Is "Do the Right Thing" that bad content wise?
01-01-03 | 09:08 PM
#27
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Matt925,
Thanks!
And you do know that you can delete the entire post. Instead of trying to let me know that you typed something, but decided to leave it out. I understand, completely.
On topic,
Rated R
for coarse language, nudity, and violence.
Thanks!
And you do know that you can delete the entire post. Instead of trying to let me know that you typed something, but decided to leave it out. I understand, completely.
On topic,
Rated R
for coarse language, nudity, and violence.
01-02-03 | 07:50 AM
#28
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally posted by conscience
lisadoris,
Spike Lee did not want Norman Jewison to direct Malcolm X because he did not believe a white director could do it. Simple as that. I don't really think he successed himself with the picture in the public. Critical, probably. Commerically, probably not.
lisadoris,
Spike Lee did not want Norman Jewison to direct Malcolm X because he did not believe a white director could do it. Simple as that. I don't really think he successed himself with the picture in the public. Critical, probably. Commerically, probably not.
01-02-03 | 01:00 PM
#29
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Originally posted by Matt925
And I just want to add how disappointing it is that anytime anything about Spike comes up, it quickly will lead to a discussion about race and controversy, like that is all his entire being as an artist and his body of artwork boils down to. Look how off topic this has gotten.
Search for "Spike Lee" and every thread will be like that.
And I just want to add how disappointing it is that anytime anything about Spike comes up, it quickly will lead to a discussion about race and controversy, like that is all his entire being as an artist and his body of artwork boils down to. Look how off topic this has gotten.
Search for "Spike Lee" and every thread will be like that.
I rarely pay much attention to the politics of the rich & famous, but Spike is hard to ignore--and I think that's just how he wants it.
WRT DTRT, I think the movie is overrated and hasn’t aged well. I saw it again recently and cringed thru much of it.
01-02-03 | 08:24 PM
#30
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From: Gateway Cities/Harbor Region
Spike Lee
01-03-03 | 02:28 AM
#31
Originally posted by lisadoris
I'm not disagreeing with the fact that Spike Lee didn't want Jewison to direct Malcolm X because he is white. I'm disagreeing with the idea that Lee doesn't want any white directors to direct any black films.
I'm not disagreeing with the fact that Spike Lee didn't want Jewison to direct Malcolm X because he is white. I'm disagreeing with the idea that Lee doesn't want any white directors to direct any black films.
And what's wrong with this? This way, you have a very good chance (and with interviews of the director you will know for sure or not) that the director cares passionately about the work and subject matter and isn't in just for the money, or just because the script seems interesting, or to boost his repuatation in the industry, etc.
And I would use this logic along other lines. I think a movie about women's rights should be done by a woman. For example, "A League of Their Own" was made by Penny Marshall. It could've been dramatized more if that's the angle they wanted to take but a movie about a topic that was so important to women years ago is, in my opinion, better in the hands of a woman.
And I think Spielberg or another Jewish director is better to helm a movie about Jewish history.
01-03-03 | 07:45 AM
#32
DVD Talk Limited Edition
I just think the idea that black directors should direct black historical films, women directors should direct womens films, etc is very limiting. For example, Spielberg directed The Color Purple which is a wonderful movie. He got a lot of flack for it but I don't think the movie would have been any better if Lee or any other black director had helmed it.
01-03-03 | 11:03 AM
#33
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From: Hollywood
Originally posted by Matt925
[B] Just like how Scorsese was originally picked to do Schindler's List, but he felt he wouldn't be able to do as good of a job as a Jewish filmmaker.
[B] Just like how Scorsese was originally picked to do Schindler's List, but he felt he wouldn't be able to do as good of a job as a Jewish filmmaker.
All this hair-splitting over whether a filmmaker is entitled to do a film of an ethnic group he/she doesn't belong to goes against the grain of creativity. An artist is entitled to speak their mind over any subject they choose. There's something sad about artists telling each other what they can or can't do.
01-03-03 | 01:13 PM
#34
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Re: Is "Do the Right Thing" that bad content wise?
Originally posted by RyoHazuki7
Just like the title says Is "Do the Right Thing" that bad content wise? I mean like violence,sex, and profainity. thx
Just like the title says Is "Do the Right Thing" that bad content wise? I mean like violence,sex, and profainity. thx
Violence: Murder, arson, police brutality, rioting.
Sex: Topless woman
Profanity: Racial slurs, strong language.
All of these (with the possible exception of sex) have a purpose in the narrative and are important to the plot -- I would not have a problem showing this movie to a 13-year old or to my grandmother, even with the R rating. The message, although pure, can be disturbing. I can't recommend this movie enough.
Your questions are answered after there two brief synopses, both of which highly praise the film:
Do The Right Thing: Roger Ebert
Leaving the theater after the tumultuous world premiere of Do the Right Thing at Cannes in May of 1989, I found myself too shaken to speak, and I avoided the clusters of people where arguments were already heating up. One American critic was so angry she chased me to the exit to inform me, “This film is a call to racial violence!” I thought not. I thought it was a call to empathy, which of all human qualities is the one this past century seemed most to need.
[more]
Leaving the theater after the tumultuous world premiere of Do the Right Thing at Cannes in May of 1989, I found myself too shaken to speak, and I avoided the clusters of people where arguments were already heating up. One American critic was so angry she chased me to the exit to inform me, “This film is a call to racial violence!” I thought not. I thought it was a call to empathy, which of all human qualities is the one this past century seemed most to need.
[more]
Do The Right Thing: Alexandra DuPont
For me (and, one assumes, the fine folks at Criterion), the movie's damn near pitch-perfect — lightning in a bottle, a magic confluence of cinematic players.
There's the writing, for starters — revised and sharpened during the rehearsal process, if the disc's extras are to be believed. As mentioned, the dialogue's extremely funny — filled with arguments that defy the normal trappings of the "message film" because winners are seldom if ever declared. One minor example: Ossie Davis' bum character, who calls himself "Da Mayor," gets into a tete a tete at one point with four kids. He starts out telling his nobly intoned sob story, which the other kids interrupt and more or less demolish — a complete inversion of the usual "These-kids-nowadays" conversation. Also: What other screenwriter would dare to interrupt his narrative without explanation to stage a mortifying (and disturbingly funny) montage of characters staring straight into the camera uttering strings of racial slurs?
(Also, a parenthetical and not-at-all-important note on character names: Spike Lee has become sort of notorious for the bizarro monikers with which he saddles his protagonists — the worst example being his naming Wesley Snipes' character in Jungle Fever, good Lord, "Flipper Purify." But Lee's naming instincts were never more spot-on than here: Buggin Out, Da Mayor, Mother Sister, Mookie, Radio Raheem, Coconut Sid, Sweet Dick Willie, Officer Ponte, Mister Senor Love Daddy.... If you can find it, it's worth tracking down the out-of-print Do the Right Thing making-of book, which contains Lee's excellent set diary: At one point, he lists more brainstormed character names: True Mathematics, Pain, Sweet Feet, Re-Re, Clean Head, Bleek, Peace God, Born Knowledge, Knock Knock, Indestructible, Be So Mighty.... Many of these names show up in his later films, BTW.)
Then there's the acting: Though broadly sketched, most of these goofily named characters generate a surprising amount of empathy, even when they're saying unlikable things. Special praise goes out to Esposito for his high-speed rantings; Aiello for his transcendent Italian hothead (a character rumored to have been carved out of arguments with Lee); Davis for elevating his "worthless bum" character well above the realm of cliché; Nunn for a monologue on his LOVE and HATE rings; the late stand-up comic Robin Harris for staring straight into the camera and saying terribly ribald things; Lawrence (in a tiny part) for never moving his lower lip, to hilarious effect; Rosie Perez for somehow making screeching an endearing character trait; and young "Sam" Jackson for binding the narrative together with smooth disc-jockey interludes.
I could go on and on. Ernest Dickerson's vibrant, complex cinematography (despite relying a little too heavily on cocked angles) is practically a character in the film; his use of light and color to convey sweltering heat is among the film's greatest pleasures. And the score by Bill Lee (Spike's father), featuring Branford Marsalis, is one of my personal favorites: It's jazz by way of Aaron Copland, with a tender, mournful sound that contrasts nicely with Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," which blisters throughout the film.
[more]
For me (and, one assumes, the fine folks at Criterion), the movie's damn near pitch-perfect — lightning in a bottle, a magic confluence of cinematic players.
There's the writing, for starters — revised and sharpened during the rehearsal process, if the disc's extras are to be believed. As mentioned, the dialogue's extremely funny — filled with arguments that defy the normal trappings of the "message film" because winners are seldom if ever declared. One minor example: Ossie Davis' bum character, who calls himself "Da Mayor," gets into a tete a tete at one point with four kids. He starts out telling his nobly intoned sob story, which the other kids interrupt and more or less demolish — a complete inversion of the usual "These-kids-nowadays" conversation. Also: What other screenwriter would dare to interrupt his narrative without explanation to stage a mortifying (and disturbingly funny) montage of characters staring straight into the camera uttering strings of racial slurs?
(Also, a parenthetical and not-at-all-important note on character names: Spike Lee has become sort of notorious for the bizarro monikers with which he saddles his protagonists — the worst example being his naming Wesley Snipes' character in Jungle Fever, good Lord, "Flipper Purify." But Lee's naming instincts were never more spot-on than here: Buggin Out, Da Mayor, Mother Sister, Mookie, Radio Raheem, Coconut Sid, Sweet Dick Willie, Officer Ponte, Mister Senor Love Daddy.... If you can find it, it's worth tracking down the out-of-print Do the Right Thing making-of book, which contains Lee's excellent set diary: At one point, he lists more brainstormed character names: True Mathematics, Pain, Sweet Feet, Re-Re, Clean Head, Bleek, Peace God, Born Knowledge, Knock Knock, Indestructible, Be So Mighty.... Many of these names show up in his later films, BTW.)
Then there's the acting: Though broadly sketched, most of these goofily named characters generate a surprising amount of empathy, even when they're saying unlikable things. Special praise goes out to Esposito for his high-speed rantings; Aiello for his transcendent Italian hothead (a character rumored to have been carved out of arguments with Lee); Davis for elevating his "worthless bum" character well above the realm of cliché; Nunn for a monologue on his LOVE and HATE rings; the late stand-up comic Robin Harris for staring straight into the camera and saying terribly ribald things; Lawrence (in a tiny part) for never moving his lower lip, to hilarious effect; Rosie Perez for somehow making screeching an endearing character trait; and young "Sam" Jackson for binding the narrative together with smooth disc-jockey interludes.
I could go on and on. Ernest Dickerson's vibrant, complex cinematography (despite relying a little too heavily on cocked angles) is practically a character in the film; his use of light and color to convey sweltering heat is among the film's greatest pleasures. And the score by Bill Lee (Spike's father), featuring Branford Marsalis, is one of my personal favorites: It's jazz by way of Aaron Copland, with a tender, mournful sound that contrasts nicely with Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," which blisters throughout the film.
[more]
That being said, there have been very few moments in film where I've sat stunned and looked at the screen in disbelief for minutes at a time -- and with the exception of Bergman's Cries and Whispers no other drama has been able to ellicit such strong emotion from me. This is one of my favorite films and if I had to go to a desert island and only take one movie, this would be it.
If someone can give me specific examples where Lee touts racial superiority in the film, please put them here. A second draft of the script is here: http://blake.prohosting.com/awsm/scr...rightthing.txt
01-03-03 | 01:33 PM
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From: I was here but I disappear
Originally posted by PacMan2006
I think you took his words out of context. I think if a white director were to direct a black oriented cast in a comedy or drama or action flick then that is fine. But, I totally agree with him that black directors should direct black movies regarding black history for black audiences (yes, all audiences can see it but a movie about Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr will be more important to the black community than others overall, I believe).
I think you took his words out of context. I think if a white director were to direct a black oriented cast in a comedy or drama or action flick then that is fine. But, I totally agree with him that black directors should direct black movies regarding black history for black audiences (yes, all audiences can see it but a movie about Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr will be more important to the black community than others overall, I believe).
The real question for Spike is why when his films are so good at portray the comnplexity of race in America are they (mostly) so incredibly stupid regarding gender.
01-03-03 | 04:28 PM
#36
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally posted by buskerdog
The real question for Spike is why when his films are so good at portray the comnplexity of race in America are they (mostly) so incredibly stupid regarding gender.
The real question for Spike is why when his films are so good at portray the comnplexity of race in America are they (mostly) so incredibly stupid regarding gender.
Norman Jewison also directed an amazing film called A Soldier's Story, one of Denzel Washington's first film roles.
But back on topic, whether you're renting or buying Do The Right Thing, I would try and find the Criterion version. There's a wonderful documentary that chronicles the making of the movie (well over an hour long) and the press conference at Cannes which I found rather humorous.
