Do the Right Thing

Second Draft

March 1, 1988; Brooklyn, N.Y.

Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Inc.

YA-DIG SHO-NUFF

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY

WGA #45816

"The greatest miracle Christianity has achieved in America

is that the black man in white Christian hands has not grown

violent. It is a miracle that 22 million black people have

not risen up against their oppressors--in which they would

have been justified by all moral criteria, and even by the

democratic tradition! It is a miracle that a nation of

black people has so fervently continued to believe in a

turn-the-other-cheek and heaven-for-you-after-you-die

philosophy! It is a miracle that the American Black people

have remained a peaceful people, while catching all the

centuries of hell that they have caught, here in white man's

heaven! The miracle is that the white man's puppet Negro

'leaders,' his preachers and the educated Negroes laden with

degrees, and others who have been allowed to wax fat off

their black poor brothers, have been able to hold the black

masses quiet until now."

--THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X

TITLES--WHITE ON BLACK

PLACE:

Brooklyn, New York

CUT TO:

TIME:

Present

CUT TO:

WEATHER:

Hot as sh*t!

CUT TO:

INT:
WE LOVE RADIO STATION STOREFRONT--DAY

EXTREME CLOSE UP

WE SEE only big white teeth and very Negroidal (big) lips.

MISTER SEÑOR LOVE DADDY

Waaaake up!

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

Up ya wake! Up ya wake! Up ya wake!

CAMERA MOVES BACK SLOWLY TO REVEAL MISTER SEÑOR LOVE DADDY,

a DJ, a radio personality, behind a microphone.

MISTER SEÑOR LOVE DADDY

This is Mister Señor Love Daddy.

Your voice of choice. The world's

only twelve-hour strongman, here on

WE LOVE radio, 108 FM. The last on

your dial, but the first in ya

hearts, and that's the truth, Ruth!

The CAMERA, which is STILL PULLING BACK, shows that Mister

Señor Love Daddy is actually sitting in a storefront window.

The control booth looks directly out onto the street. This

is WE LOVE RADIO, a modest station with a loyal following,

right in the heart of the neighborhood. The OPENING SHOT

will be a TRICK SHOT--the CAMERA PULLING BACK through the

storefront window.

MISTER SEÑOR LOVE DADDY

Here I am. Am I here? Y'know it.

It ya know. This is Mister Señor

Love Daddy, doing the nasty to ya

ears, ya ears to the nasty. I'se

play only da platters dat matter,

da matters dat platter and that's

the truth, Ruth.

He hits the cart machine and we hear a station jingle.

VO:

L-O-V-E RADIO.

MISTER SEÑOR LOVE DADDY

Doing da ying and yang da flip and

flop da hippy and hoppy

(he yodels)

Yo da lay he hoo. I have today's

forecast.

(he screams)

HOT!

He laughs like a madman.

INT:
DA MAYOR'S BEDROOM--DAY

An old, grizzled man stirs in the bed, his sheets are soaked

with sweat. He flings them off his wet body.

DA MAYOR:

Damn, it's hot.

INT:
JADE'S APARTMENT--DAY

CAMERA MOVES IN ON a young man sitting at the edge of a sofa

bed.

CLOSE UP--HIS SMALL HANDS

WE SEE him counting his money. This isn't any ordinary

counting of money, he's straightening out all the corners of

the bills, arranging them so the bills--actually the "dead

presidents"--are facing the same way. This is MOOKIE. Once

he's finished with that task, counting his money, he sneaks

into his sister's bedroom.

INT:
JADE'S BEDROOM--DAY

CLOSE UP--JADE

JADE, Mookie's sister, is fast asleep. Mookie's fingers

ENTER THE FRAME and start to play with her lips. Jade

pushes his hands away. Mookie waits several beats and he

continues. Jade wakes up--mad.

JADE:

Don't you have enough sense not to

bother people when they're sleeping?

MOOKIE:

Wake up!

JADE:

Wake up? Saturday is the lone day

I get to sleep late.

MOOKIE:

It's gonna be hot today.

JADE:

Good! Leave me alone when I'm

sleeping. I'm gonna get a lock on

my door, to keep ya ass outta here.

MOOKIE:

Don't ya love ya brother Mookie

anymore? I loves ya, Jade.

JADE:

Do me a favor. Go to work.

MOOKIE:

Later. Gotta get paid.

He plants a big fat juicy on his sister's forehead.

EXT:
SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--DAY

A 1975 El Dorado pulls up in front of the neighborhood

pizzeria--Sal's Famous Pizzeria.

From out of the car comes the owner, SAL, a slightly

overweight man in his early fifties, and his two sons, PINO,

22, and VITO, 20. It's time for them to go to work at Sal's

Famous Pizzeria in the heart of Black Brooklyn. Sal's sits

on the corner of The Block. The Block being where this film

on the hottest day of the summer takes place.

Pino kicks a beer can in his path into the gutter.

SAL:

Pino, get a broom and sweep out

front.

PINO:

Vito, get a broom and sweep out

front.

VITO:

See, Pop. That's just what I was

talkin' about. Every single time

you tell Pino to do something, he

gives it to me.

PINO:

He's nuts.

SAL:

The both of youse, shaddup.

VITO:

Tell Pino.

PINO:

Get the broom.

VITO:

I ain't getting sh*t.

SAL:

Hey! Watch it.

PINO:

I didn't want to come to work

anyway. I hate this freakin' place.

SAL:

Can you do better? C'mere.

Pino is now silent. Sal walks over to him.

SAL:

Can you do better?

(he pops Pino upside

the head)

I didn't think so. This is a

respectable business. Nuthin'

wrong with it. Get dat broom.

PINO:

Tell Vito.

VITO:

Pop asked you.

SAL:

I'm gonna kill somebody today.

EXT:
MOOKIE'S BROWNSTONE--DAY

Mookie comes down his stoop and walks to work.

EXT:
STREET--DAY

The Block is beginning to come to life. Those unlucky souls

who have to work this Saturday drag themselves to it, and

the kids are out on the street to play in the hot sun all

day long.

EXT:
MOTHER SISTER'S STOOP--DAY

Mookie stops to say hello to MOTHER SISTER. She leans out

her window on the parlor floor. In the summertime, the only

time when she's not perched in her window is when she's

asleep.

MOTHER SISTER:

Good morning, Mookie.

MOOKIE:

Good morning to you.

MOTHER SISTER:

Now, Mookie, don't work too hard

today. The man said it's gonna be

HOT as the devil. I don't want ya

falling out from the heat. You

hear me, son?

MOOKIE:

I hear ya, Mother Sister. I hear

you.

MOTHER SISTER:

Good. I'll be watching ya, son.

Mother Sister always watches.

INT:
SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--DAY

Mookie enters the pizzeria and Pino is on him before the

door closes.

PINO:

Mookie, late again. How many times

I gotta tell you?

MOOKIE:

Hello, Sal. Hello, Vito.

SAL:

How ya doin', Mookie?

VITO:

Whaddup?

MOOKIE:

Just coolin'.

PINO:

You're still late.

SAL:

Pino, relax, will ya.

PINO:

Here, take the broom. The front

needs sweeping.

MOOKIE:

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I

just got here. You sweep. I

betcha Sal asked you first anyhow.

VITO:

That's right.

PINO:

Shaddup, Vito.

MOOKIE:

F*** dat sh*t. I deliver pizzas.

That's what I get paid for.

PINO:

You get paid to do what we say.

MOOKIE:

What we say. I didn't hear Sal say

nuthin'.

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