You learn a lot about a noir character by their coffee: sugar? cream? more whiskey than caffeine?
As more of my film and TV analysis migrates to Shot Zero, I’m here cataloging coffee-making scenes in noir — two things I love to make and consume, both involving rote and ritual, which I take soul-dark and no sugar, machinations evolving over the years while base ingredients and effects remain the same.
In the first entry, Gloria Grahame was making coffee and having a crisis of faith.
In The Big Heat, coffee is more directly involved in her pain.
During a loaded conversation between Grahame’s Debby and her ‘heavy’ boyfriend Vince, there’s a carafe on a hot plate nearby.
Their words foreshadow what’s to come:
“got a hot flash for you”
“Tierney wouldn’t know a gag if it hit him right in the face”
“that’s a real pretty kisser”
As Vince’s anger boils over at 1:21, bubbling noises louden, reminding us what’s been in the background all along . . .
We don’t get a clear look at Debby’s face right after the attack; this makes some practical sense (as even bad burns caused by boiling liquid wouldn’t be immediately striking in black-and-white), but narratively it serves to prolong curiosity and drama.
In the next scene, Debby shows up to Dave’s apartment (the same Dave she and Vince were fighting about) — the direction takes its time revealing her, before she comes in, turns her face from the light, and tells Dave what happened:
“Vince threw hot coffee in my face . . . I’m gonna be scarred.”
The scene isn’t just a key character moment and narrative turning point, it’s dramatic enough to be the image featured on the film’s poster:
making it easily one of the most iconic instances of coffee in noir.