Do the Right Thing (1989) on Netflix
Sal has run his pizzeria in Bedford-Stuyvesant for 25 years. Mookie delivers for him. When Buggin' Out demands Black faces on the Wall of Fame, Sal refuses.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.9/10126,279 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Mookie is twenty-five and delivers pizzas for Sal, whose parlor has stood on the same Bedford-Stuyvesant block for a quarter of a century; at home he shares quarters with his sister Jade, and he has a toddler son, Hector, with his girlfriend Tina. Pino, Sal's older son, dislikes the mostly African-American and Hispanic neighborhood and wants the business moved, while the younger son, Vito, is friendly with Mookie. Nearby live Da Mayor, Mother Sister, and Radio Raheem, who carries a boombox; Buggin' Out argues about civil rights with anyone who listens. Buggin' Out asks Sal about the photographs on his Wall of Fame, which show only Italian-Americans, and demands that Black celebrities be added; Sal refuses and orders him out. A call to boycott the pizzeria draws only Raheem and Smiley.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Do the Right Thing (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Spike Lee conceived the film after discussing the 1986 Howard Beach incident with actor Robert De Niro: an attack on African-American men in a predominantly Italian-American neighborhood in which one victim was struck by a car and killed. Lee wrote the screenplay in two weeks.
- Production designer Wynn Thomas altered the street's color scheme with a great deal of red and orange paint to convey a heatwave, while the neighborhood's crack dealers threatened the crew for disturbing their business, leading Lee to hire Fruit of Islam members as security.
SPOILER
Lee first considered Robert De Niro for the role of Sal but cast Danny Aiello on De Niro's own suggestion; Aiello's real-life son Rick was then cast as Officer Gary Long, the policeman whose choke-hold kills Radio Raheem.- The section of Stuyvesant Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where the entire film was shot was renamed Do the Right Thing Way in 2015, making it the only street in New York City named after a work of fiction.
- Barack and Michelle Obama have said they saw Do the Right Thing together on their first date, a fact they revisited on the film's 25th anniversary in 2014.
- The boombox prop used in the film is on display in the A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
- Samuel L. Jackson was chosen for the role of Mister Señor Love Daddy, and he later revealed that he spent much of his time on set sleeping, as he has no scenes outside.
- Rosie Perez, who was making her acting debut as Tina, said years afterwards that she had been very uncomfortable about doing her nude scene in the film.
