”'Junket is junket,' I said, and 'no matter what you do with it, it still tastes like swill and swallows like slime.'”Bunny Lake Is Missing (Otto Preminger, 1965)
Aug
4
junket

Two women – one young (Carol Lynley), one older (Lucie Mannheim) – in a school's kitchen. The older woman handling the food says “But when it looks like junket, it is junket.“. DP: Denys N. Coop.
– school cook
“You know this city's full of hawks? That's a fact. They hang around on the top of the big hotels. And they spot a pigeon in the park. Right down on him.”On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
Jul
28
liquor

Edie Doyle (Eva Marie Saint) apprehensively sips liquor with Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) in attendance. DPs: Boris Kaufman & James Wong Howe.
– Terry Malloy
“I couldn't swallow any more salami.”The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955)
Jun
24
spaghetti

A man in a bathrobe (Ted de Corsia) lifts undrained, slightly overcooked spaghetti from a white enamel pan onto a plate. The overcookedness may be caused by this movie's horrible horrible AI “restoration”. DP: John Alton.
– Mingo
“What I'd give for a sink full of dirty dish.”Caged (John Cromwell, 1950)
Jun
20
prison chow

The girls eating their grub. It'd be Marie Allen's (Eleanor Parker) first of many. DP: Carl E. Guthrie.
– Millie
“I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.”Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)
April 20
20
oysters

J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) pulling Sidney Falco's (Tony Curtis) tie over cocktails and oysters. DP: James Wong Howe.
– J.J. Hunsecker
“You know, it isn't what a man wants to do, Lacey, but what he has to do. Now take me – I love to smoke cigarettes, but the doctors say I can't have them. So what do I do? I chew toothpicks, tons of them.”Crime Wave [The City Is Dark] (André De Toth, 1953)
Jan
29
dinner for two

Ellen Lacey (Phyllis Kirk) serving a bunch of punks (Bronson (2nd from the left, and Ted de Corsia (right) the food she prepared for herself and her husband Steve (Gene Nelson). DP: Bert Glennon.
– Det. Lt. Sims
Ο Δράκος [O Drakos / The Ogre of Athens / The Ogre / The Vampire] (Nikos Koundouros, 1956)
Jan
2
Martini

The boss, Hondros (Giannis Argyris), pours out a stiff drink on the floor of his cabaret with Mr Tomas (Dinos Iliopoulos) in the background. DP: Kostas Theodoridis.
The first film dinner of 2024.
Ο Δράκος [O Drakos / The Ogre of Athens / The Ogre / The Vampire] (Nikos Koundouros, 1956)
Dec
31
New Year's Eve

Men in identical white shirts and dark slacks dancing in the club during after hours. Their upper bodies seem top-heavy, tending to lunge towards the ground. DP: Kostas Theodoridis.
New Year's Eve celebrations.
A mousy bank clerk (Dinos Iliopoulos), who bears an uncanny resemblance to a criminal on the run, finds himself hiding in a shady cabaret on New Year's Eve instead of spending a quiet evening alone. During his forced stay at the nightclub, he comes to enjoy and identify more and more with his newfound persona and assumes the role of the notorious “Drago”.
An initial box office dud, it is now considered one of the top ten all-time best Greek films.
Happy new year, everyone! On to many more cinematic discoveries!