Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing is a 1989 film that tells a tale of bigotry and racial conflict in a multi-ethnic community in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, on the hottest day of the year. Written and directed by Spike Lee. It's the hottest day of the summer. You can do nothing, you can do something, or you can... Sal You know somethin'? There's nothin' like a family in business, working together. I'm gonna rename the place. I'm gonna call it 'Sal and Sons Famous Pizzeria.' Why not? You guys are gonna take it over someday anyway, right? And Mookie, Mookie, I wanna tell you that there's always gonna be a place for you here, right here at Sal's, Sal's Famous Pizzeria, because you've always been like a son to me. [after the riot] This ain't about money. I couldn't give a fuck about money. You see this fuckin' place? I built this fuckin' place! With my bare fuckin' hands! Every light socket, every piece of tile. Me! With these fuckin' hands! [throws Mookie's pay in a wad of bills] You got $500. You're a rich fuckin' man now, ya happy?...You're wealthy, Mookie. You're a real fuckin' Rockefeller! You got your fuckin' pay, now leave me alone, huh? Da Mayor Doctor, those that'll tell don't know, and those that know won't tell. If we don't stop this and stop it now, we gonna do something we're gonna regret for the rest of our lives. Sal and his boys had nothing to do with what the cops did....Leave him alone. Radio Raheem Let me tell you the story of right hand-left hand. It's a tale of good and evil. Hate: it was with this hand that Cain iced his brother. Love: these five fingers, they go straight to the soul of man. The right hand: the hand of love. The story of life is this: static. One hand is always fighting the other hand, and the left hand is kicking much ass. I mean, it looks like the right hand—Love—is finished. But hold on, stop the presses; the right hand is coming back. Yeah, he got the left hand on the ropes now, that's right. Ooh, it's a devastating right and Hate is hurt. He's down. Left-Hand Hate KO-ed by Love. Tina The last time I trusted you, Mookie, I ended up with a son. Mister Senor Love Daddy This is Mister Senor Love Daddy, your voice of choice. The world's only 12-hour strongman on the air, here on We Love Radio, 108 FM, the last on your dial, but first in your hearts, and that's the truth, Ruth. Here I am. Am I here? You know it. It ya know. This is Mister Senor Love Daddy doing the nasty to your ears, your ears to the nasty. I's only play the platters that matter. The matters they platter, and that's the truth, Ruth.... Doing the yin and the yang, the hip and the hop, the stupid, fresh thing, the flippity-flop. I have today's forecast for you. Hot! The color for today is black. That's right, black. So you can absorb some of these rays and save that heat for winter. So you wanna get on out there and wear that black and be involved! Also, today's temperature's gonna rise up over 100 degrees. So that's a Jheri curl alert. If you have Jheri curl, stay in the house, or you'll end up with a permanent plastic helmet on your head forever.... WE LOVE ROLL CALL, Y'ALL! Boogie Down Productions, Rob Base, Dana Dane, Marley Marl, Olatunji, Chuck D, Ray Charles, EPMD, EU, Alberta Hunter, Run–D.M.C., Stetsasonic, Sugar Bear, John Coltrane, Big Daddy Kane, Salt-n-Pepa, Luther Vandross, McCoy Tyner, Biz Markie, New Edition, Otis Redding, Anita Baker, Thelonious Monk, Marcus Miller, Branford Marsalis, James Brown, Wayne Shorter, Tracy Chapman, Miles Davis, Force MDs, Oliver Nelson, Fred Wesley, Maceo, Janet Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, George Clinton, Count Basie, Mtume, Stevie Wonder, Bobby McFerrin, Dexter Gordon, Sam Cooke, Parliament-Funkadelic, Al Jarreau, Teddy Pendergrass, Joe Williams, Wynton Marsalis, Phyllis Hyman, Sade, Sarah Vaughn, Roland Kirk, Keith Sweat, Kool Moe Dee, Prince, Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, Bessie Smith, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Steel Pulse, Little Richard, Mahalia Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Cannonball AND Nat Adderley, Quincy Jones, Marvin Gaye, Charles Mingus AND Marion Williams. We wanna thank you all for makin' our lives just a little brighter here on We Love Radio! My people, my people, what can I say; say what I can. I saw it but didn't believe it; I didn't believe what I saw. Are we gonna live together? Together, are we gonna live? Pino [to Nino] Mookie's not to be trusted...No mulignan can be trusted. The first time you turn your back, boom! The spear right here, man, in the back....I want you to be on fuckin' guard, man....You be on guard 'cause Mookie has Pop conned, so we gotta look out for him. Dialogue Buggin' Out: Yo, Mookie. Mookie: What? Buggin' Out: Stay black. Buggin' Out: You the man. Mookie: No, you the man. Buggin' Out: You the man. Mookie: No, you the man. Buggin' Out: No, I'm just a struggling black man trying to keep my dick hard in a cruel and harsh world. Mookie: Pino, fuck you, fuck your fucking pizza, and fuck Frank Sinatra. Pino: Yeah? Well, fuck you, too, and fuck Michael Jackson. Buggin' Out: Hey, hey, Sal, how come you ain't got no brothers up on the wall here? Sal: You want brothers up on the wall, get your own place. You can do what you want to do. You can put your brothers and uncles and nieces and nephews, step-fathers, step-mothers, whoever you want. See? But, this is my pizzeria. American Italians up on the wall. Vito: Take it easy, Pop. Pino: Don't start. Buggin' Out: Yeah, that might be fine, Sal, but, you own this, rarely do I see any American Italians eatin' in here. All I see is Black folks. So since we spend much money here, we do have some say. Sal: You lookin' for trouble? You a troublemaker, is that what you are? You makin' trouble? Buggin' Out: Yeah! I'm a troublemaker. I'm makin' trouble. Sal: You're a ball breaker. Always comin' in here lookin' for trouble, aren't you. Suppose I busted your head. How would you - Now, Mookie. Mookie, you wanna get your friend outta here. Buggin' Out: Oh, you wanna kick me out now? You're gonna kick me out, huh? Sal: Nah, I'm not kickin' you out. You're kickin' yourself out. Buggin' Out: What? Look, we want some brothers up on the wall. Yo, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, you know, Michael Jordan. Tomorrow! Da Mayor: Doctor. Mookie: C'mon, what? What? Da Mayor: Always do the right thing. Mookie: That's it? Da Mayor: That's it. Mookie: I got it. I'm gone. Pino: Daddy, you know, I've been thinking... maybe we should sell this place, get out while we're still ahead... and alive. Sal: You really think you know what's best for us, Pino? Pino: Maybe we can... can we sell this and open up a new one in our own neighborhood? Sal: There's too many pizzerias already there. Pino: Then maybe we could... we could try something different. Sal: What am I gonna do? What am I - that's all I know. What am I doing? I been here twenty-five years. Where am I going? Pino: I'm sick of niggers. It's like I come to work, it's Planet of the Apes. I don't like being around them. They're animals. Sal: Why you got so much anger in you? Pino: Why? I'll tell you why. My friends, they laugh at me. They laugh right in my face. They tell me, "Go to Bed-Stuy. Go feed the moulies". Sal: Do your friends put money in your pocket, Pino? Food on your table? They pay your rent, a roof over your head? They're not your friends. If they were your friends they wouldn't laugh at you. Pino: Pop, what can I say? I don't want to be here. They don't want us here. We should stay in our own neighborhood, stay in Bensonhurst, and the niggers should stay in theirs. Sal: I never had no trouble with these people. I sat in this window. I watched these little kids get old. And I seen the old people get older. Yeah, sure, some of them don't like us, but most of them do. I mean, for Christ's sake, Pino, they grew up on my food. On my food. And I'm very proud of that. Oh, you may think It's funny, but I'm very proud of that. Look, what I'm trying to say, son, is, uh... Sal's Famous Pizzeria is here to stay. I'm sorry. I'm your father, and I love you, I'm sorry but... but that's the way it is. Radio Raheem: Give me 20 "D" Energizers. Sonny: 20 "C" Energizers? Radio Raheem: Not "C", "D". Sonny: "C" Energizers? Radio Raheem: "D", motherfucker, "D". Learn to speak English first, all right? Kim: How many you say? Radio Raheem: 20, motherfucker, 20. Sonny: Motherfuck you. Radio Raheem: Motherfuck you? You, you all right, man. ML: Well, gentlemen, the way I see it, if this hot weather continues, it's going to melt the polar caps and the whole wide world. And all the parts that ain't water already will surely be blooded. Coconut Sid: You're a simple motherfucker. Now where you read that shit, eh? Polar caps... ML: Don't worry about it. But when it happens, and I'm in my boat, and your black asses are drowning, don't call for me to throw you no rope, no lifesaver, or no nothing. Sweet Dick Willie: You fool! You're 30 cents away from having a quarter! Where the fuck you gon' get a boat? Mother-Sister: Hey, you old drunk! What did I tell you about drinking in front of my stoop? Move on. You're blocking my view. You are ugly enough. Don't stare at me. The Evil eye doesn't work on me. Da Mayor: Mother-Sister, you've been talking about me for 18 years. What have I ever done to you? Mother-Sister: You a drunk fool. Da Mayor: Besides that. Da Mayor don't bother nobody and nobody bother Da Mayor but you. The man just tends to his own business. I love everybody. I even love you. Mother-Sister: Hold your tongue. You don't have that much love. Da Mayor: One day, you're gonna be nice to me. We may both be dead and buried, but you're gonna be nice; at least civil. ML: Look at those Korean motherfuckers across the street. I betcha they haven't been a year off da motherfucking boat before they opened up their own place. Coconut Sid: It's been about a year. ML: A motherfucking year off the motherfucking boat and got a good business in our neighborhood occupying a building that had been boarded up for longer than I care to remember and I've been here a long time. Sweet Dick Willie: It has been a long time. Coconut Sid: How long? ML: Too long! Too long. Now for the life of me, I haven't been able to figger this out. Either dem Koreans are geniuses or we Blacks are just plain dumb. Coconut Sid: It's got to be because we are black. Ain't no other explanation. No, no, I know, man. You know it's true. Ain't they always trying to keep the black man to be about shit? Sweet Dick Willie: You motherfuckers hold that shit down. I'm tired of hearing that old excuse, I'm tired of hearing that shit. ML: You know, I swear, man, I will be one happy fool when we open our own business right here in our neighborhood. I swear to God, I will be the first in line to spend what little money I got. Coconut Sid: Be right there with you, man. Sweet Dick Willie: You motherfuckers are always talking that old Keith Sweat shit: 'I'm gonna. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that.' You ain't gonna do a god-damn thing, but sit your monkey ass on this corner. Hey, ML, when you gonna get your business, huh? [no answer from ML] Yeah, just like I thought. You ain't going to do a goddamn thing. But I'll tell you what I'm going to do, hear me, I'm gonna go over there and give them Koreans more of my money. Get the fuck out of my way. It's Miller time, motherfuckers. Old, moose-head fuckers telling me what to do. And, Coconut, you got a lot of damn nerve, you got off the boat, too. Leave me alone. [To the Koreans] Hey, Kung Fu, go on give me one of them damn beers. Damn it! Da Mayor: Unless you done stood in the door, listened to your five hungry children crying for bread, and you can't do a damn thing about it. Your woman standing there, you can't even look her in the eye. Unless you done that, you don't know me, my pain, my hurt, my feelings. You don't know shit!...Don't call me bum. Don't call me a drunk. You all ain't got the sense that God give a billy goat! Don't call me nothin'. It's disrespectful. I know your mamas and your papas raised you better." Ahmad: Yo, man, I hope you finished your little soliloquy, man. 'Cause first of all, I've been peein' straight for years, understand what I'm saying? And you're right, I wouldn't stand in the doorway and listen to my five children go hungry. I'd be out getting a job, doing somethin', anything to put food in their mouth. And you're right. I don't want to know your pain. I don't care to know your pain. You're the one who put yourself in this situation, man. Every day, every day, I see you walk up and down this block, inebriated. Never sober! But that's what DA stands for, Da Mayor, Drunk Ass. He don't get no respect here. You'll never get respect here, boy. How you gonna tell me how my parents raised me? I respect those who respect themselves. Buggin' Out: You almost knocked me down, man. The word is "Excuse me". Clifton: Ah, excuse me. I'm sorry. Buggin' Out: Not only did ya knock me down, you stepped on my brand-new white Air Jordans I just bought, and that's all you can say is "Excuse me"? Clifton: What, are you serious? Buggin' Out: Yeah, I'm serious. I'll fuck you up quick two times. Ahmad: Two times. Buggin' Out: Who told you to step on my sneakers? Who told you to walk on my side of the block? Who told you to be in my neighborhood? Clifton: I own this brownstone. Buggin' Out: Who told you to buy a brownstone on my block, in my neighborhood, on my side of the street? Yo, what you wanna live in a black neighborhood for, anyway? Man, motherfuck gentrification. Mookie: Pino, who's your favorite basketball player? Pino: Magic Johnson. Mookie: And who's your favorite movie star? Pino: Eddie Murphy. Mookie: And who's your favorite rock star? [Pino doesn't respond] Mookie: Prince. You're a Prince freak. Pino: Boss. Bruce. Mookie: Prince. Pino: Bruce! Mookie: Pino, all you ever talk about is nigger this and nigger that, and all your favorite people are so-called niggers. Pino: It's different. Magic, Eddie, Prince... are not niggers. I mean, they're not black, I mean - Let me explain myself. They're - They're not really black. I mean, they're black, but they're not really black. They're more than black. It's different. Mookie: It's different? Pino: Yeah. To me, it's different. Mookie: You dago, wop, guinea, garlic breath, pizza slinging, spaghetti bending, Vic Damone, Perry Como, Luciano Pavarotti, Sole Mio, non-singing motherfucker. Pino: You gold teeth, gold chain wearing, fried chicken and biscuit eating, monkey, ape, baboon, big thigh, fast running, high jumping, spear chucking, three-hundred-sixty-degree basketball dunking, titsun, spade, mulignan. Take your fucking pizza piece and go the fuck back to Africa. Stevie: You little slanty eyed, me-no-speaky-American, own-every-fruit-and-vegetable-stand-in-New-York, bullshit, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Summer Olympic '88, Korean kickboxing son-of-a-bitch. Officer Long: You Goya bean eating, fifteen-in-a-car, thirty-in-an-apartment, pointed shoes, red wearing, Menudo, mira-mira Puerto Rican cocksucker. Yeah, you! Sonny: It's cheap! I got a good price for you, Mayor Koch, "How-I'm-doing?", chocolate egg cream drinking, bagel and lox, B'nai B'rith, Jew asshole. Mister Señor Love Daddy: Yo! Hold up! Time out! Time out! Y'all take a chill! Ya need to cool that shit out! And that's the double truth, Ruth! Pino: Maybe we should sell this place. Get out while we're still ahead and alive. Couldn't we sell this and open up a new one in our own neighborhood? I'm sick of niggerss. It's like I come to work, it's Planet of the Apes. I don't like being around them. They're animals. They don't want us here. We should stay in our own neighborhood, stay in Bensonhurst, and the niggers should stay in theirs. Sal: I never had no trouble with these people. I sat in this window. I watched these little kids get old. And I seen the old people get older. Yeah, sure, some of them don't like us, but most of them do. I mean, for Christ's sake, Pino, they grew up on my food. On my food. I'm very proud of that....Sal's Famous Pizzeria is here to stay. Sal: What'd I tell you about that noise? Buggin' Out: What'd I tell you about them pictures? Sal: What the fuck, are you deaf? Buggin' Out: No! Are you? FUCK YOU! We want some black people on that motherfucking Wall of Fame now! Mookie: We're trying to go fucking home! We've been here all fucking day, Buggin Out! Sal: Turn that jungle music off! We ain't in Africa! Buggin' Out: Why it got to be about jungle music? Why it got to be about Africa? It's about them fucking pictures! Sal: It's about turning that shit off and getting the fuck out of my place! Pino: RADIO RAHEEM! Radio Raheem: Fuck you! Sal: AND FUCK YOU TOO! Ahmad: Get in there, Pino! Radio Raheem: This is music. My music! Sal: FUCK YOUR MUSIC! Radio Raheem: Well, turn it off, then. Vito: Hey, man, get the fuck out of here! We're fucking closed! Buggin' Out: Fuck you! We're closing you guinea bastards for good! For good, motherfucker! Until you get some black people on that motherfucking Wall of Fame! Sal: You're gonna fucking close me? [Sal grabs his bat] Buggin' Out: You're goddamn right! Sal: YOU BLACK COCKSUCKER!! I'LL FUCKING TEAR YOUR FUCKING NIGGER ASS! [Everbody in the pizzeria starts shouting at once at Sal's insult] Punchy: [Over all the shouting] Oh, we're niggers now?! We niggers now! Buggin' Out: YOU FUCKING WHITE TRASH! I'LL FUCK YOU UP! Mookie: Sal, put the fucking bat down! Buggin' Out: COME ON, MAN, YOU FUCKING GUINEA TRASH! Sal: YOU BLACK COCKSUCKER!! YOU NIGGER MOTHERFUCKER! [Sal explodes in rage and smashes Radio Raheem's boombox several times with his bat] Mother-Sister: Good morning. Da Mayor: Is it a good morning? Mother-Sister: Yes, indeed. You almost got yourself killed last night. Da Mayor: I've done that before. Where did you sleep? Mother-Sister: I didn't. Da Mayor: Hope the block is still standing. Mother-Sister: We're still standing. Cast Spike Lee - Mookie Danny Aiello - Sal Ossie Davis - Da Mayor Ruby Dee - Mother Sister Giancarlo Esposito - Buggin' Out Bill Nunn - Radio Raheem John Turturro - Pino Richard Edson - Vito Roger Guenveur Smith - Smiley Rosie Perez - Tina Joie Lee - Jade Steve White - Ahmad Martin Lawrence - Cee Leonard L. Thomas - Punchy Christa Rivers - Ella Robin Harris - Sweet Dick Willie Paul Benjamin - ML Frankie Faison -Coconut Sid Samuel L. Jackson - Mister Señor Love Daddy Steve Park - Sonny Rick Aiello - Officer Gary Long Miguel Sandoval - Officer Mark Ponte Luis Antonio Ramos - Stevie John Savage - Clifton Frank Vincent as Charlie Richard Parnell Habersham - Eddie Ginny Yang - Kim Nicholas Turturro (extra) (uncredited) External links 0097216 Do the Right Thing do_the_right_thing Do the Right Thing Category:Italian films Category:Spanish films Category:Films set in Brooklyn Category:United States National Film Registry films Category:Films directed by Spike Lee Category:Films about racism Category:Hip hop films Category:1989 American films Category:1989 English-language films Category:African-American films Category:American comedy-drama films Category:American independent films