If he ever found out who he whipped I bet he would have been nervous. He just beat up a multi millionaire who could easily hire a few rough oil field workers and/or cowboys who could work him over for revenge.
shareHe knew. Bick told him who he was when he first stepped forward to get Sarge to treat the Mexican family nicely. Sarge asked him whether his name gave him any "special privilege", and Bick replied that the name Benedict had always meant something to most people around there. Perhaps to his credit, Sarge wasn't intimidated by a big shot throwing his name around, even though Bick was right.
shareHence the final shot of that scene where Sarge throws the sign on Bick's chest: We reserve the right to refuse...." Bick had already identified Sarge as the 'landlord' of the diner.
shareI think you've got it backward. Obviously Bick knew all along that Sarge was the owner of the diner. The OP's comment concerned whether Sarge knew who Bick was. (He did, because Bick told him.)
shareAgree hobnob53. My point with the sign was that the owner/landlord was saying I don't care who you are, it's my burger joint and I have the right to refuse anyone.
shareOh, yes, exactly.
You'd think Sarge wouldn't have made that "I thought that kid would want a tamale" crack about Bick's grandson at the table. Whether he knew who Bick was or not (it doesn't seem he did at that point), since he intended to serve them he should have just kept his mouth shut. Why bother to antagonize them if he was going to allow them to stay? He's only inviting trouble (although the actual cause of the fight was the Mexican family who came in).
Of course, maybe he wanted to make them feel so unwelcome that they'd never come back, or even leave then and there.
On the other hand, why not just stave off trouble before it walked in the door and put a sign in the window saying "Whites Only"? That would've kept out Mexicans, blacks, Indians and any stray Asians who came by. It wasn't illegal back then, and Sarge could have kept his high-class clientele lily white and comfortably within a two-digit I.Q. range.
Well, back in those days (I assume this scene was set in the late 40s or so) Mexicans, blacks, Indians and stray Asians would have known that they weren't allowed in most white owned restaurants, bars, salons, etc and wouldn't have went in there to begin with. This was just a plot device by the movie makers to create the scene.
I'm not defending the practice (social segregation) by no means, just pointing out facts that movies tend to leave out to continue the storyline along. This movie was released in the mid-fifties, so everyone watching it would know these things went on.
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies"
The scene was set in the early 50s (same difference as the late 40s), and you're right, most minorities would know that most businesses barred them from coming in.
That said, even at that time members of minorities did try to gain service in some segregated places. The fact that Sarge made a grudging exception for the Benedict family, before he knew who they were, indicated that he did not resolutely ban Mexicans or others under all circumstances. After all, his sign read, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone". It did not say, "No Mexicans". My point was that he could have avoided all (or most) such problems by simply posting such a flat ban outside the establishment to begin with. For some reason, he didn't go that far.
Even so, as time went on more and more minorities did choose to go into whites-only businesses (restaurants were a favorite target) in order to test and ultimately break down segregation. Most famously this involved blacks staging sit-ins in such places, but other minorities made similar breakthroughs too.
I agree with what you are saying, but the time frame of that scene was set before the "sit ins" and other civil rights actions started. The point I am making that it was a plot device to movie makers use to move the storyline along. If there was a sign at the door sayin "no Mexicans allowed" then there would have been no fight in the diner. Then they would have to substitute Bick and Sarge getting over a fight about the food not being just right or the air conditioning not being up to their liking. How fun would that be?
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies"
No, I agree that it was a plot device. What's surprising is that Bick didn't give a second thought to going into Sarge's, regardless of what any sign may have read. He surely knew that such a place would be segregated, even if this wasn't explicitly stated.
More even than Sarge's sign -- which was pretty small, somewhat ambiguous, and posted inconspicuously indoors on a back wall instead of outside where it could stave off "trouble" -- Bick's decision to stop there to eat was an illogical plot device. If he'd been trying at the outset to force the point, it would have made sense, but he should have foreseen the possible consequences.
I know that this scene takes place a few years before the advent of sit-ins and other mass protests, but even in the late 40s and 50s a few blacks, Hispanics and others began gingerly to confront segregation in some public accommodations. So while not yet common, a few such protests had begun to manifest themselves, though they were scattered and largely ineffective at first.
One ironic thing too was that Sarge himself kind of had a ethnic look to him.
"A real man would rather bow down to a strong woman than dominate a weak one"
Yeah, but he was a white ethnic.
Of course, as much as this film dwells on white/Hispanic tensions in Texas, there's not a word about Texas's blacks. We never even see a black face in the movie, except for Leslie's family's butler, Jefferson -- and he's back in Maryland, which was also segregated at the time. Funny, though -- in the one (brief) exchange Bick has with Jefferson (when Jefferson opens the door for him at the wedding), Bick is extremely polite, even friendly, with him, as if he were greeting an old friend. Given his feelings about Mexicans, who were generally held in less contempt by most Texans of that era than were blacks, this is pretty surprising.
Weak poorly placed plot devices, gapping plot holes, all the result of mediocre writing.
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies"
I don't know. I think the writing's okay, but there are plot inconsistencies, some events that seem a bit forced (e.g., the stop at Sarge's), and the time line certainly doesn't work well. The racial aspect (focusing on Mexicans but not blacks) was a deliberate choice and reflects the novel, probably because of Jordy's decision to marry a Mexican girl. I guess even a film the size of Giant can't encompass everything.
shareTry to remember that the film takes place in the western portion of Texas where blacks are far and few between. East Texas would be a different story.
"A real man would rather bow down to a strong woman than dominate a weak one"
This is true. Even so, all the waiters and other staff at Jett's hotel are either whites of Mexicans. You'd expect to see some black people around. Also, in real life I'm certain blacks would come up as a topic of conversation -- in less-than-flattering terms, of course -- among the big boys who run things (Bick and his pals) at least once in a while. But you're right, Mexican-Americans would be the more immediate minority at hand in that part of the state.
shareNo blacks were around because there was no forced bussing in the old days.
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies please"
"Forced bussing"? You mean this? ----
Just funnin' ya.
Forced busing! Haven't heard that term since Nixon's cotton-pickin' days. Anyway, unless Bick, Leslie, Jett and the rest of the cast were all in adult education class, not an issue here. Besides, as you pointed out, it's a part of the state without many black residents. Where would they have bused them in from? Houston?
Actually I meant the act of cleaning up a table in a restaurant while intending to make a play on the fact that the area of Sarge's diner more than likely had very few black folks in region, so they had to be bused in. Yeah yeah yeah, to many s'es I used there. A stretch yes, but you know, I was trying to make a funny. But thanks for pointing it out anyway!
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies please"
You know, Jett employed Mexicans as waiters, busboys and the like in his hotel, even though he was also prejudiced against them. I wonder whether Sarge ever thought of hiring a "Mex" (as he doubtless would have called them) or two to work in his kitchen, as dishwashers or something. Probably not; he had a tiny staff as it was, and couldn't afford to alienate his white clientele in such a small business. On the other hand, Mexican workers in low-paying menial jobs would have been unexceptional and ignored, even expected, by whites at an establishment the size of Jett's joint.
shareYou're probably right about an operation the size of Jett's. I think that a few Mexican workers (bus boys/dishwashers/janitorial,etc) at Sarge's would probably not raise an eyebrow either to too many folks of that era. Even in a small mom & pop place. Who knows.
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies please"
I don't think Sarge's hiring Mexicans would raise any eyebrows, either, unless, since he must only employ three or four people altogether, he might prefer that they be white...though Mexicans would be cheaper, crucial for a small business like his. Anyway, it probably wouldn't entail having more than one Mexican because he would probably use only whites for the front of the house (waiters and waitresses) so as not to upset his all-white clientele. During the fight everyone we saw who worked there was white.
Anyway, leap ahead ten or fifteen years, when segregated public facilities were outlawed. Would Sarge roll with the punches (as it were) and just accept a varied clientele? Like most whites who resisted integration in the 50s and 60s I suspect he'd have eventually realized it was no big deal. And would Jett even still be around by then? The way he was going, there's a good chance he'd have drunk himself to death within a few years.
Probably so. Just as long as they spoke English. I'm sure Sarge would've insisted.
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies please"
Yeah, as long as they could read the menu without asking why he didn't sell tortillas, had dollars and not pesos, and understood the phrase "Get off your honkers" when he needed the booth back for his white customers, I'm sure Sarge would have grudgingly put up with both Mexican staff and patrons.
The latter not to be confused with patrón. When it came to serving west Texas fried chicken, Sarge was still the boss.
¡Felîz Navidád!
From Santa...
...and Sarge.
That's how he charbroils his steaks....
Ummmmmmmmm,fried chicken.....
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies please"
D'oh-ho-ho!
shareI'm not Mexican-American, But if I'D tried to enter Sarge's, he and the waitress would've both had guns pointed at my head. I'd have been one those rarely-seen East Texas blacks...
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
Good God, bradford-1! Just as long as you got out of there in one piece!
Put it down to Sarge's hospitality.
...come to think of it...
I started working in restaurants back in...1984?
Southern Ca...Orange County...
Used to work for Reuben's, when they were in business.
I and my co-workers, friends, floated around most of the "name" places in the next twenty years.
When we started, the chefs, head line cooks, grill cooks, bartenders, etc., were mainly white.
The dishwashers (I started there too) were Mexican, or from Central America.
From that time to now though, it's changed. Now the 'back of the house' from Chef down are usually Latino, and the 'front of the house is not off-limits.
For a while it almost went the other way: If someone didn't speak Spanish and went into an 'established' kitchen, they needed to be accepted by a close knit group.
Now every position is opening up for everyone.
Which is how it should be.
The unfortunate thing is that skilled, talented workers are making what a line cook was making in 1987...$10.00 per hour to start in 2015, if they have experience.
Wait, back then... $12.50 per hour was quickly reached.
No matter what ethnicity, a lot of wages have frozen for so long.
Hey, I'll have you know that since Reagan fixed our tax system the job creators have at last been getting close to their fair share, though they're still shy of owning the country. It's that 47% bunch of trouble-making riffraff freeloaders who want living wages and health care and food, the ones Mitt warned us about three years ago, who are making all the trouble (or stirring the pot, in Sarge's parlance). Like Jeb Bush says, all American workers need to do is work harder. That will put more money into the creators' pockets so they can invest more money in candidates who'll cut their taxes to 0% so they can keep yacht manufacturers and mansion builders and personal elevated parking garage installers in business for a few more months. And as for "pay", that top 2% have gotten along just fine without the farce of a minimum wage, even though they still only control 98% of the country's wealth because of our Socialist Communist Muslim atheist foreign-born President. But come 2016 freedom and democracy will triumph.
Meanwhile, I've invested in SargeCo, the successor conglomerate to Sarge's Place, which now controls every restaurant, hotel and tamale stand in the Southwest as well as majority shares in plastics, digital technology and the coming thing, water. Much like Jett (= Jeb + Mitt), Sarge was a pioneering wealth creator, at least for himself. For the rest of us, as Scott Walker says, have a Koch and just smile.
Fun fact, though: "The Yellow Rose of Texas" -- the song playing during most of the diner scene, including the fighting -- is about a woman of mixed Mexican and Caucasian descent. With a skin tone they used to call "high yellow" -- hence, "The Yellow Rose of Texas".
Quite appropriate, considering the subject matter, no?
I love it!
I never knew that--what a perfect moment!
Thanks for letting us know; I will look up the lyrics.
bhilburn says > Well, back in those days (I assume this scene was set in the late 40s or so) Mexicans, blacks, Indians and stray Asians would have known that they weren't allowed in most white owned restaurants, bars, salons, etc and wouldn't have went in there to begin with. This was just a plot device by the movie makers to create the scene.This was one of many problems I had with the movie. I realize it was a plot device to move the story along but it was too contrived and unrealistic. The Mexicans and all the Benedicts would have known that most establishments did not cater to Mexicans. Even if Sarge hadn't heard the boy say grandpa and he thought Juana was their servant, he wouldn't have served her or the child.