Crash vs Do the right thing (and other race related films)

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

I like Crash as a matter of fact its one of my favorite movies,and agree with the Academy bestowing the AA on it...but Do the right thing was more realistic in its approach and I felt like its message was stronger because of this.crash seems like it was made to make white people feel better about themselves.ironically, crash was the worst reviewed movie nominated for best picture. and do you guys know which movie won for best picture in 1989? DRIVING MISS DAISY!!!!!!! lol

on a side note i think films like black & white,school dayz,imitation of life,freedomland,A Day in Black and White are also good films on race.

[Royal]

DTRT was better because it took a break once in a while from it's message or gave humorous spin to some of it's aspects.

Crash tries to beat it into you like it was trying to kill you with a loaf of french bread.

[Xero Kaiser]

I've never heard of any of these movies.

Are there explosions?

[Ryan K]

Crash is a decent movie. But its filled with too much preachiness, too many contrived situations, and too many stereotypical situations for me.

Do the Right Thing almost felt like a documentary, whereas one could never mistake Crash as anything other than a Hollywood movie with a message.

IMO.

[rick]

I did enjoy Crash, but in my opinion Do the Right Thing was just a far superior movie in almost every way.

Of course DTRT had the advantage of having one of the best directors in the history of film behind the lens. And despite the obvious skill of the the man who directed Crash, it is going to take someone way better then him to beat a Spike Lee Joint.

[Aggie]

i hated crash...it was far too impressed w/ itself and lacked any real substance...w/ the exception of the latino guy, none of the characters were likeable and therefore i could give two flying craps about what happened to them and as others have said, it was very preachy and to me was w/o any real narrative...it banked on it's so-called "edginess" than anything else and was more flash than anything...god i hate that movie...anyhoo...i haven't seen do the right thing in a very long time...so i don't know how well it holds up...but i do remember it being a pretty well balanced film...it was pretty damn preachy too...as are most of spike's movies...but it also has real depth to it as well...spike knows how to tell a story, although sometimes he gets so caught up in it that he can lose a certain amount of perspective, but you at the very least get a nugget of something from him...and i think that's the bench mark of any filmmaker...even if the whole of your film is bad, the viewer should come away from it w/ more than "this was a shitty movie"...

[Choreoanimation]

but it also has real depth to it as well...spike knows how to tell a story, although sometimes he gets so caught up in it that he can lose a certain amount of perspective, but you at the very least get a nugget of something from him...and i think that's the bench mark of any filmmaker...

I totally agree. I thought "Do The Right Thing" was better than "Crash". As far as it holding up to time in general, I saw it for the first time about two years ago and thought it was very powerful...as Aggie mentioned, Spike Lee movies can lose it's direction and perspective from time to time, but this film still works well, and it's still hard-hitting. This film can definately make people think about things differently and maybe even change their view of other people and groups.

As far as other race movies go, I think "Pleasantville" did a great job of making a point without beating it into your head. It just told a story, then eventually you realize it's a metaphor for the real world race issues of yester-year (and today, to a certain extent), and it takes on a new meaning...especially the courtroom scene at the end that was taken straight from "To Kill A Mockingbird".

[DubipR]

Do The Right Thing was a far superior film. The script wasn't too preachy and too Hollywood message/PSA.
Crash was better when it came out originally as Grand Canyon

[Space Poo]

I know this thread is Crash v DTRT... I liked both by the way... I thought both films, though very different, got the job done in sending its message.

But speaking of race films, the movie that really jolted me with its message was American History X. I've seen it several times over the past few years and with each viewing it never loses its edge. It still resonates with power and lessons. Most people speak of the "curbing" scene as most memorable and horrifying. For me, it was the two dinner table scenes. One with the father planting the seeds of hate into his then innocent older son. And the other scene, years later, where the son lashes out with full-blown hate at the Jewish guest his mother invited to dinner. Scares the hell out of me.

Sorry if I went a little OT.

[Norrin Radd]

The Academy Awards lost all credibility by giving Crash best pic. There've been questionable Oscar winners before, but this is the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Even if they hadn't awarded it to Brokeback, at the very least Good Night and Capote were better than Crash. It definitely could not be considered the best of 2005 (even though I don't consider it a bad movie per se). I'm never taking this show seriously again.

[Huzzah!]

Ive never seen Do the right thing....only heard about and saw some things


wasnt the beef that there were no pictures of black people on a pizza restaurant wall? If so....i mean....wasnt it just italians? I dont see the problem really ....


Im sure its more complicated than that

[Comic_Mobsta]

I liked Rosewood,and Higher Learning myself,but if i had to pick between these 2 i would pick DTRT.

[DWEarhart]

The Academy Awards lost all credibility by giving Crash best pic. There've been questionable Oscar winners before, but this is the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Even if they hadn't awarded it to Brokeback, at the very least Good Night and Capote were better than Crash. It definitely could not be considered the best of 2005 (even though I don't consider it a bad movie per se). I'm never taking this show seriously again.

The Academy Awards lost credibility years and years ago. It's overflowing with politics and each year now is being catered to a particular social genre rather than flat out honoring the best films and their participants.

[Aggie]

The Academy Awards lost all credibility by giving Crash best pic. There've been questionable Oscar winners before, but this is the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Even if they hadn't awarded it to Brokeback, at the very least Good Night and Capote were better than Crash. It definitely could not be considered the best of 2005 (even though I don't consider it a bad movie per se). I'm never taking this show seriously again.


it lost all credibility when julia roberts beat out ellen burstyn for best actress in '96...that aside and the fact the the academy lends credibility to films that aren't that great...i mean brokeback was okay...i liked mysterious skin way better and was more moved by that than brokeback, but no one was waving a rainbow for that film...but to get back on point...someone mention american history x...that was a great mention...because it explored racism as a learnt behavior and it was brutal and in your face and just raw and didn't pull any punches...i was thinking about other films about race relations and in the heat of the night just came blazing at me...it's a very complete film...poitier and steiger are fantastic and very real and their conflict is very real and you buy their characters...which is another thing that really bugged me about crash...it tried too hard...and for that kind of film, it should be effortless because the conflict is all too real...and though it's very tougue and cheek...i think undercover brother is a fairly descent movie that touches on the subject of race...in that it pokes fun of preconceived notions that black and whites have about each other, so the need to beat you over the head w/ a 2X4 of tolorence really isn't necessary...;)

[Chiasm]

Most of the characters in crash were too stereotypical to be believable and thus the movie failed in my mind. It makes a good conversation movie but at the end of the day it wasn't that great.

[Norrin Radd]

Most of the characters in crash were too stereotypical to be believable and thus the movie failed in my mind. It makes a good conversation movie but at the end of the day it wasn't that great.

I know...the problem with Crash was it pretended to be real life and yet you knew this was just contrived bullshit. Do the Right Thing was obviously a morality tale with blatantly exaggerated characters, sets, and situations; if there were any contrivances, it was to be expected. In fact, the movie was designed that way. OTOH, Crash just insults the audience's intelligence.

As for the Oscars...yes, they've dropped the ball before. One that comes prominently to mind is when Forrest won over Pulp Fiction (and there are others). But this year was particularly disturbing because academy member actors were saying how they wouldn't vote for Brokeback because of the gay cowboy theme and how John Wayne was rolling in his grave because of it. Some of them hadn't even seen the movie! It's sickening...the Academy loves to congratulate itself on being socially progressive and yet when it gets a chance to show it, it falls to its own prejudices. I'm not saying Brokeback should have won because of its gay themes, but nobody should have voted against it just because of those themes.

[The Mirrorball Man]

I haven't seen Crash, but in my opinion, Do the Right Thing is the best movie by the best director on the planet, and it is making lots of compelling and ambiguous points about how different people manage to live together, and it does all that without ever feeling preachy, plus it's actually a classic Greek tragedy in disguise, complete with a Greek chorus, so really, there's no competition.

[Haunt]

People Under the Stairs?

[blackdragon6]

People Under the Stairs?in a off beat way i actually agree with this.

[spoon_jenkins]

I thought Crash really sucked. My reasoning overlaps with a lot of what Aggie, Chiasm, and Norrin Radd already wrote. I think it was really out of touch with actual racial interactions, human nature, etc.

I've only seen two Spike Lee films (Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever), and I didn't like either of them. I saw DTRT quite a while ago, when I was just a kid, so I acknowledge the possibility that I just missed what Lee was trying to communicate. And by default it's better than Crash, because that wasn't any good.

I saw Jungle Fever a few years ago, but more recently than DTRT. I thought it had a very backwards racial attitude. To me, it seemed to be saying that we're too different to have deep connections across racial lines and that inter-racial relationships are basically about fetishes.

Now, I'm hoping I just misunderstood Jungle Fever when I saw, but I don't remember it well to say whether that's true or not. In retrospect, I'm guessing the Turturro-"whomever that actress was" relationship was supposed to be the example of a deep, real interracial relationship, and I wasn't supposed to see the Snipes-Sciorra relationship as emblematic of interracial relationships in general.

[Jamal]

Jungle Fever was more about Spike lashing out at his father's interracial relationship than about having a real point. That one ( not all ) of the reason Samuel L Jackson and Halle Berry's characters stood out so well.

If you want to know why DTRT didn't get an Oscar look at the time period. No way a move like that was getting an Oscar in the Bush the Father era. I liked Crash I thought it was a good movie as for an Oscar, that statue lost real meaning year ago so why not.