The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton’s Casual Tan Suit as 007

Timothy Dalton as James Bond in The Living Daylights (1987)

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Timothy Dalton as James Bond, British government agent

Tangier, Morocco, Fall 1986

Film: The Living Daylights
Release Date: June 27, 1987
Director: John Glen
Costume Designer: Emma Porteous
Costume Supervisor: Tiny Nicholls
Tailor: Benjamin Simon

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 80th birthday to Timothy Dalton! Born March 21, 1946 in Wales, Dalton became the fourth actor to portray James Bond when he starred in The Living Daylights in 1987. He had actually been approached several times for the role over the previous decades but initially felt too young—and too intimidated—to replace Sean Connery. Still, the part may have been in his blood: his father, Peter Dalton Leggett, served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the real-life British World War II unit that inspired Ian Fleming to write several of Bond’s literary adventures.

Though he only officially starred as 007 twice on screen, Dalton’s portrayal has enjoyed renewed appreciation for its fidelity to the harder-edged tone of Fleming’s source material and how this may have inspired Daniel Craig’s later characterization.

One of my favorite suits and scenes from The Living Daylights takes Bond to Tangier, where the agent confronts KGB director Leonid Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies)—using the general’s girlfriend (Virginia Hey) as a decoy when a bodyguard storms in the hotel room. Commanding the situation with his silenced Walther PPK, Bond settles the tension with the Soviet general as they mutually agree to stage a public assassination.

Scripted by stalwart Bond screenwriters Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, the scene plays like a lost Fleming chapter—firmly rooted in late Cold War-era espionage while also showcasing a sharp suit that feels like perfect inspiration for spring style and warmer days ahead. Continue reading →

Wild Things: Matt Dillon’s Faded Blue Polo and Corduroy Shorts

Matt Dillon as Sam Lombardo in Wild Things (1998)

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Matt Dillon as Sam Lombardo, shady high school guidance counselor

South Florida, Spring 1999

Film: Wild Things
Release Date: March 20, 1998
Director: John McNaughton
Costume Designer: Kimberly A. Tillman

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Wild Things is one of those movies I remember being disregarded as a sleazefest, mostly due to Matt Dillon’s illicit ménage à trois with Neve Campbell and Denise Richards (which, of course, made eight-year-old me all the more interested in seeing it). But time has been kinder to John McNaughton’s twisty erotic thriller, which has grown a cult following in the 28 years since its release this week in March 1998. Even at the time, critics like Roger Ebert, Janet Maslin, and Gene Siskel were able to praise elements of it, albeit not without feeling compelled to note that it was—in Ebert’s words—”lurid trash.” Continue reading →

Body Double: Craig Wasson’s Tan Corduroy Sport Jacket

Craig Wasson and Deborah Shelton in Body Double (1984)

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Craig Wasson as Jake Scully, sensitive struggling actor

Los Angeles, January 1984

Film: Body Double
Release Date: October 26, 1984
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Gloria Gresham

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After a long, cold winter, the promise of a milder spring invites us to trade heavy wool coats and thick sweaters for lighter, transitional layers—think the corduroy-anchored wardrobe of Jake Scully in Brian De Palma’s Hitchcock-inspired Body Double. This 1984 erotic thriller stars Craig Wasson (born 72 years ago today on March 15, 1954) as Jake, a claustrophobic struggling actor who loses his most promising gig, his girlfriend, and his apartment in one swift collapse.

The cuckolded Jake ultimately stumbles into a promising new arrangement, house-sitting a swingin’ Hollywood Hills pad for the enigmatic Sam (Gregg Henry), who explains it’s “one struggling actor helpin’ out another, that’s what it’s all about, right?” Filmed at the John Lautner-designed modernist Chemosphere off Mulholland Drive, the joint comes with a telescope conveniently pointed into the neighboring home of striking brunette Gloria Revelle (Deborah Shelton).

Jake’s voyeurism grows over the next few days of watching Gloria’s onanistic dancing until he believes she has a more dangerous stalker and takes matters into his own hands, drawing him into a horny Rear Window-meets-Vertigo intrigue that includes an adult film star named Holly Body (Melanie Griffith) and a murder-by-power-drill incident. Continue reading →

One Battle After Another: Leonardo DiCaprio’s Revolutionary Robe

Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another (2025)

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Leonardo DiCaprio as “Ghetto Pat” Calhoun, aka Bob Ferguson, burned-out ex-revolutionary

California, Spring 2024

Film: One Battle After Another
Release Date: September 26, 2025
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

One Battle After Another has been a 2025 awards season favorite, collecting more than a few small accolades from organizations like the BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes, heading into the Academy Awards this weekend with 13 nominations including Best Picture. While it was the most expensive production of Paul Thomas Anderson’s ten released features to date, it has also quickly become the director’s highest-grossing with a box office of $209 million and counting.

(Update: Sure enough, One Battle After Another received the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as wins for Anderson’s direction and adapted screenplay, Sean Penn’s supporting performance, editing, and the inaugural Oscar for Best Casting!)

In his seventh Oscar-nominated performance, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as “Ghetto Pat” Calhoun, a former revolutionary in an underground militant group known as the French 75, whose expertise in explosives resulted in his reputation as the “Rocket Man”. Amidst their explosive activities, Pat and his French 75 comrade Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) raise a daughter named Charlene, only for Pat forced to go on the run with Charlene after Perfidia’s perfidy sends the surviving revolutionaries sprawling.

Continue reading →

Duane Jones in Night of the Living Dead

Duane Jones in Night of the Living Dead (1968)

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Duane Jones as Ben, resourceful zombie-hunter

Rural Western Pennsylvania, Spring 1968

Film: Night of the Living Dead
Release Date: October 4, 1968
Director: George A. Romero

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Especially here in western Pennsylvania, George A. Romero’s masterclass in economical filmmaking Night of the Living Dead has risen to mythic status among cinephiles. Though born in New York City, Romero graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1960 and remained local to Pittsburgh where he filmed short productions including a segment for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood before his directorial debut that became a landmark in independent film, horror cinema, and movies at large.

Night of the Living Dead premiered at the Fulton Theater in Pittsburgh on October 1, 1968, three days before its wider release that drew controversy due to its violence and bleakness—simultaneously exemplifying what was increasingly permissible in American cinema in the wake of the crumbling Production Code that had restricted filmmakers for more than thirty years.

Despite this harsh reception from critics and audiences not prepared for its content, Night of the Living Dead developed a growing cult following to become one of the most profitable movies ever made. It recouped at least $30 million against its $125,000, which Romero had kept modest through guerrilla filmmaking techniques and casting local actors and friends like legendary Pittsburgh TV presenter “Chilly Billy” Cardille as himself, allowing Romero to reserve most of the modest budget for special effects.

While many rightly include this iconic horror flick among their spooky season watch-lists in October, Night of the Living Dead also qualifies as the rare “Daylight Saving movie”. The action is quickly established to be set on the Sunday in spring when clocks spring forward an hour—much to the chagrin of the cynical Johnny (Russell Streiner), who lost an hour of sleep on the morning he accompanies his sister Barbra (Judith O’Dea) to their father’s grave site, said to be “200 miles into the country” though actually filmed in Evans City… just 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh.

After one of the titular living dead attacks the siblings and knocks Johnny unconscious, Barbra manages to escape in his ’67 Pontiac LeMans and find refuge in an isolated farmhouse, where she comes face-to-face with Ben (Duane Jones)—a serious, resourceful man of action who quickly takes command of the situation… and their survival. Continue reading →

Justifed: Raylan’s Grayscale Plaid Shirt and Henley in “The Collection”

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 1.06: “The Collection”)

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Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal

Between Lexington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, Spring 2010

Series: Justified
Episode: “The Collection” (Episode 1.06)
Air Date: April 20, 2010
Director: Rod Holcomb
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

I’ve recently been rewatching Justified with my wife—her first time seeing the series—and it renewed my interest in how Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) dresses while both on- and off-duty working the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Debuting sixteen years ago this month in March 2010, Justified‘s first season especially blended a case-of-the-week format with the series mythology revolving around how the Givens family feud with Harlan County families like the Crowders and Bennetts translated to Raylan’s crusade against arch criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) as well as his ongoing drama with his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea).

One of the last standalone episodes outside of this format was the sixth episode, “The Collection”, revolving around crooked Cincinnati art dealer Owen Carnes (Peter Jason), whom Raylan increasingly suspects was murdered by his wife Caryn (Katherine LaNasa), despite being reminded that murder alone doesn’t necessarily fall under the U.S. Marshals Service’s investigative purview. Continue reading →

Wake Up Dead Man: Daniel Craig’s Tweed Suits as Benoit Blanc

Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc in Wake Up Dead Man (2025). Photo by John Wilson.

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Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, Southern private detective and “proud heretic”

Upstate New York, Spring 2025

Film: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Release Date: November 26, 2025
Director: Rian Johnson
Costume Designer: Jenny Eagan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 58th birthday to Daniel Craig! Born March 2, 1968, the actor followed his five-film tenure as James Bond with the recurring role of Southern-fried detective Benoit Blanc in three Knives Out movies to date including his latest release, Wake Up Dead Man, which premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival two months before its limited release in American theaters the week of Thanksgiving 2025. Continue reading →

Death on the Nile: George Kennedy’s Brown Striped Sport Jacket

George Kennedy as Andrew Pennington in Death on the Nile (1978)

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George Kennedy as Andrew Pennington, crooked American lawyer

Egypt, September 1937

Film: Death on the Nile
Release Date: September 29, 1978
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell

Background

It seems like just yesterday that George Kennedy died at age 91 rocked my corner of Twitter for how so many obituaries eulogized him as a “beefy character actor,” and yet it’s been ten years since the Oscar winner’s death on February 28, 2016.

Kennedy rose to fame after his Academy Award-winning performance in Cool Hand Luke (1967) and was a mainstay of American cinema for decades, often playing tough guys or cops in movies like the Airport and Naked Gun franchises, though the first time I first saw the actor was in John Guillerman’s lavish, star-studded 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Egyptian-set murder mystery Death on the Nile. Continue reading →

Johnny Cash at San Quentin, 1969

Johnny Cash performing at San Quentin State Prison, February 24, 1969. Photo by Jim Marshall.

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Johnny Cash, country rock superstar

San Quentin State Prison, California, February 1969

Film: Johnny Cash in San Quentin
Release Date: September 6, 1969
Director: Michael Darlow

Background

Today would have been the 94th birthday of Johnny Cash, born February 26, 1932 in Arkansas. After his initial success recording hits like “Folsom Prison Blues” and “I Walk the Line” for Sun Records, Cash began his tradition of performing concerts at prisons with a New Year’s Day 1958 gig at San Quentin State Prison, with a 19-year-old Merle Haggard among the inmates in attendance.

A decade later, Cash was retaking control of his life and career after both had been stalled by his narcotic addictions. It was a fortuitous time for his self-rehabilitation as Columbia Records had recently hired visionary producer Bob Johnston, who was more eager to entertain Cash’s unorthodox collaborations—including the singer’s long-expressed desire to record an album inside a prison. Folsom State Prison responded first after Johnston called them and San Quentin, resulting in Cash recording his now legendary concert there on January 13, 1968.

Despite little promotion from Columbia, At Folsom Prison revitalized Cash’s career as it rose to the top of the U.S. Top Country Albums chart and won a pair of Grammy Awards. A year later, Cash returned inside the walls of a California state prison to record yet another live album to an audience of inmates—this time returning to San Quentin, just north of San Francisco and 100 miles southwest of Folsom.

This was Cash’s first album recorded without longtime lead guitarist Luther Perkins, who died following an August 1968 house fire, so guitarist Bob Wootton joined bassist Marshall Grant and drummer W.S. “Fluke” Holland in Cash’s Tennessee Three backing band. Additional acts included Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, and the Carter Family—including June Carter, who had married Johnny the previous March, just weeks after his on-stage proposal in Ontario. The entire group arrived at San Quentin for a performance on February 24, 1969—two days before Cash’s 37th birthday. Continue reading →

Twin Peaks: FBI Agent Dale Cooper’s Black Suit

Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks, in a promotional image for “The Man Behind the Glass” (Episode 2.03).

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Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper, unusually perceptive FBI agent

Twin Peaks, Washington, February and March 1989

Series: Twin Peaks (Seasons 1-2)
Air Dates: April 8, 1990 to June 10, 1991
Created by: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Costume Design: Sara Markowitz (seasons 1-2) & Patricia Norris (pilot episode only)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Diane… 11:30 a.m., February 24th, entering the town of Twin Peaks. It’s five miles south of the Canadian border, twelve miles west of the state line.

Twin Peaks canon brought FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) into this small upstate Washington town exactly 37 years ago today in 1989, narrating the first of many unreturned missives into a tape recorder after the corpse of popular local teenager Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) was discovered washed ashore near the town’s lumber mill. Continue reading →