Editing Do the Right Thing (section)

===Development===
Writer, director, and actor [[Spike Lee]] conceived the idea for ''Do the Right Thing'' after discussing a [[Howard Beach racial attack|1986 incident at Howard Beach, Queens]], with actor [[Robert De Niro]]. This incident involved an attack on African-American men in a predominantly Italian-American neighborhood, resulting in one victim being struck by a car and killed.<ref name="AFI">{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67050-DO-THE-RIGHT-THING|title=''Do the Right Thing''|website=[[American Film Institute]]|access-date=January 15, 2024}}</ref> Lee was also influenced by the ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' episode "Shopping for Death," in which the main characters discuss their theory that hot weather increases violent tendencies, and the [[killing of Eleanor Bumpurs]] by police.<ref name="ew">{{cite magazine|last1=Staskiewicz|first1=Keith|title=Do the Right Thing: 1989|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|issue=1282/1283|date=October 25, 2013|page=42}}</ref> He wrote the screenplay in two weeks.<ref>{{cite magazine |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/fight-the-power-spike-lee-on-do-the-right-thing-20140620 |title= Fight the Power: Spike Lee on 'Do the Right Thing' |magazine= [[Rolling Stone]] |author= Gavin Edwards |date= 20 June 2014 |access-date= 29 April 2015 |archive-date= August 22, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170822222636/http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/fight-the-power-spike-lee-on-do-the-right-thing-20140620 |url-status= live }}</ref>

The original script of ''Do the Right Thing'' ended with a stronger reconciliation between Mookie and Sal than Lee used in the film.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/d/do-the-right-thing-script.html |title='Do the Right Thing' Script (Archived) |publisher=Script-O-Rama |date=28 April 2007 |access-date=29 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428033003/http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/d/do-the-right-thing-script.html |archive-date=April 28, 2007 }}</ref> In this version, Sal's comments to Mookie are similar to Da Mayor's earlier comments in the film and hint at some common ground and perhaps Sal's understanding of why Mookie tried to destroy his restaurant. Lee has not explicitly explained why he changed the ending but his contemporaneous notes compiled in the film's companion book indicate [[Lisa Jones]] expressed Sal's reaction as "too nice" as originally written.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyMoc4YZKl8C&q=%22monty+and+lisa+jones%22&pg=PA72 |title=Lee, Spike; Jones, Lisa. ''Do The Right Thing: A Spike Lee Joint'', p. 71 |isbn=9780671682651 |access-date=August 24, 2020|last1=Lee |first1=Spike |last2=Jones |first2=Lisa |year=1989 |publisher=Simon and Schuster }}</ref>