Don't Make a Scene: Do the Right Thing

The Story: In the hub-bub, swelter and melee of Do the Right Thing, random acts of kindness are jumbled up with a constant beat-down as ever-present as the rattling bass-thump from a boom-box. In Spike Lee's version of "Our Town: Bed-Stuy" tossed with mixed (and salty) "Peanuts," a kind word is part of the stew of curses, a kindness is looked on with suspicion and rarely reciprocated.

There are many locales where the events of the film take place, but the most happen at Sal's Famous Pizzeria, which on this hot Summer day will see its best day and its worst night.  Run by Sal Fragione (Danny Aiello) and his two sons, Pino and Vito (John Turturro, Richard Edson), the pizza place is where everyone comes to get a slice. Twenty-five years in the neighborhood, Sal's is a hub of activity, not all of it good.

This scene is one shot, one take, but it's not as scripted.* At some point, Aiello and Lee agreed that the actor could ad-lib parts of his dialong, and, as a result, the character of Sal becomes a little more soft, more paternal towards his customers...and maybe a bit clueless where his son gets his anger (we've seen Sal get into some heated discussions before this scene, and we'll see more). It makes Sal a bit inconsistent in his attitudes, but then...maybe you can blame it on the heat.

The Set-Up: Hot town. Summer in the city. The tensions that already run high are simmering on the sidewalks and streets of Brooklyn. There's a break in the activity at Sal's and time for a father-son chat.

Action!

INT: SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--DAY

Sal takes a seat at one of the tables.
SAL: I'm beat.
Pino sits down next to his father.
PINO: Daddy, I been thinkin'. Maybe we should sell this place, get outta here while we're still ahead...and alive.
SAL: You really think you know what's best for us, Pino?
PINO: Couldn't we sell this and open up a new one in our own neighborhood?
SAL: There's too many pizzerias already there.
PINO: Well, maybe we could try something different.
SAL: Wha..What am I gonna do? What am I...That's all I know. What am I doin'? I been here twenty five years. Where am I goin'?
PINO: I'm sick of niggers, it's like I come to work, it's "Planet of the Apes." A bad neighborhood. I don't like being around them, they're animals.
SAL: Why you got so much anger in you?
PINO: Wired that way.
PINO: My friends, they laugh at me, they laugh right in my fuckin' face, they tell me go to Bed-Stuy, go on, feed the Moulies.
SAL: Do your friends put money in your pocket, Pino? Food on your table? They pay your rent? The roof over your head? Huh?
Pino is quiet.
SAL: They're not your friends. If they were your friends, they wouldn't laugh at ya.
PINO: Pop, what can I say? I don't wanna be here, they don't want us here.
PINO: We should stay in our own neighborhood, stay in Bensonhurst.
PINO: And the niggers should stay in theirs.
SAL: I never had no trouble with these people.
SAL: I sit in this window every day. I watch little kids get old. And I seen the old people get older. Yeah, some of 'em don't like us. But some of them do. I mean, for Christsake, Pino, they grew up on my food. On my food.
SAL: And I'm very proud of that. Well, you may think it's funny, but I'm very proud of that.
SAL: Look, what I'm tryin' ta say, son...is that Sal's Pizzeria is here to stay.
SAL: I'm sorry. I'm your father, I love ya, I'm sorry, but that's the way it is.
SAL: (chuckles) How ya doin'?
SMILEY: Hi, Sal! Two dollahs.
PINO: Get out!
PINO:(Pino raps hard on the window) GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE, MAN! Get the fuck outta Here! (Pino gets up and goes ouside)
SMILEY: Two dollah's Sal.
PINO: Whatsamatter? Get outta here. Get the fuck outta here, man.
BYSTANDER: Hey, hey, hey, HEY!
PINO: Every day, it's the same shit. Hey, what? So there? Get a fuckin' job! Why don't you get a fuckin' job, man! Go to work! Get outta here. Get OUT!
PINO: See what I'm sayin'?


Do the Right Thing

Words by Spike Lee (and Danny Aiello)

Pictures by Ernest Dickerson and Spike Lee

Do the Right Thing is available on DVD through the Criterion Collection.

*
INT: SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--DAY


Sal takes a seat at one of the tables.


SAL I'm beat.


Pino sits down next to his father.


PINO Pop, I think we should sell this place, get outta here while we're still ahead...and alive.


SAL Since when do you know what's best for us?


PINO Couldn't we sell this and open up a new one in our own neighborhood?


SAL Too many pizzerias already there.


PINO Then we could try something else.


SAL We don't know nuthin' else.


PINO I'm sick of niggers, it's a bad neighborhood. I don't like being around them, they're animals.


VITO Some are OK.


PINO My friends laugh at me all the time, laugh right in my face, tell me go feed the Moulies.


SAL Do your friends put money in your pocket? Pay your rent? Food on ya plate?


Pino is quiet.


SAL I didn't think so.


PINO Pop, what else can I say? I don't wanna be here, they don't want us here. We should stay in our own neighborhood, stay in Bensonhurst.


SAL So what if this is a Black neighborhood, so what if we're a minority. I've never had no trouble with dese people, don't want none either, so don't start none. This is America. Sal's Famous Pizzeria is here for good. You think you know it all? Well, you don't. I'm your father, you better remember that.

Don't Make a Scene: Do the Right Thing

The Story: In the hub-bub, swelter and melee of Do the Right Thing, random acts of kindness are jumbled up with the constant beat-down as ever-present as the 80hz thump from a boom-box. In Spike Lee's version of "Our Town: Bed-Stuy" tossed with mixed (and salted) "Peanuts,"* a kind word is the healthy spice in a stew of curses, and a kindness is looked on with suspicion and rarely reciprocated.

Except here.

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening (which will soon get much hotter) two people in their own twilights put aside their differences—he's a man, she's a woman; he's a drunk; she's a lady—and acknowledge some worth. But, it's reserved and Lee keeps the barriers between them intact by never putting them in the same frame. From our vantage point, they are talking AT each other (and to us), but never WITH each other.

And like everything Mr. Lee does, it's theatrical, buoyant, direct, to the point and often in your face. But sweet, and lovely to look at (Ernest Dickerson's manufactured roseate days and velvet nights are the stuff of M-G-M technicolor). I love the street-light that pops on and bathes Da Mayor's face with a (though a couple seconds late) orange glow when Mother Sister gives him his due. And as played by one of theater's great couples—Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, great artists and great activists—the two actors bring their own history to bear on the proceedings

Davis has moved on. Ruby Dee joined him on June 11, 2014 and she was acting and acting greatly right up to the end (she was nominated for an Academy Award for her impassioned turn in American Gangster), and her every appearance in a film is An Event.

As it always was.

"I guess I should be a hero more often." Mm-hmm, that's right. So, should we all. At least as much as these two people have been in their lives. 

The Set-Up: The hottest day of the year, and that has brought tempers to a boil in the Bed-stuy neighborhood in Brooklyn (between Flushing and Park Place and Ralph). But it's also caused things to melt, like the chill Mother Sister (Ruby Dee) put up between between Da Mayor (Ossie Davis) and herself. Mother Sister is a woman to herself and Da Mayor only holds court over a bottle. But today, he has kept a child from being run over in the street, and didn't get much gratitude for it. Except here. Except now.

Action!

EXT: MOTHER SISTER'S STOOP--NIGHT
Da Mayor is walking by Mother Sister in her window when she calls him.
CLOSE--MOTHER SISTER
MOTHER SISTER Mister Mayor, I saw what you did.
ANGLE--DA MAYOR
Da Mayor stops and looks at her. A smile comes to his face; after eighteen years has he finally broken down her defenses?
CLOSE--MOTHER SISTER
MOTHER SISTER That was a foolish act,
MOTHER SISTER ...but it was brave.
MOTHER SISTER That chile owes you his life.
CLOSE--DA MAYOR
DA MAYOR I wasn't trying to be a hero. I saw what was about to happen and I reacted, didn't even think. If I did, I might not have done it in second thought.
DA MAYOR Da Mayor is an old man, haven't run that fast in years.
DA MAYOR I went from first to home on a bunt single, scored the winning run,
DA MAYOR the bottom of the ninth, two out, August 1, 1939, Snow Hill, Alabama. (he is warming up now)
DA MAYOR Ole Mudcat Bunchabones was the pitcher now—he hated my gutsDA MAYOR ...he ran back, come down offa that mound and I took off...
DA MAYOR ..like white lightning out a black snake's ass.
DA MAYOR Maybe I should be a hero more often.
CLOSE--MOTHER SISTER
MOTHER SISTER Maybe you shouldn't. Don't get happy. This changes nothing between you and me. You did a good thing and Mother Sister wanted to thank you for it.
ANGLE--STOOP
DA MAYOR I wanna thank you.
MOTHER SISTER You're welcome.
Da Mayor tips his hat.
Do the Right Thing

Words by Spike Lee

Pictures by Ernest R. Dickerson and Spike Lee

Do the Right Thing is available on DVD through the Criterion Collection and Universal Home Entertainment.