What Makes "Do The Right Thing" Great.

A day in the life of an ethnically diverse neighborhood that ends in tragedy on the hottest day of the year takes center stage in on of the best films about race realizations, and one of the best films of the 1980s.

For most of the 2 hour run time of Do The Right Thing, there is a significant lack of serious conflict presented in the film. Most of the first act of the film is just an examination of the daily life of the people who live in the neighborhood. The events that lead up to the conclusion of the film are briefly set up in the first half by way of briefly showing tension, then simply moving on with the day. "Buggin' Out" (Giancarlo Esposito), complains to the local pizzeria owner Sal (Danny Aiello) of only featuring Italian Americans on his "Wall Of Fame" despite the fact that most of his customers are African Americans. "Radio Raheem" (Bill Nunn), who walks around with a boom box playing only the Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" is told by Sal that he can't blast that music in his establishment. Both of these instances seem to be brushed off as fast as they are brought up, but as the day goes by, and the heat becomes more unbearable, the tensions begin to build up more which eventually explodes in the film's climax.

There is also no real main character in the film. While Mookie (Spike Lee), Sal, and his sons (John Turturro and Richard Edson) seem like the primary focus, it really is everyone's story. It helps greatly that all the characters are very memorable. Some Notable ones are the three older men who sit outside on chairs drinking beer commenting on the day to life of the neighborhood, Ossie Davis as the local drunk but wise "Da Mayor", Samuel L. Jackson as the local DJ, they're all great. The character that is perhaps the most fascinating is Sal. He is an Italian American who runs to the local pizzeria with his sons. He has a short temper but is for the most part well mannered, and principled. He respects and loves his customers who in turn love his pizza. He is overall a reasonable and tolerant man, he even scolds his older racist son for his disdain of the people in the neighborhood. But as he is continuously antagonized by Buggin Out's demands for African Americans on the wall, and Radio Raheem's loud music, he is driven to his breaking point where he uses the N-word. Lee does a great job at not pointing the blame at one party, he knows that when it comes to events like these, there is plenty of blame to go around. He also knows that the action of pointing fingers in response to events like these won't change anything. At the end of the film when Sal's establishment is destroyed, he goes on a tirade blaming Buggin Out for causing this destruction and Mookie for not doing anything. Mookie's lack of an argument against Sal and his simple request of getting paid for his work acts as a way of showing Sal and the audience that you can point fingers, sometimes justifiably so, as much as you want. But at the end of the day, that won't change anything.

I also find the timing of this film to be fascinating. Spike Lee masterfully captures the various trends and looks of the era. I always think of the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s whenever I watch it with the "Air Jordans", the soundtrack, and the arguments of who is better between Roger Clemens and Dwight Gooden. I also love his use of colors. Lee uses the beams of the sun to make all the colors of the neighborhood really stand out, from colors of the street and buildings to the colors of the cloths.

The timing of the film also could not be better. The film was released during a time where race relations and police brutality were taking turns for the worst. In fact, the film came out just 2 years before the beating of Rodney King, and five years before the OJ Simpson trial. The issue of race relations today is just as if not more problematic then it was when this film came out, which makes this film just as essential today as it was 30 years ago.