was lacking.
On the whole, it’s a very important film, but one that may well be better received by our friends across the pond.
Do the Right Thing is available to stream on Sky Cinema and Now TV in the UK.
TQR Category Ratings:
Performance: 
Cinematography:
Soundtrack:
Costume & Set Design:
Plot:
Overall Enjoyability Rating: *
*Based on the importance of this movie as a whole, this would warrant 4 Qs. However, from an enjoyability standpoint, 3 Qs seems more apt.
The Quayside Review 