Do the Right Thing
1989 film directed by Spike Lee
Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American independent comedy-drama film produced, written and directed by Spike Lee. It features an ensemble cast that includes Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro and John Savage and is the feature film debut of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. The story explores a Brooklyn neighborhood's simmering racial tension between its African-American residents and the Italian-American owners of a local pizzeria, culminating in tragedy and violence on a hot summer's day.
Do the Right Thing premiered at the 42nd Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 1989, and was theatrically released in the United States by Universal Pictures on June 30. It was a major critical and commercial success, grossing $37.3 million worldwide against a production budget of $6.2 million. Blending elements of comedy, drama and social commentary, the film is noted for its vivid color design, stylized cinematography, direct-address monologues and an influential hip-hop-driven soundtrack, prominently featuring Public Enemy's "Fight the Power". Lee's direction combines heightened realism with theatrical and symbolic techniques to convey the psychological and emotional effects of heat, crowd dynamics and urban life. The film's ambiguous and controversial conclusion sparked widespread debate upon release regarding the nature of protest, responsibility and moral judgment.
The film earned nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Aiello) at the 62nd Academy Awards. It has since been widely recognized as one of the most important American films of the late 20th century; in 1999, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
“Do the Right Thing” enters the record as 1989 film directed by Spike Lee. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Right, Thing and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1141252. VIAF identifies the subject as 316753496. The Library of Congress control number is n88202897. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1989 and 1999.
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This entry incorporates text from “Do the Right Thing” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.