Burt Reynolds in Double Denim as Gator McKlusky

Burt Reynolds in Gator (1976)

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Burt Reynolds as Bobby “Gator” McKlusky, paroled moonshine runner

Okefanokee Swamp, Summer 1975

Film: Gator
Release Date: August 25, 1976
Director: Burt Reynolds
Costume Designer: Norman Salling

Background

Burt Reynolds followed up his sweaty 1973 “hick flick” White Lightning with his self-directed sequel Gator, widely released 50 years ago today on August 25, 1976. The three-year gap had been kind to Reynolds, who had since grown his stardom… and that trademark mustache. (Unlike Sterling Archer, I prefer White Lightning over its lighter-hearted sequel.)

Reynolds reprises his role as moonshiner Bobby “Gator” McKlusky, recently released after serving 26 months in a Georgia state prison where he proudly learned how to make “quality license plates”. As in White Lightning, Gator is called back into government service, this time to help nab his one-time pal “Bama” McCall (Jerry Reed), now a ruthless crime boss in the fictional Dunston County. Of course, the government has to catch Gator first, kicking things off with a raucous speedboat chase through the Okefanokee Swamp. Continue reading →

Rudolf Nureyev’s Dancing Tailcoat as Valentino

Rudolf Nureyev as Rudolph Valentino in Valentino (1977)

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Rudolf Nureyev as Rudolph Valentino, Italian-American dancer and future silent film star

Los Angeles, Fall 1919

Film: Valentino
Release Date: October 4, 1977
Director: Ken Russell
Costume Designer: Shirley Russell
Tailor: Anderson & Sheppard

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The sudden death of screen icon Rudolph Valentino 100 years ago today on August 23, 1926 prompted mass public mourning including approximately 100,000 mourners lining the streets of Manhattan to pay their respects. Among these was his lover—and fellow silent-era sex symbol—Pola Negri, who theatrically collapsed over his $10,000 coffin, which she had previously adorned with an eleven-foot-long bank of lilies spelling out her own name. In contrast to more tasteful tributes offered by contemporaries like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, fans launched a day-long riot by smashing the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel’s windows in attempts to get in, while there were also reported suicides from despondent devotees.

Valentino’s death at age 31 at the height of his stardom contributed to his lasting mystique and old Hollywood legends. His star had shown hard and fast during the silent film era of the roaring ’20s, following his global breakthrough in the 1921 anti-war epic The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Nicknamed the “Latin Lover” but alternately known simply as “Valentino”, the actor’s intense and exotic presence in romantic roles earned him wide devotion among female fans… and a jealous ire among men who questioned his masculinity.

The latter backlash to his persona dogged Valentino throughout his career, culminating in the actor challenging a Chicago Tribune reporter to a boxing or wrestling match. Following the writer’s failure to respond, New York Evening Journal boxing writer Frank “Buck” O’Neil took the challenge and publicly faced off against Valentino on the roof of the Ambassador Hotel in New York, refereed by heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, who would later describe Valentino as “the most virile and masculine of men.” O’Neil only landed one punch before the Latin Lover swiftly knocked him down and won the bout. Ever the gentleman, the victorious Valentino apologized to O’Neil when helping him to his feet.

The real Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) dances with Alice Terry in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), which would transform Valentino from a supporting player into a superstar.

Valentino’s life and legend has made him a popular subject for film and TV representation, from the 1951 biopic Valentino to Finn Wittrock portraying a vampiric Valentino in the fifth season of American Horror Story. But perhaps the most notorious retelling was Ken Russell’s 1977 drama Valentino, based on Chaw Mank and Brad Steiger’s biography subttitled “an Intimate Exposé of the Sheik” and starring Russian-born dancer Rudolf Nureyev as the titular actor. Continue reading →

Gary Cole’s Brown-and-Green Leisure Suit in A Very Brady Sequel

Gary Cole as Mike Brady in A Very Brady Sequel (1996)

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Gary Cole as Mike Brady, architect and family man

Los Angeles, Summer 1996

Film: A Very Brady Sequel
Release Date: August 23, 1996
Director: Arlene Sanford
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Earlier this summer, my corner of Twitter was briefly ablaze with people celebrating the adaptations of The Brady Bunch that hit big screens back to back in the ’90s, specifically the breakfast scene in A Very Brady Sequel where the insecure middle-child Jan (Jennifer Elise Cox) conceptualizes her made-up boyfriend over blueberry pancakes, only for her older sister Marcia (Christine Taylor) to shut it down with “that’s funny, I’ve never heard of a George Glass at our schœl,” as parents Mike (Gary Cole) and Carol (Shelley Long) look on—the latter pouring an approximate gallon of sugar into her coffee.

The conceit of both The Brady Bunch Movie and the subsequent A Very Brady Sequel maintains the family’s groovy ’70s style, but transplants them—and their MCM home with its astroturfed lawn—directly into the ’90s, where they couldn’t be more obliviously out of place. Released thirty years ago this week on August 23, 1996, A Very Brady Sequel revived a few second-season subplots—including George Glass, the home’s horse statue, and a trip to Hawaii—while also lampshading the fact that the series never addressed the fate of Carol’s first husband by introducing him as the conniving Roy Martin (Tim Matheson). Continue reading →

Robert Redford in All is Lost

Robert Redford in All is Lost (2013)

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Robert Redford as “Our Man”, a resourceful aging sailor

Indian Ocean, July 2012

Film: All Is Lost
Release Date: October 25, 2013
Director: J.C. Chandor
Costume Designer: Van Broughton Ramsey

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Robert Redford was born 90 years ago today on August 18, 1936, making this the first observance of the late actor’s birthday since his death in September 2025 at age 89. One of the prolific actor’s strongest performances from the later period of his career was J.C. Chandor’s survival-at-sea thriller All is Lost, which premiered at the 66th Cannes Film Festival in May 2013 before its wider release that October.

The 76-year-old Redford is the sole actor who appears on screen—unnamed but credited as “Our Man”, a resilient and robust mariner who was sailing solo through the Indian Ocean when a shipping container crashed into his starboard side of his CAL 39, the Virginia Jean. The collision immediately destroyed the Virginia Jean‘s power and external communications, leaving Our Man completely isolated to solve the compounding problems himself without the ability to call for assistance. “All is lost here, except for soul and body, that is, what’s left of them,” Redford’s character narrates. Continue reading →

Taxi Driver: De Niro’s Date-ready Maroon Corduroy Jacket as Travis Bickle

Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)

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Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, disturbed taxi driver and Vietnam War veteran

New York City, Spring 1976

Film: Taxi Driver
Release Date: February 9, 1976
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Ruth Morley

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Ahead of Robert De Niro’s birthday tomorrow, let’s celebrate Taxi Driver‘s 50th anniversary this year by seeing how well Travis Bickle cleans himself up for a date. Paul Schrader’s screenplay indicates the importance of Travis making a good impression on the more sophisticated campaign volunteer Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) by describing his approach:

TRAVIS, dressed to the teeth, walks brightly down the sidewalk. His face is freshly shaved, his hair combed, his tie straightened.

Of course, while Travis may know enough to look the part, he hasn’t quite grasped the concept of taking his first date literally anywhere but a porn palace. Continue reading →

Manhunter: William Petersen’s Dark Sport Jackets as Will Graham

William Petersen as Will Graham in Manhunter (1986)

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William Petersen as Will Graham, tortured FBI criminal profiler

Across the United States, Fall 1986

Film: Manhunter
Release Date: August 15, 1986
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

While the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs is a deservedly great movie that brought Thomas Harris’ fictional killer psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter to widespread public attention, the cannibalistic murderer had actually made his cinematic debut a half-decade earlier when Brian Cox portrayed the renamed Dr. Lecktor in Manhunter. Adapted by writer/director Michael Mann from Harris’ 1981 novel Red Dragon (with its title changed by producer Dino De Laurentiis), Manhunter was released 40 years ago this week on August 15, 1986.

Cox starred opposite William Petersen as FBI agent Will Graham, establishing the characters’ antagonistically layered screen dynamic that would be repeated in the 2002 remake Red Dragon and the NBC TV adaptation Hannibal. Continue reading →

The Killer Inside Me: Casey Affleck as Texas Deputy Lou Ford

Casey Affleck in a promotional image for The Killer Inside Me (2010)

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Casey Affleck as Lou Ford, diabolical deputy sheriff and sadistic sociopath

West Texas, Summer 1952

Film: The Killer Inside Me
Release Date: June 18, 2010
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Costume Designer: Lynette Meyer

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The trouble with growin’ up in a small town is everybody thinks they know who you are…

…begins Casey Affleck’s narration as West Texas deputy sheriff Lou Ford in The Killer Inside Me, Michael Winterbottom’s 2010 adaptation of Jim Thompson’s 1952 novel of the same name. Ford exemplifies a favorite Thompson trope: the amoral Southern lawman who masks his murderous, psychopathic personality behind a dim, folksy exterior; imagine Barney Fife was secretly Ted Bundy, and you’ve got Thompson’s novels like The Killer Inside Me and, my personal favorite, the darkly comic Pop. 1280.

The cinematic possibilties of this rich plot naturally brought Hollywood calling, beginning with 20th Century Fox optioning The Killer Inside Me shortly after its publication with Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe to star. Despite this dream cast, setbacks kept The Killer Inside Me out of production for two decades. It finally arrived on screen in 1976, just six months before Thompson’s death, with Stacy Keach now playing Deputy Ford and the action transferred to 1970s Montana.

But Burt Kennedy’s 1976 adaptation wasn’t enough. Quentin Tarantino and Dominic Sena showed interest in directing, with rumors of Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt to star. When a more faithful adaptation of The Killer Inside Me finally premirered at Sundance in January 2010, it starred Casey Affleck—born 51 years ago today on August 12, 1975—as Lou Ford. Continue reading →

Evil Under the Sun: Roddy McDowall’s Nautical Breton Stripes

Roddy McDowall in Evil Under the Sun (1982)

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Roddy McDowall as Rex Brewster, flamboyant gossip columnist

Adriatic Sea, Summer 1939

Film: Evil Under the Sun
Release Date: March 5, 1982
Director: Guy Hamilton
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Having returned from my own beach vacation this weekend, today’s post draws from a summery classic that was some of the earliest inspiration on my interest in men’s style: Guy Hamilton’s 1982 adaptation of the Agatha Christie mystery Evil Under the Sun.

This was the third Christie adaptation produced by John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin for EMI Films in less than a decade, beginning with Murder on the Orient Express (1974) which starred Albert Finney as eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Death on the Nile (1978) was the first to star Peter Ustinov, who became the first actor since Austin Trevor (in the 1930s) to play Poirot multiple times on screen when he first reprised the role in Evil Under the Sun. This movie feels considerably lighter than its predecessors in its tone and sun-baked setting, transferred from the novel’s provincial English coast to an exotic fictional island in the Adriatic Sea but filmed on Mallorca.

Principal characters like Poirot, the Redferns, and the Marshall family remained mostly unchanged in Anthony Shaffer’s screenplay, while others were either composited, jettisoned, or reimagined; for instance, the athletic spinster Emily Brewster from the novel was transformed into the extravagant Rex Brewster (Roddy McDowall), a gossip columnist writing an unauthorized tell-all biography of scandalous—and recently married—Broadway diva Arlena Stuart Marshall (Diana Rigg). Continue reading →

Frankie Avalon’s Red Paisley Party Shirt in Beach Party

Frankie Avalon in Beach Party (1963)

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Frankie Avalon as Frankie, lovestruck surfer

Malibu, California, Summer 1963

Film: Beach Party
Release Date: August 7, 1963
Director: William Asher
Costume Design: Marjorie Corso & Renié

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Four years after Gidget launched the beach party subgenre, the formula was refined with less morals and more midriffs in the simply titled Beach Party. Released 63 years ago today on August 7, 1963, Beach Party was the first of about a dozen similar movies released by American International Pictures that occasionally veered from the beach into ski country or the race track but almost always featured pop singers Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in leading roles.

Filmed across the beaches of Southern California over three weeks in the spring of 1963, Beach Party established a blueprint that most of its successors would follow: a score by exotica stalwart Les Baxter supplemented by the surf rock stylings of Dick Dale and his Del-Tones; a supporting cast of older, most established stars—like Bob Cummings, Dorothy Malone, and Morey Amsterdam in this first film; and the easy chemistry between Frankie and Annette.

Frankie and Annette played essentially the same teen lovers driven apart by an easily explained misunderstanding that is invariably resolved by the close of each approximately 90-minute runtime. In Beach Party, it’s Dolores’ hesitation that drives Frankie away—straight into the arms of the buxom “Hungarian goulash” Ava (Eva Six), one of the women whom he serenades with “Don’t Stop Now” during the raucous party at Big Daddy’s. Continue reading →

John Saxon’s Floral-collared Chambray Shirt in Moonshine County Express

John Saxon in Moonshine County Express (1977)

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John Saxon as J.B. Johnson, race car driver and occasional moonshine runner

Jackson County, Kentucky, Fall 1976

Film: Moonshine County Express
Release Date: June 1, 1977
Director: Gus Trikonis
Wardrobe Coordinator: Adrianne Levesque

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Moonshine County Express was produced by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in 1977 during the height of the cinematic “hick flick” trend that often posited guys like Burt Reynolds as rural heroes driving fast cars full of booze. Directed by Corman favorite Gus Trikonis, Moonshine County Express stars the late John Saxon in its central role—no doubt due to the actor’s own considerable talent and his resemblance to a pre-mustached Reynolds—as well as Susan Howard, William Conrad, a post-Brady Bunch Maureen McCormick as a Daisy Duke protoype, and “hick flick” regulars Jeff Corey and Dub Taylor; Seinfeld fans may also recognize Uncle Leo (aka Len Lesser) in a supporting role as a bargain barn owner. (Both Saxon and McCormick share their August 5th birthday, with McCormick celebrating her 70th today while Saxon would have turned 90 this year.)

Claudia Jennings, Maureen McCormick, and Susan Howard in Moonshine County Express (1977)

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! Except it’s Betty, Sissy, and Dot.

It would be hard to recommend in good faith to all my readers, but Moonshine County Express is the kind of movie you throw on when you want that raw, Southern-fried tale of fast-driivng whiskey runners in the same authentic, dobro-twanging, semi-exploitative ilk as Moonrunners, the 1975 B-movie that directly inspired The Dukes of Hazzard, though Moonshine County Express also features many of the elements that would be familiar in Hazzard County: a corrupt and corpulent county boss, a white-suited antagonist, short-shorted Southern beauties, and a liquor-hauling hero speeding around in a Dodge muscle car. Continue reading →