Do the Right Thing (1989)

 

Release date: June 30, 1989

Director: Spike Lee

Writer(s): Spike Lee

Starring: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Giancarlo Esposito

Estimated Budget: $6.5 million

U.S. Box office: $27.5 million

Foreign: $9.7 million

Worldwide: $37.2 million

 

Salvatore "Sal" Fragione (Danny Aiello) is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

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