Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee got the idea discussing the 1986 Howard Beach attack with Robert De Niro, and wrote the script in 2 weeks. De Niro was the first thought for Sal and suggested Danny Aiello instead. Aiello’s son Rick plays the officer who kills Radio Raheem. Production designer Wynn Thomas repainted one Bedford-Stuyvesant block, Stuyvesant Avenue between Quincy Street and Lexington Avenue, leaning on red and orange to carry the heatwave; a working pizzeria, a Korean grocery and a radio station went up where a burnt-out building had stood. When local dealers threatened the crew, Lee put Fruit of Islam members on security. The insults in the last confrontation between Sal and Buggin’ Out were improvised at his invitation. At the 62nd Academy Awards it was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, and won neither. The Los Angeles critics gave it 4 prizes: picture, director, supporting actor and music score, and the New York critics named Ernest Dickerson for cinematography. A good fit if you want one street brought to a boil across a single day, with the closing quotations refusing to settle the argument. Not for anyone expecting a verdict on Mookie and the trash can; Lee says only white viewers ask him about it.