Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making Of “Crooklyn”

What was true and what was not?

When I think of this film, the first thing I think about is the dog, Queenie, popping out of the couch and Aunt Song mourning her death. That woman cared about the dog more than her own daughter.

Since all the Lee siblings have said that the movie was loosely based on their childhood, people often asked Cinque if they really killed that dog. Cinque says that part was definitely fictional but there were other elements of the film that were inspired by real life events, like the eldest son, Clinton, having to decide whether or not he would attend the Knicks game or his father’s concert. Spike spoke about the incident in the LA Times:

“That was the seventh game of the NBA championship in 1970; that’s the game that Willis Reed dragged his leg on the court and the Knicks beat the Lakers. I got one ticket for the game, I got it through my father’s lawyer . . . who lives down the block, who went to school with John Havlicek.”

When the Times asked him if he regretted his decision to skip his father’s concert, this is what he had to say:

“It was unfortunate my father had to schedule a concert . . . but I mean, there would be other concerts; it was only going to be this one championship game. But it . . . I think it hurt (my father). I think it hurt very much. Shoot, when my sister did (the musical) ‘Mule Bone’ on Broadway, their opening night was a night the Chicago Bulls were in town. You know where I was at.”