Part of Music City Mondays
Set in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, what begins as an uproarious comedy evolves into a provocative, disquieting drama as director Spike Lee chronicles a sweltering day in a largely Black neighborhood — and the trivial events that explode into violence and tragedy. Spike Lee’s rousing film heralded the arrival of a new voice. Thirty-six years later, DO THE RIGHT THING is still holding up a mirror to our society, and challenges all of us to see ourselves in one another. And it still makes us laugh.
See also: Spike Lee’s new film HIGHEST 2 LOWEST (opens Fri, Aug 15)
“I have been given only a few filmgoing experiences in my life to equal the first time I saw DO THE RIGHT THING. Most movies remain up there on the screen. Only a few penetrate your soul.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (May 2001) “Mr. Lee's particular achievement is in building the tensions so gradually and so persuasively that the explosion, when it finally comes, seems inevitable…. A remarkable piece of work.” —Vincent Canby, New York Times (June 1989)
