Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee's third film, an outrageous, shockingly funny, and masterfully constructed comic commentary on race relations in America features Lee as Mookie, the delivery man for Sal's Famous Pizzeria, a white Italian-American family-owned pizza parlor in Brooklyn's black Bedford-Stuyvesant community. Over the course of one long hot day, as the mercury in the thermometer heads for three digits, so does the blood of both blacks and whites begin to boil. As tensions escalate inside Sal's (played by Danny Aiello), the camera dollies up and down the street, eavesdropping on members of the community. While the controversial ending has sparked endless discussion over the years, Do the Right Thing is stylistically reminiscent of the Frank Capra comedies of the '30s (though with considerably stronger language). Featuring a Dolby Digital surround soundtrack and a pristine, richly color saturated widescreen transfer, the double-disc DVD is jam-packed with extras, including a commentary track, excellent "making of," original press conference at Cannes, and loads of footage shot before and during production. Sure to be one of the most lauded DVD releases in 2001, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman) [DVD/Blu-ray Review—June 23, 2009—Universal, 120 min., R, DVD: 2 discs, $19.98, Blu-ray: $29.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray and fourth on DVD, 1989's Do the Right Thing (20th Anniversary Edition) sports an excellent transfer (especially on Blu-ray) and a new DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the BD version. Extras include two audio commentaries (the first by director Spike Lee; the second with Lee, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, production designer Wynn Thomas, and costar Joie Lee), an hour-long 'making-of' documentary with an intro by Lee, an hour-shy behind-the-scenes documentary, 42 minutes of 'Cannes, 1989' press conference footage from the film festival, a '20 Years Later' retrospective featurette (36 min.), 11 deleted/extended scenes (14 min.), a 10-minute interview with editor Barry Brown, a 'Back to Bed-Stuy' retrospective look at the set and location (5 min.), 'The Riot Sequence' segment with storyboards and an intro by Lee, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a fine DVD re-release and excellent BD debut of a contemporary classic.] [Blu-ray/DVD Review—July 30, 2019—Criterion, 2 discs, 120 min., R, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray, 1989’s Do the Right Thing features a great transfer with a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include a 1995 audio commentary with director Spike Lee, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, production designer Wynn Thomas, and costar Joie Lee, a 'making-of' documentary with an introduction by Spike Lee (62 min.), behind-the-scenes footage with an introduction by Lee (58 min.), a 1989 Cannes Film Festival press conference (42 min.), a 'Twenty Years Later' retrospective with Lee (36 min.), the 2019 tribute featurette 'The One and Only Do the Right Thing' (32 min.), the 'Fight the Power' music video by Public Enemy with an intro by Lee and a collection of photos with remarks by Public Enemy’s Chuck D (22 min.), 'The Riot Sequence' storyboards (17 min.), interviews with costume designer Ruth E. Carter (17 min.) and editor Barry Alexander Brown (10 min.), deleted and extended scenes (15 min.), the 2000 featurettes 'Spike’s Last Word' (6 min.) and 'Back to Bed-Stuy' (5 min.), and a booklet with an essay by critic Vinson Cunningham and extensive excerpts from Lee’s film journal. Bottom line: the definitive edition of Lee’s contemporary classic.]