In 1999, the film was deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
-from the Wikipedia entry on Do The Right Thing.

WELL OBVIOUSLY, U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

I think that Wikipedia quote there sums up my feelings towards the movie. It is culturally significant. If a big name director is writing about racial conflict in a believable, relatively unbiased way, of course it’s gonna be significant.
In a way, it made me nostalgic for the summers of my youth in California and Pennsylvania where it was too hot to be inside or outside and everyone was just hangin’ out on their porches.
It’s unsurprising that all the heat in Bed-Stuy caused a riot. I wonder if the same events would’ve taken place if the movie wasn’t set on the hottest day of the year.
Spike Lee is hardcore. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in the movie. How often do people do allll that for a non-indie movie? I don’t feel like there are many multi-taskers [to that extent] out there, making successful movies. So yeah, wow, great job, Mr. Lee.

Do The Right Thing is believable and stylish and makes a point. Actully, on second thought, I think it makes quite a few points. Race will always be an issue. It’ll always be hard to really believe in your police force. And, of course, doing the right thing is always important.