Food has always played a big part in movies, from comedy to drama, from expensive, elegant dinners in the finest restaurants to food fights in the school cafeteria. A favorite food in film is the hamburger, a fast food that has found its way into many great movies from family cookouts to, well, food fights in the school cafeteria. Here are two moments from two different movies that involve a hamburger.
Pulp Fiction (1994) Director: Quentin Tarantino
Summary: Gangster Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) has employed two hitmen, Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), to handle some of his “business.” While doing so they have philosophical conversations, contend with Marsellus’ wife (Uma Thurman), and try to deal with a desperate boxer (Bruce Willis).
The Moment: Jules and Vincent have been sent to deal with one of Marsellus’ associates. The scene opens with a door opening to both of them standing on the other side. Jules lets the three men inside the apartment know that they’ve been sent by Marsellus. Even though Jules’ voice is upbeat, there’s an underlying malice in it as well; the three men know that this isn’t a friendly visit. Jules notices that they are in the middle of eating breaking and asks what they’re having. One of the men, Brett (Frank Whaley), replies that they are eating burgers, Big Kahuna burgers to be exact. “Hamburgers!” Jules exclaims, “The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast!” He then politely asks if he can take a bite. Brett says yes and Jules takes a big bite out of the delicious looking burger. Jules goes on to explain how delicious the burger is and we, as the audience know, that these niceties aren’t going to last. We know that Jules is toying with them like a cat would play with a mouse before eating it. We know what’s coming but we don’t know when. There’s so much tension in this scene that it makes it one of the most memorable of the film and certainly the most memorable movie moment with a burger.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnb_3ibUp38?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0&w=920&h=425]
Better Off Dead (1985) Director: Savage Steve Holland
Summary: After Lane Meyers (John Cusack) gets dumped by his girlfriend Beth (Amanda Wyss) because she wants a more popular, better looking boyfriend, he becomes suicidal and dreams up wild ways to end his life until he meets a French exchange student named Monique Junot (Diane Franklin) who helps turn him around.
The Moment: Lane has a humiliating job at Pig Burgers as a fry cook and as his depression and anxiety get the better of him, he falls behind in his work. The boss (Chuck Mitchell of Porky’s) puts the heat on him, but Lane’s imagination is far too out of control and while alone in the kitchen with a ground meat and some buns, slips into a fantasy of clay animation and a classic Van Halen tune. Imagining a massive slab of meat and some bread in a 1930s monster flick, he Frankenstien and the burger his monster. Dressed in surgical gowns with the room now a laboratory, the burger stirs to life from a bolt of lightning, complete with arms, legs, and smiling face. With the swelling electric guitar of Van Halen’s ‘Everybody Wants Some’ rising on the soundtrack, the stop-motion burger picks up a guitar (just like Eddie Van Halen’s) and starts dancing with a girl burger as a group of French Fries sit around a pool of cooking oil. It all ends with Lane over the griddle with the room a mess and his boss walking in on his soon to be fired cook.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxZfFgizACw?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0&w=920&h=425]