DVD Review: ‘Do the Right Thing’ (20th Anniversary Edition)
by Christian TotoDirector Spike Lee’s third film, “Do the Right Thing,” hasn’t aged a day since its 1989 release. The film’s misguided views on violence were wrong-headed the second it hit theaters. And the election of President Barack Obama surely puts some of the film’s victimization subtext in fresh perspective. But as sheer entertainment, “Thing” remains a blistering experience, the culmination of every one of Lee’s unique gifts as a filmmaker.
The film’s re-release on DVD June 30 reminds us Lee hasn’t come anywhere close to matching “Thing’s” raw power in the intervening years.
“Thing” stars Lee as Mookie, a disinterested pizza delivery man working on the hottest day of the summer in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. Pizza shop owner Sal (Danny Aiello) is thoroughly old school, and his bickering sons (John Turturro and Richard Edson) are hardly paragons of virtue. But Sal doesn’t have hate in his heart for his customers, who are almost all black. His food has fed them for years, he says with pride.
But a local radical (Giancarlo Esposito) doesn’t like Sal’s shop because it features a gallery of Italian-Americans on the wall – and no African-Americans. The disgruntled customer isn’t the only one on edge. The sweltering heat has everyone in a foul mood. It’s the perfect catalyst for what follows.
Lee’s films routinely polarize audiences and critics alike, but often at the expense of narrative and character development. Here, every Lee element falls right in place.
Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, a director in his own right (”Bulletproof,” “Surviving the Game”), burnishes the screen with shades of brick orange to evoke a melting pot bubbling over.
Scene after scene crackles with out-sized characters, often anchored by terrific actors (Ossie Davis, Samuel L. Jackson among them). The film helped introduce Rosie Perez, Jackson and Martin Lawrence to the movie going public.
There’s not a wasted frame in the film. Every sequence has a purpose and a pulse, and the debates it inspired 20 years ago are still raging in one form or another today.
“Do the Right Thing” slips in a few telegraphed punches, like a brick wall emblazoned with the message “Tawana told the truth,” a reference to the racially charged Tawana Brawley case of the era.
The DVD features the usual gaggle of extras, from commentary by Lee and a self-congratulatory reunion of the cast.
Lee’s racial politics typically rub conservative audiences the wrong way. But with “Do the Right Thing,” Lee proved he could make a film that rose above ideological battle lines.
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62 Comments
I liked the fact that he balanced the scales somewhat. I identified with the John Savage character. I'm Caucasian, Brooklyn-born Baby Boomer, and if I tried to move back into the neighborhood where I spent my early childhood, I'd probably get the same reception he got.
Great! I hate the message but such great filmmaking!
“Do the Right Thing” is just as racist and reprehensible as “The Birth of a Nation.” Both movies make me sick to my stomach. And both Spike Lee and D W Griffith were good Democrats.
I remember watching this movie in college. When I left it I was a confirmed Republican.
Uh no.
This movie was an offensive piece of garbage then and now… nothing's changed.
Because apparently a private business owner isn't allowed to place pictures of his own hero's on the wall, his place gets wrecked by a mob of retards. Redirecting the anger from the death of an obnoxious jerk, from the police to a business owner who did nothing but employ and feed a community shows absolutely no respect for the individual or free thought.
The empty headed radicalism is testament to the triumphant force of emotional stupidity that leads to catastrophic events… like Obama.
Other than good soundtrack this movie was a shining example why the auteur theory of film making is always limited by the abilities of the person in charge.
And Spike Lee is a hack.
… except for his Nike commercials with Michael Jordan.
"20th Anniversary Edition" – Now even MORE racially inflammatory!
Spike Lee has been famous since he left NYC Film School (on a free ride — an opportunity I, as a white college student at the time was naturally denied), and yet he managed all these years to not only stay famous, but also for some reason, angry.
When he makes a movie that tanks (quite often) he blames racism. When he loses out at Oscar nominations (also often) he cries racism. When a critic takes issue with his film s– or when he targets a legend like Clint Eastwood, Lee cries racism.
The fact remains this guy slid into a career, and fabulous wealth, all because of his skin color. Like another famous celebrity I'm thinking about who now lives in D.C.
Absolutely brilliant film, as is "Malcolm X." Other than that…. Lee is all about the long and indulgent.
Lee's WWII movie last year was almost as incoherent and pointless as Transformers 2.
Wasn't this review originally written by Sonia Sotomayor? Or was it the script?
Well, I will say it even though I am a conservative… I thought this was the ONLY Spike Lee movie that had ANY MERIT!!!! it was a controversial movie then as it is now….Racism is Spike Motto and I cannot or will not ever like him, however this movie was relatively good
OK, I'll bite.
Other than "Tawana Told the Truth" (which would be laughable if it weren't so tragic), where does this film endorse the violent actions at the film's climax? Where does this film endorse Giancarlo Esposito's disgruntledness? Where does this film endorse the racial epithets between its varied characters?
And if it never did endorse such actions, then why was this film so wrong-headed?
And while I am offended by the film's gratuitous sex scene, I find this to be an utter masterwork, and true to the community from which is was filmed in (I can attest to its authenticity in terms of dialogue, having attended a high school near where it was filmed).
I have to agree with all the other posters here, Lee is a hack and a loud mouthed racist. Yes he is a black racist who used white fear against blacks to push his radical agenda with bad scripts, abyssmal acting and non profiting films on the American public for over 20 years. I have never and will never give him one red cent from my pocket in the form of ticket sales or DVD sales ro rentals. And before you say it no, I have never bought a pair of Nikes I have worn boots my entire live unless you count the converse I wore till I hit high school.
Pardon my french but F*ck Spike Lee.
I have to agree with all the other posters here, Lee is a hack and a loud mouthed racist. Yes he is a black racist who used white fear against blacks to push his radical agenda with bad scripts, abyssmal acting and non profiting films on the American public for over 20 years. I have never and will never give him one red cent from my pocket in the form of ticket sales or DVD sales or rentals. And before you say it no, I have never bought a pair of Nikes I have worn boots my entire live unless you count the converse I wore till I hit high school.
Pardon my french but F*ck Spike Lee.
I have to agree with all the other posters here, Lee is a hack and a loud mouthed racist. Yes he is a black racist who used white fear against blacks to push his radical agenda with bad scripts, abyssmal acting and non profiting films on the American public for over 20 years. I have never and will never give him one red cent from my pocket in the form of ticket sales or DVD sales or rentals. And before you say it no, I have never bought a pair of Nikes I have worn boots my entire life unless you count the converse I wore till I hit high school.
Pardon my french but F*ck Spike Lee.
CT has got it all wrong about this film, here's why:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06202009/postopinion/...
I don't think I've ever been more disappointed by a movie than I was by Do The Right Thing. The previews were excellent, and with the great reviews, I was really looking forward to it. Ugh. Obviously, it was morally puerile, but in addition to that, I found it wildly inconsistent, with little in the way of narrative flow – long scenes that did nothing to advance any story. That's the way I remember it, anyway – it's been 20 years, and I've only seen it once, but I wanted to love it and ended up hating it. I don't remember a single scene that wasn't either boring or offensive. Just awful.
Yes, Malcolm X was a brilliant film thanks to Denzel Washington.
Miracle at St. Anna made absolutely no sense, it was just a lame attempt by Lee to rewrite history and Clint Eastwood called him on it.
I will say this, the scene in School Daze when the pledges had to reach into toilets while blind-folded and squeeze was hilarious….
I agree that it's Spike Lee's masterwork. Do I agree with everything it says or all it wants to say? Oh, heck no. But as a film, it's just brilliant. And the lack of a happy ending clinches it for me. There's no "Kumbyah" moment, just uncertainty, regret and a vague undercurrent of mistrust because of past wrongs.
Sounds about right.
Nice try, but really, it's pretty dated. Kind of like watching Arsenio Hall or MTV Headbangers Ball and thinking we were cool.
Just because Spike Lee is playing the character Mookie does not mean that he thinks what Mookie did was the "Right Thing". Just because Mookie is the protaganist does not mean he's some sort of hero when it's all said and done.
What were the misguided views on violence again? How was the destruction of Sal's Pizza upheld by the film as virtuous? I saw it as tragic when I first saw the film and I have no doubt I was meant to feel it was a tragedy. What makes you think that Spike Lee thought the actions of ANY of his characters was The Right Thing?
I really don't think the folks who busted up the pizza shop had ANY regrets, as did the folks that went on a murderous rampage during the L.A. riots.
BTW, if "Tawana Told the Truth" is now a forgettable punchline, why isn't the rabble-rouser at the center of that (and any) controversy du jour, Al Sharpton?
BTW, if "Tawana Told the Truth" is now a laughable, forgettable punchline, why isn't the rabble-rouser at the center of that (and any) controversy du jour, Al Sharpton?
Nick — The film ends in a very delicate fashion … partially thanks to the conflicting quotes spoken by two civil rights pioneers (King and Malcolm). Yet it's hard not to see the film as advocating the violent outburst on a certain level. What cinched it for me was when the stuttering character pinned the pic of those two pioneers on the wall of Sal's shop — almost as if a wrong had just been fixed.
It's definitely subtle enough to be a tossup, something for viewers to chew on long after the movie wraps. It's also reinforced by comments Lee made later on regarding the movie.
But that doesn't detract from the movie's greatness for me.
rolls fist and yes "woof woof woof woof"
If I may offer an alternate view, I saw that moment with the stuttering character, Smiley, to be one of triumph and celebration of his character and not the violence. Amid all the angry shouts and chest-thumping there's one character who will just do what he can to try defuse the situation, albeit after the situation exploded.
In reference to Radio Raheem's 'Love vs. Hate' speech, it's obvious that hate triumphed over everyone involved in the violence. Smiley's photo of King and Malcolm itself symbolizes this battle, as do the quotes at the end. The photo is a moment captured where Love and Hate actually seemed to get along and shake hands, and I think that itself is what Lee intended to advocate.
If I'm wrong about Lee and his intentions, then whatever. I believe the film takes on a life of it's own after the artist lets it go. I don't need to see it that way.
Do you expect Al Sharpton to get to a Bed-Stuy pizza joint within the very same day a customer protest occurs (without said customer garnering media attention)? Or, do you expect Sharpton to arrive at the scene moments after Radio Raheem's demise? To expect such would to bestow Al Sharpton the supernatural gifts of omniscience, and I don't think you meant to do that.
I like Walesczak's take. I admit that Radio Raheem's Love/Hate speech went past me when I first saw it, a tribute to Night Of the Hunter. That said, I didn't see those quotes as the sort of statements that Lee endorses, but rather, the quotes stating that, well, here's the situation. Here's the tensions that flare up under otherwise ordinary circumstances. Nobody in that film (save for Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee, and, if memory serves, Samuel L Jackson) come out unscathed. The only time where I really thought Lee interjected his personal opinion was that extra lingering second on the Tawana Brawley graffitti, as if he was saying "Did you GET that?!"
Even so, to show the opposing forces upon the black community handles (or is guilty of) racism is not an acknowledgment of Lee's personal views. He did the same thing in "Get On the Bus", a film I greatly admired at the time of its release, which used a pro-Farrakhan rally as a device to provide a smorgasbord of views on the black community, (tho this film, is faulty by equating a conservative view as racism-denier).
Sorry, I'll pass.
This is one of the few acclaimed films of the 1980s I haven't seen and frankly don't plan to.
Spike Lee is just an @******. The way he treated true class-acts like Charlton Heston and Clint Eastwood(and others I'm sure I'm forgetting) were just uncalled for. I normally don't put politics into consideration when watching films, but Lee is in that league that just rub me off the wrong way.
Plus, wasn't this the movie President Barry says to have seen on his first date with the first lady?
Spike called Clint Eastwood a racist! That little gem moves Lee's movies to the trash can. Sorry but Spikes an irrelevant biggoted little dwarf………………The Al Sharpton of Hollywood………………….
I think this was one of the ten best movies of the 1990's, and, having watched it again recently I think iit HAS aged. I mean, it's almost funny to see the ultra bright "fly" colors and early hip-hop vibe which permeated the wardrobes and the music. Some of the performances were stellar, such as Ossie Davis (Mr. Mayor), Danny Aiello (Sal), Rosie Perez's opening dance to "Fight the Power", so many memorable moments. And it's a movie that makes you think and stirs debate. Even on this thread no one seems to agree with Spike Lee's motive – who was right and who was wrong. I think it's left open because there is no easy answer to that question. Everybody's got their own take on it and everyone seems to have reason to be pissed. I'd say Mookie was one of the least sympathetic characters in the film but embodied the disaffected state of someone living in a no-win situation. Mookie's sister was the positive, hopeful voice. Each character reflected an archetype that conveyed a particular point of view. Lee leaves it to us to decide who to identify with. BTW; I'm a total conservative who happens to be a former film student.
Um, Nick, Al Sharpton is a real person – the one who stoked the Tawana Brawley hoax. Radio Raheem is a fictional character in a movie.
The point is Rev. Al should have been discredited long ago. Unfortunately, America has an unhealthy tolerance for race hustlers that just seems to be getting worse (though the Ricci ruling may mark an encouraging reversal of this trend).
In general, yeah, but Mookie is the hero, and Lee has spent the last twenty years applauding him and defending his actions.
I love this movie, but Tawana lied.
Indeed he is a racist but since he's black the media has labeled him as "controversial"
He really should stop the Eastwood hate. He could actually learn something from the master like keeping his piehole shut and simply make films instead of asinine comments.
Not to nitpick, but the film was from 1989 – otherwise, in total agreement and would say it was among the best of that decade.
There are few things more enjoyable – especially when in high school or college – than going to a film that absolutely drives people bonkers. There are two serious/controversial films I saw at that age that *had* to be talked and argued about: "Do the Right Thing," and "Oleanna." I don't like Spike Lee's views, but DTRT, like Malcolm X, is a masterpiece, especially considering its relatively low budget and cast of non-stars and unknowns. I don't care if "serious" films are political, so long as they are fair to all sides (as a rule with few exceptions, if a film only presents two sides, then it is being dishonest), and while I cringed (and yes, angered) at Mookie throwing the trash can through the window, I thought it was honest, even if I also found it heinous.
Kim Bassinger, upon introducing one of the nominees for Best Picture, in/famously took the controversial route noting that, in short, "Do the Right Thing," by not being nominated, was robbed of a nomination. Of the five films nominated that year, three were worthy: My Left Foot, Driving Miss Daisy, and (arguably) Field of Dreams. Driving Miss Daisy won, and deservedly so – it is one of my favorite films and it put Morgan Freeman (finally!) on the map. The other two – Born on the Fourth of July and Dead Poets Society – were not worthy, the former a piece of (well-done) left-wing revisionist history that, among other crimes, blamed Richard Nixon for Vietnam, the latter a piece of sugar-coated crap. Of the major acting/making categories, DTRT got two nods – Aiello for Actor, and Lee for Original Screenplay.
Those who love it and hate it remember DTRT. I posted a link at the bottom of this post – look at how many forgettable films and more forgettable performances were nominated for the big awards that year. Love him or hate him, Spike Lee caught lightning in a bottle with DTRT. Personally, I think he's squandered his talent, but do not deny the power of DTRT.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/oscar/chart/?view=al...
Um, Cameron, I *know* that. Of course, so is Tawana Brawley. So is MLKJr and MX. So is Prince and Eddie Murphy—ALL of whom mentioned prominently in the film. The mixing of fictional and non-fictional characters in a fictional piece has been done many times before, and it goes back to the silent era.
Nick, you misread the original post. StephenRex was saying that if "Tawana Brawley told the truth" is considered a dated punchline, so should Al Sharpton.
—
Rosie Perez's opening dance to "Fight the Power",
—
I had to watch this for a film class, and I fastforwarded straight through that. Ugh.
Spike Lee is a joke. His movies are crap. He is the quintessential affirmative action filmmaker. To have to see his ugly face court side at every Knicks (and now Lakers) games is enough to get me to turn the channel.
I saw this film in a small film class at FSU. We'd watch one film a week and talk about it – there was only a dozen of us in the class. All I can remember is the teacher calling on one girl who, with no hesitation, said, "Spike Lee is a racist, egotistical a–hole!"
As for me, I can appreciate his filmmaking skills (and this film is entertaining) but I lost respect for him when he tried to sue Spike TV, saying they were infringing on his name or something like that. Cry me a river.
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/060403/pag_spikel...
"20th Anniversary Edition" – Now even MORE racially inflammatory!
Spike Lee has been famous since he left NYC Film School (on a free ride — an opportunity I, as a white college student at the time was naturally denied), and yet he managed all these years to not only stay famous, but also for some reason, angry.
When he makes a movie that tanks (quite often) he blames racism. When he loses out at Oscar nominations (also often) he cries racism. When a critic takes issue with his films — or when he targets a legend like Clint Eastwood — Lee cries racism.
The fact remains this guy slid into a career and fabulous wealth, mostly because of his skin color, and yet he still feels he's being kept down.
http://www.therexreport.com
I have little use for Spike Lee the human being, but his films are often more subtle than he is.
A few things to consider:
1) Of the three white characters in the movie, two are presented as good people, and even the racist son is not portrayed as altogether bad.
2) There isn't SUPPOSED to be any one cause for the climactic riot. There was no one thing that triggered it on this particular night. And THAT is a big part of what Spike Lee was trying to show us. When riots or racial conflagrations occur, middle-class whites are inclined to ask, "What caused this?" But if you watch the movie a second time, you realize that potential violence was hanging in the air all day. There were a dozen incidents in the film that COULD have led to a fight, which COULD have led to violence, but which ultimately blew over. Even on this night, there'd have been no violence if Sal had simply told the neighborhood kids, "Sorry, we're closed for the night- see you tomorrow." If he'd done that, there'd have been no confrontation with Radio Raheem, no one would ahve gotten hurt, and Sal could have continued to tell himself that all was well.
The message of the film is, "Don't kid yourselves, nice middle-class white folks- when you have a large number of angry, poor, hopeless people living in a depressed neighborhood, violence is an ever-present possibility. In fact, it's probably a miracle that violent incidents like this don't happen more often."
I hardly remember the movie but at the time I felt that it was a very well made, powerful movie that left me cold nonetheless. I remember thinking that all characters very either obtuse or nasty. The character played by Lee was a kind of synthesis: lazy, selfish and dumb and I thought it was courageous of Lee to play Mookie as a kind of caricature. Guess I didn´t know much back then.
Greatest line about Spike playing the race card was from James Earl Jones. The quote is something like this:
"Contrary to what he has stated, Spike does not think its racist if a black director does the film about the life of Malcom X; Spike thinks it racist if a black film director, NOT NAMED SPIKE LEE, does the film about the life of Malcom X"
And my big question was how the hell did "Glory" not get a best pic nod, along with DTRT? While two of its performances were recognized (Freeman and Washington) Glory was an amazing film and definitely belongs there ahead of both Dead Poets Society and "Miss Daisy."
"Just because Spike Lee is playing the character Mookie does not mean that he thinks what Mookie did was the 'Right Thing'"
True, but that begs the question, what is "the right thing"? There's plenty of evidence in the movie that it's what Mookie does, since you could argue that he had to direct the violence against the store lest it be directed against the Italians themselves. Can't think of anything else in the movie that is the right thing, unless Lee meant to say doing other than what everybody in the movie does, meaning non-voilence, is the right thing. i somehow doubt that.
"And if it never did endorse such actions, then why was this film so wrong-headed?"
Don't know where you get the idea that the film advocates violence. That wasn't anywhere in the review. The review was, in fact, rather vague on why conservatives dislike it, only saying that it promotes "victimization". The prbolem isn't that it justifies the mob, but that it sympathizes with them too much, and moreover sympathizes with the pizzaria too little.
I can tell you where I have problems with the film, but for me it doesn't rise to a conservative/liberal level or a racism level (not that Lee isn't racist, just not so much in this film).
I have just been made aware of the following quote from Lee in the DVD's commentary:
"I wanna clear up something once and for all…Mookie did not throw the garbage can through the window to divert the mob from jumping on Sal…[Mookie] threw the garbage can through the window because he just saw one of his best friends get murdered in cold blood by NYPD."
Apparently, the film had less moral value than I thought. Either it is a documentary of mob psyche on hot days, or it is a sympathetic look at rioters. Either way, it is less interesting.
"the lack of a happy ending clinches it for me. There's no 'Kumbyah' moment, just uncertainty, regret and a vague undercurrent of mistrust because of past wrongs."
I've never understood the bias against happy endings. There are only three ways to end a movie: happily, tragically, or indifferently. Each has its merits. What matters is whether the ending is well done in itself, and more importantly whether it makes sense in the context of the rest of the movie. I, for one, don't see why "Do the Right Thing" had to end with "uncertainty, regret, and a vague undercurrent of mistrust."
(continued)
Well, maybe the last part, given the state of race relations. As for uncertainty, that's beloved of indie films, partly perhaps because they never have enough money to set up an assualt on the Death Star as a finale. Even so, with a title like "Do the Right Thing" you'd think that they might be able to find a hero, and to find a figure to either condone or condemn. Just because uncertainty and vague undercurrents dominate race in America does not mean it has to dominate the theme of this particular movie. If movies are capable of clarifying issues, that is.
"There isn't SUPPOSED to be any one cause for the climactic riot. There was no one thing that triggered it on this particular night"
There never is. I'd say there are two remote causes: the heat and the confrontation over the Wall of Fame and Raheem's radio. One remote cause: the poverty and "disenfranchisement" of the neighborhood, and one really, really remote cause: black anger at mistreatment by whites.
(continued)
But come on, be serious, it was caused by the cop choking out Radio Raheem. No choke, no riot. If there had been a riot earlier or later, it would have another cause. I understand stories are more interesting when there's a train of events leading up to the climax. And one can argue that what Piere Bezuhov does on page 6 of "War and Peace" leads inevitably to what happens on the last page. But that's confusing plot and story. Plotwise, Raheem's death has a lot more than anything else to do with the riot. Other causes enter consideration on a sliding scale, starting with Sal's busting the radio, going back to the idiotic argument over the wall, and so on. Don't forget what sort of sleep the cop had the night before.
The ultimate irony of Do the Right Thing is that as long as you view the title as advice that no one in the movie follows, it works brilliantly. But I think Spike Lee thinks Mookie did the right thing by starting a riot and destroying a white man's pizzeria just because the dude was white. Buuut not too long later, Rodney King happened, and riots broke out, and the looters thought they were doing the right thing.
Occasionally, it would be nice to see a different version of this story. These poor, depressed, and despondent folks in the neighborhood might spend some time wondering how to GET THE HELL OUT of that place.
I grew up in the projects. It was clear to me at a young age that anywhere was better than there and the only question was how. Actually, it wasn't that complex, just took some hard thinking and work.
Hey, I could have blamed THE MAN, even though I am white. There is always someone to blame.
By the way, Spike is a lazy thinker, just like Al Shapton and the rest. It is far easier to blame somebody than to work out the issues for oneself.
My bad, you're right. I still think of it as an early 90's film.
Funny, I had the same expression come to mind; "Lightning in a bottle". The fact that people still argue about this movie says a lot. But, all politics aside, this film, on a technical and artistic level, is a master work.
I may be wrong, but I don't remember Clint Eastwood ever responding to Lee's accusations of racism. By completely ignoring him, Eastwood magnified the insignificance and irrelevance of such a small and man as Spike Lee.
Smart people understand that many blacks like Lee wish to corner the market on self-pity. They smile knowingly and walk away, not wanting to diminish themselves by engaging with these lesser beings.
There's substance to your claim. Despite all the conflicting messages–not so much as people imply were there, but there were some nonetheless–it's hard to ignore that Lee opened the movie with the rabble-rousing "Fight the Power," made the logical case that Koreans aren't a worthy target, and has justified the crowd's reaction in subsequent interviews. Heck, "Boyz in the Hood" (a superior film, in my opinion) managed to mix in a little subtlety by having the really racist cop be black. Lee justified, to some degree, a riot because a white cop killed a black man and Danny Aiello was also white, so his property deserved to be destroyed.
Then he disengenuously criticizes his critics by saying they care more about white property rights than black lives. As if One thing had anything to do with eachother, morally speaking. Hey, Spike, neither the cop nor the mob are justified. How about that?
I think Spike Lee has modeled himself on Miles Davis.
Spike has also done alright with scripts by other writers like "The 25th Hour" and "Inside Man" had him making Jodie Foster into a genuinely hot, sexy babe in a movie. If you trim the bookends off "Malcolm 10" – the King beating and "I am Spartacus" ending – and you have a great biopic that would've won Denzel Washington an Oscar if Spike could've kept his retarded mouth shut and not infamously spouted off in the Esquire article entitled, "Spike Lee Hates Your Cracker Ass."
That a guy who can afford floor seats to the Knicks to grouse about American racism is ludicrous. (Note correct spelling.) Maybe that's why he's so angry: he's paying top dollar for the KNICKS! The scene that really puts the lie to the idea that Spike is a purely dishonest race player is the scene where the corner men talk about the Korean grocer and how he has become successful from nothing:
"Look at those Korean [Oedipus]s across the street. I betcha they haven't been a year off da [Oedipus]ing boat before they opened up their own place. A [Oedipus]ing year off the A [Oedipus]ing year off the [Oedipus]ing boat and got a good business in our neighborhood occupying a building that had been boarded up for longer than I care to remember and I've been here a long time. Too long! Too long. Now for the life of me, I haven't been able to figger this out. Either dem Koreans are geniuses or we Blacks are dumb."
BTW, any praise for DTRT has to be shared with Ernest Dickerson for his stunning primary color cinematography and swooping camera.
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