After some modest early success, Spike Lee announced the arrival of a major new voice with his 1989 film Do the Right Thing.  Funny, controversial, and prescient – anticipating many of the issues that would dominate the next 33 years - this film took a freewheeling look at race relations and violence by both police and protesters in an age long before “woke” culture became mainstream.

Our panel of movie lovers young and old discuss how this powerful film affected them, how current it feels a third of a century later, and what it’s like to see so many iconic stars early in their careers — Samuel Jackson, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Martin Lawrence and the young writer, director, producer and star, Spike Lee.

Hosts: Mark Netter & David Tausik

Panelists: Grace Chapman, Jake Flowers & Guy Lewis

An ElectraCast Production

AFI Greatest American Movies (original list): #36

Original Trailer (restored): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVAD4fYRcvA

IMDb (with low-res trailer): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_Right_Thing

Original Variety Review: https://variety.com/1989/film/reviews/do-the-right-thing-review-1200428009/

Original New York Times Review: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/30/movies/review-film-spike-lee-tackles-racism-in-do-the-right-thing.html

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