Editing Spike Lee (section)

=== 1980s ===
In 1983, Lee premiered his first independent short film titled, ''[[Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads]]''. Lee submitted the film as his [[master's degree]] [[thesis]] at the [[Tisch School of the Arts]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spectrumculture.com/2012/03/oeuvre-spike-lee-joes-bed-stuy-barbershop-we-cut-heads.html/ |title=Oeuvre: Spike Lee: Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads |publisher=Spectrum Culture |date=March 15, 2012 |access-date=December 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317165601/http://spectrumculture.com/2012/03/oeuvre-spike-lee-joes-bed-stuy-barbershop-we-cut-heads.html/ |archive-date=March 17, 2012 }}</ref> Lee's classmates [[Ang Lee]] and [[Ernest Dickerson|Ernest R. Dickerson]] worked on the film as [[assistant director]] and [[cinematographer]], respectively. The film was the first student film to be showcased in [[Lincoln Center]]'s New Directors New Films Festival. Lee's father, [[Bill Lee (musician)|Bill Lee]], composed the score. The film won a [[Student Academy Award]].

[[File:Spike Lee.jpg|thumb|left|Lee circa 1990s]]

In 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, ''[[She's Gotta Have It]]''. The [[black-and-white]] film concerns a young woman (played by [[Tracy Camilla Johns]]) who is seeing three men, and the feelings this arrangement provokes. The film was Lee's first feature-length film, and launched Lee's career. Lee wrote, directed, produced, starred and edited the film with a budget of $175,000, he shot the film in two weeks. When the film was released in 1986, it grossed over $7 million at the U.S. box office.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=shesgottahaveit.htm |title=She's Gotta Have It (1986) |website=Box Office Mojo |date=August 26, 1986 |access-date=June 13, 2011}}</ref> ''[[New York Times]]'' film critic [[A.O. Scott]] wrote that the film "ushered in (along with [[Jim Jarmusch]]'s ''[[Stranger Than Paradise]]'') the American independent film movement of the 1980s. It was also a groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in the representation of blacks in American cinema, depicting men and women of color not as pimps and whores, but as intelligent, upscale urbanites."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/44229/She-s-Gotta-Have-It/overview | first=A. O. | last=Scott | title=She's Gotta Have It | access-date=August 7, 2020 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027102646/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/44229/She-s-Gotta-Have-It/overview | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=[[The New York Times]] | author-link=A. O. Scott | date=2007 | archive-date=October 27, 2007}}</ref> He followed this with the musical drama ''[[School Daze]]'' (1988).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=School Daze movie review & film summary (1988) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/school-daze-1988 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1989, Lee made perhaps his most seminal film, ''[[Do the Right Thing]],'' which focused on a Brooklyn neighborhood's simmering racial tension on a hot summer day. The film's cast included Lee, [[Danny Aiello]], [[Bill Nunn]], [[Ossie Davis]], [[Ruby Dee]], [[Giancarlo Esposito]], [[Rosie Perez]], [[John Turturro]], [[Martin Lawrence]] and [[Samuel L. Jackson]]. The film gained critical acclaim as one of the best films of the year from film critics including both [[Gene Siskel]] and [[Roger Ebert]] who ranked the film as the best of 1989, and later in their top 10 films of the decade ({{Numero|6}} for Siskel and {{Numero|4}} for Ebert).<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjYS8EUakgs |title= Siskel & Ebert 1989-Best of 1989 (2of2) |publisher= [[YouTube]] |date= December 17, 2010 |access-date= April 29, 2015}}</ref> Ebert later added the film to his list of ''[[The Great Movies]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/great-movies/ |title= The Great Movies |author= Roger Ebert |publisher= rogerebert.com |access-date= April 29, 2015}}</ref>

To many people's surprise, the film was not nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]] or [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] at the [[Academy Awards]]. The film only earned two Academy Award nominations for [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]], Spike Lee's first Oscar nomination, and for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]] for Danny Aiello. At the Academy ceremony [[Kim Basinger]], who was a presenter that evening, stated that ''Do the Right Thing'' also deserved a Best Picture nomination stating, "We've got five great films here, and they are great for one reason, because they tell the truth, but there is one film missing from this list because ironically it might tell the biggest truth of all and that's ''Do the Right Thing''".<ref>{{cite news |title=Kim Basinger Rips Academy for Snubbing Spike Lee's Film |work=Jet |issue=27 |publisher=Ebony Media Operations |date=April 16, 1990}}</ref> The film that did win Best Picture was ''[[Driving Miss Daisy]]'', a film that focused on race relations between an elderly Jewish woman ([[Jessica Tandy]]) and her driver ([[Morgan Freeman]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/hollywood-flashback-a-snubbed-spike-lee-trashed-wim-wenders-at-cannes-1989-1111408/|title=Hollywood Flashback: A Snubbed Spike Lee Trashed Wim Wenders at Cannes in 1989|first1=Bill|last1=Higgins|website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=May 12, 2018}}</ref> Lee said in an April 7, 2006, interview with ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine that the other film's success, which he thought was based on safe stereotypes, hurt him more than if his film had not been nominated for an award.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hill |first=Logan |url=http://nymag.com/anniversary/40th/culture/45772/ |title=Q&A with Spike Lee on Making 'Do the Right Thing' |work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |date=April 7, 2008 |access-date=June 13, 2011}}</ref>