The Omen: Gregory Peck’s Green Corduroy Suit

Gregory Peck in The Omen (1976)

Vitals

Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn, American ambassador to the United Kingdom

England and Rome, Fall 1975

Film: The Omen
Release Date: June 6, 1976
Director: Richard Donner
Wardrobe Supervisor: Tiny Nicholls
Tailor: H. Huntsman & Sons, London

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

With Halloween just around the corner, there’s no better time to revisit Richard Donner’s 1976 supernatural horror classic The Omen, which marked its 50th anniversary earlier this year on June 6th—a date whose devilish numerical significance aligns with the opening scene in Rome, where American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) learns that his wife Katharine (Lee Remick) gave birth to a son who died shortly after birth. At the urging of a hospital chaplain, he secretly adopts another infant born that same morning, allowing Katherine to believe the child is her own. The couple names the boy Damien, and for the next five years, their seemingly idyllic family life conceals the horrifying truth about their son’s origins.

As a series of increasingly disturbing incidents and the warnings of a mysterious Catholic priest suggest that Damien may be the Antichrist, Robert begins to question everything he knows about his son. After a terrifying encounter with Damien leaves Katherine hospitalized following a miscarriage, Robert joins photographer Keith Jennings (David Warner) on a journey back to Rome to uncover the truth behind Damien’s birth. Continue reading →

The Exorcist: Father Karras’ Off-Duty Georgetown Jacket and Fall Layers

Jason Miller as Fr. Karras in The Exorcist (1973)

Vitals

Jason Miller as Fr. Damien Karras, Jesuit psychiatrist and—according to at least one demonic entity—”faithless slime”

Washington, D.C., Fall 1972

Film: The Exorcist
Release Date: December 26, 1973
Director: William Friedkin
Costume Designer: Joseph Fretwell III

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Progressing deeper through spooky season toward Halloween, let’s look at some understated style in William Friedkin’s 1973 horror classic The Exorcist. Playwright and actor Jason Miller made his Academy Award-nominated screen debut as Damien Karras, SJ, the theological psychiatrist summoned to exorcise a demon from the 12-year-old Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair).

A landmark in legitimatizing the horror genre, The Exorcist received ten Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Miller. Miller’s own experience likely informed his performance as he graduated from the Jesuit-run University of Scranton before dropping out of his studies at the Catholic University of America. He soon found success in theater, where he caught Friedkin’s eye for the role of Father Karras—reportedly beating out ’70s screen giants Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, and Stacy Keach (who had actually been hired for the part). Even after his Oscar-nominated success, Miller preferred to continue working in regional theater

What’d He Wear?

Georgetown mother Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) desperately tries to talk Father Karras into exorcising her daughter, but he’s skeptical that she’s actually possessed by a demon—until realizing that Regan shouldn’t have known that he was a priest given his lack of clerical garb when they first meet. Indeed, Karras looks more transplanted from the world of sports than spirituality given his bright royal-blue nylon coach’s jacket paired with smart casual fall layers. Continue reading →

Shaft in Africa: Richard Roundtree’s Workwear

Richard Roundtree as John Shaft in Shaft in Africa (1973)

Vitals

Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, tough private detective

Ethiopia to Paris, Winter 1972

Film: Shaft in Africa
Release Date: June 20, 1973
Director: John Guillermin
Wardrobe Credit: Frank Balchus

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Who’s the cat that won’t cop out when there’s danger all about? Shaft! (Right on.)

The groundbreaking role of private investigator John Shaft was originated across three films in the early 1970s by Richard Roundtree, who died three years ago today on October 24, 2023. After successful back-to-back installments set in Shaft’s native New York City, the character crossed the ocean for the bluntly titled 1973 sequel Shaft in Africa. Continue reading →

Lanterns: Kyle Chandler’s Weathered Wardrobe as Hal Jordan

I’m pleased to again present a guest post contributed by my friend Ken Stauffer, who has written several pieces for BAMF Style previously and chronicles the style of the Ocean’s film series (and beyond!) on his excellent Instagram account, @oceansographer.

Kyle Chandler in Lanterns. Photo credit: John Johnson/HBO Max.

Vitals

Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, cocky former test pilot and Green Lantern of Sector 2814

Coast City, California, Summer 1975 and 1996, and
Rushville, Nebraska, Fall 2016 and 2026

Series: Lanterns
Air Dates: August 16-October 4, 2026
Created by: Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King
Costume Designer: Cynthia Ann Summers

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

While most comic fans regard Hal Jordan as one of the medium’s most recognizable heroes, the pre-eminent Green Lantern of Earth, the character has really had a rough go in live action. Created by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane, Jordan debuted in DC Comics’ Showcase #22 in 1959, succeeding Alan Scott as the second human to use that superhero moniker. When finally brought to life on the big screen by Ryan Reynolds in 2011, the movie’s overwhelmingly negative reception made the character untouchable for mainstream audiences for years to come.

Fifteen years later, DC Studios was finally ready to give Hal another opportunity to prove his worth, this time on HBO. To distance this interpretation from the last in the audience’s mind, a decision was made to shift the focus of Lanterns from spectacle to story, from special effects to character. The show deliberately takes a more grounded (not to mention cheaper!) approach, setting its character-driven mystery primarily in Middle America, à la True Detective. So rather than sending its protagonists on a galaxy-hopping adventure battling a host of CGI extraterrestrials, we see our heroes confront aliens and cyborgs (convincingly disguised as humans) in very recognizable environments, even when they’re briefly on another planet.

But who could bring this fantastic character back down to Earth, making him seem equally at home downing shots of whiskey in a roadside bar as soaring through outer space? Who could possibly make him feel convincingly lived in with just the right combination of rakish charm and dogged grit?

Enter Kyle Chandler. Continue reading →

God Told Me To: Tony Lo Bianco’s Tan Suit

Tony Lo Bianco in God Told Me To (1976)

Vitals

Tony Lo Bianco as Peter J. Nicholas, devout NYPD detective

New York City, Spring 1976

Film: God Told Me To
Release Date: October 22, 1976
Director: Larry Cohen
Costume Designer: Halston (credited for Deborah Raffin’s wardrobe)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 90th birthday of Tony Lo Bianco, born in New York City on October 19, 1936. A terrific character actor who was often on the sidelines of great ’70s cinema like The French Connection (1971), Serpico (1973), and The Seven-Ups (1973), Lo Bianco also shined in starring roles like Leonard Kastle’s haunting 1970 true crime drama The Honeymoon Killers and the sci-fi horror thriller God Told Me To, which was released 50 years ago this week in October 1976.

Lo Bianco stars as NYPD Detective Peter J. Nicholas, who begins questioning his own past while investigating a series of violent crimes perpetrated by people claiming that God informed their murders. Continue reading →

Danny’s Apollo Sweater in The Shining

Danny Lloyd as Danny “Doc” Torrance in The Shining (1980)

Vitals

Danny Lloyd as Danny “Doc” Torrance, young boy with supernatural senses

Silver Creek, Colorado, Winter 1979

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

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Aside from the occasional student style, most of my BAMF Style posts over the 14 years of this blog’s existence have centered on adult characters. Whether it’s the onset of spooky season or the fact that my own son turns one this month, it finally feels like the right time to make sure I don’t, uh, overlook one of the sickest fits in horror cinema: the Apollo 11 sweater worn by young Danny Torrance as he pedals through the hallways of the haunted Colorado hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining.

The role marked the first of only two major screen appearances for Danny Lloyd, who celebrates his 54th birthday today. Born October 13, 1972, Lloyd was just six years old when he was cast as the psychically gifted child navigating an increasingly terrifying winter at the isolated Overlook Hotel with his parents, Jack (Jack Nicholson) and Wendy (Shelley Duvall). Continue reading →

Laurence Olivier’s Tailored Shades of Gray in Marathon Man

Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man (1976)

Vitals

Laurence Olivier as Dr. Christian Szell, escaped war criminal aka “Christopher Hess”

New York City, Fall 1975

Film: Marathon Man
Release Date: October 8, 1976
Director: John Schlesinger
Costume Credit: Robert De Mora

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

One of the defining paranoid thrillers of the ’70s, Marathon Man was released 50 years ago today on October 8, 1976 and has spent the subsequent half-century spreading as much positive PR for dentistry as Psycho did for showers.

Adapted by William Goldman from his novel of the same title, Marathon Man follows Columbia grad student “Babe” Levy (Dustin Hoffman), who falls teeth-first into a scheme involving escaped Nazi war criminal Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) and his cache of diamonds obtained by trading the gold fillings he extracted from Holocaust victims. Babe’s unwitting involvement culminates in Szell’s famously gruesome orthodontic torture as the doctor attempts to learn where the diamonds have been hidden. Continue reading →

The Departed: Leo’s Leather Belstaff Jacket as Billy Costigan

Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan in The Departed (2006)

Vitals

Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan, undercover Massachusetts State Police trooper

Boston, Fall 2006 to Spring 2007

Film: The Departed
Release Date: October 6, 2006
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Departed was widely released 20 years ago today on October 6, 2006, days after its September 26th premiere at the Ziegfield Theater. William Monahan adapted the material from the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, also taking inspiration from real-life Boston crime figures like Winter Hill Gang leader Whitey Bulger and his crooked FBI handler, John Connolly. After six nominations, the prolific Martin Scorsese finally won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed—which was also honored with Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay to Monahan, and Best Film Editing to Scorsese’s regular collaborator, Thelma Schoonmaker.

This was also Scorsese’s third consecutive collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, who stars as the working-class Massachusetts State Police (MSP) recruit Billy Costigan tapped by Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) to infiltrate a ruthless Boston mob run by Francis “Frank” Costello (Jack Nicholson). Continue reading →

Written on the Wind: Rock Hudson’s Beige Tweed Jacket for a Fall Picnic

Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone in Written on the Wind (1956)

Vitals

Rock Hudson as Mitch Wayne, oil company geologist

Texas, Fall 1956

Film: Written on the Wind
Release Date: October 5, 1956
Director: Douglas Sirk
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas (credited for gowns)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

German-born director Douglas Sirk’s third in a trio of lushly photographed melodramas starring Rock Hudson, Written on the Wind, premiered in London seventy years ago this week on October 5, 1956.

This Southern Gothic melodrama follows a Texas oil dynasty, adapted from Robert Wilder’s 1946 novel of the same name—a roman à clef inspired by the scandal surrounding torch singer Libby Holman and the mysterious 1932 death of her tobacco-heir husband, Zachary Smith Reynolds, at his family’s estate. Threats from the Reynolds family kept a film adaptation out of production for a decade, until screenwriter George Zuckerman transplanted the drama from a North Carolina tobacco dynasty to a Texas oil family, evidently distancing it enough from its real-life inspiration for production to proceed.

Zuckerman and Sirk’s narrative centers on the family of oil baron Jasper Hadley (Robert Keith), including his irresponsible playboy son Kyle (Robert Stack) and self-destructive daughter Marylee (Dorothy Malone, who won the Academy Award for her performance). Both grew up alongside Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson), an honest, hardworking geologist who remains employed by the family and earns Jasper’s admiration for his work ethic. While Marylee lusts after Mitch, Mitch longs for Lucy (Lauren Bacall), a company secretary whom Kyle impulsively marries after meeting her on a business trip.

Despite all the romantic turmoil, Mitch does find time for a covert lunch among the fall foliage with Marylee, who jokes, “There’s nothing like a picnic! I’ve brought everything but rain and ants.” Continue reading →

Sanchez’s Studded Red Leather Jacket in Bastard, Go and Kill

Franco Lantieri in Bastard, Go and Kill (1971)

Vitals

Franco Lantieri as Sanchez, dangerous Mexican henchman

Mexico, circa 1890

Film: Bastard, Go and Kill
(Italian title: Bastardo… vamos a matar!)
Release Date: March 6, 1971
Director: Gino Mangini
Costume Credit: Teresa Miccinelli (credited as seamstress)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Like so many new parents, I always have plenty of time on my hands to idle away by watching movies I know little about. For those who recognized the sarcasm in that last sentence, you’ll also recognize what a gamble it was when I decided to spend just over an hour with the little-known 1971 Spaghetti Western Bastard, Go and Kill, knowing little about it other than it was called Bastard, Go and Kill and that some guy wore a sick red leather jacket in it.

Said guy turned out to be Franco Lantieri—a Sicilian actor who bears quite a resemblance to Gian Maria Volonté (from the first two films of Sergio Leone’s “Dollars trilogy”)—in the supporting role of Sanchez. Sanchez serves as a henchman for ruthless Mexican landowner Don Felipe Morena (Furio Meniconi), often placing him at odds against the wily, mischievous Chaco (George Eastman). While hardly among the best Spaghetti Westerns, Sanchez’s style alone made Bastard, Go and Kill worth the fistful of minutes I spent watching it earlier this year. Continue reading →