“THE LONG HOT SUMMER”

By Raymond Benson

I was living in New York City in the summer of 1989, when Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing opened and caused a sensation. I recall finding the picture exhilarating at first, and then ultimately very disturbing. Racial tension in the city had been high following several incidents of police brutality against persons of color on one hand, and the Central Park jogger case, which had occurred a mere three months earlier, on the other. Was the film a cautionary tale or a call to action, or both?

Now, thirty years later, Do the Right Thing is more relevant than ever. Its message aside, the filmmaking warrants the accolades it has received over the years, and its reputation has grown considerably as one of the great American motion pictures. While Spike Lee has gone on to make many excellent movies, including last year’s Oscar-nominated BlacKkKlansman, he will likely be most remembered for his 1989 masterpiece.

The story takes place entirely on one neighborhood block in the section of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn over a very hot couple of days in the summer of ’88. People tend to do crazy things when the weather is that hot. While Mookie (Spike Lee) is probably considered the protagonist of the tale, the focus is more on the entire ensemble of characters who live and work on the street in equal weight. Mookie delivers pizzas for Sal (Oscar-nominated Danny Aiello), who with his two sons, Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson), runs the only white business on the block. There is also a Korean market right across the street run by Sonny (Steve Park). Da Mayor (Ossie Davis) is an alcoholic who holds court with hazy words of wisdom, and he is constantly belittled by Mother Sister (Ruby Dee). Mookie’s pals Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito) and Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), continually push people’s buttons. Buggin’ Out is an angry young man who resents the presence of Sal’s pizzeria and the fact that he puts no celebrities of color on his wall of fame. Raheem walks around with a huge boombox that blasts Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” annoying many, but mostly Sal. Mookie’s girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez, in her debut film), has a young son with Mookie, but they don’t live as a couple. Instead, Mookie resides with his sister, Jade (Joie Lee). Acting as a sort of Greek chorus is the radio DJ, Mister Señor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson, credited as “Sam Jackson” in these early days of his career), whose studio is right in the middle of the block.

Much of the picture is very funny—in fact, one could call the first 2/3 a comedy, a slice of life that shines a light on a marginalized community. This was revelatory in 1989. The final third, however, erupts into a shocking violence of racial conflict that leaves audiences truly jolted.

Many contemporary reviewers—white ones—misinterpreted the film. In a revealing “final word” video segment that is a supplement in this beautifully presented Criterion Collection 2-disk Blu-ray package, Lee calls out the critics who blasted him and the film for being a “lit fuse.” There was one critic who opined that the population should hope that the film better not play at a local theater, implying that it might incite a riot! Some more sensitive critics pointed to the moment when Mookie throws a trash can through a window, “doing the right thing” by directing the anger of the neighborhood residents to a building instead of against its white owners. Again, Lee questions that notion, for what Do the Right Thing is really about, what it really illustrates, is that white audiences were generally more upset about some property being burned down than they were about the murder of one of the black characters at the hands of the police.

And that’s the crux of the message. We’re to do the right thing by understanding where the injustice truly lies.

Criterion had released the movie on DVD in 2001 and has now upgraded it to a marvelous director-approved 4K digital restoration (also approved by cinematographer Ernest Dickerson), with a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. There’s a 1995 audio commentary by Lee, Dickerson, production designer Wynn Thomas, and Joie Lee.

Supplements include several that are ported over from the 2001 DVD: video introductions and closings by Lee; a 60-minute documentary of the making of the picture in a new 2K digital transfer; a featurette of Lee revisiting the location in 2000; Public Enemy’s music video of “Fight the Power” (directed by Lee); a forty-minute press conference from the Cannes Film Festival with Lee and members of the cast and crew; behind the scenes footage of the first readthrough and wrap party; original storyboards for the riot sequence; an interview with editor Barry Brown; and the theatrical trailer and TV spots.

New supplements on this Blu-ray edition include interviews with costume designer Ruth E. Carter, New York City Council member Robert Cornegy Jr., writer Nelson George, and filmmaker Darnell Martin; and deleted and extended scenes. The thick booklet contains an essay by critic Vinson Cunningham and extensive excerpts from Lee’s journal kept during the making of the film.

This is an exceptional release from the always reliable Criterion Collection. Do the right thing…and buy it.

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