Do the Right Thing (1989)

Tensions rise on a hot summer day on a block in Brooklyn, New York at Sal’s Pizzeria, an Italian owned restaurant in a predominantly black neighborhood

Image Courtesy of 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Universal Pictures:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/mediaviewer/rm1609104128/

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Comedy, Drama

United States, 1989, 2hrs.

Director: Spike Lee

Producers: John Kilik, Spike Lee, Monty Ross

Writer: Spike Lee

Cinematographer: Ernest R. Dickerson

Starring: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Eddison, Giancarlo Esposito, Spike Lee, Bill Nunn

Historical Context and 21st Century Connections

• Watching this film in 2021 is very different than what it would have been like watching this film in 1989, since 2020 seemed to be the first year that the U.S. began to address the issue of police brutality head on after the murder of George Floyd. This film was released 30 years ago, and it demonstrates how police brutality has been talked about for a long time, and it wasn’t until 2020 that the U.S. as a society started to listen.

• Radio Raheem was based on the real-life Michael Griffith and Michael Stewart. Griffith was attacked and beaten by a group of white men outside a pizzeria and later killed by an oncoming car. Stewart was a graffiti artist who lost his life with the infamous NYPD chokehold, which was the exact same thing that happened to Eric Garner, which was the same thing that happened to George Floyd and countless other black lives lost at the hands of police officers. Spike Lee himself noticed how history was repeating itself, and the stark similarities between the deaths of Radio Raheem and these other 2 men. Lee released a short film on Twitter titled “3 Brothers”, which shows the footage of all these men losing their lives at the hands of police.

• In an interview, Spike Lee talked about some of the criticism the film got when it was first released, and he mentioned how, “Reviewers would talk about lament over the loss of Sal’s famous pizzeria. And they just put more weight on the loss of white owned property than the loss of a black life. That has not changed” (Lee). This was said in 2019, and is so incredibly relevant in 2021.

• Do the Right Thing (1989) is referenced in the Netflix original movie Malcolm & Marie (2021), and the title of the film is referenced in the song “HAD ENOUGH” by Don Toliver, Quavo, and Offset