There are so many movies like "A Bronx tale" which depicts a black business being destroyed and even in real life black businesses have been destroyed. Sal was an opportunist who didn't give a crap about the customers that were paying his bills. Look at what his racist son said "Planet of the Apes", where do you think he learned that from? His father. I'm glad spike lee made it so easy to sympathize with sal.
shareHe could have learned it from his friends, who picked it up from their fathers. I think Sal did care for his customers, but he never really respected them.
Expiration dates are mere suggestions! Like late fees and traffic lights.
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Black people think they can commit crime whenever it suits them.
Wow, it is strange to me how so many people miss the point of that scene. Mookie tossed the trashcan through the window to get everybody off of Sal's back. He redirected the mob to the pizzeria instead of Sal and his sons. He finally did the right thing.
shareIf that was the point of the scene, then count the writer and director of the film as one of the people who missed it. From the solo Spike Lee commentary (on the Universal 20th Anniversary edition):
Now, I want to clear this up once and for all. Mookie did not throw the garbage can through the window to divert the mob from jumping on Sal, Vito, and Pino. Mookie threw the garbage can through the window because he just saw one of his best friends murdered, in cold blood, by NYPD.share
WOW then this movie just lost the one thing that I liked about it. It seems I misinterpreted it, it was just another act of senseless violence. It also doesn't make a lot of sense, if Mookie blamed Sal for Raheem's death why did he seem to still respect him when he went to ask for his money? Honestly this film was good up until the last 30 minutes where it just loses all direction.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." - Jimi Hendrix
If Mookie had merely tossed the trash can through the window to save Sal from getting killed by the angry mob of people, that would've been one thing, maybe, but Mookie went too far and destroyed Sal's Pizzeria entirely..
Having said that, I could understand breaking the window, maybe, because a broken window is far cheaper and easier to replace, but setting fire to and destroying somebody's business was really over the top...and showed disrespect and lack of consideration.
Mookie did not go too far in burning the place down because he wasn't the one who burned it down. It was a Smiley.
shareMookie did not go too far in burning the place down because he wasn't the one who burned it down. It was a Smiley.
Everything comes down to Buggin Out being wrong about stirring up unnecessary strife -- including pushing Radio Raheem over the edge -- because he was absurdly upset that Sal didn't have photos of blacks on the wall of his Italian pizzeria. Remove Buggin Out's idiocy from the equation and Radio Raheem would've still been alive and Sal's restaurant would've still been serving the community, as it had for the past 25 years.
So it was Buggin Out who did the wrong thing, which started the chain reaction to death & destruction.
"Sal was an opportunist".
Running the same business in the same place for 25 years does not, exactly, spell "opportunist". Perhaps you should learn what words mean before crowing on full song on an Internet forum.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Anyone who just dismisses it as a crime is too simple-minded to understand such a complex socio-economic issue, and will never get it because they don't want to. Period.
shareSal could have moved his business if he were such a racist. Sure, his one son was bigoted, but that's no reason to destroy a person's place of business.
Pino was a jerk.
Buggin Out was a jerk.
Radio Raheem was a jerk.
I doubt that Spike Lee was actually calling for white businesses to be burned to the ground just because one employee happens to be a bigot.
The truth is that everyone in the neighborhood suffered in the end because of two or three people who happen to be Effed-up.
This is a very articulate post, and you say things that I wish that I could say. Thanks for this, BJT2013. Really...thank you!
This:
The truth is that everyone in the neighborhood suffered in the end because of two or three people who happen to be Effed-up.
Why should he care about his customers? Its a pizzeria not a community centre. All the customers are owed is good pizza. I dont expect the shops I use to care about me as a person or my culture.
And how is he an oppurtuist? For setting up a successful bussiness in a good location? Isn't that the point of all shops?
Please consider me as an alternative to suicide
If there's anything to learn from this movie is don't run a business in a black area. Ferguson?
shareThere are so many problems with your post.
Just because his son said Planet of the apes, you assume he learned that from his father?
Sal didn't give a crap about the people who were paying his bills? How? When people walk into your shop with a boom box on full blast, you're disturbing other customers. And as the wall of Italian-Americans is concerned, I honestly can't think of a significant Italian-American who is/was black. No one says anything about the radio DJ with ALL black people splattered across the walls of the studio.
You need to get punched in the face for that dumb ass comment. What the hell is wrong with you? Are you retarded? You sound like Smiley from the movie.
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