The movie was so successful that Nike came calling. After marketing execs from the shoe giant saw the film, they offered Spike a job at directing commercials. The idea was to use Lee’s character, the Michael Jordan-loving Mars Blackmon, and Air Jordan himself to help market the latest shoe line named after the basketball star.
Doing the Right Thing
After 1988’s School Daze, Spike Lee released what would become one of his most admired films to date. Do the Right Thing hit theatres in 1989. Starring Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee, Do the Right Thing told a story of intolerance and racial conflict in a colourful Brooklyn neighbourhood on the hottest day of the year.
In 1999, Lee’s film was considered “culturally significant” by the Library of Congress and was selected for entry into the National Film Registry. In 2007, AFI listed Do the Right Thing as the 96th greatest film in American history. Upon the film’s release, controversy erupted after a reviewer from a New York magazine suggested that black viewers would riot upon having seen the film. Lee responded by suggesting that the reviewer was off-base for assuming that black audiences were incapable of restraining themselves while watching a fictional movie.
Jazz, Jungle Fever, and X
Following the success of Do the Right Thing, Lee focused his attention on a film about a jazz trumpeter with Mo’ Better Blues. The film was rather tepid, but featured a good performance by Denzel Washington. Jungle Fever would hit theatres and controversy in 1991, as the subject of interracial romance still proved to be a bit too controversial for some audiences and critics.
In 1992, Lee tackled his long-awaited dream project, the biopic Malcolm X. The film is the first non-documentary and the first American-produced film to be given authorization to film in Mecca or within the Haram Sharif. Through the use of a second film crew (because non-Muslims are not allowed inside the city), Malcolm X broke boundaries. Warner Bros. wanted Lee to trim the film down by a half hour, but several celebrities came to Lee’s aid and helped finance the project.
Article comments
1 - Dan Schneider
'With Spike Lee, you either love him or you hate him. You either find beauty in his films or you don’t. There’s not much room for middle ground with him.'
Lee is a one dimensional filmmaker w no understanding of narrative nor characterization. He would have been far better as a cinematographer, and let most of the scripting duties fall to competent screenwriters.
And, his direction of actors is not good at all. He coaxes the most facile performances possible- be it actors like Wesley Snipes or John Turturro.
In that sense, he's akin to Steven Spielberg- another filmmaker w a great visual sense, but utterly bankrupt of storytelling powers. Whereas Spielberg goes saccharine, Lee goes moralistic. Either way, w either one, though, the experience after the film is always a disappointment.
So, that's middle ground, and why Spike Lee- save for his status as a black filmmaker, won't be studied in film schools fifty years from now.
2 - bliffle
I agree with Dan. I just reprised "Clockers" last week and while I found it interesting to watch, and thought the Harvey Keitel characterization was interesting, I just couldn't get involved with any of the characters or plots.