Keith David’s Printed Polo and Desert Boots in Dead Presidents

Keith David in Dead Presidents (1995)

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Keith David as Kirby, small-time neighborhood crime boss

The Bronx, Spring 1969

Film: Dead Presidents
Release Date: October 4, 1995
Directed by: The Hughes Brothers
Costume Designer: Paul A. Simmons, Jr.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Always the coolest guy in anything he’s in, the prolific Keith David was born June 4, 1956 and celebrates his 70th birthday today by receiving his long-overdue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. David’s strong screen presence shone from the start, from his credited screen debut in The Thing (1982) that launched an unstoppable career spanning nearly five decades and counting.

David co-starred in the Hughes brothers’ 1995 crime drama Dead Presidents as Kirby, an avuncular Bronx crook who acts as de facto second father to local youngsters like Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate). Shortly before Anthony is shipped off to Vietnam with the Marine Corps in early 1969, he unknowingly becomes Kirby’s getaway driver while collecting some debts in the neighborhood. Continue reading →

The Great Gatsby: Bruce Dern’s Polo Gear and Cardigan as Tom

Bruce Dern as Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (1974)

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Bruce Dern as Tom Buchanan, hulking polo player

Long Island, New York, Early Summer 1925

Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The 1974 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s landmark Jazz Age novel The Great Gatsby was my cinematic introduction to Bruce Dern, who celebrates his 90th birthday tomorrow! Born June 4, 1936 in Chicago, the actor’s birthday falls curiously close to the start of the action, when the irresponsible flapper Daisy Buchanan bemoans over dinner that “in two weeks, it’ll be the longest day of the year,” referring to the mid-June summer solstice. Continue reading →

A Face in the Crowd: Andy Griffith’s Silky Shirt, String Tie, and Sport Suit

Andy Griffith as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd (1957)

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Andy Griffith as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, folksy yet power-hungry media personality

Memphis to New York City, Spring 1956

Film: A Face in the Crowd
Release Date: May 28, 1957
Director: Elia Kazan
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 100th birthday of Andy Griffith, born June 1, 1926. Already somewhat known as a comedian for routines like his breakthrough 1953 monologue “What It Was, Was Football”, Griffith made his explosive screen debut in Elia Kazan’s excellent 1957 drama A Face in the Crowd, a devastatingly prescient depiction of how susceptible American culture is to populism and celebrity cycloning into demagoguery. Budd Schulberg adapted his own short story “Your Arkansas Traveler” into the screenplay centered around Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, a charismatic drifter-turned-demagogue plucked from obscurity by radio producer Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) who ascends out of control into an influential public figure. Continue reading →

Robert Wagner’s Blue Tuxedo in The Towering Inferno

Robert Wagner and Susan Flannery in The Towering Inferno (1974)

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Robert Wagner as Dan Bigelow, horny public relations agent

San Francisco, Summer 1974

Film: The Towering Inferno
Release Date: December 14, 1974
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Paul Zastupnevich

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

I recently saw a tweet clowning on Robert Wagner’s ignominious death in The Towering Inferno that again got me thinking about the style in this char-studded—er- star-studded ’70s disaster epic.

@billyjarrettugh: “I’ll be back with the whole fire department” proceeds to run into a coffee table and immediately die

Continue reading →

Dazed and Confused: Matthew McConaughey’s Ted Nugent T-Shirt and Peach 1970s Levi’s

Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused (1993)

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Matthew McConaughey as David “Woods” Wooderson, Texas stoner

Central Texas, Spring 1976

Film: Dazed and Confused
Release Date: September 24, 1993
Director: Richard Linklater
Costume Designer: Katherine Dover

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Alright, alright, alright…

Richard Linklater’s nostalgic coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused was set fifty years ago today on May 28, 1976, during the last day of school for Lee High School, outside Austin, Texas. Linklater drew from his own experiences growing up in Huntsville, even lending actual names of classmates to the characters—eventually resulting in a lawsuit that would be swiftly dismissed. Many of the ensemble cast were then little-known actors who rose to considerable stardom, including Ben Affleck, Adam Goldberg, Cole Hauser, Milla Jovovich, Nicky Katt, Jason London, Parker Posey, and Renée Zellweger, but it’s perhaps Matthew McConaughey that emerged most memorably in his breakthrough role as David “Woods” Wooderson. Continue reading →

John Wayne’s Blue Cowboy Bib Shirt in The Searchers

John Wayne in The Searchers (1956)

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John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, obsessive Confederate Army veteran

West Texas and New Mexico Territory, Fall 1868 through 1873

Film: The Searchers
Release Date: May 26, 1956
Director: John Ford
Costume Designer: Charles Arrico (uncredited)

Background

Ten days after its Chicago premiere, John Ford’s Western epic The Searchers was released 70 years ago today on May 26, 1956—which coincided with its star John Wayne’s 49th birthday. Successful upon its release, The Searchers remains considered not just one of the greatest Westerns but also one of the best films of all time, influencing generations of contemporary and future filmmakers including David Lean, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Wim Wenders. Continue reading →

The Sopranos: Paulie Walnuts’ Mint Shirt at Sea

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” on The Sopranos, Episode 6.15: “Remember When”

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

Miami Beach, Fall 2007

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Remember When” (Episode 6.15)
Air Date: April 22, 2007
Director: Phil Abraham
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

For some reason, TikTok users in 2021 decided that May 24 was National Rigatoni Day. Leave it to me to five years behind on the trends, but rigatoni is my favorite pasta so I may as well find this tenuous connection to again post about my favorite show—specifically the episode of The Sopranos where Paulie whips up some “rigatoni alla Paulie” or “rigatoni alla Tony, heh heh heh,” while silently—or not so silently—fretting about his fate. Continue reading →

Insomnia: Al Pacino’s Leather Jacket in the Alaskan Midnight Sun

Al Pacino as Will Dormer in Insomnia (2002)

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Al Pacino as Will Dormer, shrewd but increasingly sleepy LAPD detective

Northern Alaska, June 2002

Film: Insomnia
Release Date: May 22, 2002
Director: Christopher Nolan
Costume Designer: Tish Monaghan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

By this time in mid-May, towns like Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) in the northern tip of Alaska are experiencing the midnight sun, typically lasting 83 days from May 10th or 11th through the beginning of August. The mid-June setting of Insomnia—to date, the only film Christopher Nolan directed without an official writing credit—is set during this phenomenon, to the initial puzzlement of legendary LAPD homicide detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino), visiting on request to help solve the murder of young high school student. Continue reading →

Sterling Hayden’s Four-Pocket Sport Jackets in The Killing

Sterling Hayden in The Killing (1956)

Vitals

Sterling Hayden as Johnny Clay, professional armed robber and ex-convict

Los Angeles, Fall 1955

Film: The Killing
Release Date: May 19, 1956
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Wardrobe Credit: Jack Masters

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Stanley Kubrick’s third directorial feature The Killing arrived in select theaters 70 years ago today on May 19, 1956. The limited release hurt its box office, though it was well-received by critics and even received a BAFTA nomination for Best Film. In addition to establishing Kubrick as a more mainstream talent, it remains a quintessential example of heist film noir, influencing filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino who described his own debut Reservoir Dogs as his own take on The Killing.

Kubrick collaborated with pulp novelist Jim Thompson on the hard-boiled screenplay, adapted from Lionel White’s novel Clean Break. The action centers around recently paroled Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), who is already planning his next heist: the two-million-dollar robbery of a thoroughbred racetrack. Johnny’s scrappy gang includes two track employees, a crooked cop, a self-destructive former associate, and a sharpshooter whose job will be to shoot the favored horse and create chaos that distracts from the robbery. Continue reading →

Mean Streets: De Niro’s Plaid Jacket and Dobbs Hat as Johnny Boy

Robert De Niro in Mean Streets (1973)

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Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy Civello, irresponsible mob associate

New York, Fall 1972

Film: Mean Streets
Release Date: October 14, 1973
Director: Martin Scorsese
Wardrobe Credit: Norman Salling

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

“You’ve blogged about this movie, right?” my wife asked me during her first-ever viewing of Mean Streets this weekend. When I responded that of course I have, she nodded and pointed to Robert De Niro swinging a broken pool cue in a bar full of angry mooks, adding “I can tell. This outfit is very you.” And that’s when I realized I needed to quickly rectify my BAMF Style blind spot that had so far overlooked Robert De Niro’s style as the reckless Johnny Boy in director Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough feature.

Heeding his pal John Cassavetes’ advice to make something more personal than his last film (Boxcar Bertha), Scorsese crafted Mean Streets as his own spin on I Vitelloni (1953), drawing on experiences and characters he knew growing up in New York’s Little Italy. He shot the film over 27 days in spring 1973, including seven days on location in New York City—often without permits.

Harvey Keitel led the billing as mob associate Charlie Cappa, whose internal conflict swirls around intense Catholic guilt, his ambitions within his uncle’s organized crime family, and his self-imposed responsibility for the self-destructive Johnny Boy—whose brash attitude doesn’t endear him to the mob loan sharks who are chasing him over his increasing debts to them. Continue reading →