When movie characters bite into a sandwich, it means something. Most food scenes in movies focus on fork-and-knife food so that the real business of the dialogue, or emotions, or whatever, can go on uninterrupted. But as soon as you bring a sandwich into the equation, it becomes the focus of the scene. Sandwiches block out faces, fill up hands, and sometimes are even made on-screen. So we made this slideshow of our favorite movie sandwich scenes not just as a food magazine, but as cinephiles, and students of silver screen symbology. Watch, and learn, and probably get a little hungry, by the end.

Meatball Subs: Keanu Reeves gets Gary Busey two (two!) sandwiches in this scene from Point Break . Busey might be a little obnoxious about it, but man do those sandwiches look good.

The Hors D'Oeuvres Sandwich: Rodney Dangerfield pranks on snobs in Back to School by cutting a loaf of bread in half and loading it up with finger foods. Bonus points for the bread-hollowing technique!

The Chicken Salad Sandwich: Sometimes, as Jack Nicholson discovered in Five Easy Pieces , ordering a sandwich is the only way to get a side of toast.

Pastrami on Rye: Okay, fine, here's the most famous sandwich in movie history, from When Harry Met Sally . As good as that looks, we have to say that these days, we'd rather get a Mile End sandwich than a classic Katz's.

Roast Beef: A baby Paul Reiner trolls Steve Guttenberg hard in Diner for the slowness of his sandwich consumption. As good as sandwiches are, they can, and sometimes do, lead to strife.

Pixy Stix and Cap'n Crunch: For John Hughes, lunch is just another excuse for cartoonish characterization. Ally Sheedy is weird! And we're betting the roof of her mouth is all torn up after all of that Crunch. This is from The Breakfast Club , if you didn't know.

Well-Pressed Grilled Cheese: Johnny Depp's character in Benny & Joon might not be able to read, but he can make a mean grilled cheese. We're actually filing this one in the "do try at home" category. Worst-case, you've got a cheesy iron.

Tuna?: It's hard to say exactly what Robert DeNiro's hard-bitten NYC cop character in Cop Land is eating as he crushes Stallone's hopes and dreams, but it looks like tuna on rye, the most sarcastically abusive of sandwiches.

The Twinkie Weiner Sandwich: There are many fine culinary moments in Weird Al's UHF , from the fish-themed gameshow Wheel of Fish to the ads for Spatula City , but the Twinkie Weiner Sandwich stands out for its pure ingeniousness. Don't forget to dunk!

Mozzarella Tramezzini: In a rare moment of happiness in the otherwise bleak The Bicycle Thief , Antonio and his son Bruno chow down on some chewy cheese sandwiches.

Fried Egg Sandwiches: Paul McGann, the "I" of Withnail & I , encounters the dark side of sandwich-eating in a London diner early on in the movie. Things get better once the pair escape to the countryside, until they get much, much worse.

Special Sandwich: Kevin Kline, impersonating the president, takes his Secret Service agent down to the White House kitchen for a "special sandwich." Whatta spread!

Sandwiches of Life and Death: David Carradine helps his daughter tell a story about the life and death of her goldfish while making a pile of sandwiches with a very large knife in Kill Bill: Volume 2. Little does he know, those sandwiches [spoiler alert!] will be his last.

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