Big Night

Synopsis: Primo and Secondo are two brothers who have emigrated from Italy to open an Italian restaurant in America. Primo is the irascible and gifted chef, brilliant in his culinary genius, but determined not to squander his talent on making the routine dishes that customers expect. Secondo is the smooth front-man, trying to keep the restaurant financially afloat, despite few patrons other than a poor artist who pays with his paintings. The owner of the nearby Pascal's restaurant, enormously successful (despite its mediocre fare), offers a solution - he will call his friend, a big-time jazz musician, to play a special benefit at their restaurant. Primo begins to prepare his masterpiece, a feast of a lifetime, for the brothers' big night...
Genre: Drama, Romance
Production: Samuel Goldwyn Films
  9 wins & 17 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Metacritic:
80
Rotten Tomatoes:
96%
R
Year:
1996
109 min
2,775 Views


1

What?

More salt?

No.

Not too fine, eh?

Sometimes you cut too fine,

then all you taste is the garlic.

Okay.

Let's go. Five minutes, huh?

Cristiano, let's go. Hurry up.

Chop, chop!

- We open in five minutes.

- Oh, my God, I can't believe...

Remind me tomorrow

to call the plumber to come back

so I can kill him.

- Are we ready?

- I'm ready half an hour.

Wait! The risotto.

Yes. Go.

Oh, thank God. Okay, here we go.

Oh, I'm just so hungry.

- Signore.

- Oh, that looks good.

You got leaves with yours.

Here we go.

Okay.

- Cristiano.

- Sir?

- Is this what I ordered?

- Yes, that is the risotto.

Is a special recipe

that my brother and I bring from Italy.

It's delicious, I promise.

It took so long I thought you went

all the way back to Italy to get it.

Yes, I know. But it's worth it, I promise.

- You'd like fresh pepper or cheese?

- No, I don't eat cheese.

- Cheese, yeah. Lots of cheese.

- Oh, yeah, he likes cheese.

Yeah.

Excuse me.

Didn't you say that this was going to be

rice with seafood?

Yes. It is Italian Arborio rice. The best.

And then with shrimp,

and scallop, and...

I just don't see anything

that looks like a shrimp or a scallop.

I just... Well, I'm...

I mean, it's just not what I expected.

But I get a side order of spaghetti

with this, right?

Why? Well, no...

I thought all main courses come

with spaghetti.

Well, some, yes, but, you see,

risotto is rice, so it is a starch.

And it doesn't go really with pasta.

- But I don't...

- Honey, honey.

Order a side of spaghetti, that's all.

- And I'll eat your meatballs.

- Yeah, he'll have the meatballs.

Well, the spaghetti comes

without meatballs.

There are no meatballs

with the spaghetti?

No. Sometimes spaghetti likes

to be alone.

All right, then, I guess we'll also have

a side order of meatballs.

- Side of...

- Meat? This is fine. Let's just eat.

All right, then no meatballs and we'll

just have a side order of spaghetti.

Primo, please. Just... Come on.

I want to know for who.

Just make me

the side order of spaghetti, please.

Secondo, I want to know

for who is it for.

For the lady with the risotto.

- What? Why?

- She like starch. I don't know.

- Come on!

- B*tch!

I make it myself.

Who are these people in America?

I need to talk to her.

Oh, please, Primo.

What are you going to do?

Tell the customer

what she can eat, huh?

That is what she want.

That is what the customer ask for.

Make it. Make the pasta. Make it.

Make it. Make the pasta.

- Come on. Let's go.

- How can she want...

They both are starch.

Maybe I should make mashed potatoes

for on the other side.

Primo, look, don't, okay?

Because they are the first customer

to come in two hours.

- The f***ing pipes are...

- No! She's a criminal.

I want to talk to her.

You want to talk to her? Okay.

You wanna talk to her?

Okay, that's great.

You wanna talk to her?

Okay. Good. Fine.

I'm sick of this every f***ing night,

okay? You wanna talk to her?

All right. Good. Okay, here we go. Okay.

Go talk to her.

No. She is a Philistine.

I'm no gonna talk to her.

She no understand anyway.

It will be just a moment.

Everything okay?

- Good morning.

- Please, sit down.

- Thank you.

- Cigarette?

Oh, yes. Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

So, this is completely different here,

than when I was before.

Well, it's a beautiful renovation.

Because, you know,

we went through that with our restaurant

when we first started.

It's a lot of work. It's a lot of money.

Pain in the neck, you know.

But I think it come out good, you know,

because it's simple.

It's a very simple place

for the family to come.

Very nice. Casual.

- You like Italian food, right?

- Yes, I do, very much.

I'm gonna have to change the direction

of this conversation right now.

Yes, I understand. Okay.

Is there someone you can borrow from,

back in... Back home?

Well, no. Because we did that already

to come here, so...

I see. Do you have any saleable assets?

Something to sell. Like a car.

For money. To pay us.

- Oh, yes, I understand.

- I wasn't sure you...

No, no. I speak English.

No, I don't. My car, no.

I have a car, but is no Cadillac, you

know. I need my car for the business.

- I see.

- No, but... I don't know...

Your payments over the past two years

have hardly been consistent.

Yes, I know.

I'm afraid we can't give you

any more time.

- What do you mean?

- We can't give you any more time.

Okay. Mr. Pierce, let me just explain

something to you, okay?

I'll explain my situation to you,

which is unusual, all right.

I don't want to bother you, but, listen,

my brother is...

It's a difficult situation

because what we tried to do here is...

Look, listen,

I hate to see businesses fail.

- But I just want you to understand...

- I hate to see businesses fail, okay?

- Yes, me, too.

- But we're a bank.

We can't help people

who can't help themselves.

If we don't receive your payment by

the end of the month, we will foreclose.

Thank you very much.

Sure.

- I wish I could pay you with money...

- Money, please.

- What would I do with money?

- Thank you. I have to go now.

- Thank you for the painting.

- Okay.

Well, this is the biggest one.

Is a heavy one, hmm?

- Good night.

- Good night.

- Good night, Stash.

- Good night, Secondo.

See what he give us, huh?

Look.

It's a landscape. See.

- Don't you love it?

- Great.

Put it with the rest of them.

Primo, let me ask you something.

What do you think if we take

the risotto off the menu?

Primo?

What do you think about that, huh?

Take the risotto off the menu?

I'm sorry, what did you say?

Forget it.

No, no, I no hear what you say.

Tell me what you say.

Well, it's just that risotto costs us a lot.

And it take you a long time to make.

I mean, you have to work so hard

to make, you know.

And then we have to charge more,

so I think take it away.

Sure. For good.

- Really?

- Yeah, that's good.

Oh, good.

Okay.

Maybe instead we could put...

Yes, tell me, tell me.

I was thinking...

What do they call it?

You know, is a...

- Manicotti?

- No. Is...

Hot dog? Hot dog! Yeah.

Hot dogs.

I think people would like that.

Those.

Fine.

If you give people time, they learn.

Well, I don't have time for them to learn.

This is a restaurant,

not a f***ing school.

He's busy again tonight.

The man should be in prison

for the food he serve.

People love it.

Good night.

Where you go?

To see Phyllis.

Oh. Say hi for me, huh?

- Okay.

- You go out?

Yes.

- Where?

- Out.

To a movie.

You want to come?

Why?

- No. I go see Alberto.

- Okay.

- What is the movie?

- Do you want to come?

- No. I don't want to come.

- Come on.

Call up the flower lady.

What's her name? Ann? Ann, Ann?

- Double date.

- Who?

Why would I call her?

I don't know.

Alberto said that you and she were...

What?

- You know...

- He said that?

Yeah. It's no secret.

It take you longer each time

when you go to buy the flowers.

I don't grab just any flower.

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Stanley Tucci

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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