So I watched this finally (yes I have been living under a rock) and I am a little confused about the ending.

SPOILERS (for the other 2 or 3 people who haven't seen it)




How are we to interpret Mookie throwing the garbage can through Sal's window?

And Mookie not feeling any remorse about Sal's place the following day?

Im making the assumption that Mookie here Did The Right Thing according to the filmmaker. No?

Is this really just a "down with whitey" film?

I read somewhere Spike Lee said something like "only white people ask this question" (well sorry for asking a reasonable question, Spike) and by asking this question we (whites) value white property over a black mans life (Radio Raheem).

Uh, what?

Please tell me I missed something.

And to keep this dvd related I was very impressed with the movie visually and the job Criterion did with it. I still haven't watched the bonuses, however.

on the commentary lee says white people are more concerned with the pizza place than the human life. buggin out the trouble maker seems like a guy i wouldn't care about myself.

I've seen this film once and it was a long time ago, so I don't remember all the details. I do remember reading Spike's comments at the time and thinking that if the races were reversed, Spike probably wouldn't be telling people that a white Mookie 'did the right thing'.

Well this is one of those movies (one I love...and I am white) that really could be open for any interpretation. Good films tend to do that.

I always thought the message was that trying solving violence with violence simply making things worse. However here I interpret it to be Mookie saying to Sal, see how the shoe fits on the other foot. Ask your self the question, what if the situation was reversed? Would it change how the film is viewed? One has to wonder.

As for the assumption that it is a "down with whitey" film, that is pretty stupid. Spike gets labeled a racists a lot and personally I have yet to see anything racists about anything he does (although he did run his mouth a little bit with the Eastwood situation). You have to take into consideration where Spike is coming from (literal and figurative). For me it is like calling Arron McGruder (creator of the Boondocks) a racist. Not to veer off here, but if you want racism in its purest forms, listen to Jesse Jackson and Al Shaprton...that might put this film into perspective and help answer your questions a bit more.

I love Do the Right Thing. The ending though, is pretty much what others were saying. Mookie throws the trash can through the window to divert attention away from Sal and his sons.

Though to me, I would thinking doing the right thing, would be oh I don't know not rioting and acting like civilized human beings. If a white person made a film showing black people riot there would be big problems.

Mookie did the right thing.....that freaking place never sold calzones...

The ending is deliberately ambiguous, hence the seemingly conflicting quotes by King and X at the end. What you decide about it probably says more about you as a viewer and a person as it does about anything else.

How eloquent. Good films make you feel good, great films make you think.

A lot of Spike Lee's film present opposing viewpoints and lets own make up their own mind as to what is right/wrong. Jungle Fever deals with this as well with the differing relationships between a black man/white woman and a white man/ black woman and presents interesting views on each relationship.

What does this thread have to do with THE DARK KNIGHT?

Just kidding. At first I believed that Mookie acting out was just a "flaw" in his character, that is, he smashes Sal's window because he's upset by the events and lashes out immaturely.

Others have told me that he started the incident to, in effect, protect Sal from the mob by having them take their aggression out on the pizza place instead of the owners.

I felt bad for Sal and his restaurant because --- dirty capitalist that I am --- the place represented his hard work and dreams. For all intents and purposes, making pizzas and seeing customers dine on his food for years was as significant as him creating a work of art to be admired. The Radio Raheem person didn't deserve to die, but nobody was an innocent victim in that scene.

i felt bad for the korean... was about to get obliterated by the whole gang just for selling batteries too expensive

"20 C batteries?"

"D motherfucker!"