Wild at Heart: Nicolas Cage’s Snakeskin Jacket as Sailor Ripley

Nicolas Cage as Sailor Ripley in Wild at Heart (1990)

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Nicolas Cage as Sailor Ripley, an A #1-certified manslaughterer who just broke parole

Cape Fear to Texas via New Orleans, Fall 1989

Film: Wild at Heart
Release Date: August 17, 1990
Director: David Lynch
Costume Designer: Amy Stofsky

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

This week continues to explore unconventional style from David Lynch movies with a long-overdue look at Nic Cage’s snakeskin jacket as the swaggering Sailor Ripley in Wild at Heart, Lynch’s darkly comic adaptation of Barry Gifford’s 1989 novel of the same name. The film premiered at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival where it garnered some controversy for winning the Palme d’Or, three months prior to its wider North American release in August 1990.

Specifically considered for the role after Lynch read Gifford’s novel, Cage described Sailor as “a kind of romantic Southern outlaw,” reunited with his girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern) after spending 22 months and 18 days in the Pee Dee Correctional Institution for fatally defending himself—and Lula’s honor—against an attacker hired by Lula’s domineering mama Marietta (Dern’s real-life mother Diane Ladd) after Sailor spurned her drunken advances. Two years has done little to dampen Marietta’s dislike for Sailor, who again sends paid killers on Sailor’s trail as he and Lula flee Cape Fear on their way west to sunny California. Continue reading →

Blue Velvet: Dennis Hopper’s Black Leather Jacket and Bolo Tie as Frank Booth

Dennis Hopper on the set of Blue Velvet (1986). Photo credit: Jim Bridges.

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Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth, sadistic drug dealer

Lumberton, North Carolina, Spring 1985

Film: Blue Velvet
Release Date: September 19, 1986
Director: David Lynch
Costumer: Ronald Leamon

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After his early low-budget debut Eraserhead (1977) and adaptations The Elephant Man (1980) and Dune (1984), David Lynch finally unleashed many of his cinematic signatures when the neo-noir thriller Blue Velvet premiered forty years ago today during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), one week before its wider release.

Blue Velvet‘s themes of disturbing violence and surreal absurdism among a neo-nostalgic Americana backdrop became Lynchian trademarks, as well as his cast of frequent collaborators like Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan, Jack Nance, and Isabella Rossellini. The movie also revitalized Dennis Hopper’s stalled career through his explosive, Golden Globe-winning performance as the chilling criminal Frank Booth—a psychopathic, amyl nitrate-addicted Roy Orbison fan with serious mommy issues. Continue reading →

The Sopranos: Paulie Walnuts’ Black-and-Blue Givenchy Tracksuit

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri on The Sopranos (Episode 1.13: “I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano”)

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Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri, mob enforcer and Army veteran

New Jersey, Fall 1998

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano” (Episode 1.13)
Air Date: April 4, 1999
Director: John Patterson
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

One of my closest friends recently started watching The Sopranos for the first time, and our conversations as she makes her way through the first season inspired me to revisit the signature style of my all-time favorite series. Her progress toward the season finale reminded me of one of my favorite sequences, balancing the show’s casual brutality with equally casual absurdity.

After a season spent making life difficult—and more obnoxious—for New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, Uncle Junior’s scuzzy consigliere Mikey Palmice (Al Sapienza) finds his morning jog turned into a literal run for his life as Soprano enforcers Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) and Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperoli) chase him through the autumnal suburban woods. Peppered with fatal 9mm rounds, Mikey isn’t the only casualty of the aftenroon as poor Paulie also comes away from the hit with a mild case of poison ivy. Continue reading →

Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger in The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid

Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger in The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972)

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Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger, infamous bandit gang co-leader and ex-Confederate guerrilla

Northfield, Minnesota, September 1876

Film: The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid
Release Date: June 14, 1972
Director: Philip Kaufman
Costume Designer: Helen Colvig

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

150 years ago today, the James-Younger Gang further bloodied its infamous history when eight bandits outfitted with matching beige dusters and Winchester rifles rode into Northfield, Minnesota, intending to rob the First National Bank… but the small farm town fought back, arming themselves from hardware stores and sending the six surviving—and badly wounded—bandits fleeing with far more lead in their bodies than loot in their sacks. Two weeks later, only Frank and Jesse James remained at large after the three wounded Younger brothers were captured and another gang member killed.

The gang’s violent failure in Northfield marked the beginning of Jesse James’ downfall as the wild west’s arguably first outlaw king. Six years later, Jesse was betrayed and killed by his youngest recruit, Bob Ford, prompting his weary older brother Frank to ultimately surrender. Cole Younger and his brothers Bob and Jim would continue to languish in prison, though only Cole and Jim survived to be paroled in July 1901 as Bob died of tuberculosis more than a decade earlier. Jim committed suicide fifteen months after gaining his freedom, leaving Cole the lone surviving Younger. Continue reading →

Terence Stamp’s Layered Neutrals in Teorema

Terence Stamp in Teorema (1968)

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Terence Stamp as “The Visitor”, enigmatic young seducer

Milan, Italy, Spring 1968

Film: Teorema
(English title: Theorem)
Release Date: September 7, 1968
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Costume Designer: Roberto Capucci (credited for Silvana Mangano’s clothes)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After Terence Stamp’s death last year, I realized how little of the actor’s filmography I had seen, particularly from early in his career when he and his then-roommate Michael Caine were the toasts of swinging London. Naturally, the first place I turned was the Criterion Channel, which included Teorema—a surrealist psychological drama that was director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s first film to feature primarily professional actors.

Stamp stars as a mysterious man known only as “the visitor”, whose seduction of every member of a bourgeois household forces the family to confront difficult truths about themselves—and whose eventual departure leaves an existential void in each person’s soul.

Translated to “Theorem”, as it was known in some English-speaking countries, Teorema premiered 58 years ago yesterday on September 4, 1968 during the 29th Venice International Film Festival, where it received a special award from the International Catholic Film Office—only for the award to be swiftly withdrawn after the Vatican criticized the film’s sexual content. It was widely released three days later. Continue reading →

Christopher Plummer’s Cream Suit in The Return of the Pink Panther

Christopher Plummer in The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)

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Christopher Plummer as Sir Charles Litton, retired jewel thief

The Middle East, Summer 1974

Film: The Return of the Pink Panther
Release Date: May 21, 1975
Director: Blake Edwards
Wardrobe Supervisor: Bridget Sellers

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

If you’re one of the sartorial purists who subscribe to rules like “no white after Labor Day”, then let this post serve as inspiration for the upcoming weekend; if you don’t believe in such restrictions, then this post can inspire you all year long.

After an eleven-year hiatus (ignoring Alan Arkin’s take on the role in ’68), director Blake Edwards and actor Peter Sellers brought the bumbling Inspector Clouseau back to the big screen in The Return of the Pink Panther. Unlike subsequent films that seemed to redefine the titular “Pink Panther” as Clouseau himself, this title correctly refers to the reappearance of the priceless pink gem from the first film.

Clouseau again finds himself facing off against the master thief Sir Charles Litton, now portrayed by Christopher Plummer since David Niven—who played Sir Charles Lytton in the Pink Panther—was now unavailable. The role was then offered to Douglas Fairbanks Jr., only four months older than Niven, who would have brought a similar dashing gravitas. After Fairbanks also declined, the role ultimately went to Plummer, who was twenty years younger than both Niven and Fairbanks and infused a more sinister than suave characterization.

This time, however, Sir Charles is innocent and—realizing he has been framed for the diamond’s theft—flies from his villa in Nice to the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Lugash to clear his name. Continue reading →

Tim Curry’s Safari Style in Congo

Tim Curry as Herkermer Homolka in Congo (1995)

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Tim Curry as Herkermer Homolka, desperate Romanian treasure-hunter

Central Africa, Fall 1994

Film: Congo
Release Date: June 9, 1995
Director: Frank Marshall
Costume Designer: Marilyn Matthews

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After last week’s back-to-back losses of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, my Letterboxd has been ablaze with fans rewatching 9 to 5, Clue, Steel Magnolias, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While I’ve seen all but the latter (which seems best experienced among a knowing theater audience), I wanted to tackle my own blind spots in these legends’ filmographies… which led me to the Razzie-nominated Congo, adapted from Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name.

A characteristic survival adventure from director Frank Marshall, Congo follows an expedition led by a talking gorilla (“I know it’s not Mr. Ed”) into the Congolian rainforest in search of a communications team who disappeared near the “Lost City of Zinj”. The movie likely deserved many of its negative reviews at the time of its release, with at least some admitting its goofy camp makes it a fun watch. And with a cast that includes Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson, Joe Don Baker, Bruce Campbell, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Delroy Lindo, Joey Pants, Jimmy Buffett, and Tim Curry… of course it does.

Curry delightfully chews the scenery (and sesame cake) as Herkermer Homolka, “formerly of Romania, free from the chains of Ceaușescu, traveling the world and doing good.” This last bit of his introduction rightly comes into question until Hudson’s Errol Flynn-esque guide Monroe Kelly clarifies that “he is a Romanian and he has done a lot of good… but mostly for Mr. Homolka.” Continue reading →

Charles Bronson’s Brown Suit in Farewell, Friend

Charles Bronson in Farewell, Friend (1968)

Vitals

Charles Bronson as Franz Propp, opportunistic thief, pimp, and former French Foreign Legion sergeant

Paris, December 1963

Film: Farewell, Friend
(French title: Adieu l’ami)
Release Date: August 14, 1968
Director: Jean Herman
Costume Designer: Tanine Autré

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Charles Bronson was a steady supporting tough-guy presence in films like The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and The Dirty Dozen (1967), though the western Pennsylvania-born actor found his first major breakthrough fame in Europe after starring opposite French superstar Alain Delon in the Franco-Italian heist caper Adieu l’ami (Farewell, Friend), released this month in 1968. Continue reading →

Deadwood: Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock

Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock on the first season of Deadwood.

Vitals

Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock, taciturn Canadian-born lawman and hardware store owner

Deadwood, Summer 1876 to 1877

Series: Deadwood
Air Dates: March 21, 2004 to August 27, 2006
Creator: David Milch
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

One of my favorite shows of all time, Deadwood aired its final episode 20 years ago tonight on August 27, 2006, shot down in its prime by HBO before series creator David Milch could fully execute his vision. Milch micro-lensed his poetically profane reflection on civilization through the real-life settlement of Deadwood, from its rugged origins as a lawless frontier mining camp to an incorporated town in Dakota Territory within a year. While Deadwood frames its narrative with actual figures and events, the series dramatizes and fictionalizes when needed to serve the story’s greater impact.

Though arguably an ensemble series (and one of the best to do it), Deadwood‘s closest equivalent to a lead character is Timothy Olyphant’s portrayal of real-life lawman Seth Bullock. Continue reading →

Burt Reynolds in Double Denim as Gator McKlusky

Burt Reynolds in Gator (1976)

Vitals

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 →