Spike Lee. Spike has given us three masterpieces in three consecutive decades. BlackKklansman from 2018 wasn’t quite that- but a really strong film nonetheless and his best in 20 years (He Got Game in 1998). His strength is he’s a style-plus director (trademark stylistic flourishes—the reflexive looking at the camera, the double-dolly shot, use of primary color) with three of the best 250 films of all-time. I’ve studied all of his non-doc films and many of them miss the top 10’s of their respective years and that’s the weakness. You usually don’t see that from top 50 auteurs but unlike PT or Cuaron or someone with a really high per/film average—Spike is extremely prolific (closer to fellow New Yorker Woody Allen). He has 22 feature fiction films overall. His inconsistencies are troubling but he’s prolific, has 3 films in the top 250 of all-time like I said, and 10 archiveable overall films.
Best film: Do the Right Thing. This film gets better every time I see it- #49 of all-time on my list. His use of primary colors, dutch angles, mise-en-scene mastery, and the trademark “wake up” tell-off sequence talking directly at the camera.
total archiveable films: 10
top 100 films: 1
top 500 films: 3 (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, The 25th Hour)
top 100 films of the decade: 4 (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, The 25th Hour, BlackKklansman)
most overrated: There’s nothing on TSPDT that’s overrated here for Spike
most underrated: 25th Hour… It’s shooting up the TSPDT 21st century list year after year but it’s still rated outside the top 10 for 2002. You could also go with Malcolm X as it’s way down at #937 on TSPDT and I have it at #178.
gem I want to spotlight: He Got Game. I actually think quite highly of a lot of Spike’s films on the list from the 90’s (this, Jungle Fever, Clockers). They’re imperfect but contain dazzling sections. Ray Allen isn’t great but Denzel is the film’s center and he’s fantastic. It’s got Lee’s energetic camerawork, use of color, and a beautiful borrowed score by Aaron Copland.
stylistic innovations/traits: Spike is a bold visual artist even if all anyone ever talks about with Spike Lee is the content of his films. The colors and use of music (although I singled out his use of Copland in He Got Game above he usually works with Terence Blanchard who is wonderful and obviously his collaboration with Public Enemy in Do the Right Thing is critical to the film (it’s hard to imagine it without) are incredibly potent. He has the trademark double-dolly shots that I adore. He also has trademark shots of characters talking directly to the camera as well as gorgeous use of slow motion (the scene in the club of 25th hour with PSH will melt your face (in a good way) if you love film style). Subscribers to the auteur theory like me love reoccurring shots like this throughout an oeuvre. He’ll use documentary footage (Rodney King in Malcolm X, Charlottesville at the end of BlackKklansman), often makes films set in and about New York and has been a body of work dissertation that perceptively explores race in America.
top 10
- Do the Right Thing
- Malcolm X
- The 25th Hour
- He Got Game
- BlackKklansman
- She’s Gotta Have it
- Jungle Fever
- Clockers
- Summer of Sam
- Inside Man
By year and grades
| 1986- She’s Gotta Have it | R |
| 1989- Do the Right Thing | MP |
| 1991- Jungle Fever | R |
| 1992- Malcolm X | MP |
| 1995- Clockers | R |
| 1998- He Got Game | HR |
| 1999- Summer of Sam | R |
| 2002- The 25th Hour | MP |
| 2006- Inside Man | R |
| 2018- BlacKkKlansman | HR |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
malcolm x is no longer on the 1000. also, you should take a look at she’s gotta have it… it’s a great film. visually it is good, especially the color scene with the song. and a unique narrative great acting (including spike) and really great writing. really good debut, in my opinion better than reservoir dogs.
@m — thanks- I wrote this page in May of 2019 so was using last year’s TSPDT list at the time. Terrible that TSPDT let Malcolm X fall off the list again.
I think She’s Gotta Have It is great but can’t get behind the idea of having it ahead of Reservoir Dogs…. speaking of TSPDT — She’s Gotta Have it doesn’t land anywhere on the list or the top 1001-2000 either.
I LOVE Do the Right Thing. Lee’s masterpiece. I agree with you here. Stylish, colorful, funny, tragic and so relevant, 30 years later… that’s sad.
Are there are good movies about race relations that you would recommend? Or any stylish, entertaining dramedies like Do the Right Thing. Or any good movies in general that are fun, stylish, good to look at and enjoyable.
Many cinephiles and cinema-goers would disagree with Spike Lee up so high. Many people have accused Spike Lee of being ‘overrated’ ….. ‘2nd rate, 2nd tier filmmaker’ and an ‘excess and angry’ director. All I know is this: ; 2nd rate filmmakers do not make movies like Do the Right Thing…. If someone does not like Do the Right Thing, it’s difficult to believe they even appreciate film as an art form.
His follow up movies prove he is no one hit wonder.
Like Chaplin, he is also a great actor too. That’s a bonus.
@Azman– Spike Lee ranks 13th I believe as far as auteurs on the TSPDT consensus top 250 who had their debut film in 1980 or more recent. This is higher than Wes Anderson, Fincher, Jarmusch and many others. So those “many people” who have him as overrated are in the minority.
Yes, it is a minority but it is still alot of people. I was using the TSPDT list (where he is’t even a top 100 director). some critics criticize his style. Roger Ebert said: ” people have accused Lee over the years of being an angry filmmaker. He has much to be angry about, but I don’t find it in his work”.
The critics consensus on RT for 25th hour reads: “An intelligent and well-acted film despite the usual Spike Lee excesses.” Many critics on metacritic to have criticized this. Black audiences expressed outrage with Blackkklasman.
It’s definitely a minority of people that criticise him but it’s still quite a few critics and moviegoers.
I hear ya. I’m just using his consensus. 13th among filmmakers from 1980-on is a really good spot on the TSPDT top 250 director list. I think we talked about that with Tarantino last week as he wasn’t in the top 50 but he’s actually #1 or #2 (can’t remember now) out of those directors who made their debut post 1990.
Do you think there is a bit of an older bias on TSPDT and amongst critics? A bias towards older directors and movies. I personally believe Spike and Tarantino are definitely top 50 of all time but they miss out. Lee isn’t even on the top 100!. There definitely seems to be more praise for older auteurs on TSPDT.
I definitely think your list is much better. Lee and Tarantino and most other directors are ranked where I would agree with. Great job on your top 250 directors list you are coming up with. I have learnt a lot about many new directors so thank you for that.
@Azman– Thanks for the kind words- so happy to hear that. TSPDT undoubtedly favors older films and filmmakers. I like that though. I have the same sort of thing with my 10 year moratorium on all new films because I put them on the top 500 of all-time (which is my main skeleton point system for the director’s rankings)
Nice. I like the moratorium thing. You give new films time to sink in. That’s good for movies and directors (debuts) in the last 15 years or so.
However certain directors like PTA, Tarantino, Spike Lee are still underrated even though they have been making masterpieces since the 80s and 90s.
Surely by now in 2019-2020 (35 or so years later) they should be properly acknowledged as top 50 directors the way you have them. 20-30 years is a long time for critics to catch on I believe.
There is a not-insignificant cohort of prominent critics who believe cinema died in the late 1990s with the rise of home video (look up Susan Sontag, she kicked this line of thinking off). That group needs to retire/die out and then we’ll see the directors of the past 30 years get the credit they deserve.
@Azman and Matt Harris. Agree with you both. I think we’re all on the same page. At spot 200 on my list of the top 250 directors I’m going to start making room for films that come between now and 2009— Chazelle, Aster and the others. It’ll be fun to do those pages as well.
I think my system gives all these films enough time to cool off… but these director’s works will vault up near the top the next time I update them. Take Tarantino or PTA, McQueen and others on my list. QT for example is ranked 44th on my list now and that doesn’t account for his last 4 films (2009-now).
I think it’s a very, very, small and insignificant minority though(like 2 or 3 out of 150 critics) (I could be wrong. Most critics i like, White, Siskel and Ebert, Drake etc adore all movies from the 1910s-2010s). What ‘prominent critics’ are you referring to? I didn’t find a lot on google. Perhaps (it’s unlikely) Sontag meant the death of theaters.(cinema is the British English word for theaters. She isn’t wrong if she meant that. A lot of people watch movies from home now. Fewer people go to cinemas/theaters). Maybe you could help me out Matt. What do you think Drake? Do you agree? Maybe you also know something about this.
Anyways this is all I found. I didn’t really understand most of what the article 2 was trying to say.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jul/14/close-up-jean-luc-godard.
https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-492681926/home-video-and-the-death-of-cinema-notes-from-the.
I also found this. Godard said “cinema begins with DW Griffith and ends with Kiarostami”. However, Godard has some pretty strange, contradictory opinions and he still appreciates modern movies.
@Azman– I’ll let Matt or others dig here on Godard’s quotes or Sontag if they choose and the death of theater or the shift of audience’s interests, etc. It doesn’t hold a ton of interest to me— I’ll just say as someone who has their head buried in these films 500-1000 times a year roughly for the last 20 years I don’t think there’s a significant sustained peak or valley (not to say like 1960 isn’t vastly superior to 1987 or something like that) in cinema history— these people are probably bringing their own agendas and tastes to the table– but it just reflected in the quality of the actual films.
You’re right. I never thought about this or even heard about Sontag till Matt brought it up. His statement got me thinking that maybe that’s the reason Spike Lee, Tarantino etc are underrapreciatted on TSPDT. Like you, I dont spend much time thinking about this. It doesn’t hold a ton of interest to me either.
500-1000 films for 20 years????. I admire your dedication to movies. Really, really impressive. I watch (maybe-this is quite a stretch) 500 movies (including rewatches) every 2 years. (I browse your website looking for recommendations for 30 minutes throughout the day haha) (my movie watching will increase a little bit till september-due to quarantine)
Spike Lee’s statements on racism and police brutality (especially in do the right thing) is unfortunately very relevant with what has happened over the past few days.
What do you think of the trailer for his new movie Da 5 bloods?
Do you think it will be a good movie?
Da 5 Bloods, it is now available, you’ve seen? I plan to see it tomorrow
You already have archivable movies in 2020?
@Aldo- the plan is to see it this week. I’m very excited. Believe it or not the only 2020 archiveable film so far is Extraction. http://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/04/28/extraction-2020-hargrave/
Is Do the Right Thing’s racist insults sequence Spike’s best scene? Any other big options?
@Graham- maybe the double dolly shot to Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come — https://mattmulcahey.wordpress.com/2019/02/26/the-shot-behind-the-shot-spike-lees-patented-double-dolly-from-malcolm-x-1992/
“Spike is a bold visual artist even if all anyone ever talks about with Spike Lee is the content of his films.”
Yep, watched Do The Right Thing (1989) on Criteiron 4K Blu Ray and was wowed by the visuals, I had seen this film twice before but on much smaller screens and while I found the story interesting and appreciated some of the humor before this was the first time the visuals jumped out at me. Buggin Out and Radio Raheem entering Sal’s leading up to the violence was incredible camera work with the use of dutch angle. There are numerous low angle shots throughout as well. The narrative is patient as well, the first 30 min or so are used to introduce all the characters and build up the neighborhood. The use of color is crucial, red and orange shades to visualize the heat which plays a crucial role in the films narrative similar to Dog Day Afternoon (1975). Although with respect to the great Sidney Lumet he was not this impressive visually.
@James Trapp- Great work as always from you here James. Thank you. I caught it again about 5-6 weeks ago.
@Drake – thanks, I appreciate the kind words.
I am curious when you watch films outside of your director studies do you have any system for selecting films or is it more just whatever you are in the mood for?
@James Trapp- for much of it I take lists I trust (TSPDT is the main one, criterion) and use a random generator. I’d like to think this keeps me on my toes. I try to see a few new films (2020, 2021, 2022) every week. I’m often scared by scarcity- so if there is a film on my DVR I cannot find anywhere else- or a film on criterion that is expiring at the end of the month (or on MUBI that just came available for some reason) I prioritize those as well. Sometimes I find I’m digging through the trash too much- and just need to watch a great film (which was the case here with Do the Right Thing).
I finally caught Malcom X (1992). Definitely one of the best biopics I have ever seen hands down. I can’t believe how well it maintained its energy for such a long runtime. Denzel’s performance is incredible.
One of my only complaints and maybe complaint is not even the best word but what do you think of Spike inserting real footage or documentary footage into his films? I loved Blackkklansman (2018) thought it was one of the 5 best films of 2018 but did not think the footage from Charlottesville’s in 2017 really worked; not for any political reasons but it just seemed out of place despite the obvious thematic connections. I didn’t think the documentary like footage at the end of Malcom X was not as out of place so to speak as Blackkklansman but I still am not sure it worked. And the final scene in the classroom almost seemed like a PSA (public service accouncement).
@James Trapp- I see your point- but I think having the two help each other if we’re standing back and looking at his body of work. Spike mixes in doc footage into a number of his films. Also, subtlety is not really his thing.
@Drake – good points, I was actually thinking of a full on Spike Lee study but so many auteurs I want to do, so hard to get everything in so I have gone on a mini Spike bender watching Malcom X, Inside Man, and The 25th Hour in the last week, with Malcom X being the only one that was a first viewing. Want to get viewings of Clockers and He Got Game in the next week as well. But I see your point in viewing Spike’s work as a whole and how this reinforces his style and themes. And yes Spike is not subtle!
Just curious of the following auteurs which do you think is most likely for one for MP level film:
Spike Lee
Quentin Tarantino (assuming he sticks to his word and makes one final film)
David Fincher
Jim Jarmusch
@James Trapp- they’re all quite capable of course – but I’d use the last film of each as the best indicator – I’d go with QT followed by Fincher
@Drake – QT would be my answer as well since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was a MP and is only 3 years old. By most people’s account Fincher’s last MP was 13 years ago with The Social Network although if you ask me its 9 years since I think Gone Girl is a MP. Spike and Jarmusch have misses in their filmography while QT and Fincher don’t really.
I was going to include PT Anderson in the question as well, but he was a bit of an advantage with his age as he is 52 years old and the others are
Tarantino, 59
Fincher, 60
Spike Lee, 65
Jarmusch, 70
@James – I believe QT truly wants his next and final film to be his best. Fincher’s always on, I can’t see him misstepping so he’s always got that potential. I’m not excited for Jarmusch’s next film, The Dead Don’t Die is probably the sleepiest film I’ve ever seen. I think Spike Lee’s next is a musical about the making of viagra, I’ll hold my tongue on that for now but at least the concept I’m not too excited about (I thought Da 5 Bloods was really good though)
@Harry – Love the ambition from QT; despite his declaration that he would make 10 films before retiring I felt like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) was a grand finale of sort for his brilliant career. Hard to out do that one but would never bet against QT.
QT for me too