Coffee and Noir: THIEF

every instance of coffee in noir: 047

You can learn a lot about a character by how they take their coffee: sugar? cream? more whiskey than caffeine?

I’m cataloging every noir scene where coffee plays a role — rote and ritual, soul-dark or cream and sugar, served from dingy diners to shiny penthouses.

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Michael Mann’s second entry in this project is somehow even more of the classical Classic Diner Coffee and Noir scenes, mostly be virtue of it being in a window seat with few other customers.

That Frank (James Caan) and Jessie (Tuesday Weld) order and are served coffee within the scene, doctor their coffee with cream, and break out the cigarettes, is also classic, but like Heat, they don’t even drink it!

In fact, Frank mostly uses the cream as a way to order the waitress around and express how things ‘ought to be done’ — a real character beat within this and almost every scene.

It’s a ten minute scene laying bare their souls and wants and history within a few simple shots played longer for the actors to work their magic, so just start watching . . .

before you know it you’re wrapped up in the whole world and its systematic approach to safecracking, relationships, and daily rituals again.