Shoe Shine, Mister?: Difference between revisions
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In detective stories, the detective usually [[Baker Street Regular|has a conversation with the shoeshiner]] while he gets his shoes shined. This [[Knowledge Broker|lets him know what is happening "on the street"]]. The detective usually adds an extra tip to pay for the information.
Shoe shining is often used as the first step in a character's [[Rags to Riches|working his way out of poverty]]
Shoe shine stands do still exist, but this site is about tropes. You don't see them much in media anymore.
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== Film ==
* In ''[[Silver Streak]]'', the police are looking for George, so Grover buys some shoe polish from a shoeshiner at a stand at the train station to use to disguise him as a black man.
* ''[[Goodfellas]]'' features a scene in which Tommy DeVito ([[Joe Pesci]]), brutally beats and knifes Billy Batts to death for insulting him about being a shoeshine boy in Tommy's younger days. This would eventually get Tommy killed, as Batts was a made man.
The film is based on the real-life experiences of Henry Hill and the people he met through the Vario brothers, who owned a shoeshine stand and other businesses. In real life, William "Billy Batts" Devino taunted Thomas "Two Gun Tommy" DeSimone, calling him "spit-shine Tommy." DeSimone retorted by yelling, "Shine these fuckin' shoes," and then executing Batts.
* A hotel shoe shiner played a major role in ''Nick of Time'' with [[Johnny Depp]].
* In the movie ''[[M*A*S*H (film)|M*A*S*H]]'', the snippets of the song "Tokyo Shoe Shine Boy" are played at various times. The song is also on the movie soundtrack. In the film it is sung in Japanese, except for the words "Tokyo Shoe Shine Boy" in English. You can hear the entire song in Japanese [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_jf6FUh-U here].
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