Tagged: Federal Agent
Public Enemies: Christian Bale’s Hunting Gear as Melvin Purvis
Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis in Public Enemies (2009)
Vitals
Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, ambitious FBI agent
Columbiana County, Ohio, October 1934
Film: Public Enemies
Release Date: July 1, 2009
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Ninety years ago today, a law enforcement team combined of local police and federal agents led by Melvin Purvis cornered and killed the Depression-era desperado Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd on a farm outside of Clarkson in western Ohio. Purvis had risen to national prominence for his role in the death of bank robber John Dillinger three months earlier in Chicago, an incident that propelled the Oklahoma-born outlaw Floyd to the top of J. Edgar Hoover’s list of “Public Enemies”.
Based on Bryan Burrough’s nonfiction volume of the same name, Michael Mann’s 2009 film Public Enemies centered primarily around Purvis’ hunt for Dillinger, following Mann’s formula from films like Manhunter, Heat, and Collateral that reflects the unique mirror between two professionals on opposing sides of the law—in this case represented by the charismatic criminal Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and more laconic lawman Purvis (Christian Bale).
As a result, lip service is paid to Floyd’s notoriety but the circumstances of his October 1934 death are actually positioned a year earlier so that Bale’s Purvis leads the hunt and fires the fatal shot into “Pretty Boy” Floyd (Channing Tatum) before he’s even recruited into the Dillinger manhunt. Continue reading
Point Break: Keanu Reeves’ Plaid Shirt and Jeans
Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)
Vitals
Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, ambitious FBI agent
Los Angeles, Summer 1991
Film: Point Break
Release Date: July 12, 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Supervisors: Colby P. Bart & Louis Infante
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 60th birthday to Keanu Reeves, the Canadian actor born in Beirut on September 2, 1964. After his breakthrough performance in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Reeves continued his path to stardom as the OSU quarterback-turned-FBI agent Johnny Utah pursuing a gang of bank-robbing surfers in Point Break (1991). Continue reading
Jimmy Stewart’s Christmas Cardigan in The FBI Story
James Stewart in The FBI Story (1959)
Vitals
James Stewart as John “Chip” Hardesty, earnest FBI agent
Chicago, Christmas 1933
Film: The FBI Story
Release Date: October 1959
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Costume Designer: Adele Palmer
Background
While Jimmy Stewart’s cinematic Christmas creds are primarily as the troubled protagonist of It’s a Wonderful Life, more than a decade later we’re treated to a brief holiday sequence in The FBI Story.
Essentially a feature-length dramatization propagating the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s role in quelling all American lawlessness across the first half of the 20th century, the once-obscure The FBI Story has been the subject of some renewed interest as it had been the first major production to depict the Osage murders of the 1920s that were recently at the center of Martin Scorsese’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon.
The Fugitive: Samuel Gerard’s Navy Blazer and Jeans
Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive (1993)
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Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard, intrepid Deputy U.S. Marshal
Chicago, Spring 1993
Film: The Fugitive
Release Date: August 6, 1993
Director: Andrew Davis
Costume Designer: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is the 30th anniversary since the release of The Fugitive, Andrew Davis’ 1993 update of the 1960s TV series that followed a doctor wrongly accused of his wife’s murder as he travels the country in the hopes of clearing his name by finding the one-armed man he believes to be guilty.
Pursuing the innocent Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) through the Midwest is Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), the determined Deputy U.S. Marshal leading the hunt with his team of trusted pros. Though a snarky master of caustic wit, Gerard is serious about doing his job—and only his job—as established during the memorable scene when Kimble tries to dissuade his persuader by assuring him of his innocence.
Dr. Kimble: I didn’t kill my wife!
Gerard: I don’t care!
Justified: The last time we saw Raylan Givens
Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 6.13: “The Promise)
Vitals
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal
Miami to Lebec, California, Fall 2018
Series: Justified
Episode: “The Promise” (Episode 6.13)
Air Date: April 14, 2015
Director: Adam Arkin
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Patia Prouty
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Raylan Givens is coming back to TV in just three days! The mini-series Justified: City Primeval will premiere on FX on Tuesday, July 18, with Timothy Olyphant reprising his extremely charismatic portrayal of the Deputy U.S. Marshal created by author Elmore Leonard.
I’m typically wary of revivals, reboots, and reunions, especially after a series finale as neatly wrapped as Justified, but I have faith in the team and the fact that it looks like the Detroit-set Justified: City Primeval will be focusing on an original story rather than revisiting the plot that had been so well-resolved in “The Promise”. Continue reading
Point Break: Gary Busey’s Wild Shirts
Gary Busey as FBI Special Agent Angelo Pappas in Point Break (1991)
Vitals
Gary Busey as Angelo Pappas, beleaguered FBI agent
Los Angeles, Summer 1991
Film: Point Break
Release Date: July 12, 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Supervisors: Colby P. Bart & Louis Infante
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“When are you gonna write about Gary Busey?”
“Where are your posts about Busey’s style in Point Break?”
“Show us the Busey, you coward!”
These are the kinds of questions and comments I never get, and yet, on the 78th birthday on this most idiosyncratic of actors, I want to take a deep dive—or surf—into the wardrobe of one of Gary Busey’s best-known roles. Continue reading
Justified: Raylan’s Wool Coat and Double Denim
Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 6.11: “Fugitive Number One”). Photo by Prashant Gupta/FX.
Vitals
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal
Harlan County, Kentucky, Spring 2010 to Fall 2014
Series: Justified
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designers: Ane Crabtree (Season 1) & Patia Prouty (Seasons 2-6)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Justified is one of my favorite fall shows (despite the fact that each season originally aired in the spring), and I always like to revisit the tangled, moonshine-soaked underworld of Harlan County every autumn.
The first episode established the series-long conflict between Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), who dug coal together in the mines of eastern Kentucky before their diverging career paths as Raylan rose through the ranks of the U.S. Marshals Service tracking down criminals like Boyd, who started the series as the explosives-loving leader of a gang of bank-robbing white supremacists.
Both Raylan and Boyd have frequently been the subjects of requests from fans of the series as the series costume designers neatly established each man’s signature style: Boyd, somewhat fussy for a country criminal, with his layered sport jackets, waistcoats with dangling pocket watch chains, and shirts buttoned to the neck; and Raylan, who blends old-fashioned cowboy aesthetics into his modern business apparel. Continue reading
Point Break: Keanu Reeves’ Wet Lee Storm Rider Jacket
Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)
Vitals
Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, ambitious FBI agent
Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia, Spring 1991
Film: Point Break
Release Date: July 12, 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Supervisors: Colby P. Bart & Louis Infante
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy birthday to Keanu Reeves, born September 2, 1964. Born in Beirut, Reeves spent his childhood moving between several countries around the world, including Australia, which would later be the setting for the finale of Point Break, one of the Reeves’ first major movies and a cult favorite 30 years after its release.
Justified: Raylan’s Florida Gators T-shirt
Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 1.09: “Hatless”)
Vitals
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal
Harlan County, Kentucky, Spring 2010
Series: Justified
Episode: “Hatless” (Episode 1.09)
Air Date: May 11, 2010
Director: Peter Werner
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree
Background
Today marks the return of college football season, so I wanted to look at how a BAMF Style favorite incorporated some team pride into an off-duty look. The ninth episode of Justified begins with Raylan Givens drinking away his suspension from the U.S. Marshals Service, or as he calls it, “a well-earned vacation.” Continue reading
Jimmy Stewart’s Undercover Denim Jacket in The FBI Story
James Stewart as agent John “Chip” Hardesty in The FBI Story (1959)
Vitals
James Stewart as John “Chip” Hardesty, earnest FBI agent
Oklahoma, June 1930
Film: The FBI Story
Release Date: October 1959
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Costume Designer: Adele Palmer
Background
One of the greatest stars of the 20th century, James Stewart—known to friends and fans as “Jimmy”—was born on this day in 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, just about an hour west of Pittsburgh.
Among the less celebrated titles in the actor’s extensive filmography is The FBI Story, a J. Edgar Hoover-influenced epic exploring the early successes of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Jimmy plays our fictional all-American agent John “Chip” Hardesty, whose Forrest Gump-like decades-long career with the Bureau includes a role in nearly every major investigation from tracking down the bank-robbing “Public Enemies” of the Depression and World War II spies to the bombing of United Flight 629 in 1955.
An interesting chapter of The FBI Story sends Chip to Oklahoma in the summer of 1930 to investigate the “Reign of Terror” in Osage County, Oklahoma, represented on screen as the obsoletely named “Wade County”. These murders of dozens of Osage Native Americans throughout the ’20s were recently explored by David Grann in his fascinating book, Killers of the Flower Moon, which provided the basis for a Martin Scorsese film of the same name currently in production starring Jesse Plemons, Robert De Niro, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Continue reading
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