'He loaned me a nickel'
I just saw this movie again the other day, I had to crack up when I heard that line. And he had to pay back "a dime"?
shareby friday!
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MovieChat Forums > The Bad News Bears (1976) Discussion > 'He loaned me a nickel'
I'd hate to think what would happen if you borrowed a dollar and didn't pay up.
shareWhat could he have even bought for a nickel anyway? Even back then?
shareI'm the exact same age as the BNB kids and played California little league, so...on game day, you could go to the snack shack and for a nickel buy a five pack of gumballs (Rain Blos?). That I absolutely remember. If you wanted to splurge, a dime would get you a three-foot piece of licorice called a Red Rope (it probably wasn't that long). I believe pieces of Dubble Bubble were still one or two cents each. We didn't have burritos but instead had little frozen pizzas the snack ladies would make in toaster ovens. Those were like 30 cents. I think a pack of baseball cards was a quarter. So it was significant to be a few cents short back in the day. A loan shark operating on a nickel and dime basis was totally credible in 1976.
shareThat's what I remember too and I'm probably a couple of years younger than you. A nickel would get you popcorn, candy, gum, or a cup of Hi C in the mid-70s. A can of Coke cost around 15 cents.
shareTanner's burrito that he shoved into the bullies face only cost 30 cents so a nickel would have bought quite an assortment of smaller items.
Gotta hate today's inflation and shrink-ray packaging.
Like baseball's Yogi Berra may have once said: a nickel ain't worth a quarter anymore.
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Thanks to the '80s I don't remember the '70s that well. I remember buying Bazooka gum for a nickel. I don't remember the exact price, but it was cheap. I think they were three for a nickel at a local shop. The same shop also sold balloons for around the same price. Sometimes I would scrounge up a few coins to buy inexpensive items like gum, candy bars, soda, baseball cards, etc.. So borrowing a nickel was not ridiculous.
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