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The Movie:
Spike Lee's 1989 feature "Do The Right Thing" remains one of his best works, containing fantastic acting and wonderful cinematography. A controversial release when it first came out, the film still remains a vibrant and engaging effort 12 years later.
The film revolves around a group of people who live in a Brooklyn neighborhood on the hottest day of the year. Like anywhere, heat tends to bring out the worst in people, and here, there's rage and tension simmering underneath that begins to come out as the day gets hotter. The local DJ(Samuel L. Jackson) wakes up the neighborhood, and Lee takes us around to introduce us to the characters, one of which is played by himself.
Lee plays Mookie, a pizza delivery boy who keeps going back and forth between Sal's pizza and the neighborhood, eventually finding himself in the middle of a problem as "Buggin Out"(Giancarlo Esposito) becomes angered that no African Americans are included on the "wall of fame" in the pizza place. Although Sal himself considers his place as the center of the neighborhood and feels pride for having fed the neighborhood all these years, his son Pino (John Turturro) has racist feelings towards the customers. An inital boycott by Buggin' eventually turns violent as tempers flare.
Although "Do The Right Thing"'s way of presenting these issues has come under controversy, I think there's still general elements to the film that can be appreciated by anyone. Ernest Dickerson's cinematography is often brilliant and beautiful, capturing bright, bold colors and movement very well. Lee very capably keeps a large cast organized and gets excellent performances from most of the supporting cast, especially Ossie Davis as the "mayor" figure of the area as well as Danny Aiello, who I believe was nominated for best supporting actor. Lee himself also offers a fine effort as Mookie. There's a lot of life to it, a feeling of reality to this neighborhood - comedy, drama, action.
Although Criterion has essentially taken the materials for their laserdisc release over into this DVD release, what excellent materials they are. The extra features included on this DVD, from the commentary on the first disc to a few lengthy and informative documentaries on the second disc, this is a great package. Pair that with a new anamorphic transfer, and those who are fans of the film should be thrilled with what Criterion is offering.
The DVD
VIDEO: Criterion has done a fine job with "Do The Right Thing" with this new anamorphic transfer in the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Approved by cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, the presentation does have some flaws that are noticable, but generally, it looks excellent. Sharpness and detail are a little bit less-than-perfect; the picture sometimes has a bit of a soft look. Still, the image looks consistently well-defined and if not always totally sharp and crisp, at least not hazy or blurry.
I didn't notice any pixelation or shimmering - the one noticable problem that was visible a bit more often than I'd like to see was print flaws. Mostly some marks, but with the occasional scratch. There isn't consistent wear throughout, but when it appeared, it found it noticable. A handful of scenes seemed grainy, but to such a minimal amount that it was hardly noticable.
At it's best though, "Do The Right Thing" looks wonderful with this new anamorphic transfer. Dickerson's cinematography is nothing short of phenomenal, capturing the heat, vibrancy and colors of the city in the middle of the Summer. Colors look very well-saturated with no flaws. Aside from a bit of wear now and then, "Do The Right Thing" looks impressive here. A very nice job from Criterion.
SOUND: "Do The Right Thing" is offered in a Dolby Surround presentation and a PCM Stereo one. The Dolby Surround presentation sounds very good. The main element of the audio is the score, which has some suprisingly deep, bassy beats throughout the movie. Dialogue sounds clear and easily understood, with no issues of unnatural/harsh sounding dialogue.
MENUS: Criterion has provided wonderful menus for both discs. As with almost all of Criterion's editions, you generally get everything on the main menu, and things are even broken up into greater detail on the sub-menus, with indexes, information about the supplement and more. The main menus for both discs include subtle animation with images from the film and the excellent score in the background.
EXTRAS: Almost all of the extras included on this DVD were originally included on Criterion's laserdisc edition for "Do The Right Thing". Certainly, it's a lot nicer to spend $40.00(or less) for the DVD than the originally around $100.00 laserdisc box set.
Commentary: Criterion has taken the laserdisc commentary for this DVD. It's hosted by Public Enemy's Chuck D and includes separately recorded comments from director Spike Lee, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, actress Joie Lee(Spike's younger sister) and production designer Wynn Thomas. Although it would have been interesting to have all of the contributors in a room together, all of their comments add up to an informative and often fascinating discussion of the production and story behind "Do The Right Thing". I have to say though, that I found Dickerson's comments to be the most interesting and informative. As someone who is fascinated with cinematography, it was great to hear Dickerson's excellent comments about who has inspired his work for "Do The Right Thing" and the kind of things that he came up with to create the hot, bold look of the city in "Do The Right Thing".
Spike Lee provides a very interesting discussion of the issues in the story and working with the actors; Joie has a few good comments as well about her performance and career. Thomas also contributes nicely at times, as well. Overall, this proved to be a very strong commentary track that never lost my interest. With all of the people involved, there's hardly any pauses of silence.
Intro: Director Spike Lee provides a new introduction to the film on the second disc, talking a bit about his feelings looking back. This is the supplement that starts off the second DVD.
Behind-The-Scenes: This is footage shot by Spike Lee during the 1989 production of "Do The Right Thing". It's very personal and entertaining, taking us into the middle of the filmmaking process like few documentaries included on DVD do, going from the opening elements like getting the cast together and introducing themselves to rehearsals and more. It's often fascinating to watch and very informative. It's definitely not one of those "promotional" documentaries and provides a great look at putting the movie together.
Cannes Q & A: This shows the press conference that followed the film's screening at the Cannes Film Festival, including comments from Lee, Ossie Davis and other members of the cast as they answer questions from a crowd of reporters. This is a fantastic addition, as some good questions (and even better answers) get raised throughout the slightly over 40 minute presentation, which looks like it was broadcast on French TV at one point. Questions from reporters who are not English are subtitled.
Making "Do The Right Thing: This is a 60 minute documentary by St. Clair Bourne that does an excellent job taking us through the production of the film. The viewer is taken into the neighborhood and we watch as homes are re-done and touched up for the movie, and as the crew preps the look that they want from the street. The documentary than follows the film into production as rehearsals begin with the actors and the cast and crew prepare and work towards the final product. It's fascinating to see the movie coming into the neighborhood and how the people react to having the production become part of their lives, which is something that we rarely see in documentaries like this one. Bourne's documentary tells the whole story of the making of the film, showing us all of the details from top to bottom, and that's something we rarely see in documentaries included on DVDs.
Also on this menu, you will find options for a Spike Lee introduction as well as a short featurette where Lee goes back to visit the neighborhood that the film was shot in.
Riot Sequence: This starts off with a very interesting introduction from Lee where he talks about not always storyboarding scenes from his film and saying that there's no one "right" way to do things. The storyboards for the riot sequence are then presented.
Barry Brown Interview: Editor Barry Brown discusses his early memories of working with director Spike Lee and how the two quickly became good friends, with a similar love for cinema. It's really something that film students should watch. There's really few more important things to students who are working in film than to network and become friends with people who love movies like yourself. In the future, they can offer their talents to your movie, such as editing and cinematography, and you can help them out. This is a new feature, as the DVD indicates that it was recorded in the Summer of 2000.
Trailers: The film's theatrical trailer, as well as 2 TV spots.
Music Video: The music video for "Fight The Power", from Public Enemy.
Spike's Final Words: Lee adds another new interview clip at the end of the film, providing interesting analysis of the film's issues and story, sharing his feelings about the picture.
Final Thoughts:
Positive: Criterion has taken an excellent film that has already been given an outstanding presentation on laserdisc and made even richer, with a new transfer, beautifully animated menus and newly done thoughts from Lee himself. The extra features included make this 2 DVD set worth every penny and fans will very likely find them to offer great insight into the production of the film. Highly recommended and especially if you can find it on sale for less than the $39.99 retail price.
Negative: No negatives to report; there's bit of noticable print flaws, but there's not consistent wear.
Film Grade
The Film *** 1/2
DVD Grades
Video 88/B = (352/400 possible points)
Audio: 85/B = (340/400 possible points)
Extras: 97/A = (291/300 possible points)
Menus: 95/A = (190/200 possible points)
Value: 94/A = (282/300 possible points)
TOTAL POINTS:1455/1600
DVD GRADE:A/91%
FILM GRADE: *** 1/2
DVD GRADE: A
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