Do the Right Thing (20th Anniversary Edition) – Blu-ray Review

By Frankie Dees Jul 17, 2009, 14:28 GMT

It\'s the hottest day of the summer. You can do nothing, you can do something, or you can...Do the Right Thing. Directed by visionary filmmaker Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing is one of the most thought-provoking and groundbreaking films of the last 20 years. The controversial story centers around one scorching inner-city day, when racial tensions reach the boiling point in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood. Featuring over four hours ...more

‘Fight the Power!’ – So blares Public Enemy’s iconic anthem throughout Universal’s new Blu-ray release of Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’, arguably the most significant of Lee’s oeuvre. Despite some inescapably dated elements, the pic remains rousing, thought-provoking entertainment. 

While not slighting ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ and ‘School Daze’, both well-made pics, they almost seem like a means to an end when considering ‘Do the Right Thing’, Spike Lee’s third film, extremely impressive considering he was only 31-years old at the time.

A film that works on a number of levels both comedic and poignant, the film essentially takes place over the course of one extremely one hot day across one block of Bed-Stuy Brooklyn. 

Assembling a cast now viewed as star-studded with early roles for Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Lawrence and the film debut of Rosie Perez along with established greats like Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Danny Aiello and John Turturro, the film is headlined by a capable turn from Lee himself as the aimless Mookie, a smart if decidedly unmotivated lynchpin to the neighborhood. 

Delivering pizzas for Sal’s pizzeria, a longtime establishment owned by the fair if uncompromising Sal (Danny Aiello) and his two sons, the racist Pino (John Turturro) and the calm, browbeaten Vino (Richard Edson), Mookie scoots in and out of the establishment generally acting as the middleman to the almost exclusive African-American clientele.

Surrounding the pizzeria is a variety of characters the camera will constantly pull in to focus on while other frequent characters go about their business in the background (which results in one of the films many strongpoints – this film seems like a fully realized slice of life).

We meet the block drunk Da Mayor (Ossie Davis), an older gentleman who stumbles up and down the block imparting wisdom where he can. 

Da Mayor Harbors a crush on Mother Sister (Ruby Dee) who hides her feelings for him behind an antagonistic demeanor. We also meet Love Daddy (Sam Jackson) a DJ for the local radio station who takes in the goings on of the block from his convenient window-enclosed perch.

The mentally challenged Smiley (Roger Smith) stumbles around the block stuttering and constantly trying to peddle pictures of the meeting between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. 

We also get some comedic interludes with a ‘Barbershop’-like trio of middle-aged men who sit in lawn chairs and constantly talk s*&% (Paul Benjamin, Frankie Faison and Robin Harris). The first three-quarters of the film propels forward on genuine and mostly likable characters but a racial fuse gets lit with trouble-maker Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito) who attempts a boycott of Sal’s when he notices there are no African-Americans featured on Sal’s ‘Hall of Fame’, a wall filled with pictures of famous Italians. 

Things turn ugly when Buggin’ Out gets the attention of the mostly harmless but militant Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) who stomps around the block blasting ‘Fight the Power’ from his comically oversized boombox.

As the day comes to a close, Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem storm into Sal’s with the music blasting demanding that Sal put up some African American pictures. Tempers flare and violence ensues and the film’s title finally reveals itself. A lot of actions are made but did anyone …

Working as both a comedy and a New York slice-of-life, Spike Lee drives the film into modern classic territory by making this a message movie that doesn’t necessarily take sides.

Characters are given firm beliefs and motivations on both sides and ultimately whose side you fall on will largely depend on what you bring to the film when you sit down to watch – not what the filmmakers try to jam down your throat as right or wrong or maybe more appropriately black or white. 

Performances are strong across the board with supporting work from Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and John Turturro being particularly strong. Lee as Mookie proves serviceable but while he is the central character, he’s generally only a spectator to the juicy scenes. The standout here is Danny Aiello, who was Oscar-nominated for the role, and he embodies Sal with an almost melancholy depth. 

The film surely isn’t without its faults – at two hours, it might be a bit too long with the violent climax coming in a bit rushed. In and of itself, the scene works, but the transition from benign to brutal could have been a bit smoother. Maybe that was the point? And some scenes come off as clunky but as a whole, this is required viewing for fans of maverick filmmaking at it’s most passionate. 

The 1.85:1 VC1 1080p high-def encode is surprisingly clean and does a great job capturing Lee’s and Dickerson’s vibrant photography and proves a significant step up from Universal or Criterion’s previous versions. There’s also an English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio track that also does a great job capturing the lively soundtrack and the ambiance of the neighborhood. 

An outstanding special features package, Universal went out their way not only to port almost all of the great extras from the Criterion laserdisc/dvd but offer some cool new ones. For this ‘20th Anniversary Edition’, what’s new is a 36-minute documentary shot by Spike Lee himself, ‘Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later’ where Lee conducts interviews with some of the main cast and crew like Rosie Perez, John Turturro, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, etc. 

In addition to the carried-over commentary from the Criterion with Spike Lee, Dickerson and Chuck D, we also get a new sole commentary from Spike Lee himself who offers up plenty of new retrospective details. We get eleven ‘Deleted Scenes and Extended Scenes’, an interview with ‘Editor Barry Brown’, a storyboard sequence for ‘The Riot’ and the film’s theatrical trailer. 

But that’s not all! There’s also almost three other hours of doc footage with ‘Behind the Scenes’ comprised of video shot during preproduction that includes rehearsals and read-throughs, ‘Making Do the Right Thing’ is a comprehensive and detailed hour-long doc on the making of the film that covers everything from production design to security and ‘Cannes 1989’ looks at the Cannes Film Festival press conference. After taking in all these extras, I can’t imagine anybody walking away with any questions…a great package for fans. 

20 years later, Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ is still a powerfully entertaining and insightful picture that’s the rare message movie to let the viewer come to their own conclusions rather than manipulate through the filmmaker’s own skewed perspective (something that Lee has gone on to do in some of his weaker work…). With a great high-def transfer and a bounty of great special features, this comes highly recommended. 

Do the Right Thing (20th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.