Context

Big Night is about two Italian immigrant brothers, Primo and Secondo, who are trying to face the difficulties of running a successful restaurant in the city. The film takes place on the coast of New Jersey in the 1950’s. Primo is a master chef who serves authentic Italian culinary delights every night. Despite Primo’s expertise, only rarely do people come to dine at their restaurant. The diners of New Jersey are only familiar with Italian-American food, and do not know how to handle gourmet fare. When people do come to their restaurant, they often turn their noses up at the dishes served because it is not the traditional spaghetti and meatballs that they expect from an Italian restaurant. Secondo is forced to deal with the dissatisfaction of the customers, and the anger of Primo that arises when people do not appreciate the dishes that he makes. With foreclosure of the restaurant in the near future, Secondo asks his friend Pascal for a loan to keep the business alive. Pascal runs an popular Italian restaurant across the street where the main course served is always spaghetti and meatballs. Instead of giving the brothers a loan, Pascal promises to get the famous singer, Louis Prima, to eat  at their restaurant in hopes that his presence will put the restaurant on the map. From then on out, the brothers invest all they have into preparing for the “Big Night”.

Food’s Role

Food plays a huge role in this film. As preparation for the big night begins, food takes the starring role in the film. The main dish that is being served on the big night is timpano, which is a traditional Italian dish that is difficult to prepare. The pasta is handmade and rolled and everything is put together in the pot with care and caution. The food appears to be sacred in this film, especially to the brothers. The food must be perfect for the big night, so the brothers took preparation very seriously.

Food and Identity/Ethnicity

Identity is a main theme in this film. Identity in this film is expressed through culinary preferences, ethnicity, and food choices. In the 1950’s, America was viewed as the “Land of Opportunity”. People immigrated to the country in order to have the opportunity to grow in their career and make more money. Primo and Secondo came to America for this  purpose. They wanted to come here and open a restaurant that served traditional Italian food to people who may have never had the opportunity to have an authentic Italian meal. What they didn’t account for was the difference in culture and ethnicity between Italians and Americans. Americans do not cherish food like Italians do. People don’t want to go out to eat after a long day at work and have to think “What is this?” when they see what is on their plate. They want to see something familiar. The meals served at the brother’s restaurant were not familiar to Americans, so despite the complexity and deliciousness of the dishes, Americans didn’t like them. When Secondo went to Pascal for help, Pascal told him to “give the people what they want” (27:30). Secondo recognized that giving the people what they wanted was important, but he was not willing to give up his brothers culinary talent to serve people spaghetti and meatballs just because they were uncultured and couldn’t appreciate the magnificent meals that Primo could make. Primo and Secondo stuck to who they are and what their identity is instead of giving the Americans what they want.

Another scene that demonstrated the difference in identity between Italians and Americans was the scene where Secondo was talking with the car salesman. In this scene the salesman asks about Secondo’s name and if there was a “Primo”. Secondo tells him that Primo is his brother. The salesman says that he has a brother, but he hates his guts because he is a cheap person. Secondo was shocked by this and responds with, “…but he is your brother”. The car salesman says, “No, he is just a cheap person, and I hate cheap people”(48:15). This scene demonstrated how much Italians value family. Secondo could not understand how this man could hate his own brother. Secondo and Primo had their fights and disagreements, but in the end they were family and they stuck together.

(Skidompha, 2019)

Tradition and Authenticity

One of the opening scenes in this movie is a great demonstration of tradition and authenticity. In this scene there is a woman and her husband eating at the brothers restaurant. They are the only ones in the restaurant. The woman is not pleased with her risotto because there is no spaghetti and meatballs served with it. She asks for a side of spaghetti and meatballs, and Primo gets angry because she does not need two starches in her meal (5:06). Risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish that is cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. The broth can be derived from meat, fish or vegetables. This scene demonstrates how authenticity of a dish can have a culture shock effect on people who are not familiar with the dish.

The scene where Primo and Secondo are preparing the pasta for the timpano is another good demonstration of tradition and authenticity. Timpano is a traditional Italian dish that is very difficult to prepare. Secondo’s reaction when Primo suggested timpano shows how much time and effort it takes to make timpano. Secondo thought Primo was crazy for wanting to prepare that dish for so many people, but he insisted on making it because of how authentic and delicious of a dish it is. Only a true Italian with great knowledge of Italian food could pull that dish off (40:36). The brothers prepared the timpano from scratch, making it a truly authentic dish.

(Skidompha, 2019)

Taste/Pleasure/Convenience Ideology

Taste and pleasure when it comes to food is another central theme in this film. The film is about pleasing people’s taste buds so that they will return to the restaurant. Although taste is important, it is is not the only thing that goes into getting people to come to a restaurant. Americans value familiarity and convenience when it comes to food as well as taste. There is a scene when Secondo walks into Pascal’s restaurant and it is packed with smiling people enjoying their spaghetti and meatballs (23:30). Everyone is happy and socializing. This demonstrates how people prefer to convenience when it comes to food. When they go to Pascal’s restaurant, they know that they are going to get spaghetti and meatballs and that they are going to enjoy it. Americans like to stick with food that is convenient, and food that tastes familiar to them.

Another scene that represents the theme of taste and pleasure is the scene near the end of the movie when the brothers are serving their guests on the big night (1:15:30). As each course is served, the guests exclaim their pleasure by their facial expressions and comments. Many of the guests ask for more. They all seem to enjoy the meal served. Especially the timpano. Pascal says, “This is so good i should kill you!” (1:19:23).

(Skidompha, 2019)

Opinion

Overall, I think that this was a good film. The strengths of this film were the focus on food, the representation of Italian vs. American culture, and the use of tradition and authenticity. The film was a very good depiction of Italian culture in many ways. It showed how Italians view food as sacred, and they take cooking very seriously. There is a scene when Secondo loses his temper because Phyllis, his American girlfriend, cut the eggplant wrong. This scene showed how Italians view food more as an art rather than just a material. The relationship between Secondo and Primo represented how family is very highly valued in Italy. The brothers had disagreements, but they always stuck together. The preparation of food on the big night also showed a lot of Italian food traditions with the timpano and the risotto. The dishes were authentically made from scratch, and there were many scenes focusing on the preparation of the food. I think the only weakness of the film is that it had a fairly slow start. It was hard to get into the first 30 minutes of the movie, but once the preparation for the big night began, the film became more interesting.  

References

Tucci, Stanley & Campbell, Scott. (1996). The Big Night. Italy.

“OWL CINEMA FOODIE FILM: The Big Night (1996).” Skidompha, 2019, www.skidompha.org/event/owl-cinema-foodie-film-big-night-1996/.