Great film.... but Sal forgot how to run an American business.

I just feel there's too much focus on Sal and his portraits in these discussions, and the role they played in the racial animosity between these characters. Remember, only one character in the entire story has a problem with the portraits initially, Buggin' Out. Radio Raheem joins the boycott after his argument with Sal over the stereo. Mookie, the main character, who's played by Spike Lee himself, never brings up the portraits, if I can recall. He clearly preferred to address Sal (and Pino's) bigotry more directly.

This is a really good movie, one of my all time favorites. Obviously every businessman wants to cater to their customers, but you don't want to look like you're pandering to them. Nothing wrong with a pizzeria having an italian interior. If I open a pizza shop in a chinese neighborhood, it would look ridiculous if I put up pictures of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.

If Sal had a pizzeria in some WASPy neighborhood full of northern europeans (english, german, scottish, etc) I doubt anyone would've started complaining that all the people on the wall are Italian. "Oh put up some more northern europeans", yeah I can't see that happening in a million years. I can't see east asians reacting that way either.

It is only blacks who freak out over this kind of thing.

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first of all, I don't agree with customer is always right policy because the customer gives his money but he gets something in return. And being how it is in the world today, there are millions of undereducated people, people not well raised, people with criminal intentions, people with low IQ, biased people (racially or otherwise), people with poor judgement, people under influence, angry people with traumas etc. And if I was a business owner I wouldn't want those people to run my business for me. Every one of those people can open their own business and try giving service to people and see how that is. I believe that most of them would close the shop in weeks! If "American business" means that you have to invest your own money, time and energy to start a business and then be a victim of every idiot that comes in off the street wanting 2 grams more sugar or a pizza 10 sec longer baked, well then I say *beep* "American business"[/b].

I have mixed feelings about the whole "pictures on the wall" argument.

Obviously Sal had been in that neighborhood for a long time, and no one seemed to care about the pictures until Buggin Out brought it up. And Sal was a nice guy.

But, Sal had been in that neighborhood for a long time. His clientele were mostly poor blacks or poor Hispanics. Africans, Latinos, and Italians have strong cultural ties compared to other demographics in America. Would it have been too much for Sal to put up some African Italians or mixed race people? Of course, the downside is if Sal did that, then people might think he's a push over and start arguing about other stuff, like prices (although charging two dollars for extra cheese is ridiculous).

So I can see how the issue goes both ways. Putting up some pictures of blacks might have been a nice gesture of good will that would have been appreciated.

~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

I don't think there was anything unreasonable about asking Sal to put some black stars on his wall of fame. He was in a black neighborhood. Making money off of black customers in a black community.

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