settima

usa

Salesman (Albert + David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)

Mar

29

breakfast

Salesman (1969)

Bible salesmen enjoying breakfast at a soulless motel. DP: Albert Maysles.

Watched on Good Friday.

The World's Greatest Sinner (Timothy Carey, 1962)

Mar

1

eggs

The World's Greatest Sinner (1962)

Clarence “God” Hilliard (Timothy Carey) sitting at a round dinner table talking to his wife who's leaning against a counter holding a carton of eggs and crockery. DPs: Frank Grande, Robert Shelfow, Ray Dennis Steckler & Edgar G. Ulmer.

“Let's be different. Let's not hate anyone.”

– Clarence “God” Hilliard

The Whole Shootin' Match (Eagle Pennell, 1978)

Feb

23

dinner with dad

The Whole Shootin' Match (1978)

Father and son at a small messy dinner table in a small kitchen. The dad, Frank (Sonny Carl Davis) is going on about something while the kid, T. Frank (David Weber), licks his finger. DP: Eagle Pennell.

The Naked City (Jules Dassin, 1948)

Feb

10

Popsicles

The Naked City (1948)

A New York precinct. Across the street an ice cream vendor. Several kids are standing around the man's cart while one of them – a chunky monkey – leans against the nearest fire hydrant. A scruffy man in fedora walks past holding a Popsicle. DP: William H. Daniels; still photographers: Bert Anderson & Arthur “Weegee” Fellig.

“Another day, another ball of fire rising in the summer sky. The city is quiet now, but it will soon be pounding with activity. This time yesterday, Jean Dexter was just another pretty girl, but now she's the marmalade on 10,000 pieces of toast.”

– narrator

Weegee’s Coney Island [Coney Island] (Arthur “Weegee” Fellig, 1954)

Feb

10

Good Humor

Weegee’s Coney Island (1954)

Two chubby ladies on Coney Island's beach eating chocolate-coated ice cream bars on a stick, I guess Good Humor bars. The women both wear black shapeless bathing suits. One of them has a pink towel over her shoulders and her hair in rollers. The framing shows only part of the couple, but tells you all you need to know. DP: Weegee.

The Kentucky Fried Movie (John Landis, 1977)

Feb

9

popcorn

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

A white guy munches popcorn in a seemingly empty movie theatre while an usher, standing right behind him, lights a cigarette. DP: Stephen M. Katz.

“The popcorn you are eating has been pissed in. Film at eleven.”

– newscaster

Day of the Outlaw (André De Toth, 1959)

Feb

2

coffee

Day of the Outlaw (1959)

Blaise Starrett (Ryan) and Mrs Crane (Louise) at a table. There are coffee cups and the talk is tense. DP: Russell Harlan.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Crane. This coffee made me think how good whiskey would taste.”

– Dan, Starret's foreman

Space Coast (Ross McElwee + Michel Negroponte, 1979)

Jan

30

Space Coast (1979)

A woman and man eating at a wooden table. It's dark, there's one candle, and the guy wearing Ray-Bans® holding his #beer has got something to say.

Crime Wave [The City Is Dark] (André De Toth, 1953)

Jan

29

dinner for two

Crime Wave (1953)

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.

“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.”

– Det. Lt. Sims

Mikey and Nicky (Elaine May, 1976)

Jan

27

milk and cigarettes

Mikey and Nicky (1976)

The titular Mikey and Nicky sharing snacks, smokes, and sips at a tiny fast food table. There are piles of boxes with canned beer behind them. Mikey (Falk) cheesily grins at Nicky (Cassavetes). DPs: Bernie Abramson, Lucien Ballard, Jack Cooperman, Jerry File & Victor J. Kemper.