The Black Cat (Harold Hoffman, 1966)
Sep
9
A sad blonde (Robyn Baker) with her perfectly coiffed head on her perfectly set table. DP: Walter Schenk.
“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 can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog.”
Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951)
Jul
1
steak
A man dissects his steak with knife and fork at a round table with an oilcloth cover. Prominently in the centre of the table is an square cardboard box with air-holes punched in the lid. It's open and houses a small, live rattlesnake. DP: Charles Lang.
– Charles Tatum
“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
“Mr. Cadell got a bad leg in the war for his courage. And you've got your sleeve in the celery, Mr. Phillip.”
Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948)
Jun
9
A man in a dark suit has his clenched hand on top of a stack of fancy gilded dinner plates. He's holding a piece of rope, just an ordinary household article. DPs: William V. Skall & Joseph A. Valentine.
– Mrs. Wilson
“My son – Sebastian – and I constructed our days. Each day we would carve each day like a piece of sculpture, leaving behind us a trail of days like a gallery of sculpture until suddenly, last summer.”
Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959)
Jun
7
Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor) and a man in white, seen from the back, eating alfresco near a beach. DP: Jack Hildyard.
– Mrs Vi Venable
“She's still crazy about him. He's still crazy.”
Altered States (Ken Russell, 1980)
May
18
tea
An almost monochrome man and woman in Edwardian costumes sit at a round table under a parasol. The couple looks out over a field with bright orange poppies. The flowers are filmed through a fisheye lens and appear to be on a grassy green planet.. DP: Jordan Cronenweth.
“We seem to hear the winds of reform whistling down the chimney. Whereas the low hussy frolics off to buy her supper. Where do you keep your canned tamales, partner?”
Rain (Lewis Milestone, 1932)
May
13
canned tamales
Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford) looking for canned tamales in the pantry of the island's only convenience store. DP: Oliver T. Marsh.
– Sadie Thompson
