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Do The Right Thing - Criterion Collection

Do The Right Thing - Criterion Collection

List Price: $39.95
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great for Discussion...
Review: I have to admit that this film did not really "speak to me" as much as I thought it might...I had been hearing about it for years and how wonderful it was, so when I saw it I didn't think it was as fantastic as everyone else had said it was. However, DTRT is indeed a very, very powerful movie that is also beautifully directed (in fact, I may have liked Spike Lee's direction more than the story of the film itself). Set on the hottest day of the summer, the film has a very definite atmosphere--in addition to the heat wave, Lee mounts the tension in the neighborhood to a fever pitch until finally it explodes in the final twenty minutes of the film. And, if you don't get anything out of this movie, it should at least inspire ample discussion. The film examines race relations from a variety of points of view, so most everyone can "identify" with the opinions of one of the characters if not the character himself. Also, each character is morally ambiguous and, as in life, none are perfect--making it all the more difficult and interesting when trying to sort out one's opinions about the film. [Spoiler Warning.] For example, I completely looked up to Sal as a wonderful, nice, great guy, but he probably should not have smashed Radio Raheen's boom box. But then again, Radio Raheen should not have walked into Sal's pizzeria with his boom box blaring (I don't care if he is Radio Raheen or not, it's Sal's business and he should be able to enforce the rules of his establishment). And while the police were right to take action, they were certainly not right to have used such force as to have killed Radio. And while Mookie had the right to be upset over Radio's death, he had not right to throw the trash can into Sal's pizzeria. (Why, why, why did he do this? Sal just finished telling Mookie that he would be like a son to him. Also, Sal himself had NOTHING to do with Radio's death in the first place, and as a result of Mookie's action the pizzeria was completely demolished.) So, as you can see, no one character in this film is right or wrong...it's up to us to make up our own minds about the situations. And just as the heat is used to symbolize the festering racial tensions in the neighborhood, Mister Senor Love Daddy is right when he says at the end of the film something to the effect of "it's getting even hotter today"--in other words, race relations are no better or worse today than they were years ago, and the only thing we can really do about them is the right one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Almost Great
Review: This could have been a great film. I watched it back in 1989 and was troubled by the ending in which the protagonist, Spike Lee, apparently does the "right thing" when he trashes his neighborhood's pizzeria. This is because the cops killed a neighbor who tried to kill the owner of the pizzeria, who is white and has treated his black customers decently for 25 years. I watched it last night again,to see if I had gained any wisdom to better appreciate Mr. Lee's story. I even watched listened to the running commentary in which one of the commentator said that Spike's character was not meant to be right or wrong, but just reacting. Perhaps so. Then I listened to Spike's ending explanation and all he could do was criticize reviews of the time that dwelt on the window that Spike broke, rather than the dead black man. Well, the broken window sparked the riot that destroyed the pizzeria and probably the innocent owner, as well as race relations. I asked my teen sons, and both white and black said it the ending was "bogus".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spike's breakthrough
Review: This movie about race relations in a Brooklyn movie was Spike's breakthrough movie. Spike showed how N.Y.C. various ethnic groups live, fight and sometimes love each other. Buy it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best of all time . . .
Review: . . . and another Spike Lee project cheated by the Oscars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: CLASSIC FILM;GREAT SPECIAL-EDITION DVD
Review: Spike Lee's 1989 classic,"Do The Right Thing" is iconic.
It's just iconic to late '80s/early '90s post-soul Black popular
culture just as "The Cosby Show","A Different World",New Jack Swing,De La Soul,NWA,"In Living Color",etc.,etc.
It's iconic to modern Black film making and it's just as iconic
to mainstream film.Period.

"Do The Right Thing" is a thoughtful,energetic summer flick that deals with race relations head first in Brooklyn,NY,NY.Ending with
a powerful(and iconic) riot sequence in which a young brother
(Radio Raheem) is murdered by the cops and a longtime pizza
shop-owned by racist Italians-is burned to the ground.
It's a great metaphor for the state of hardcore-racism in the late '80s urban enviroment.
(Remember this film was made at the time of the police
slaying of the young Black artist Micheal Stewart;ten years later
another unarmed Black New Yorker Amadou Diallo was murdered by the cops).

We all know the film...but this edition of "D.T.R.T." has a second
DVD (part of this DVD's 'Criterion Collection' edition) that is just as worthy as the film itself.

Featuring special material as Spike Lee introducing some of the material(to his meaningful last words) and an hour-long documentary on the making-of of the film to the actual 1989 Cannes
Festival press conference to the actual television ads for the movie.But wait,that's not all...

There's a special chapter devoted to showing the riot sequence
and lots of behind the scences footage.And of-course there is the
Lee-directed video for Public Enemy's unforgettable "Fight The Power"-'D.T.R.T.'s theme song-in which you feel the same energy and feeling as cleary as you did in 1989.

If you were touched by "Do The Right Thing" thirteen years ago,
you should defintly get this DVD.It's worth the money.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Number 1 on my top 10 movie list
Review: Spike Lee is a genious because of how well he put this movie
together and on my movie list it is number 1.This movie was
put together so well how the charecters,the setting,and
the whole movie were.To me I think it's the best flick ever in my
whole life because I am a big fan of Spike Lee movies and
I do not think that there was a movie just like this one.
Plese watch this someday and I am sure you will think it's
a classic of your whole life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Only Spike
Review: I love this movie, but then, I am a lover of Spike Lee movies. I thoughly enjoyed this version because it was just like I was there. The second dvd in which I get to listen to things at the readings and seeing all that information about the actors, first introduced to me by Spike, who have gone on to become big boxoffice stars. I just enjoyed this even more, if that is possible, because of this added information.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: No doubt the "Right Thing," but falls short of a great thing
Review: Dated yet insightful look into the multiethnic existence and impact of racism. Content is vintage Lee: an aberrational look at interracial relationships from the black perspective. Succeeds on its own merit, primarily from its own callousness and wit, but from a critical directorial perspective it remains essentially flawed. The burden of the subject matter had the potential to leave a greater impact on audiences than it did, which unfortunately is softened by shortsightedness on the part of Lee. The inventive cinematography distracts more than delivers at times, and I became sidetracked and drawn "out of the moment" on several occasions where the script seemed forced. In spite of its greatness, Do the Right Thing falls disappointing short of the upper echelon of films.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Why You Should See "Do the Right Thing"
Review: I admit it. The first time I ever saw this film was in my Film class, and it was being taught by Mr. Webster: "Do the Right Thing" worshipper. So maybe I am a wee bit biased when I say that this is a supremely superb movie. But it is indeed a supremely superb movie, and I encourage you to see it! Spike Lee does a masterfull job directing, screenwriting, and starring in this film. The basic summary is "a day in a predominately black neighborhood in Brooklyn". It incorporates every racial tension you can imagine, and every small conflict is leading up to the heartstopping climax at the end. See it!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Skip this one. He does the wrong thing.
Review: I got nothing against Spike, but his later work like He got game and Malcolm X are better than snapshot of a day in Brooklyn.


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