History Film / DoTheRightThing

** There's also a sequence of speeches (the first is: "You dago-wop, guinea, garlic-breath, pizza-slingin', spaghetti-bendin', Vic Damone, Perry Como, Luciano Pavarotti, Sole Mio, nonsingin' motherfucker.") which reference an old Pepsi Cola ad. ("lipsmacking thirstquenching acetasting motivating goodbuzzing cooltalking highwalking fastliving evergiving coolfizzing.......")

** There's also a sequence of speeches (the first is: "Dago, wop, guinea, garlic-breath, pizza-slingin', spaghetti-bendin', Vic Damone, Perry Como, Luciano Pavarotti, Sole Mio, nonsingin' motherfucker.") which reference an old Pepsi Cola ad. ("lipsmacking thirstquenching acetasting motivating goodbuzzing cooltalking highwalking fastliving evergiving coolfizzing.......")

** AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler: By throwing the trashcan through the window, Mookie was able to redirect the mob's rage, and probably saved Sal and Pino's lives.]]

-->'''Mookie''': You dago-wop guinea, garlic-breath, pizza-slingin', spaghetti-bendin', Vic Damone, Perry Como, Luciano Pavarotti, Sole Mio, nonsingin' motherfucker.

-->'''Mookie''': Dago, wop, guinea, garlic-breath, pizza-slingin', spaghetti-bendin', Vic Damone, Perry Como, Luciano Pavarotti, Sole Mio, nonsingin' motherfucker.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Many of the main characters are of questionable morals [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation and their actions can be interpreted one way or another.]] Mookie is not a hard worker but clearly cares for his son and is respected in the community, Pino is a JerkAss whose own friends don't respect him, Buggin' Out is a black militant [[MalcolmXerox Malcom X wannabe]] who could be a good character but misdirects his ideals of black justice at Sal, who never did anything wrong to anyone, and Sal himself is a nice man who's constantly provoked by Buggin' Out and shows signs of barely concealed racism.

*** WordOfGod: Director SpikeLee says there's a racial component to interpreting Mookie's actions: [[spoiler: White viewers are the only ones that ponder whether or not Mookie did the right thing; black viewers tend to grasp his rage-redirection intent immediately. Lee says this debate reflects ugly implications about the value of white property vs. a black life.]]

* EvilIsPetty: Buggin' Out attempts to start a boycott on Sal's pizzeria because Sal won't put up pictures of black people on his Wall of Fame. [[spoiler: He succeeds in getting [[TheBigGuy Radio]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Raheem]] and [[InspirationallyDisabled Smiley]] on the protest, [[BerserkButton and they begin protesting Sal,]] which led to Sal breaking Radio Raheem's radio, which led to Raheem's attempted murder (debatable) of Sal, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which led to the cops showing up and killing Radio Raheem,]] which led to Mookie starting a riot by throwing a trash can at Sal's pizzeria, which led to the pizzeria being burnt down...[[WasItReallyWorthIt over some pictures.]]]] Everything that happened in the spoilered part was bad, but none of it would've happened if Buggin' Out wasn't so [[MinorInsultOverreaction insistent]] on the pictures. [[spoiler:Arguably one of the reasons Buggin' Out could be considered the villain of the story.]]

* ButNotTooBlack: Mookie gets Pino to admit that 1) his favorite basketball player is Magic Johnson, 2) his favorite actor is EddieMurphy, and 3) his favorite musician is Music/{{Prince}}. When Mookie calls him out on his hypocrisy of referring to every black person he encounters as a "Nigger", Pino [[LikeAWeasel backtracks]] and says "They're different".

* CrossesTheLineTwice: The insult montage, shown right after [[StraightMan Mookie]] questions [[JerkAss Pino]] on his racism. It should be insulting, but the degree to which the people insult each other quickly stops being insulting and starts being funny within the first few seconds.

* JerkAss: Pino. He is a racist who barely bothers with covering up his racism, and hates working in the pizzeria to where in the beginning, he refuses to sweep up front and constantly asks someone else to do so. He's very disrespectful to even his own brother, and especially to the people in the neighborhood (Mookie, Smiley, etc.). In a [[HypocriticalHumor twist]] of {{irony}} though, his favorite people are EddieMurphy, Magic Johnson and someone else (to be filled in later), only so liked because according to Pino, they're [[ButNotTooBlack 'different']]. Also, his racism might be explained away by his [[WithFriendsLikeThese 'friends']] barely tolerating him because he's the son of Sal and otherwise hating on him, though not excused.

* MagicalNegro: Mayor tries to be this, but no one seems to show any respect to him these days.

* TheBigGuy: Radio Raheem towers over just about everyone in the movie, and the camera shots during his conversations with Sal and the Korean grocers make him look even more like a giant.

* YankTheDogsChain: Right as Sal, the kindly old man who's one of the few genuinely kind people, is about to let in some customers even though he's closed, because he just loves his community, a riot breaks out ending up with Sal being strangled on the street, a man dead, the pizzeria that he built and ran all his life looted and burnt to the ground, all by the people who he just moments ago happily mentioned grew up on his pizza.

* FirstLawOfTragicomedies: While not a straight comedy, it does feature some slice of life comedic moments... [[ItGotWorse until the last 20 minutes.]]

* ItGotWorse: Infamously so.

'''Tina:''' I don't fuckin' curse that much!

* TitleDrop: Early in the film Da Mayor stops Mookie on the sidewalk and tells him, "Always do the right thing."

** A more lighthearted example:
--->'''Mookie:''' Why are you always cursing?\\

** In the commentary track for the DVD release, SpikeLee specifically notes that when Buggin' Out begins ranting about the pictures in the pizzeria, that he disagrees with the character, saying that it's Sal's place, so it's his right to put whatever pictures he likes on the walls.

* EverythingIsRacist: Buggin Out.

* TitleDrop: Early in the film Da Mayor stops a Mookie on the sidewalk and tells him, "Always do the right thing."

* AngryBlackMan: One could say that there are a few (particularly Buggin Out), but the trope is somewhat inverted when one black man tells another whom is spouting ABM language that he "doesn't want to hear that horseshit."
** In the commentary track for the DVD release, SpikeLee specifically notes, when Buggin Out begins ranting about the pictures in the Pizzeria, that he disagrees with the character, saying that it's Sal's place, so it's his right to put whatever pictures he likes on the walls.

* DivingSave: Made by the Mayor, when a kid runs in front of a car while chasing an ice cream truck.

* SassyBlackWoman:Mother Sister

** A few of his mannerisms do exhibit a slightly concealed racism, particularly towards Buggin' Out (who provokes Sal endlessly). [[spoiler: This is particularly displayed when Raheem, Buggin' and Smiley enter his store at the end to confront him. Of course, that could be just because they keep getting on his case.]]