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

Mel Brooks in High Anxiety (1977)

Vitals

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 it was “splendid!”)

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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)

Vitals

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)

Vitals

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.

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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”.

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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 →

Casino: Joe Pesci’s Gray Birdseye Blazer

Joe Pesci in Casino (1995)

Vitals

Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro, sadistic mobster

Las Vegas, Spring 1973 to Fall 1980

Film: Casino
Release Date: November 22, 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: Rita Ryack & John A. Dunn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After multiple requests to expand my sartorial focus on Casino from Robert De Niro’s colorful tailoring as Ace Rothstein to Joe Pesci’s mobbed-up fits, today’s post finally zeroes in on Pesci’s style as the volatile Nicky Santoro. Continue reading →

Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller

Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Vitals

Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller, clever and charismatic high school senior and righteous dude

Chicago, Spring 1986

Film: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Release Date: June 11, 1986
Director: John Hughes
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Bueller… Bueller…

Forty years ago today, audiences first joined Matthew Broderick’s charming truant on an elaborate jaunt through Chicago when Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was released on June 11, 1986. Writer and director John Hughes completed his screenplay in less than a week, always with Broderick in mind to play the charming titular truant who was reportedly based on one of his own childhood acquaintances.

With just about two months until his high school graduation, 17-year-old Ferris Bueller wakes up to the forecast of a warm spring day. How could he possibly be expected to handle school on a day like that? Licking his palms to fake clammy hands that fool his parents, Ferris takes his ninth sick day of the semester—arousing the suspicions of Dean of Students Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), who isn’t about to let some snot-nosed punk leave his cheese out in the wind.

After setting up a complex system of safeguards designed to satiate his parents, school staff, and even fellow students, Ferris recruits his hypochondriac best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) from his own sick day and liberates his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) under the guise of a fictional grandmother’s death. At the wheel of Cameron’s dad’s prized Ferrari, Ferris speeds the trio into the Windy City for an unforgettable—if unbelievably packed—day:

The question isn’t “what are we going to do,” the question is “what aren‘t we going to do?”

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Passenger 57: Wesley Snipes’ Biker Jacket with Layered Shirts and Jeans

Wesley Snipes as John Cutter in Passenger 57 (1992)

Vitals

Wesley Snipes as John Cutter, airline security chief and ex-Secret Service agent

In flight from Miami to Los Angeles, Spring 1992

Film: Passenger 57
Release Date: November 6, 1992
Director: Kevin Hooks
Costume Designer: Brad R. Loman

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, sometimes there’s nothing more necessary than to sit back and turn off your brain to watch a pleasantly absurd ’90s action movie. Luckily for us, Kevin Hooks directed the 1992 action thriller Passenger 57—its title literally inspired after writer Stewart Raffill spied a bottle of Heinz ketchup.

Wesley Snipes stars as John Cutter, a former* Secret Service agent whose stalwart reputation has followed him into his latest career as an airline security consultant, training flight attendants like Marti Slayton (Alex Datcher) how to handle hijacking scenarios. After his pal Sly Delvecchio (Tom Sizemore) helps Cutter secure an executive position as the vice president of security for the fictional Atlantic International Airlines, Cutter boards Atlantic Flight 163… the same flight on which FBI agents are escorting the dangerous international criminal Charles Rane (Bruce Payne)—who is not insane—back to California to face trial.

With his history of commercial airline bombings that makes us—and Delvecchio—wonder why the feds would choose this particular method of transportation, “the Rane of terror” has more explosive ideas for securing his freedom, which becomes an unfortunate situation for his fellow passengers—all except passenger #57, who happens to be the nation’s foremost expert in combating air terrorism. Continue reading →