Arabesque – Gregory Peck’s Windowpane Sport Jacket

Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren in Arabesque (1966)

Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren in Arabesque (1966)

Vitals

Gregory Peck as David Pollock, American hieroglyphics professor

Oxford to London, Wednesday, June 16, 1965

Film: Arabesque
Release Date: May 5, 1966
Director: Stanley Donen
Tailor: H. Huntsman & Sons, London

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Three years after helming “the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made,” director Stanley Donen again returned to the romantic world of lighthearted espionage with Arabesque, based on Alex Gordon’s 1961 novel The Cypher. Like Charade before it, Donen brought two glamorous and popular stars together for a lighthearted and stylish spy story against a European backdrop.

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Michael Corleone’s Corduroy Jacket in The Godfather

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972)

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972)

Vitals

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, war hero and Mafia son

New York City, December 1945

Film: The Godfather
Release Date: March 15, 1972
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone

Background

As we get closer to the holidays, today’s #MafiaMonday look from The Godfather is a fall-friendly approach to dressing for cooler weather and grayer days.

And the days are indeed gray for the Corleone family, particularly the recently returned Michael (Al Pacino). Continue reading →

Purple Noon: Alain Delon’s Blue Silk Suit

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)

Vitals

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley, charming American con artist and sophisticated sociopath

Rome, Italy, August 1959

Film: Purple Noon
(French title: Plein soleil)
Release Date: March 10, 1960
Director: René Clément
Costume Designer: Bella Clément

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today is the 83rd birthday of French actor and worldwide style icon Alain Delon. Born November 8, 1935, in Sceaux, a commune south of Paris, Delon entered the film world during a trip to the Cannes Film Festival shortly after his dishonorable discharge from the French Navy. Attending Cannes with his friend, actress Brigitte Auber, Delon caught the eye of one of David O. Selznick’s talent scouts. A contract was offered, but Delon would later choose to cancel the contract in favor of remaining in France to begin his film career there.

After a few leading roles in France, it was Plein soleil in 1960 that boosted Delon to international stardom. Released as Purple Noon in the English-speaking world, this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 thriller novel The Talented Mr. Ripley starred Delon as the cunning sociopath Tom Ripley, a portrayal that Highsmith herself highly approved of. Continue reading →

All the President’s Men: Woodward’s Corduroy Suit

Robert Redford as Bob Woodward in All the President's Men (1976)

Robert Redford as Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men (1976)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Bob Woodward, investigative journalist for The Washington Post

Washington, D.C., Summer 1972

Film: All the President’s Men
Release Date: April 9, 1976
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Costume Supervisor: Bernie Pollack

Background

In the spirit of the U.S. midterm elections tomorrow, I’m exploring one of my favorite political-themed movies, the 1976 thriller All the President’s Men based on the real-life investigative reporting of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal that led to Richard Nixon’s resignation as U.S. President.

June 18, 1972: Woodward had only been at The Washington Post for nine months when he was assigned to cover the arrest of five burglars who had been caught breaking into the DNC office at the Watergate hotel complex the previous evening. As Woodward continued to investigate with fellow Post reporter Carl Bernstein, the once-minor story connects the break-in to campaign contributions for Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (aptly nicknamed “CREEP”), revealing then-unprecedented levels of political corruption. Continue reading →

Pal Joey: Sinatra’s Silk Loungewear

Frank Sinatra as Joey Evans in Pal Joey (1957)

Frank Sinatra as Joey Evans in Pal Joey (1957)

Vitals

Frank Sinatra as Joey Evans, womanizing nightclub singer

San Francisco, Spring 1957

Film: Pal Joey
Release Date: October 25, 1957
Director: George Sidney
Costume Designer: Jean Louis

Background

The same year that Pal Joey was released, Frank Sinatra released A Swingin’ Affair!, his latest concept album from Capitol Records. The fourth track, “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan”, was written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz in 1929, when it was introduced by Clifton Webb in the songwriting duo’s revue The Little Show.

I guess I’ll have to change my plan
I should have realized there’d be another man
Why did I buy those blue pajamas
Before the big affair began

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The Shining – Jack Nicholson’s Corduroy Jacket

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980)

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980)

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Vitals

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, stir-crazy writer

Silver Creek, Colorado, Winter 1990

Film: The Shining
Release Date: May 23, 1980
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy Halloween, BAMF Style readers! What better way to observe the most haunted holiday than with a look at one of the scariest and most suspenseful psychological horror movies, The Shining.

Three years after Stephen King’s novel was published, Stanley Kubrick brought his own adaptation of the story to the big screen with a screenplay co-written by novelist Diane Johnson, significantly altering the characters and motivations of the source novel.

Perhaps most significantly – and certainly cited as one of King’s greatest dissatisfactions with the movie – was Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the central character, Jack Torrance, the new caretaker who brings his family to the Overlook Hotel for the winter and hopes the seclusion will help him with his writing… and to continue overcoming his battle with alcoholism. “Instead of playing a normal man who becomes insane, Nicholson portrays a crazy man attempting to remain sane,” wrote Cinefantastique editor Frederick S. Clarke in 1996. Continue reading →

Top Gun – Maverick’s G-1 Flight Jacket

Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis in Top Gun (1986)

Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis in Top Gun (1986)

Vitals

Tom Cruise as LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, hotshot United States Naval Aviator

NAS Miramar near San Diego, Summer 1985

Film: Top Gun
Release Date: May 16, 1986
Director: Tony Scott
Costume Design: Wingate Jones, John Napolitano, Bobbie Read, and James W. Tyson

Background

On March 3, 1969 the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to insure[sic] that the handful of men who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world.

They succeeded.

Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN.

In 1922, the same year that the U.S. Navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier, Navy Day was established to commemorate the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt, whose vast accomplishments included serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy before the ascended to the presidency. On Navy Day, it’s hard to think of a movie more associated with the United States’ naval warfare branch than Top Gun, which celebrated the talents and competition among U.S. Naval Aviators.

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