Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub as Secondo and Primo. Big Night

Pascal: I am a businessman. I am anything I need to be at any time. Tell me, what exactly are you?

‘Big Night’, a 1996 comedy-drama, tells the story of two Italian immigrant brothers struggling to make a success of their restaurant on the Jersey Shore in the late 1950s.

Customer (when her partner is presented with a dish garnished with basil): That looks good. You’ve got leaves with yours.

Co-directed by Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci, the movie stars Tony Shalhoub as older brother Primo, a brilliant, uncompromising chef, and Tucci as younger brother Secondo, the charming restaurant manager trying to balance the books.

Primo: To eat good food is to be close to God.

Paradise is a smart, traditional family restaurant, with tiled floors, white tablecloths and pressed napkins. There is a curved wooden bar, an antique espresso machine and the walls are hung with paintings.

Hitherto the locals have not found the cuisine to their taste.

Customer: Monsieur, is this what I ordered?
Secondo: Yes, that is a risotto. Is a special recipe that my brother and I bring from Italy. It’s delicious, I promise.
Customer: It took so long, I thought you went all the way back to Italy to get it.

The good citizens of Jersey prefer their Italian food fast and simple, with meatballs and extra cheese on top.

Customer: There are no meatballs with the spaghetti?
Secondo: Sometimes the spaghetti likes to be alone.

Chef Primo is particularly upset when one diner requests a side-order of pasta with her risotto. Secondo pleads for pragmatism.

Secondo: Oh, please, Primo, what are you going to do? Tell the customer what she can eat? Huh? That is what she want. This is what the customer ask for. Make it! Make the pasta, make it, make it, make the pasta! Come on! Let's go!

Secondo has bought into the American Dream and is desperate to make the business a success. Primo, however, pines for a return to Italy. They are endlessly arguing over whether they should make concessions to accommodate local tastes and preferences.

Primo: If you give people time, they learn.
Secondo: Well, I don’t have time for them to learn. This is a restaurant, not a f**king school.

Situated just across the street from Paradise, Pascal’s is a far more glitzy dining establishment, where the focus is on entertainment and experience rather than cuisine.

Primo: The man should be in a prison for the food he serves.

Pascal’s is a hugely successful business, not least because its slick proprietor has determined to give people what they want.

Pascal: A guy goes out to eat in the evening after a long day in the office or whatever. He don't want on his plate something that he has to look and think, ‘What the f**k is this?’ No, right. What he wants is a steak. ‘This is a steak. I like steak. Mmm. I’m happy!’

Desperate to keep his business afloat, Secondo asks Pascal for a loan, but he is refused. Instead, Pascal repeats a past offer to the brothers to work for him, and he gives Secondo a pep talk.

Secondo: You know everything has just become... too much.
Pascal: Hey, hey, f***ing guy! What this is: ‘too much’? Hey! It is never ‘too much’; it is only ‘not enough’! Bite your teeth into the ass of life and drag it to you!

At length Pascal promises to persuade his friend, the popular singer Louis Prima, to dine at Paradise, thereby attracting some much-needed buzz and publicity.

On learning of the plan, Primo is sceptical.

Primo: People should come just for the food.
Secondo: I know that, I know. But they don’t.

And so, the brothers set about preparing a lavish dinner for the pop star, inviting some 17 guests to the restaurant, including their respective love interests, Pascal and his wife, a reporter, a car salesman and a Priest.

Secondo: Primo, this dinner tonight is happening. Do you know why?
Primo: No.
Secondo: Because it has to happen. We need it to happen.

The ‘big night’ at Paradise is a truly memorable occasion. There’s decadent drinking, joyous dancing, unrestrained smoking and eccentric party games. And, of course, there’s Primo’s magnificent cooking - including parmesan brodo, tricolore risotto, roasted fish and suckling pig. The centrepiece of the feast is a timpano, a huge pasta dish with tomato sauce, roasted vegetables and sausage meat, hard-boiled eggs and cheese - all shaped into a dome, covered with dough and then baked.

Pascal: God damn it, I should kill you! This is so f**king good I should kill you!

‘Big Night’ is a fantastic film, filled with great characters, dialogue and drama. It also boasts a splendid supporting cast, including Minnie Driver, Ian Holm, Isabella Rossellini and Allison Janney.

The movie prompts anyone working in commerce to reflect on a common dilemma. Should we stay true to our original vision, or adapt to public tastes? Should we retain our distinctiveness, or adhere to successful conventions? Should we hold our course or bend with the wind? Should we stick or twist?

Primo: You want me to make a sacrifice. If I sacrifice my work, it dies.

Inevitably there’s a spectrum of responses to these questions, and the extremes are the most difficult to sustain. We often end up seeking a middle path.

Pascal: Give to people what they want, then later you can give them what you want.

Sadly, the euphoric, indulgent, chaotic ‘big night’ ends in disappointment, tears, truth telling and disputes.

Primo: This place is eating us alive!

Dawn breaks and the revellers return home. A despondent Secondo enters the kitchen to find young waiter Cristiano asleep on the work surface. Secondo picks up a bowl of eggs.

Secondo: Are you hungry?…
Cristiano rouses himself to help, but is put at ease by Secondo.
Secondo: I’ll do it.

While Cristiano stretches himself awake, Secondo breaks the eggs, then whips and heats them on the stove. Cristiano settles on a counter, chewing a piece of bread, watching.
Secondo takes two plates and forks from the shelves and divides the omelette into thirds. Serving one portion each to Cristiano and himself, he leaves the remainder in the pan. They settle down to eat in silence.

Next Primo enters, hesitantly. Secondo fetches another plate and fork, and gives him the last share of the omelette. As the brothers tuck in, Cristiano leaves. They put their arms on one another's shoulders.

This quiet concluding scene, lasting 5 minutes, seems perfectly to sum up brotherly love, comradeship at work, the reluctant resolution that we must ‘get up and do it again.’

It leaves us with one final lesson: you don’t need words to express feelings.

'Buona sera, signorina, buona sera,
It is time to say goodnight to Napoli.
Though it's hard for us to whisper, buona sera.
With that old moon above the Mediterranean sea.
In the morning, signorina, we'll go walking,
Where the mountains help the sun come into sight,
And by the little jewellery shop we'll stop and linger,
While I buy a wedding ring for your finger.
In the meantime let me tell you that I love you.
Buona sera, signorina, kiss me goodnight.
Buona sera, signorina, kiss me goodnight.’
Louis Prima,’Buona Sera’ (C Sigman, P de Rose)

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