Vitals

Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette, energetic federal agent

Los Angeles, Summer 1995

Film: Jackie Brown
Release Date: December 25, 1997
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Mary Claire Hannan

Film: Out of Sight
Release Date: June 26, 1998
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

My fellow Pittsburgher Michael Keaton was born 74 years ago today on September 5, 1951. Among his many roles, Keaton was introduced to the Elmore Leonard cinematic universe as the bimbo “good cop” Ray Nicolette to Michael Bowen’s more aggressive “bad cop” Mark Dargus in Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 adaptation of Leonard’s novel Rum Punch.

Keaton plays Nicolette as a charming but no-nonsense ATF agent who recruits Pam Grier’s titular flight attendant into a sting operation designed to snare ruthless arms dealer Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). His obvious crush on Jackie may complicate their dynamic, but Ray makes it clear that there’ll be no funny business under his watch.

He briefly reprised the character for an uncredited cameo in Out of Sight, with a somewhat more meatheaded Ray now transferred to the FBI and out of his depth while dating Deputy U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) when she introduces him to her hardheaded ex-cop father (Dennis Farina).

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What’d He Wear?

Jackie Brown (1997)

Ray seeks to counter the image of the square suit-and-tie fed with a motorcycle-informed look that anchors his everyday style around black leather jackets and plain white tees, even though he’s hardly the bad boy he may want to project.

His usual jacket is a black leather car coat worn to a soft, broken-in patina. Four black woven leather shank buttons fasten up the front, though the top button is covered by the revers. This hip-length coat has straight yoke across the chest, flapped pockets that slant over each hip, and set-in sleeves with plain-finished cuffs.

Though he doesn’t quite come off as much like James Dean as he hopes (not enough of a rebel and too much of a cause), Ray at least maintains the lean physique to sport his fitted white cotton short-sleeved T-shirts.

Ray occasionally layers another shirt over these tees, such as the faded light-blue denim shirt he wears open during the sting. The shirt has six dark-blue 2-hole plastic buttons up the front placket, two chest pockets that each close with a rounded single-button flap, and button cuffs that he keeps undone and rolled up his forearms.

The left pocket flap also has a dark-blue contrasting pen slot just along the top—just below a yellow-on-black brand logo embroidered onto the top pocket seam which recalls the Maverick brand, though roomy denim shirts were popular for men during the ’90s and offered by nearly every major men’s outfitter.

Ray undercuts his bad boy image by often tucking his T-shirts into beige cotton chinos. Despite their rugged heritage inspired by the khaki trousers worn by servicemen returning from World War II, these slacks had evolved by the ’90s to be a preppy symbol of business casual attire. Ray’s flat-front chinos have side pockets, a button-through back-right pocket, and plain-hemmed bottoms.

Through his belt loops, he wears a hefty black matte leather belt that closes through a polished silver-toned single-prong buckle and supports his OWB-holstered sidearm on the right and a pager on the left.

You can tell Ray’s really reaching for a look when he adopts the more “undercover” look that pairs his black jacket and white tee with blue jeans and black sandals, but he already hits two strikes by opting for clean, mid-blue “dad jeans” and pairing his sandals with white crew socks! (When not in the unholy combo of sandals and socks, Ray typically wears heavy-duty black leather plain-toe derby shoes like Doc Martens.)

Ray regularly accessorizes with a pair of sporty black wraparound sunglasses on blue Croakies around his neck. Fastened to his left wrist on an edge-stitched black leather strap, his stainless steel dive watch has a black bezel insert and black dial detailed with luminous non-numeric hour indices that follow the Rolex Submariner design with a triangle at 12 o’clock, batons at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, and dots for the remaining hours.

Only briefly does Ray appear wearing an actual motorcycle jacket, also sporting a helmet and shorts. This heavyweight black jacket has the traditional Schott Perfecto-style asymmetrical front zip, snap-down lapels, shoulder epaulets, zip-back sleeves, and array of pockets including a slanted zip-up chest pocket and smaller flapped pocket—both on the left side.

Whenever he’s on duty at the station, Ray wears his ATF badge, though it appears to spell his name as “Ray Nicolet”.

Out of Sight (1998)

For his brief appearance in Out of Sight, Ray wears a black leather hip-length car coat with a details and fit suggesting it’s the exact same jacket from Jackie Brown. With his tucked-in tee and jeans, Ray characteristically maintains the same aesthetic as Jackie Brown but exaggerating the ridiculous aspects of his character as his white T-shirt is now emblazoned with “FBI” printed in blue across the chest—prompting Karen’s dad to ask him, “tell me, Ray, do you ever wear one that says ‘Undercover’?”

In addition to reviving his black wraparound sunglasses on Croakies (now black), Ray doubles down on his “cool guy” costume by accessorizing with a surfer-style beaded necklace alternating brown cylinders and triple sets of spheres all separated by silver beads. His jeans have a lighter blue wash and trimmer fit, held up with a dark-brown leather belt that closes through a silver-toned single-prong buckle.

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The Gun

Only seen in Jackie Brown, Ray Nicolette carries a Smith & Wesson 5906 holstered in a black outside-the-waistband (OWB) rig with a strong-side draw on the right side of his belt.

Smith & Wesson introduced the 5906 in 1989 as part of its third—and final—generation of steel semi-automatic pistols, having evolved from the 1970s-era Smith & Wesson Model 59 and its second-generation descedent, the Smith & Wesson 659 famously wielded throughout Reservoir Dogs. Most of Smith & Wesson’s third-generation pistols were designated with four-digit model numbers that aligned with a detail specific to that model:

• 5 denotes its double-stack magazine, which could be loaded up to 15 rounds, as opposed to the single-stack 39XX pistols or compact 69XX pistols
• 9 informs its 9x19mm Parabellum chambering, as opposed to the .40-caliber 40XX pistols or .45-caliber 45XX pistols
• 0 aligns with its traditional double/single-action operation, as opposed to the double-action-only Model 5946
• 6 establishes its all-steel construction that distinguished it as the heavier alternative to the alloy-framed Model 5903

Though dimensionally smaller than contemporary “full-size” steel pistols like the Beretta 92FS, M1911A1, and SIG-Sauer P226, the 4″-barreled 5906 is a substantial weapon, weighing nearly 2½ pounds even unloaded. When Ray wears his chinos, he keeps the 5906 holstered onto his belt for support, though he foregoes a belt with his jeans and simply keeps the holster and its heavy firearm clipped onto his waistband.

While the Smith & Wesson 5906 was in limited service during the 1990s among some federal agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Police Division, Department of Energy Special Response Teams, and NASA Security Protective Service, my understanding is that ATF agents were issued 9mm SIG-Sauer pistols throughout the decade as agents were given the choice between the P225, P226, P228, and P239.

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How to Get the Look

Ray’s leather jacket, white tee, and Croakies-suspended wraparounds are his way of telling the world: “I’m not like a regular federal agent, I’m a cool federal agent.”

• Black leather hip-length car coat with flat collar, four-button front, slanted flapped hip pockets, and plain cuffs
• White fitted cotton crew-neck short-sleeved T-shirt
• Beige cotton chinos or blue denim jeans
• Black matte leather belt with polished silver-toned squared single-prong buckle
• Black matte leather plain-toe derby shoes
• Black wraparound sunglasses on blue Croakies
• Stainless steel dive watch with black dial and black bezel on black edge-stitched leather strap

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out Jackie Brown and Out of Sight—and Elmore Leonard’s respective source novels, Rum Punch and Out of Sight.

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The Quote

Jackie—I hope you don’t mind if I call you Jackie—those guys down in Customs? They’re a bunch of fuckin’ pricks. Excuse me, but they are. There’s something about that job makes those people really hard to get along with. Now, you can go down and talk with those guys, who are really suspicious and just really disagreeable human beings or you can talk with a couple of good-hearted guys like Mark and myself. It’s up to you.