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DVD Review: "Do The Right Thing" 20th
Anniversary Edition
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
"Do The Right Thing" reappears today on DVD and debuts on Blu-Ray as a special
20th anniversary edition. Spike Lee's landmark film about racial tensions
on the summer's hottest day on one block in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of
Brooklyn, New York burst onto American big screens on June 30, 1989 and in every
respect this new edition 2-disc DVD is indistinguishable from the 2001 Criterion
Collection 2-disc DVD.
The new disc contains the same audio commentary of several cast and crew members
that was recorded in March 2001, along with the brilliant St. Clair Bourne
documentary "Making Do The Right Thing"; the May 1989 Cannes Film Festival press
conference featuring Mr. Lee, Joie Lee, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Richard Edson;
video interviews with DTRT editor Barry Brown and Mr. Lee's revisit of the
film's Bedford-Stuyvesant locations in Brooklyn with line producer Jon Kilik,
behind the scenes video diaries from the film's production and storyboarding
sequences of the riot scene. The 2-disc DVD set also has two television
spots advertising the film, along with the original two-minute trailer.
The new additions to the Universal Home Video release however, are 11 deleted
and extended scenes, many of which are hilarious in their own right; a fresh new
retrospective documentary about the 20th anniversary of "Do The Right Thing" and
Mr. Lee's 20th anniversary audio commentary, which provides renewed perspective
about the film both now and back in 1989, with some other interesting insights
about the circumstances of the film and the times it was produced in.
"Do The Right Thing" is razor sharp in its 16x9 anamorphic widescreen
presentation, with Dolby Digital 5.1 stereo sound pinging off the speakers.
Bill Lee's masterful jazz music score is a treat to listen to throughout,
especially during the film's second half. The colors are as vibrant as
they were 20 years ago, as are the astonishing performances of the entire cast,
most notably Ossie Davis, John Turturro, Danny Aiello (who was nominated for an
Oscar for his work here), Rosie Perez and Roger Guenveur Smith.
Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Vincent, Bill Nunn, Richard Edson, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo
Esposito, John Savage and Martin Lawrence also star in the film, which remains
as significant in American and global film history as it did exactly 20 years
ago today.
Related: Film review of "Do The Right Thing"
Related: "Do The Right Thing" and images of blacks on the big screen
today
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