Actor Danny Aiello on Playing Jack Ruby

Esposito has been featured in Spike Lee's movies Mo' Better Blues and Do the Right Thing. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the intensity of working on the set of Do the Right Thing, and how he started acting at the age of six.

Unlike other film critics, Stephen Schiff isn't so troubled by the ambiguous ending of Spike Lee's third movie. Schiff admires the way Do the Right Thing smartly grapples with race relations, but he's frustrated by how inconsistent the characters are, a directorial flaw that serves the sometimes twisting plot.

Spike Lee's new movie, about a neighborhood's response to the murder of a black man, climaxes in a violent ending that many believe sends an ambiguous message about race relations in the U.S. Lee disagrees, and tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that the movie's intent is clear.