When they said how much that sandwich/coffee shop made I had to back it up to check if I heard right. Unless I'm hearing wrong he does say 7 not 70 grand a year. This movie is 1971 so shot in 70. I know we all made much less back then, but even then I remember the talk about how costly it was to live in NY. I think that had to be a typo someone missed
shareThat's the point. The shop is obviously a front.
shareDoubt a mistake. Using an inflation calculator $7K in 1970 is now $43K. Also NYC has changed to the positive since way back. I visited Manhattan in the mid-eighties and Times Square seemed a porno district with junkies, peep shows and prostitutes everywhere. Two years ago I visited Times Square again and it seemed more like Disneyland. The city has changed and as a result the costs are higher even with respect to inflation. NYC remains greatest city on Earth and seems to polish itself continually.
He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator.
you must be young, $7k a year in the very early 70's was not bad you could by a nice house for $25k and a new car for $6K.
shareI wish I was young. In 70 I was 16. Yes those prices you mention was that and even lower in the Midwest where I'm from...But NYC was not a cheap place to live even then compared to most of the rest of the country. Then again I didn't live there so maybe you could rent $100 apartments or buy cheaper houses in some areas of the country.
I remember working hard ass construction at $5.00 an hour in 7/ and that was pretty good money...In the Midwest
When Sal is calculating some figures in the store, I always note that the M&Ms in the background of the scene are marked at 12 cents. Today they cost a dollar, a mark up of - what - 80%?
shareThere were so many prices to observe and ponder. In the subway scene, I saw:
Coffee to go 20c
Ice cream cone 25c
Small bag of pretzels, popcorn, potato chips or cheese twists 10c
Inflation doesn't affect everything equally. I think you can still get a cheapo ice cream at McDonalds for just around $1 - just four times the price.
Considering my parents bought their house in a middle class section of Long Island in 1953 for $17, I doubt you could buy a nice house 18 years later for $25. Not in the boroughs.
I have a friend who lives modestly in Manhattan now on $75. A 1971 couple couldn't live on the equivalent of $43, not even in Sal & Angie's Brooklyn area. That's why the police knew they had to have another source of income.
These days, packages of candy are often larger than 40 years ago.
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