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For a habit that a large part of the world indulges in every morning, coffee is not a very typical topic of Hollywood movies. Oh sure, there are lots of movies with coffee in them, but not many where the stuff takes on the kind of central importance that it does in life itself.
Take Baghdad Cafe, for example, a 1987 drama/comedy that featured CCH Pounder, Jack Palance, and barely a cup of joe in its 95-minute running time. The Station Agent, a 2003 film about a dwarf living in an abandoned train station and the coffee van attendant who works next door, again features almost no coffee talk, other than as background.
The bottom of a coffee cup takes on paramount important in the award-winning The Usual Suspects, starring Kevin Spacey, Benicio Del Toro and Gabriel Byrne, but coffee itself? Nah.
Chotchkie’s Waiter: So can I get you gentlemen something more to drink? Or maybe something to nibble on? Some Pizza Shooters, Shrimp Poppers, or Extreme Fajitas?
Peter: No thanks, just coffee.
Chotchkie’s Waiter: Okay. Sounds like someone’s got a case of the Mondays!
That’s a scene from Office Space, once again taking our favorite pastime and turning it into background. The Bridges of Madison County may be a great romantic movie starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep which millions have copies of at home, but all the scenes involving coffee and just that – involving coffee, but not about coffee. So what’s the deal here? Has nobody ever truly explored the coffee culture in a movie?
Well, yes, they have. Jim Jarmusch spent thirteen years shooting short films on the side of his feature film projects, stealing cans of film from his productions, dragging actors aside and putting them in small scenarios for a film he would eventually call Coffee and Cigarettes. The film stars Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, Steve Buscemi, Steven Wright, The White Stripes, RZA and GZA from the Wu Tang Clan, Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina (among others), and though it didn’t exactly tear up the box office charts, it certainly had some memorable scenes.
Iggy Pop: Cigarettes and coffee, man, that’s a combination.
In the 2007 film, The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Jack Nicholson rhapsodizes over his choice of coffee, a rare kind known as Kopi Luwak, civet coffee. Jack Nicholson characer didn’t know the beans run through the digestive tracts of a civet cats, and are gathered when the seeds, still coated in some cherry mucilage, are eliminated in the cat’s feces(yes, that’s right – the “best coffee in the world” is picked out of what is essentially cat poop).
If you have a coffee movie that we’ve missed, by all means let us know and we’ll add it to the page as soon as possible!
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Ipso says
Oh jeez – how could I have forgotten Kicking & Screaming (2005)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSJTIv-3py4 (which is funnier as you see his progression from first timer to junkie-pro.)
Ipso says
My #1 = Fight Club (1999) – coffee as protagonist (Unfortunately Starbucks is a product placement.)
And other minor roles that come to mind:
. Withnail & I (1987) – coffee soup
. The Ipcress File (1965) – opening scene where Michael Caine elegantly uses a French press (unfortunately another product placement – @&*#%*#$&)
. Ronin (1998) – “you were ambushed by a coffee”
. Saving Private Ryan (1998) – old coffee maker intrigues and torments Tom Hanks
Another site mentioned these movies:
. Air Mail (1932)
. The Turning Point (1952)
. The Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
. Lost Weekend (1945)
. Christmas in July (1940)
. Pillow Talk (1959)
. One, Two, Three (1961)
I see as of this writing there are 349 feature movies that reference “coffee”, including 5 named “Coffee” outright: 1995, 1999, 2004, 2008, and 2009.
http://www.imdb.com/keyword/coffee/?title_type=feature
Kylie says
So I won’t be the first to suggest a TV show, but Gilmore Girls should definitely be on this list! They were obsesses with coffee, and while there is not a lot of coffee lingo, they would not be the same without the coffee. It ties so much together in the show. Check it out! :)
Hazelnut Brown says
OK, So I know it is not a movie, But think about F.R.I.E.N.D.S at least half of their scenes took place in Central Perk Coffee Shop. They go order coffee, but just drop the line once in awhile. Their friendships are centered at Central Perk. (It also happens to me my favorite show of all time!) Anyone see the Series Finale, they finally move out and their lives disperse and decide they have time to kill:
Rachel: Well do you have to leave now or do you have time to go grab some coffee?
Monica: We have some time.
Chandler: Where?
DUHH!!
Also, watch this for a laugh!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zq3Iob79gM
mrvictorward says
Frasier Tv-Series
Cafe Nervosa
baristachiq says
Two wonderful movies:
Feast of Love
with Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear. Greg plays the role of a coffee shop owner.
You’ve Got Mail
has a couple of good coffee house scenes.
lone star says
Dont forget Out of Africa & Bruce Almighty – even god needs a special delvery from Juan Valdez
Jim says
Chris go to royalcoffeemaker.com/copper-classic. They sell for around $400.
Chris says
What kind of coffee maker is the one Jack Nicholson has in the bucket list, and where can i find one?
Andrea says
Sorry, I think I gave you the wrong movie.
Andrea says
Oh No! What about Twin Peaks with Piece Brosnan and that Terminator woman. As the town mayor, she owns a coffee house, serves the volcanoe experts, and coffee is repeatedly shown in most scenes.
Nerdulon5 says
Don’t Forget “Wings of Desire” from Wim Wenders. 3 of the film’s key moments are base around beverages, two of which are coffee. The third may be as well, but you never see what is in the cup.
Trinitati Saragih Arthur says
You definitely need to put “The Bucket List” of 2007 starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Nicholson’s character always brags about the type of coffee he drinks “Kopi Luwak” from Sumatera, Indonesia. To which later on, Freeman’s character explained how the coffee processed which was taken from the excrement of an animal, in Indonesia called Luwak (a small marsupial called the paradoxurus). Kopi Luwak is now known to be the most expensive and the rarest coffee ever.
Herr Mayer says
You should mention David Lynch’s Twin Peaks (TV & movie), where special agent Cooper glazes with enlightment whenever talking about or sipping some coffee. Fair enough, Lynch’s TP arose conscience for coffee delight for a whole generation. “Damn good coffee!”
Besides, coffee is an optic and methaphysical symbol in many important scenes.
Second:
Definitely a must on the coffee movie list: Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Of course it is not entirely about coffee, but just the few coffee sentences he dropped in the script are worth the whole movie.
All you need to know ’bout coffee: Watch Pulp Fiction.
Bean Coffee Shop says
You missed the BIG coffee movie of all time here. O Lucky Man is from 1973. The main character is a coffee salesman. Worth checking out. It is only available on VHS.