Summer of Spike: Do the Right Thing

A review by Brooks Rich

This is the film that made Spike Lee a serious filmmaker. With his third outing Spike knocks it out of the park with a stunning examination of racism and police brutality set over the course of one hot sweltering day on a block in Brooklyn. He crafts a film that is both deeply entertaining as well as a startling observation on racial tensions. This film explores not just the tension between African-Americans and whites but also tension between all the races.

It's hard to watch this film and not feel your stomach drop when the films climaxes with a cop killing a black man with a choke hold. The film is thirty-one years old and still speaking to the state of our country. It's hard not to see this film now and not be effected by a character dying while being held in a chokehold by police. Do the Right Thing echoes with more truth than some of Spike's more recent films.

On a technical level Do the Right Thing is Spike Lee going from a solid student filmmaker feeling out the industry to full blown cinematic master. His camera work improves, his editing is tighter, and his staging feels more cinematic. I love She's Gotta Have It but it is very much a student film. This is Spike's arrival on the scene.

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