MovieChat Forums > La coda dello scorpione (1971) Discussion > What's with the J&B bottles?

What's with the J&B bottles?

posted 4 years ago by noisebox666 (39)
5 replies | jump to latest

Don't get me wrong, I liked this movie a lot, but the J&B bottles are litterally everywhere in this movie!
Maybe it's the same bottle that goes from one appartment to the other. We can find it also in hotel rooms and even on the terrace table of a bar when Lynch went to get a drink with the french journalist. Kinda rock 'n roll to go have a drink with your date in the middle of the afternoon and go straight for the whole bottle of whisky!
I don't know if that's some product placement but it felt weird that everyone drinks not only the same alcohol but also the same brand...
I wish they put some in the police station too, that would have felt complete

[–] captainbucky (15252) 4 years ago

It’s the genre back then

[–] noisebox666 (39) 4 years ago

Maybe, I noticed something similar with "Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave" (Your vice is a locked room...)
In this movie it was the same three bottles that went from one place to another. Less conspicuous than one, though.
Maybe Sergio Martino just used to work with some lazy set designer

[–] captainbucky (15252) 4 years ago

Hard drinking detective stories were the norm in the 70s

[–] noisebox666 (39) 4 years ago

I'm not really talking about the presence of alcohol, I'm talking about this unique bottle of J&B that is in every room of the movie.
And I'm kind of familiar with movies of the 70's. If you stick to italian giallo and poliziottesco, this is not something you see in movies by Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, Mario Bava, etc...
At that point, it seems to me it's a Sergio Martino thing, more than a 70s thing.
I was just wondering if it was an awkward product placement or some slack set design.
I would think basic product placement...

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20406) 3 years ago

I know the J&B bottles are widely used in the 70’s poliziotteschi films, and I see them used more sparingly in giallo. But your right, I’ve never seen them as frequently as in this particular film.