Editing Do the Right Thing (section)

==Reception and legacy==
===Critical reception===
[[File:Do the Right Thing race relations.webm|thumb|The scene of characters with different ethnicities each speaking a monologue featuring insults targeting another ethnicity through racial stereotypes in long close-up shots, emphasizes racial prejudice at the time and from Lee's viewpoint.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mediacommons.org/intransition/2014/12/12/revisiting-spike-lee-s-racial-slur-montage-ya-need-cool-shit-out|title=Revisiting Spike Lee’s “Racial Slur Montage”: Ya Need to Cool that Shit Out|access-date=February 27, 2025|date=2014|work=inTranslation, JCMS|last=Julien|first=Douglas}}</ref>]]
At the time of the film's release, both [[Gene Siskel]] and [[Roger Ebert]] ranked the film as the best of 1989, and later each ranked it as one of the top 10 films of the decade ({{Numero|6}} for Siskel and {{Numero|4}} for Ebert).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://siskelebert.org/?p=480 |title=10 Best Films of the 1980s (1989) - Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews |access-date=May 14, 2022 |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523084330/https://siskelebert.org/?p=480 |url-status=live }}</ref> Siskel described the film as "a spiritual documentary that shows racial joy, hatred and confusion at every turn",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-06-30-8902130689-story.html|title=A Serious 'Right Thing' For a Frivolous Summer|first=Gene|last=Siskel|publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=June 30, 1989|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-date=October 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031171921/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-06-30-8902130689-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> while Ebert lauded it for coming "closer to reflecting the current state of race relations in America than any other movie of our time."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/do-the-right-thing-1989|title=Do the Right Thing|first=Roger|last=Ebert|publisher=rogerebert.com|date=June 30, 1989|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-date=October 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019191019/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/do-the-right-thing-1989|url-status=live}}</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= 29 April 2015 |archive-date= June 9, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230609033122/https://www.rogerebert.com/great-movies |url-status= live }}</ref> In a retrospective review in 2019, Kambole Campbell of the British magazine ''[[Little White Lies (magazine)|Little White Lies]]'' noted the film's lasting relevance and called it "a bold expression of love and frustration and care and anger that is so vivid and expressive it feels like it exists in the here and now."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lwlies.com/reviews/do-the-right-thing-1989/|title=Do the Right Thing (1989)|first=Kabole|last=Campbell|publisher=[[Little White Lies (magazine)|Little White Lies]]|date=July 30, 2019|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-date=October 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019094449/https://lwlies.com/reviews/do-the-right-thing-1989/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' film critic [[Wesley Morris]] has called ''Do the Right Thing'' his favorite film.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theringer.com/2019/8/27/20834497/do-the-right-thing-with-sean-fennessey-and-wesley-morris|title='Do The Right Thing' With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris|last=Fennessey|first=Sean|date=2019-08-27|website=The Ringer|language=en|access-date=2020-04-02|archive-date=December 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202121338/https://www.theringer.com/2019/8/27/20834497/do-the-right-thing-with-sean-fennessey-and-wesley-morris|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some critics were less favorable in their reviews. [[Dave Kehr]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' gave the film two stars out of four; while calling the film "amiable", he resented it for employing [[white guilt]] and "seeing violence as a liberating symbol rather than a debasing reality."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-06-30-8902130690-story.html|title='Do the Right Thing' at Least Takes a Stab at Complexity|first=Dave|last=Kehr|publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=June 30, 1989|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-date=September 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907045045/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-06-30-8902130690-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Ralph Novak, writing for ''[[People (magazine)|People]]'', panned the film as incoherent and having an unclear message and no likable characters: "If Lee is saying that racism is profoundly painful, frustrating and confusing, no one will argue. But this film states the case without offering any insight."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-do-the-right-thing-vol-32-no-1/|title=Picks and Pans Review: Do the Right Thing|first=Ralph|last=Novak|publisher=[[People (magazine)|People]]|date=July 3, 1989|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-date=October 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019084257/https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-do-the-right-thing-vol-32-no-1/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has a rating of 93%, based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 9.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smart, vibrant and urgent without being didactic, ''Do the Right Thing'' is one of Spike Lee's most fully realized efforts – and one of the most important films of the 1980s."<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/do_the_right_thing/ |title= Rotten Tomatoes 'Do the Right Thing' profile |website= Rotten Tomatoes |access-date= March 20, 2025 |archive-date= September 22, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220922145725/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/do_the_right_thing |url-status= live }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a score of 93 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "universal acclaim", and placing it as the 68th-highest film of all-time on the site.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.metacritic.com/movie/do-the-right-thing |title= 'Do the Right Thing' Metacritic profile |website= Metacritic |access-date= 29 April 2015 |archive-date= March 16, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150316003847/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/do-the-right-thing |url-status= live }}</ref>

===Controversies===
After release, many reviewers protested its content. Some columnists opined that the film could incite Black audiences to riot.<ref>Klein, Joe. "Spiked?", ''New York'', June 26, 1989: 14–15.</ref> Lee criticized White reviewers in turn for suggesting that Black audiences were incapable of restraining themselves while watching a fictional motion picture.<ref name="autogenerated1">"Spike Lee's Last Word", special feature on the [[Criterion Collection]] DVD (2000)</ref> In a 2014 interview, Lee said, "That still bugs the shit out of me", calling the remarks "outrageous, egregious and, I think, racist." He said, "I don't remember people saying people were going to come out of theaters killing people after they watched [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] films."<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Edwards|first1=Gavin|title=Fight the Power: Spike Lee on 'Do the Right Thing'|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/fight-the-power-spike-lee-on-do-the-right-thing-20140620|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=4 April 2017|date=June 20, 2014|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>

An open question near the end of the film is whether Mookie "does the right thing" by throwing the garbage can through the window, inciting the riot that destroys Sal's pizzeria. Some critics have interpreted Mookie's action as one that saves Sal's life by redirecting the crowd's anger away from Sal to his property, while others say that it was an "irresponsible encouragement to enact violence".<ref name="Reid1997">{{cite book|author=Mark A. Reid|title=Spike Lee's Do the right thing|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521550765|url-access=registration|access-date=September 25, 2010|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-55954-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521550765/page/43 43]–}}</ref> The quotations by two major Black leaders used at the end of the film provide no answers: one advocates nonviolence, the other advocates armed self-defense in response to oppression.<ref name="Reid1997" />

Lee has remarked that only White viewers ask him if Mookie did the right thing; Black viewers do not ask him the question.<ref>''Do The Right Thing'' DVD, Director's commentary</ref> Lee believes the key point is that Mookie was angry at the wrongful death of Radio Raheem, stating that viewers who question the riot are explicitly failing to see the difference between property damage and the death of a Black man.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

Lee has been criticized for his treatment of women in his films. [[bell hooks]] said that he wrote Black women in the same objectifying way that White male filmmakers write the characters of White women.<ref>{{Cite book|last=hooks|first=bell|date=2014-10-10|title=Black Looks|doi=10.4324/9781315743226|isbn=9781315743226}}</ref> Rosie Perez, who made her acting debut as Tina in the film, later said that she was very uncomfortable with doing the nude scene in the film:

{{Blockquote
|text=My first experience [with doing nude scenes] was ''Do the Right Thing''. And I had a big problem with it, mainly because I was afraid of what my family would think—that's what was really bothering me. It wasn't really about taking off my clothes. But I also didn't feel good about it because the atmosphere wasn't correct. And when Spike Lee puts ice cubes on my nipples, the reason you don't see my head is because I'm crying. I was like, I don't want to do this.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/25/magazine/the-pressure-to-take-it-off.html|title=The Pressure To Take It Off|last=Udovitch|first=Mim|date=2000-06-25|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-05-10|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=May 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510110110/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/25/magazine/the-pressure-to-take-it-off.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

Subsequently, Perez stated that Lee had offered an apology, and the two remained friends.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/rosie-perez-spike-lee-matrix-audition-1235566016/ |title=Rosie Perez on Making Peace with Spike Lee, Bombing Her 'Matrix' Audition and Why Hollywood's Latino Representation Still 'Sucks' |date=March 29, 2023 |access-date=November 30, 2023 |archive-date=March 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331125542/https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/rosie-perez-spike-lee-matrix-audition-1235566016/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June 2006, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' placed ''Do the Right Thing'' at No. 22 on its list of The 25 Most Controversial Movies Ever.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141009035251/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1202224,00.html "The 25 Most Controversial Movies Ever"], ''Entertainment Weekly'' (Retrieved 9 Apr 2016).</ref>

In the 2021 [[Cannes Film Festival]] award ceremony, Chaz Ebert, the wife of the late film critic Roger Ebert, noted that her husband had been appalled that the film had not received any awards from the Cannes jury in 1989, and had even threatened to boycott the festival as a result.<ref>{{cite podcast|url=http://podbay.fm/p/the-big-picture/e/1629194400|title=Gene and Roger: 6. The Human Condition|date=August 17, 2021|website=The Big Picture|publisher=[[The Ringer (website)|The Ringer]]|via=Podboy|first=Brian|last=Raftery|access-date=July 8, 2022|archive-date=June 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623063808/https://podbay.fm/p/the-big-picture/e/1629194400|url-status=live}}</ref> Lee noted that the U.S. press at the time thought the film "would start race riots all across America". Drawing a loud applause from attending press, he pointed to the continued relevance of the film's story, more than three decades on, saying: "You would think and hope that 30-something motherfucking years later that Black people would have stopped being hunted down like animals."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Spike Lee Reflects On 'Do The Right Thing' 32 Years Later; Says Black People Are Still "Being Hunted Down Like Animals" – Cannes|url=https://deadline.com/2021/07/spike-lee-do-the-right-thing-32-years-later-black-people-hunted-down-like-animals-cannes-1234786708/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-18|website=Deadline|date=July 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210706141724/https://deadline.com/2021/07/spike-lee-do-the-right-thing-32-years-later-black-people-hunted-down-like-animals-cannes-1234786708/ |archive-date=July 6, 2021}}</ref>

African-American [[Avant-garde film|avant-garde filmmaker]] Tony Cokes thought the juxtaposition of both the MLK and Malcolm X quotes was "muddle-headed politically" in the same way the riot started by Mookie was absurd as expression/response to things happening to people of color all over NYC's Metro area during the period. He also criticized the narrative as "producing an uncannily heavy identification with Sal and sons pizza shop as 'victims' of 'irrational black violence' for many critics and white viewers thinking that Radio Raheem deserved what he got from the police and thought the way Lee's construction of situations like the Michael Stewart case functioned was misrepresented and "a disservice".<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Adventures_of_Perception/vbowDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 Adventures of Perception: Cinema as Exploration - Google Books (pgs.75-76)]</ref>

It also topped the list of [[The Orlando Sentinel]]'s overrated films of 1989 calling it "a tiresome combination of sitcom and message movie" that is "full of honest anger but expresses little else". The article also stated that:<ref>[https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1990/02/02/do-the-right-thing-tops-list-of-89-overrated-films/ 'DO THE RIGHT THING' TOPS LIST OF '89 OVERRATED FILMS – Orlando Sentinel]</ref>

<blockquote>It's hard to oppose a film that opposes racism without sounding racist – or at least racially biased – even if the film is superficial in its approach to the issue.</blockquote>

===Awards and nominations===
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! colspan="5" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | List of awards and nominations
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! Award
! Date of ceremony
! Category
! Recipients and nominees
! Result
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Academy Awards]]
| rowspan="2" | [[62nd Academy Awards|March 26, 1990]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1990 |title=1990{{!}}Oscars.org |access-date=May 14, 2022 |archive-date=October 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141001073500/https://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/62nd-winners.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| [[Danny Aiello]]
| rowspan="3" {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| [[Spike Lee]]
|-
| [[Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics]]
| 1990
| [[Grand Prix (Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics)|Grand Prix]]
|
|-
| [[Boston Society of Film Critics]]
| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 1989|1990]]
| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| Danny Aiello
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Cannes Film Festival]]<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/229/year/1989.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Do the Right Thing |access-date=August 1, 2009 |work=festival-cannes.com |archive-date=September 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916200934/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/229/year/1989.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| [[1989 Cannes Film Festival|May 23, 1989]]
| [[Palme d'Or]]
| Spike Lee
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[Chicago Film Critics Association]]
| rowspan="3" | 1990
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]
|
| rowspan="3" {{won}}
|-
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| Spike Lee
|-
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| Danny Aiello
|-
| rowspan="4" | [[Golden Globe Awards]]
| rowspan="4" | [[47th Golden Globe Awards|January 20, 1990]]
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]]
|
| rowspan="4" {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture]]
| Danny Aiello
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director – Motion Picture]]
| rowspan="2" | Spike Lee
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Motion Picture]]
|-
| rowspan="5" | [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association]]
| rowspan="5" | [[1989 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards|December 16, 1989]]
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
|
| rowspan="3" {{won}}
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| Danny Aiello
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| rowspan="2" | Spike Lee
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| {{yes|2nd place}}
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music|Best Music]]
| [[Bill Lee (musician)|Bill Lee]]
| rowspan="4" {{won}}
|-
| [[MTV Movie Awards]]
| [[2006 MTV Movie Awards|June 6, 2006]]
| Silver Bucket of Excellence
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[NAACP Image Awards]]
| rowspan="2" | December 11, 1989
| [[NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture|Outstanding Actress]]
| [[Ruby Dee]]
|-
| [[NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture|Outstanding Supporting Actor]]
| [[Ossie Davis]]
|-
| [[National Society of Film Critics Awards]]
| [[1989 National Society of Film Critics Awards|January 8, 1990]]
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| Spike Lee
| {{no|3rd place}}
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[New York Film Critics Circle]]
| rowspan="3" | [[1989 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|January 14, 1990]]
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
|
| {{no|5th place}}
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| Spike Lee
| {{no|4th place}}
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematographer|Best Cinematography]]
| [[Ernest Dickerson]]
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="7" | The 20/20 Awards
| rowspan="7" | 2010
| Best Picture
|
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Director
| Spike Lee
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="2" | Best Supporting Actor
| Danny Aiello
| rowspan="3" {{nom}}
|-
| [[John Turturro]]
|-
| Best Original Screenplay
| Spike Lee
|-
| Best Film Editing
| [[Barry Alexander Brown]]
| rowspan="2" {{won}}
|-
| Best Original Song
| "[[Fight the Power (Public Enemy song)|Fight the Power]]"<br />Music and Lyrics by [[Chuck D]], Hank Shocklee,<br>Eric Sadler, and [[Keith Shocklee]]
|-
|}

'''[[American Film Institute]] lists'''
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs]]:
** "[[Fight the Power (Public Enemy song)|Fight the Power]]" – No. 40
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)]]&nbsp;– No. 96