Downhill Racer: Hometown Hero Redford’s Wrangler Denim and ’57 Chevy

Robert Redford as David Chappellet in Downhill Racer (1969)

Robert Redford as David Chappellet in Downhill Racer (1969)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Dave Chappellet, U.S. Olympic ski team star

Idaho Springs, Colorado, Summer 1967

Film: Downhill Racer
Release Date: November 6, 1969
Director: Michael Ritchie
Costume Designer: Edith Head (uncredited!)
Wardrobe Credit: Cynthia May

Background

To coincide with the United States celebrating its 250th anniversary today, let’s launch this summer’s Car Week with an all-American star driving an all-American car while sporting all-American denim.

Robert Redford starred in three films released in 1969, arguably a breakthrough year for the late screen icon. His most notable would be the latter role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, though the contemporary sports drama Downhill Racer gave the ambitious future producer/director a taste of production as he wielded some of his newfound influence to recruit both screenwriter James Salter and director Michael Ritchie after Roman Polanski left the project.

Without having read Oakley Hall’s source novel, Salter followed Polanski’s original vision of adapting the High Noon concept on the Olympic slopes; instead of a downed sheriff requiring a replacement, it’s the U.S. national ski team who needs a replacement for its lead skier after an accident. Call in Redford’s arrogant but talented David Chappellet, inspired by elements of real-life skiers Billy Kidd, Spider Sabich, and Buddy Werner. Continue reading →

Kurt Russell’s Tank Top and Trucker Style in Big Trouble in Little China

Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall in Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

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Kurt Russell as Jack Burton, troublesome truck driver

San Francisco, Fall 1985

Film: Big Trouble in Little China
Release Date: July 2, 1986
Director: John Carpenter
Costume Designer: April Ferry

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

John Carpenter’s cult classic Big Trouble in Little China was released 40 years ago today on July 2, 1986. Following their initial collaboration in The Thing (1982), Kurt Russell stars as cocky trucker Jack Burton, who indeed lands in big trouble in little China—specifically San Francisco’s Chinatown district—when his friend’s fiancée is kidnapped by a local street gang and then again kidnapped by henchmen serving the reclusive sorcerer David Lo Pan (James Hong), who needs a green-eyed wife to break an ancient curse. Jack and his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) are joined by appropriately named attorney Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) on their quest through the literal underground to retrieve Wang’s betrothed. Carpenter has explained he envisioned Jack as a sidekick who thinks he’s a hero, while the more comparatively reserved Wang more closely exemplifies the traditional leading man. Continue reading →

Meteor: Sean Connery’s Tweed Leisure Suit and Sheepskin Coat

Sean Connery in Meteor (1979)

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Sean Connery as Dr. Paul Bradley, orbital satellite designer-turned-MIT professor

Houston, Texas, Washington, D.C., and New York City, December 1978

Film: Meteor
Release Date: October 19, 1979
Director: Ronald Neame
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

June 30th is National Meteor Watch Day and, while those of limited imagination may think this exclusively means looking up at the stars, some of us with a more cinematic mindset expand the meaning to include watching stars like Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, and Martin Landau in Ronald Neame’s poorly regarded 1979 sci-fi flick Meteor.

Released the same year that Moonraker sent the incumbent James Bond to space, the erstwhile 007 stars in Meteor as ex-NASA scientist Dr. Paul Bradley, hastily summoned back to Houston by his old colleague Harry Sherwood (Karl Malden) after a comet collided with the asteroid Orpheus, sending dozens of deadly asteroid fragments hurtling toward Earth—including a five-mile-wide meteor that itself threatens an extinction-level event within a week. Continue reading →

Mel Brooks’ Bird-Attracting Charcoal Flannel Suit in High Anxiety

Mel Brooks in High Anxiety (1977)

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Mel Brooks as Dr. Richard Harpo Thorndyke, anxious psychologist

Los Angeles to San Francisco, Spring 1977

Film: High Anxiety
Release Date: December 25, 1977
Director: Mel Brooks
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The 2,000-Year-Old Man turns 100! Born Melvin James Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, prolific writer, director, producer, actor, and comedian Mel Brooks is one of less than two dozen entertainers to date to have attained EGOT status over a career that delivered iconic stage and screen comedies like The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), and Spaceballs (1987).

One of his most prominent (and stylish) on-screen performances was in High Anxiety, Brooks’ affectionate satire of Alfred Hitchcock’s films—crafted with the Master of Suspense’s own endorsement. (Following a private screening, Hitchcock’s only criticism was that Brooks used three too many shower rings in a parody of Psycho‘s famous “shower scene”; the director later sent a congratulatory case of wine to Brooks, noting that the movie itself was “splendid!”)

Continue reading →

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me — Chris Isaak’s Black FBI Suit as Chet Desmond

Chris Isaak as FBI Agent Chester “Chet” Diamond in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)

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Chris Isaak as Chester “Chet” Desmond, FBI agent

Deer Meadow, Washington, February 1988

Film: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Release Date: August 28, 1992
Director: David Lynch
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

GET ME SPECIAL AGENT CHESTER DESMOND OUT IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA!

Kyle MacLachlan had been intended to more prominently reprise his role as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, David Lynch’s 1992 cinematic prequel to the then-recently canceled series. But the actor’s reluctance to be typecast prompted Lynch to reimagine the first act’s federal investigator as the more laconic Chester “Chet” Desmond—which became the first major acting role for singer Chris Isaak, born 70 years ago today on June 26, 1956. Isaak’s music career had already received a boost after his breakthrough song “Wicked Game” was featured in Lynch’s previous film, Wild at Heart. Continue reading →

Cliff Robertson’s “Big Kahuna” Beach Style in Gidget

Cliff Robertson and Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959)

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Cliff Robertson as Burt “The Big Kahuna” Vail, beach bum and Korean War Veteran

Malibu, California, Summer 1959

Film: Gidget
Release Date: April 10, 1959
Director: Paul Wendkos

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Now that it’s summer, let’s flash back to the beach party movie that started it all. Before Frankie and Annette and before we ever followed Elvis to Hawaii, there was Gidget.

Czech-born writer Frederick Kohner was inspired to pen a novel by his daughter Kathy, who was nicknamed “Gidget” (a portmanteau for “girl” and “midget”) while learning to surf on the beaches at Malibu. Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas became a top seller after it was published in 1957, so Kohner sold the rights to Columbia Pictures—awarding five percent of the $5,000 sale to Kathy—where screenwriter Gabrielle Upton adapted it for the screen. With journeyman director Paul Wendkos at the helm, Gidget was shot in just 26 days through the early summer of 1958, primarily on location at Leo Carrillo State Park in Malibu.

Gidget was a breakthrough role for Sandra Dee in the titular starring role as 16-year-old Francine Lawrence, who doesn’t share her girlfriends’ interest in man-hunting and rather wants to spend her summer learning how to surf. She makes a splash at the local beaches, where the regular surfers adopt her as their mascot. The boys like “Moondoggie” (James Darren) all idolize the beach-dwelling “Big Kahuna” (Cliff Robertson), who describes himself simply:

I’m a surf bum! You know: ride the waves, eat, sleep—not a care in the world.

Continue reading →

Kris Kristofferson’s Western Trucker Gear in Convoy

Kris Kristofferson as “Rubber Duck” in Convoy (1978)

Vitals

Kris Kristofferson as Martin “Rubber Duck” Penwald, maverick trucker

Arizona to New Mexico, Summer 1978

Film: Convoy
Release Date: June 28, 1978
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Costumers: Carol James & Kent James

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 90th birthday of the late Kris Kristofferson, likely best known as a pioneering singer-songwriter in the 1970s “outlaw country” movement alongside friends and fellow “Highwaymen” Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson. After writing and recording hits like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, Kristofferson embarked on an acting career that began with Dennis Hopper’s offbeat The Last Movie (1971), his titular starring role in Cisco Pike (1972), and his first collaborations with director Sam Peckinpah in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) and a more limited role in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). Following Kristofferson’s string in more romantic roles, Peckinpah again tapped him to play an adventurous anti-hero as the trucker Martin “Rubber Duck” Penwald in Convoy (1978). Continue reading →

Nicolas Cage’s Red Aloha Shirt in Raising Arizona

Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona (1987)

Vitals

Nicolas Cage as H.I. McDunnough, small-time crook and new dad

Tempe, Arizona, Spring 1986

Film: Raising Arizona
Release Date: March 13, 1987
Director: Joel & Ethan Coen
Costume Designer: Richard Hornung

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

In addition to tomorrow being the official start of summer, it’s also my first Father’s Day since becoming a dad last year! So the stars feel aligned for me to write about Nicolas Cage’s Hawaiian shirt-centric style as another new dad: ex-con Herbert I. McDunnough in the Coen brothers’ sophomore film, Raising Arizona (1987).

My name is H.I. McDunnough. Call me “Hi”.

Continue reading →

The Rockford Files: Jim’s Beige Safari-style Fishing Jacket

James Garner as Jim Rockford in a promotional photo for The Rockford Files (1974-1980)

Vitals

James Garner as Jim Rockford, wisecracking private detective and ex-convict

Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Summer 1974

Series: The Rockford Files
Episodes:
– “Backlash of the Hunter” (Pilot episode, dir. Richard T. Heffron, aired 3/27/1974)
– “In Pursuit of Carol Thorne” (Episode 1.10, dir. Charles S. Dubin, aired 11/8/1974)
Creator: Roy Huggins & Stephen J. Cannell
Costume Designer: Charles Waldo

Background

Our first scene with James Garner’s titular Malibu-based private eye on The Rockford Files catches Jim Rockford after fishing with his father, Joseph “Rocky” Rockford (played by Robert Donley in the pilot, before he would be recast with Noah Beery Jr.). Rocky accompanies his son back to his trailer parked at Paradise Cove, where Jim’s lovely new prospective client Sara Butler (Lindsay Wagner) awaits him. Jim leads Sara into his “cheap, tax-deductible, earthquake-proof” office, where he introduces his now-iconic fee of:

$200 a day, plus expenses.

Writing a check (dated June 6, 1974, precisely dating the setting), Sara then hires Jim to look into his father’s under-investigated murder two months later. In the tradition of great detective fiction, the complexities of the case deepen while Rockford gets knocked around by a few heavies before knocking boots with the gorgeous femme fatale. A break in the case sends Jim and Sara speeding east across the Mojave Desert in his famous bronze Pontiac, resulting in a gunfight with Rockford’s unregistered cookie jar gat.

Since June 18th is annually recognized as National Go Fishing Day, let’s look at how Jim Rockford dressed for that day of fishing in his introductory scene. Continue reading →

Cape Fear (1962): Robert Mitchum’s Straw Hat and Striped Tee as Max Cady

Robert Mitchum as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962)

Vitals

Robert Mitchum as Max Cady, psychopathic ex-convict

Southeast Georgia, Summer 1962

Film: Cape Fear
Release Date: June 15, 1962
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Costume Designer: Mary Wills

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

With the latest adaptation of Cape Fear earning strong reviews on Apple TV+, let’s look back to the release of the original film sixty-four years ago today on June 15, 1962. Adapted from John D. MacDonald’s suspense novel The Executioners, the first Cape Fear stars Gregory Peck as Southern attorney Sam Bowden and Robert Mitchum in a chilling performance as Max Cady, a psychotic ex-convict who, upon his release after serving eight years for sexual assault, sets out to exact revenge on the man he believes responsible for his incarceration. Continue reading →