MovieChat Forums > Little Caesar (1931) Discussion > Spaghetti and Coffee for Two?

Spaghetti and Coffee for Two?


Being a "pasta fiend", I know when a plate of spaghetti isn't a plate of spaghetti. Rico eats whatever that is, with a knife and fork, without using a spoon or twirling it. Oh sure, he does sprinkle some cheese on it, but I tell ya that ain't spaghetti he's eating!

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I noticed that to, And his knife is covered with butter or some other kind of grease. It looks kind of like a potato or something. Besides where in the rural midwest can you go to get spaghetti. And who eats spaghetti with coffee, the two just don't go together.

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I was thinking the same thing. In 1930 most of america didn't eat pasta and whatever they are eating in that cafe it sure isn't spaghetti.

Sounds good though, spaghetti and coffee.

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The dialogue was probably written to let the audience know right away that the characters were supposed to be Italians. And spaghetti was the obvious food, circa 1930. But I have no idea what's really on the plates.

"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

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Choices for drink, at the time, would have been coffee or water. Didn't have the choices we do today. Coffee was the adult choice.

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This surprises me a little bit. I like to think you could at least have gotten a little glass bottle of coke at a roadside diner in the 30s.

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And nobody should forget the spaghetti eating scene in the roaring twenties. He does use a spoon to twirl it and it is without question spaghetti.

Seems that spaghetti would have been a great depression era food. The sauce wouldn't have much meat in it and there would be lots of bread to sop up the sauce but what dish is better on a budget?

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Maybe the cook was horrible, and the spaghetti came out clumpy. Besides, twirling with a spoon is for whimps.

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Some four years later, my guess now is the cook didn't pour olive oil on it after draining to prevent the spaghetti from sticking together.

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Watch Rico's plate carefully. A couple of different times you will see the end of a piece of spaghetti pop up and once a strand sticks to his knife. There is indeed spaghetti there. The mound does look like mashed potatoes. Odd combination today for us but, back then, who knows? Since the piece that sticks to his knife is small he must have cut it to that size with the knife.

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I've been eating spaghetti for more than sixty years. I occasionally twirl, but I usually cut it with the fork. I never use a spoon.

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