Do the Right Thing Page #12

Vito and Pino jump on Radio Raheem, who only tightens his

grip around Sal's neck. Buggin' Out tries to help his

friend. Mookie just stands and watches as Ahmad, Cee,

Punchy, and Ella cheerlead.

79.

EXT:
SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--NIGHT

The tangled mass of choking, biting, kicking, screaming

confusion flies through the door of Sal's out onto the

sidewalk.

CLOSE--EDDIE

The kid yells:

EDDIE:

Fight! Fight!

CUT TO:

CLOSE--DA MAYOR

He looks up.

CUT TO:

CLOSE--MOTHER SISTER

She looks up.

CUT TO:

CLOSE--SWEET DICK WILLIE

He also looks up.

ANGLE--STREET

The people on The Block run to Sal's Famous Pizzeria to see

the STATIC.

ANGLE--SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA

Radio Raheem, Buggin' Out, Sal, Vito, and Pino are still

entangled, rolling around on the sidewalk, but now before an

entertained crowd of onlookers:

ANGLE--DA MAYOR

DA MAYOR:

Break it up. This is crazy.

The fight continues. Da Mayor is smart enough not to get in

the middle of this war. We hear sirens, somebody has called

DA COPS.

ANGLE--STREET

80.

The cop cars come right through the crowd, almost running

over some people. The cops get out with nightsticks and

guns drawn. WE RECOGNIZE two of the faces, Officers Long

and Ponte. Any time there is a skirmish between a Black man

and a white man, you can bet the house on who the copes are

gonna go for. You know the deal! Buggin' Out is pulled off

first, then Vito and Pino, but Radio Raheem is a crazed man.

It takes all six cops to pull him off Sal, who is red as a

beet from being choked.

ANGLE--COPS

Handcuffs are put on Buggin' Out as he watches the other

cops put a choke hold on Radio Raheem to restrain him.

ANGLE--RADIO RAHEEM

Radio Raheem is still struggling, then he just stops, his

body goes limp and he falls to the sidewalk like a fifty-

pound bag of Idaho potatoes.

ANGLE--STREET

Officers Long and Ponte kick him.

OFFICER LONG:

Get up! Get up!

Radio Raheem just lies there like a bump on a log.

ANGLE--CROWD

The crowd stares at Radio Raheem's still body. He's

unconscious or dead.

CLOSE--OFFICER LONG

OFFICER LONG:

Quit faking.

ANGLE--STREET

The officers all look at each other. They know, they know

exactly what they've done. The infamous Michael Stewart

choke hold.

OFFICER PONTE:

Let's get him outta here.

The officers pick up Radio Raheem's limp body and throw him

into the back seat. Buggin' Out is pushed into another car.

The cop cars speed off; in their haste to beat it, they have

left the crowd. It's at this point the crowd becomes an

angry mob.

81.

ANGLE--MOB

The mob looks at...

ANGLE--MOB POV

Sal still on the sidewalk, being helped to his feet by Vito

and Pino, who are in bad shape themselves.

ANGLE--MOB

The mood/tone of the mob is getting ugly. Once again they

have seen one of their own killed before their eyes at the

hands of the cops. We hear the murmurs of the folks go

through the crowd.

VOICES OF MOB:

THEY KILLED HIM:

THEY KILLED RADIO RAHEEM

IT'S MURDER

DID IT AGAIN:

JUST LIKE THEY DID MICHAEL STEWART

MURDER:

ELEANOR BUMPERS:

MURDER:

IT'S NOT SAFE

NOT EVEN IN OUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD

IT'S NOT SAFE

NEVER WAS:

NEVER WILL BE:

The cops, in their haste to get Radio Raheem out of there,

have left an angry mob of Black folks with a defenseless

Sal, Vito, and Pino.

The mob looks at them.

VOICES OF MOB:

WON'T STAND FOR IT

THE LAST TIME:

F***IN' COPS

THE LAST TIME:

IT'S PLAIN AS DAY

DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL THE BOY

HIGH ANGLE:

Mookie looks at the crowd and notices he's on the wrong side.

He leaves Sal and his two sons.

ANGLE--STREET

Da Mayor walks in front of the crowd.

82.

DA MAYOR:

Good people, let's all go home.

Somebody's gonna get hurt.

CROWD (OS)

Yeah, you!

DA MAYOR:

If we don't stop this now, we'll

all regret it. Sal and his two

boys had nothing to do with what

the police did.

CROWD (OS)

Get out of the way, old man. You a

Tom anyway.

DA MAYOR:

Let 'em be.

ANGLE--STREET

Mookie picks up a garbage can and dumps it out into the

street. He walks through the crowd, up to Da Mayor, Sal,

Vito, and Pino.

CLOSE--MOOKIE

He screams.

MOOKIE:

HATE!!!!

SLOW MOTION:

Mookie hurls the garbage can through the plate glass window

of Sal's Famous Pizzeria. That's it. All hell breaks loose.

The dam has been unplugged, broke. The rage of a people has

been unleashed, a fury. A lone garbage can thrown through

the air has released a tidal wave of frustration.

ANGLE--STREET

Da Mayor pushes Sal, Vito, and Pino out of the way as the

mob storms into Sal's Famous Pizzeria.

INT:
SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--NIGHT

The people rush into Sal's Famous Pizzeria, tearing it up.

CLOSE--CASH REGISTER

The cash register is opened. WE SEE only coins, Sal has the

paper.

83.

EXT:
DA MAYOR'S STOOP--NIGHT

Da Mayor leads Sal, Vito, and Pino back to his stoop where

they watch in horror.

SAL:

There it goes. Why?

DA MAYOR:

You was there. First white folks

they saw. You was there.

PINO:

F***in' n*ggers.

INT:
SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--NIGHT

Someone lights a match. WHOOOSH!

EXT:
SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--NIGHT

Sal's Famous Pizzeria is going up in flames and now it's a

carnival.

MOTHER SISTER:

Burn it down. Burn it down.

One might have thought that the elders--who through the

years have been broken down, whipped, their spirits crushed,

beaten into submission--would be docile, strictly onlookers.

That's not true except for Da Mayor. The rest of the elders

are right up in it with the young people.

INT:
SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--NIGHT

CLOSE--PHOTOS ON WALL OF FAME

The photos of famous Italian-Americans are burning.

EXT:
FRUIT-N-VEG DELIGHT--NIGHT

The mob now moves across the street in front of the Korean

fruit and vegetable stand. Sweet Dick Willie, Coconut Sid,

and ML stand at the head of the mob.

ML:

It's your turn.

CLOSE--KOREAN CLERK

He's scared to death, as the mob is poised to tear his place

up too. The clerk wildly swings a broom to hold them off.

84.

KOREAN CLERK:

Me no white. Me no white. Me

Black. Me Black. Me Black.

CLOSE--ML

ML:

Me Black. Me Black.

The mob starts to laugh; they feel for him.

ANGLE--MOB

SWEET DICK WILLIE

Korea man is OK. Let's leave him

alone.

ML:

Him no white. Him no white.

COCONUT SID:

Him Black. Him Black.

EXT:
DA MAYOR'S STOOP--NIGHT

Sal, Vito, and Pino look on as Sal's Famous Pizzeria goes up

in smoke.

DISSOLVE TO:

CLOSE--VITO

DISSOLVE TO:

CLOSE--PINO

DISSOLVE TO:

CLOSE--SAL

EXT:
STREET--NIGHT

ANGLE--STREET

Jade is running through the mob, looking for her brother.

JADE:

Mookie! Mookie!

ANGLE--MOOKIE

Mookie is running around with the rest of the mob.

ANGLE--STREET

85.

The wail of fire trucks and police sirens is now added to

the night.

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