The Rewatchables: ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris

Published 2019-08-27; 1:40:44 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “The Rewatchables (The Ringer)” and the episode “'Do The Right Thing' With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris”.

Hosts: Sean Fennessey, Wesley Morris. Guests: none.

Subject films: Do the Right Thing (1989).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; Sean reads data points and category lists, Wesley gives personal memories and Philadelphia asides. Ad reads (Voodoo, Allbirds, Netflix Dark Crystal, Heinz, HotelTonight) were skipped, and Bill Simmons does not appear.

Awards and segments (48)

Most rewatchable scene

pick Rosie Perez dancing over the opening credits
“I'm going to go Rosie Perez.”
Wesley Morris · 0:48:05
pick The final sequence: the showdown, the riot and the ending
“I'm choosing the end, but Rosie is a close 2nd because she's an important person.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:48:07
runner-up Rosie Perez dancing over the opening credits
“I'm choosing the end, but Rosie is a close 2nd because she's an important person.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:48:07
floated Bugging Out and Sal argue over the Wall of Fame
“Bugging out in the wall of fame.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:36:21
floated Frank Vincent driving through the opened fire hydrant
“The fire hydrant.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:38:56
floated Pino and Sal debate selling the pizzeria, interrupted by Smiley
“Next scene, Pinot and Sal have a debate about what they should do with the pizzeria.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:40:30
floated The racial slur montage
“The racial slur montage.”
Wesley Morris · 0:45:29

Ebert review · Sean reads Roger Ebert's review of the film aloud.

pick Do the Right Thing: Sean reads Ebert at length; Wesley only presumes it is a four-star review, so no rating is confirmed.
“I have been given only a few film going experiences in my life to equal the 1st time I saw do the right thing.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:03:29

What's aged the best · The element of the film that holds up best.

nominee Fight the Power: Sean runs down a list of nominees, starting with the Public Enemy song.
“Fight the power appears in this movie over 20 times.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:48:17
nominee Spike Lee: Spike as the charismatic center of the movie, not a great actor.
“Spike Lee comma movie star.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:48:50
nominee Ernest Dickerson's cinematography and the production design
“I mentioned Ernest Dickerson cinematography, the Red Wall, the musty, sepia tone, and Sal's, the pink room in Jay's room.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:50:00
nominee Direct address to the camera as a style
“Using direct address into the camera as a style, which has been now jacked by basically the whole indie revolution that came after him.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:50:23
nominee Two lines Tarantino borrowed (the dream line and the Sicilians and Moors speech): Sean's pitch is that the borrowing, not the Spike and Tarantino beef, is what holds up.
“I had forgotten that in this movie, there are 2 things that Quentin Tarantino stole.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:50:40
nominee The movie's timelessness
“I mean, I think it's the movie's sort of timelessness.”
Wesley Morris · 0:52:01
nominee Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee: Calls their roles a salty love letter to the two actors.
“Yep. Um, and and just everything that's contained in the movie, I love the idea of Ozzy Davis and Ruby D. too legendary actors who never, for all kinds of obvious racism related reasons, never quite...”
Wesley Morris · 0:52:06
winner Fight the Power: Wesley praises Chuck D's voice and the Flavor Flav harmony; Sean closes it with 'that's your winner' at 0:55:40.
“Yeah, I think that's obviously another one, right?”
Wesley Morris · 0:52:56

What's aged the worst · The element that has aged the worst.

nominee Rosie Perez: Sean says there is not much here.
“This is Rosie Prez's 1st movie and you can tell.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:55:49
nominee Tina: Wesley's complaint is that Tina is written as someone made to be unpleasant.
“Yeah, and I think she is morally in the right.”
Wesley Morris · 0:56:04
winner The nude scene with Rosie Perez and the ice cubes: Sean reads Perez's recollection that she was uncomfortable and crying during the shoot.
“I think that's the other thing that has not aged well, is the nude scene and the way that she's talked about shooting the nude scene.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:56:29

Casting what-ifs · Almost-castings and recasts.

pick Robert De Niro as Sal: De Niro had to decline; both hosts think his star baggage would have tilted the movie.
“Spike Lee campaigned for Robert De Niro as so.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:59:56

Dion Waiters Award (biggest heat check) · The small part that makes the biggest splash.

nominee Bill Nunn as Radio Raheem
“Bill Nunn is radio Raheem.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:02:58
nominee Robin Harris as Sweet Dick Willie
“Robin Harris is sweet dick Willie.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:03:04
nominee Rosie Perez as Tina
“Rosie Perez.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:03:07
nominee Samuel L. Jackson
“Sam Jackson, probably... Martin Lawrence. Martin Lawrence.”
Wesley Morris · 1:03:11
nominee Martin Lawrence
“Sam Jackson, probably... Martin Lawrence. Martin Lawrence.”
Wesley Morris · 1:03:11
winner John Savage as the man in the Larry Bird jersey who steps on Bugging Out's sneakers: Wesley is told it is a risky pick and doesn't care; he says he does not see color.
“I mean, I mean, it's like, this is crazy, John Savage.”
Wesley Morris · 1:04:02

Apex Mountain · Where a person's career or performance sits on the mountain.

winner Spike Lee: Says the screenplay is perfect, making it the peak of his fiction filmmaking.
“I mean, I think the thing, the reason that I'm saying do the right thing is the apex of his filmmaking.”
Wesley Morris · 1:17:44
nominee 4 Little Girls: Sean argues Spike's peak is his nonfiction work; speaker inferred from the following exchange.
“Because the peak that he, the Apex, about 4 little girls.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:16:51
pick Danny Aiello: Sean offers the name; Wesley answers.
“Yeah, I mean, it's best performance he ever gave in a movie.”
Wesley Morris · 1:18:44

Joey Pants Award · The best 'that guy' in the cast.

nominee Frankie Faison
“I guess it would have to be phaison.”
Wesley Morris · 1:21:00
winner Frank Vincent: Frank Vincent is the fire hydrant driver; Giancarlo Esposito is said to have aged out of the category after Breaking Bad.
“I mean, Frank Vincent is, I mean, I guess it's Frank Vincent because it's always Frank Vincent.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:21:04

Saul Rubinek Award · The most overacting in the film.

nominee Giancarlo Esposito as Bugging Out: Sean concedes the performance is meant to be big.
“I did write down Gene Carlo Esposito here.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:21:21
winner Ruby Dee as Mother Sister: Wesley's issue is her 'burn it down' moment; he says it isn't a bad performance.
“It's Ruby D.”
Wesley Morris · 1:21:43

Best quote · The favorite lines of the film.

pick Black Panther holding the comic book while eating pizza: A detail Sean only noticed on a recent rewatch.
“Black Panther eat pizza.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:22:51
pick Radio Raheem's love and hate speech
“Let me tell you the story right hand, left hand.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:23:38
pick Sweet Dick Willie on the barber who messed up your head: Sean calls it perhaps the funniest line.
“You want to boycott someone, you ought to start with the goddamn barber that fucked up your head.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:24:52
pick The Mayor's advice to Mookie: always do the right thing
“The conversation between the mayor and and Mookie when he says, always do the right thing. and Mookie says, that's it.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:25:05
pick Senor Love Daddy's roll call of black music: Wesley calls it a mini history of black music.
“Uh, I like the roll call?”
Wesley Morris · 1:25:21
pick Sal: I built this place with my bare hands
“I built this fucking place with my bare fucking hands.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:27:28
pick Mookie and Pino's exchange about who is black (Magic, Eddie Murphy, Prince): Wesley agrees it is the best conversation in the movie.
“You mentioned the whole exchange between Pinot and Mookie about, who's your favorite basketball player?”
Sean Fennessey · 1:29:01

Sequel, prequel or TV show · Could it work as a modern prestige TV series.

pick A ten-episode Netflix series: Wesley says it could work but would be a different math problem from the movie.
“It could.”
Wesley Morris · 1:30:23

Unanswerable questions · Questions about the film with no clear answer.

pick Did Mookie throw the trash can to save Sal or to express rage: Wesley says it can be both.
“Did Mookie throw the chat trash can to save Sal or to express his rage?”
Sean Fennessey · 1:30:41
pick Why is Pino so mad: Wesley's answer: he tried to step to a black girl and she turned him down.
“Why is Pino so mad?”
Sean Fennessey · 1:31:41
pick How long before Mookie and Sal made up: Answer given: he needed a job and Sal needed a delivery person.
“Mookie and Sal made up in future spike films.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:32:05
pick Did Mother Sister and the Mayor bone
“Did Mother Sister and the Mayor Bone?”
Sean Fennessey · 1:32:30
pick Did Tina and Mookie stay together: Both say no way.
“Did Tina and Mookie stay together?”
Sean Fennessey · 1:33:07
pick Was Sal's pizza actually good: Leads into a tangent about New York pizza versus California food.
“Was South's Pizza good?”
Wesley Morris · 1:33:21

Who won the movie · Who came out ahead from the film.

winner Spike Lee: Sean first asks 'who won the movie besides pizza'.
“Spike Lee, it made his career.”
Wesley Morris · 1:37:06

Films that came up

Claims (55)

industry (Oscar snub): Do the Right Thing → Driving Miss Daisy. Driving Miss Daisy won best picture the year Do the Right Thing was not nominated; the snub is the reason the film is remembered in awards history.
“This is, of course, the year that driving Miss Daisy won best picture.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:04:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
industry (release-weekend memory): Do the Right Thing → Weekend at Bernie's. Wesley, 13, was far more interested in seeing Weekend at Bernie's that same stretch than Do the Right Thing.
“That was the weekend that weekend at Bernie's.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:05:29 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Do the Right Thing → Ernest Dickerson. The speaker calls it one of the most beautifully shot films he has seen, crediting Dickerson's color, weather and tilted camera angles.
“It's one of the most beautifully shot films I've ever seen. Ernest Dickerson.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:12:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (thematic follow-up): Jungle Fever → Do the Right Thing. Jungle Fever explored the Bensonhurst setting a couple of years later, rehearsing part of that story.
“which I think is explored in jungle fever a couple years later”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:14:34 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
contrast (tone contrast): Do the Right Thing → Wedding Crashers. Most Rewatchables picks are quotable fun like Wedding Crashers; this movie is different.
“a lot of the movies we do on this show are like wedding crashers.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:16:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
contrast (tone contrast): Do the Right Thing → Beverly Hills Cop. Beverly Hills Cop is a comfort rewatch whose social import is extra-textual; Do the Right Thing is working hard to be important and disrupt comfort.
“it's working hard to be important, and it's working hard to disrupt your feeling of ease and comfort.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:17:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
lineage (pseudo-sequel): Red Hook Summer → Do the Right Thing. Mookie reappears delivering for a Sal's that has relocated to Red Hook, though Spike insisted it was not a sequel.
“he made a movie called Red Hook Summer.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:19:03 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
unmapped (dedication): Jungle Fever → Yusuf Hawkins. Jungle Fever is dedicated to Yusuf Hawkins, killed in 1989.
“jungle fever is dedicated to Yusuf Falkins”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:22:58 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
contrast (critical opposite): Roger Ebert → David Denby. Ebert's Cannes tears and empathy versus Denby's New York magazine scorn; Sean calls Denby's one of the worst pieces of criticism he has read.
“You know, one of the worst pieces of film criticism that I've ever read.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:25:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.65 sure it was them)
unmapped (commercial work): Spike Lee → Michael Jordan. Spike was famous partly via Mars Blackmon and the Michael Jordan commercials, which colored critical reception.
“he was a famous person in part because of Mars Blackman in part because of Michael Jordan and the commercial work that he did.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:25:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
career (career critique): Do the Right Thing → Mo' Better Blues. Critics bring up Spike's money and commercial work even when judging unrelated films like Mo' Better Blues.
“Nothing to do about Better Blues, whether Mo Better Blues is a good movie.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:26:18 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (political framing): Joe Klein → David Dinkins. Klein framed the movie as a problem for Dinkins' mayoral campaign, the opposite of Spike's intent.
“The way that Klein positioned it was in opposition to David Dinkin's mayoral campaign.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:27:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.65 sure it was them)
unmapped (joke answer): Do the Right Thing → Steel Magnolias. Joke answer to 'favorite movie' versus the real answer, Do the Right Thing.
“Number one, steel magnolias.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:30:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
contrast (pretension contrast): Do the Right Thing → Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Naming Uncle Boonmee as a favorite sounds pretentious; naming Do the Right Thing gets you labeled a black critic.
“If you said Uncle Boone me, people would say you're pretentious, but if you say, do the right thing, people say, oh, he's a black critic.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:32:10 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
verdict (best-of-decade contender): Do the Right Thing → Broadcast News. Both come up as perfect movies in the best-movie-of-the-80s conversation.
“Adam, we had a conversation on this show about Broadcast News a few months ago.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:32:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
unmapped (pop answer): Do the Right Thing → Die Hard. Die Hard is the pop answer to best American movie of the 80s but would not make Wesley's top ten.
“I wouldn't put die hard in my top 10.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:32:50 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (decade bookend): Raging Bull → Do the Right Thing. Raging Bull (1980) and Do the Right Thing (1989) bookend the decade as New York movies.
“Raging Bull, 1980. Do the right thing, 1989.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:32:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
unmapped (discovery): Spike Lee → Rosie Perez. Spike met Rosie Perez in a Brooklyn club and cast her though she said she was not an actress.
“he says you want to be in my movie, and she says, I'm not an actress, and he says, yes, you are.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:35:27 · Wesley Morris (0.65 sure it was them)
unmapped (choreographer): Rosie Perez → Jennifer Lopez. Rosie was choreographing the Fly Girls at the time, including a then-unknown J-Lo.
“Rosie was working with J-Lo.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:36:17 · Wesley Morris (0.55 sure it was them)
people (collaborator): Spike Lee → Ernest Dickerson. Dickerson, Spike's DP here, went on to be a filmmaker without a huge public profile; the two storyboarded the final sequence together.
“him and Dickerson, storyboard, exactly what happens”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:44:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (callback): 25th Hour → Do the Right Thing. 25th Hour repeats the racial slur montage as Ed Norton's mirror monologue; Wesley says the repeats made the original less effective for him but 25th Hour has greatness.
“There's a 25th hour version of that too.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:45:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
unmapped (commissioned anthem): Do the Right Thing → Public Enemy. Spike asked Chuck D for an anthem, producing Fight the Power for the film.
“This song was written specifically for the movie because Spike approached Chuck D and said, I need an anthem.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:48:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (influence): Wes Anderson → Do the Right Thing. Direct address to camera (Mr. Senor Love Daddy and the like) was taken up by the whole indie revolution, Wes Anderson most of all.
“Using direct address into the camera as a style, which has been now jacked by basically the whole indie revolution that came after him.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:50:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
people (feud): Spike Lee → Quentin Tarantino. Sean thinks Spike's long clash with Tarantino is partly because Tarantino took things directly from this movie.
“So there's this longtime clash between Spike and Tarantino.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:50:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
unmapped (borrowed line): Quentin Tarantino → Do the Right Thing. Sean says Tarantino lifted the 'shoot me in a dream, wake up and apologize' line from Do the Right Thing into Reservoir Dogs.
“you shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize, which is something that I think Robin Harris says in the movie, which later appears in Reservoir Dogs”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:50:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
unmapped (borrowed speech): True Romance → Do the Right Thing. The Sicilians-and-Moors speech in True Romance echoes what Mookie says to Pino in Sal's.
“Well, Sicilians and and Africans and the Moors in that whole speech that appears in true romance, which is also something that Mookie essentially says to Pino”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:51:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (Spike repertory): Ossie Davis → School Daze. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee recur in Spike's films; Ossie was in School Daze, both in Jungle Fever.
“But they were in jungle fever together.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:52:46 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Public Enemy → The Bomb Squad. Chuck D was unreproducible, and working with the Shocklees, Eric Sadler and the rest of the Bomb Squad made Public Enemy's miracle music.
“being able to work with the Shockleys and Eric Sadler and that whole crew from the bomb squad.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:54:05 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
career (career run): Rosie Perez → White Men Can't Jump. Soon after this movie Rosie Perez had a great run through White Men Can't Jump, Fearless, and Untamed Heart.
“I mean, white men can't jump. It's not that it's pretty soon after this, and she's amazing in that movie.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:57:53 · Wesley Morris (0.75 sure it was them)
career (career run): Rosie Perez → Untamed Heart. Rosie Perez is also really good in Untamed Heart opposite Marisa Tomei and Christian Slater.
“She's also really good in that movie.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:58:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
what-if (casting what-if): Robert De Niro → Do the Right Thing. Spike campaigned for De Niro as Sal; Wesley argues his baggage would have tipped the film's equal-weighted balance and made it a different movie.
“Spike Lee campaigned for Robert De Niro as so.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:59:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (that-guy résumé): Danny Aiello → Moonstruck. Before this, Danny Aiello was that guy in Moonstruck and a small Godfather 2 role.
“to me, he was that guy in Moonstruck.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:01:43 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Ruth Carter → John Savage. Spike bought the Larry Bird jersey in a store and gave it to costume designer Ruth Carter, who gave it to John Savage, debunking Savage's own story.
“Spike bought that shirt in a store, gave it to Ruthie Carter, the costume designer of this movie and the costume designer on many of Spike's movies, and Ruth Carter gave it to John Savage.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:05:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Ruth Carter → Spike Lee. Ruth Carter was the costume designer on this movie and on many of Spike's movies.
“the costume designer of this movie and the costume designer on many of Spike's movies”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:05:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (inspiration): Do the Right Thing → Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Shopping for Death. Spike got the idea after seeing the Hitchcock Presents episode where characters theorize hot weather increases violence.
“Spike Lee 1st got the idea for this film after watching the Alfred Hitchcock presents episode shopping for death”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:06:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
lineage (real-events inspiration): Do the Right Thing → Eleanor Bumpurs. The film was inspired by Howard Beach and Eleanor Bumpers, plus a list of other deaths in 1980s New York.
“It was also inspired, as you mentioned, by the Howard Beach racial incident in Eleanor Bumpers.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:06:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (double standard): Do the Right Thing → Arnold Schwarzenegger. Spike points out nobody feared audiences leaving Schwarzenegger films to kill people.
“I don't remember people saying people were going to come out of theaters killing people after they watched an Arnold Schwarzenegger film.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:09:16 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)
unmapped (same-summer): Do the Right Thing → Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Same summer of Batman and sex, lies, and videotape, which also did not make that much money.
“Sex lives and videotape on its way, it didn't make that much money either.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:12:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (moral-panic parallel): Do the Right Thing → Basic Instinct. Basic Instinct raised concern about its effect, a different kind of fear than Do the Right Thing.
“There was concern, though, about whether or not basic instinct was going to what effect it was going to have.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:13:20 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (moral-panic parallel): Do the Right Thing → The Matrix. Sean offers The Matrix as a film that attracted retroactive concern about violence, unlike the contemporaneous panic over Do the Right Thing.
“I think there's been a lot of retroactive energy on the Matrix.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:13:36 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
programming (dystopia pairing): The Matrix → WALL-E. Between The Matrix and WALL-E, Wesley says humanity's fate is already depicted, seen in airport travelers sunk into phones.
“between that movie and Wali, I'm like, we're set for life”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:14:25 · Wesley Morris (0.65 sure it was them)
lineage (callback): Inside Man → Do the Right Thing. In Inside Man the police provide Sal's Pizza to the hostages.
“In Lee's 2006 film Inside Man, the police provide Sal's Pizza to the hostages.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:15:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (date movie): Do the Right Thing → Barack and Michelle Obama. The Obamas said they saw it together on their first date.
“And in 2014, the 25th anniversary of the film, Barack and Michelle Obama praised the film and said they went to see it together on their 1st date.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:15:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
contrast (screenplay contrast): BlacKkKlansman → Do the Right Thing. Spike's screenwriting is sometimes the problem, as with BlacKkKlansman, whereas Do the Right Thing's screenplay is perfect.
“This is a Black Lansman thing too.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:17:31 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (perfection pairing): Inside Man → Do the Right Thing. Sometimes perfection happens, and Inside Man is cited as another.
“I mean, sometimes there's perfection like inside man is perfection.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:17:39 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (apex debate): Do the Right Thing → 4 Little Girls. Wesley argues 4 Little Girls and other work challenge the claim that Do the Right Thing is the Spike apex; Sean says the screenplay is why this one is, for fiction.
“the reason that I'm saying do the right thing is the apex of his filmmaking.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:17:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
verdict (career apex): John Turturro → Jungle Fever. Turturro is also so good in Jungle Fever.
“He so good in jungle fever.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:18:54 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (career apex): John Turturro → Barton Fink. Discussing Turturro's apex: Jungle Fever, Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, Transformers, Gloria Bell.
“I mean, but come on, Barton Fink.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:18:58 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
career (later career): Frankie Faison → The Wire. People later know Faison from The Wire and many films.
“who I think people would later know as like a from the wire and a lot of films over the years.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:20:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
career (career displacement): Giancarlo Esposito → Breaking Bad. Esposito used to win the Joey Pants Award for 'that guy' until Breaking Bad.
“Used to be the winner of this category.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:20:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (prescient detail): Do the Right Thing → Black Panther. A character holds a Black Panther comic and eats pizza; Sean first noticed it in the age of Coogler.
“Black Panther eat pizza.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:22:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
unmapped (sneaker culture): Spike Lee → Michael Jordan. Spike is credited with inventing sneakerhead cult and the rockstarification of NBA players.
“In many ways responsible for inventing that cult of sneakerhead.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:23:16 · Wesley Morris (0.55 sure it was them)
lineage (TV adaptation question): Do the Right Thing → She's Gotta Have It. Asked whether it could work as a 10-episode Netflix show, Wesley says no, noting Spike already made a TV show of She's Gotta Have It.
“As we know, he already made a TV show out of she's got to have it.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:30:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
verdict (peer ranking): Do the Right Thing → Clockers. Clockers is Wesley's second favorite Spike Lee film, with the greatest ending of any of his movies, with Spike solving Richard Price script problems.
“Clockers, my 2nd favorite Spike Lee movie has the greatest ending of all Spike Lee's movies.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:38:05 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (moral clarity): Spike Lee → Katrina documentary (When the Levees Broke). When Spike can see things morally clearly, as in the Katrina documentary and 4 Little Girls, he is at his best.
“That's why the Katrina documentary is so effective and the 4 little girls are so effective”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:38:35 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)

Fun items (25)

fun, about Wesley's WPVI aside: Wesley grew up in Philadelphia, where WPVI is the best local news in the country, and says the news story overwhelmed his memory of going to see it; he also watched it in social studies class.
“We have, by the way, Philadelphia, WPVI, best local news in the country.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:07:32 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Smiley / Roger Guenveur Smith: Smiley was not in the original script; Roger Guenveur Smith lived around the corner and begged on set every day until Spike wrote him in.
“because Roger Guinevere Smith, who knew Spike, and lived on around the corner in Bed Sty, came to the set every day and begged and begged and begged and begged to be in the movie”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:29:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
fun, about Show format: Episode confirmed to feature only Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris; Bill Simmons is not heard, though Sean says they will have to work on Bill to get Scorsese's After Hours and King of Comedy made Rewatchables.
“We're going to have to work on Bill to get those to be rewatchables.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:33:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Rosie Perez / Do the Right Thing: Spike met Rosie Perez at a Wednesday-night Brooklyn club; she said she wasn't an actress and he said yes, you are. Wesley points out almost everything in the movie was an accident.
“he says you want to be in my movie, and she says, I'm not an actress, and he says, yes, you are.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:35:27 · Wesley Morris (0.65 sure it was them)
fun, about Rosie Perez / Jennifer Lopez: Rosie was choreographing the Fly Girls then, including J-Lo, before Money Train.
“Rosie was working with J-Lo.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:36:17 · Wesley Morris (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about Final sequence: The only time Spike ever storyboarded: Spike and Dickerson storyboarded everything from Smiley, Buggin Out, and Radio Raheem entering the pizzeria to the end.
“And I think it might be the only example in Spike's history of where he storyboarded.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:44:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about John Turturro: Turturro after watching dailies of his rant asked Spike to put him on the cover of Ebony with an arm around him, because he rides the subway.
“get on the cover of Ebony Magazine with your arm around me.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:46:45 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Fight the Power: The song appears in the movie over 20 times, per Sean.
“Fight the power appears in this movie over 20 times.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:48:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Tarantino: Sean says Tarantino took two things from the movie: a line that reappears in Reservoir Dogs, and the Sicilians-and-Moors speech in True Romance.
“I think that Spike, and he's never said this, but I think Spike is like, this dude ripped me off a couple of times.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:51:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Chuck D: Wesley: nobody can mimic Chuck D, whose voice was muscular and off-kilter, and the Bomb Squad plus Public Enemy's five-year run was a miracle like the movie.
“there is no way to mimic Chuck D.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:53:47 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Rosie Perez nude scene: Rosie Perez has said the nude scene's atmosphere was wrong and she was crying; Sean lists it, with her function in the movie, as what aged worst.
“That's obviously not how you want to make a movie.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:57:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert De Niro: Spike wanted De Niro for Sal but he declined; Wesley says De Niro's baggage would have tipped the film's equal balance and made Sal someone to root for.
“It becomes the movie about how Robert De Niro is a racist or something.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:00:08 · Wesley Morris (0.65 sure it was them)
fun, about Robin Harris: Robin Harris is not in the plot at all, a bay leaf thrown in the pot because it makes it taste better.
“He's a bay leaf.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:01:43 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about John Savage / Larry Bird jersey: Savage claims his sister dated Larry Bird and Bird gave him the shirt; Spike debunked it on a featurette: he bought it in a store and gave it to costume designer Ruth Carter.
“that is an untrue story because Spike bought that shirt in a store, gave it to Ruthie Carter”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:05:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.65 sure it was them)
fun, about Original ending: The original script had a stronger Sal-Mookie reconciliation; Wesley says changing it was obviously right because it would have been more Hollywood.
“It is not as nuanced. It's more Hollywood.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:07:05 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Do the Right Thing production: Shot entirely on Stuyvesant between Quincy and Lexington; the block was repainted red and orange for heat; local crack dealers threatened the crew so Spike hired Fruit of Islam security; Sam Jackson mostly slept.
“So Lee hired fruit of Islam members to provide security.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:08:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Spike Lee: Spike says only white viewers ask whether Mookie did the right thing; in 2016 Air Jordan released a Radio Raheem sneaker.
“Spike remarked that he has only ever been asked by white viewers whether Mookie did the right thing.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:14:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Joey Pants Award: For the 'that guy' award, Frank Vincent wins because it's always Frank Vincent; Giancarlo Esposito used to win until Breaking Bad; Frankie Faison is the alternative.
“I guess it's Frank Vincent because it's always Frank Vincent.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:21:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Saul Rubinek Award: Sean picks Ruby Dee's Mother Sister, and Wesley is genuinely shocked, as he picked Esposito and loves Mother Sister.
“It's Ruby D.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:21:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Radio Raheem's love/hate speech: The best-quote category includes the love/hate right hand left hand monologue, Sweet Dick Willie's barber line, Stay black, and Senor Love Daddy's roll call, a mini history of black music.
“It's a little mini history of black music.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:26:48 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Mookie and Pino conversation: The 'who's your favorite basketball player / movie star / rock star' exchange is called the best conversation in the movie, an exchange black people have had with non-black friends ('you don't count').
“that is the best conversation in the movie I would say.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:29:21 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Unanswerable questions: Did Mookie throw the trash can to save Sal or to vent his rage? Wesley says both, and that Mookie and Sal probably just needed a job and a delivery guy; Mother Sister and the Mayor boned.
“I think you're right. I think it can be both”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:31:39 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Sal's pizza: The props department only had two pizzas, so the production reused them; Turturro was taught to cut with a roller but was seen just airing it. They say it looks like Play-Doh or claymation.
“I only had 2 pizzas.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:33:41 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about New York vs. California pizza: Sean claims the worst New York pizza beats any food in California; Wesley, a Philadelphian, pushes back with Koreatown. Running argument closes the unanswerable questions segment.
“The worst pizza I've ever had in New York is better than any food I've had in California.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:35:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
fun, about Who won the movie: Wesley: Spike Lee won; made a perfect movie about an imperfect problem America will never solve.
“which is make a perfect movie about an imperfect problem.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:39:00 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Sean Fennessey (host): Loves big-picture film history and awards lore, brings printed research and Roger Ebert quotes, and likes comfort rewatches (Wedding Crashers, Beverly Hills Cop). Bad on moral outrage as a critical starting point. A sucker for pizza as a holy deity and for New York.
Wesley Morris (host): Critic who loves Do the Right Thing as his favorite film, adores Rosie Perez and Spike's Clockers, and values moral nuance and dialectic. Bristles at critics who demand racial resolution. A sucker for Pino/Mookie conversation, Turturro, and Philadelphia.

The show's recurring bits

Apex Mountain: The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits.
Who Won the Movie: The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off.
The Ebert review: Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show.
Casting what-ifs: Who was almost cast, or who should have been.
Most rewatchable scene: The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels.
Aged best / aged worst: What holds up and what does not.
Picking Nits: The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits.
Double feature: The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick.

Names the transcriber got wrong

Sean Fantasy → Sean Fennessey
Bugging out / bugging out → Buggin' Out
Radio Raheem sometimes 'radio Raheem' ok; 'Teturo/Torturo/Tuturo' → John Turturro
Pinot → Pino
Roger Guinevere/Guenever Smith → Roger Guenveur Smith
Ozzy/Ossie Davis; Ruby D → Ruby Dee
Mr. Shofty / Mr. Softy → Mister Softee
Dickens/Dinkin → David Dinkins
Tom Shulman → Tom Schulman
Eleanor Bumpers → Eleanor Bumpurs
Saul Rubeneck → Saul Rubinek
Marissa Tome → Marisa Tomei
Cinda Williams → Cynda Williams
Yusuf Falkins → Yusuf Hawkins
Peachapong or a Sethical → possibly Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Wali → WALL-E
Bong Jun Ho → Bong Joon-ho
Sam Eric / Chestnut theater → unclear Philadelphia theater
Angelinos → Angelenos