As Spike Lee goes for his Oscar this weekend, we look back on the movie and the man that almost got him one in 1992

Hilton Als on the creation of what would turn out to be a modern American classic

"Fame makes different things of different people. For the friend (me) who may count success as being sweetest for having n'er suc­ceeded, the friend (Todd) who does eventually becomes unavoid­ably bound to the signs of his fame."