Val Kilmer’s Leather Jacket in Top Secret!

Val Kilmer and Lucy Gutteridge in Top Secret! (1984)

Vitals

Val Kilmer as Nick Rivers, American rock star who is not Mel Tormé

East Germany, Fall 1983

Film: Top Secret!
Release Date: June 22, 1984
Directed by: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker
Costume Designer: Emma Porteous

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Val Kilmer died one year ago today on April 1, 2025 at age 65, following a prolific career demonstrating his versatile talent for action, comedy, and drama across a range of genres. He made his screen debut in 1984 starring in Top Secret!, the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team’s follow-up to Airplane! and Police Squad. Filled with ZAZ’s trademark sight gags and wordplay, the movie was conceptualized as a modern spy spoof that blended elements of World War II espionage thrillers with Elvis Presley’s musicals of the 1950s and ’60s.

Even with a nonexistent screen resume before he was cast, Kilmer proved he was ready for the task with his signature dedication: dressed as Elvis for his audition and performing every song for the soundtrack, including the Beach Boys-inspired “Skeet Surfin'” over the opening credits.

Kilmer stars as Nick Rivers, a ’50s-like rockabilly singer whose global stardom seems to even eclipse Stevie Wonder, Linda Ronstadt, and Frank Sinatra on billings. After Leonard Bernstein is unable to attend, Nick is hired by the East German government to perform at the cultural festival that they’re hosting as a diversion from their plan to reunite Germany under totalitarian rule. Already something of a rebel, Nick’s trip grows more complicated as he falls for the mysterious Hillary Flammond (Lucy Gutteridge), a member of the local resistance group. Continue reading →

Bullitt: Paul Genge as “Ice Pick Mike”

Paul Genge in Bullitt (1968)

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Paul Genge as Mike, silent syndicate hitman

San Francisco, Spring 1968

Film: Bullitt
Release Date: October 17, 1968
Director: Peter Yates
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 113th birthday of actor Paul Genge, born March 29, 1913. A U.S. Army Air Corps veteran, Genge’s screen career began after his return from World War II, almost always playing uncredited bit parts as cops, crooks, and the occasional coach. Despite these tough-guy roles, Genge was an advocate for regional theater whose penchant for performing Shakespeare included appearing in—and ultimately directing—stage productions of Hamlet and starring in the title role of King Henry IV when he was 26.

Bullitt provided Genge with one of his few credited movie roles, even though his character’s name isn’t uttered on screen—only referred to as “Ice Pick Mike” in the track listing for Lalo Schifrin’s jazzy soundtrack. Mike is arguably one of the most pivotal characters in this slick crime classic, as the slick triggerman whose execution of the witness known as Johnny Ross sets the action into motion. Continue reading →

The Sopranos, Season 6: Christopher’s Houndstooth Sports Coat

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos (Episode 6.09: “The Ride”)

Vitals

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, ambitious Mafia captain

New Jersey, Fall 2006

Series: The Sopranos
Episodes:
– “The Ride” (Episode 6.09, dir. Alan Taylor, aired 5/7/2006)
– “Walk Like a Man” (Episode 6.17, dir. Terence Winter, aired 5/6/2007)
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

On Michael Imperioli’s 60th birthday, it feels right to look at one of the more matured looks from his acclaimed performance as Christopher Moltisanti. Christopher’s signature style throughout The Sopranos had been track suits and leather jackets, though his ascension through the ranks of the New Jersey underworld brought a more sophisticated style to fit his status. Continue reading →

Steve McQueen’s Denim in Baby the Rain Must Fall

Steve McQueen in Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965)

Vitals

Steve McQueen as Henry Thomas, irresponsible musician and ex-convict

Columbus, Texas, Fall 1963

Film: Baby the Rain Must Fall
Release Date: January 23, 1965
Director: Robert Mulligan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Screen and style icon Steve McQueen was born 96 years ago today on March 24, 1930. After his breakthrough success in The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and the TV series Wanted Dead or Alive, McQueen was plucked out of westerns and war movies into more dramatic fare like Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) and Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965).

Adapted by Horton Foote from his own play The Traveling Lady, the latter film was more aligned with McQueen’s rougher and tougher screen image. He stars as Henry Thomas, a small-time rockabilly singer estranged from his wife Georgette (Lee Remick) and their six-year-old daughter Margaret Rose (Kimberley Block), whom he’s never met… until the gals surprise him in his hometown of Columbus, Texas, where he’s recently been released from a jail stint. Continue reading →

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)

Vitals

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)

Vitals

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)

Vitals

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)

Vitals

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”)

Vitals

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 →