.seo-fallback{max-width:46rem;margin:0 auto;padding:2.5rem 1.25rem 4rem; font:16px/1.6 Inter,system-ui,sans-serif;color:#EDE9F5;background:#0E0A1B} .seo-fallback a{color:#FFCA3A} .seo-fallback h1{font-size:1.75rem;line-height:1.2;margin:.5rem 0 1rem} .seo-fallback h2{font-size:1.05rem;margin:2rem 0 .5rem;color:#9C93B8; text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.08em} .seo-fallback ul{padding-left:1.1rem;margin:.5rem 0} .seo-fallback li{margin:.3rem 0} .seo-fallback .seo-meta{color:#9C93B8;font-size:.9rem} .seo-fallback .seo-note{margin-top:2.5rem;color:#9C93B8;font-size:.85rem; border-top:1px solid #2A2340;padding-top:1rem}

FilmSkool — a free film school

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Name: Do the Right Thing
Director: Spike Lee
Genre: drama film, comedy film, independent film
Duration: 120 min
Rating: 7.9

Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American independent comedy-drama film produced, written and directed by Spike Lee. It features an ensemble cast that includes Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro and John Savage and is the feature film debut of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. The story explores a Brooklyn neighborhood's simmering racial tension between…

Directed by Spike Lee · Shot by Ernest Dickerson · Cut by Barry Alexander Brown · Music by Bill Lee · 120 min

How it was made

Production designer Wynn Thomas repainted the Bedford-Stuyvesant block used as the set in heavy reds and oranges to visually convey the heatwave setting.
The crew built functioning structures on the block from scratch, including a working pizza parlour for Sal's Famous Pizzeria and a radio station replacing a burnt-out building, with some character residences set inside a former crack house the production had shut down.
During the climactic confrontation between Sal and Buggin' Out, Lee let actors Danny Aiello and Giancarlo Esposito improvise the racist dialogue exchanged between their characters.
Lee wrote the original screenplay in two weeks and later changed its ending, which had featured a warmer reconciliation between Mookie and Sal, after a colleague told him Sal's reaction read as too nice.

Behind the scenes

Do The Right Thing (1989) - The Making Of — Chimera · 61 min
Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing - Rehearsals Vs. Final Scenes | Screen Bites — Screen Bites · 5 min
Behind the Scene: Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson on making DO THE RIGHT THING — American Film Institute · 3 min
Spike Lee Breaks Down His Best Shots From Malcom X, Do The Right Thing and More | My Best Shots — CineFix · 9 min
Cinematography in DO THE RIGHT THING — CRITERION · 2 min
Do the Right Thing: Crash Course Film Criticism #6 — CrashCourse · 11 min
Spike Lee Recalls How Roger Ebert Supported Him During "Do the Right Thing" Backlash — Variety · 4 min
Behind the Scenes - Do the Right Thing (1989) — FilmArchive · 58 min

Elsewhere

More by Spike Lee

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (Live At Wembley July 16, 1988 (Stereo))
Human Nature (Live At Wembley July 16, 1988 (Stereo))
Lizarettez
The Answer — 1980
Sarah — 1981
Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads — 1983
She's Gotta Have It — 1986
School Daze — 1988
Mo' Better Blues — 1990
Jungle Fever — 1991
Malcolm X — 1992
Crooklyn — 1994
Lumière and Company — 1995
Clockers — 1995
Get on the Bus — 1996
Girl 6 — 1996
4 Little Girls — 1997
He Got Game — 1998
Freak — 1998
Summer of Sam — 1999
Bamboozled — 2000
The Original Kings of Comedy — 2000
A Huey P. Newton Story — 2001
The Concert for New York City — 2001
25th Hour — 2002
Jim Brown: All-American — 2002
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet — 2002
We Wuz Robbed — 2002
Sucker Free City — 2004
She Hate Me — 2004

This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.