Gene Hackman’s Leather Jacket in Hoosiers

Gene Hackman in Hoosiers (1986)

Vitals

Gene Hackman as Norman Dale, controversial high school basketball coach and Navy veteran

Indiana, Fall 1951

Film: Hoosiers
Release Date: November 14, 1986
Director: David Anspaugh
Costume Designer: Jane Anderson

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Welcome to Indiana basketball…

The legendary late actor Gene Hackman was born 96 years ago today on January 30, 1930. On the first anniversary of his birthday since his death last February, today’s post centers around Hackman’s celebrated performance in the 40-year-old sports drama Hoosiers as Norman Dale, hired to coach a small Indiana town’s basketball team whose roster includes names like Merle, Rade, Strap, and Whit—which I think is just great.

Though set in the fictional town of Hickory, Hoosiers was loosely inspired by the true story of the Milan High School basketball team’s victory against Muncie Central High School to win the 1954 state championship. And if you don’t think that’s a big deal, just take it from Norm himself:

I thought everybody in Indiana played basketball.

Continue reading →

The Four Seasons: Alan Alda’s Après-ski Sweater in Winter

Alan Alda in The Four Seasons (1981)

Vitals

Alan Alda as Jack Burroughs, married lawyer

Stowe, Vermont, Winter 1980

Film: The Four Seasons
Release Date: May 22, 1981
Director: Alan Alda
Costume Designer: Jane Greenwood

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 90th birthday to Alan Alda, the movie and TV icon born January 28, 1936. Alda rose to prominence through the 1970s playing Army surgeon “Hawkeye” Pierce in the TV adaptation of M*A*S*H—an early style inspiration for yours truly, as I was particularly obsessed with Hawkeye’s rakish pairing of aloha shirts with his G.I.-issue OG-107 fatigue trousers.

In addition to being the only cast member to appear in all 256 episodes, Alda also ignited his talents behind the camera, ultimately writing 17 and directing 32 episodes during the series’ eleven-season run. Even before M*A*S*H ended, Alda penned his screenwriting debut, The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), starring as the eponymous fictional senator. As Alda’s own grandson Jake would summarize in his Letterboxd review: “My grandpa has an affair with a young Meryl Streep… what more can I ask for?”

Two years later, Alda released his directorial debut, The Four Seasons (1981), which he also wrote and—of course—starred in. Alda portrays New York lawyer Jack Burroughs who, along with his wife Kate (Carol Burnett), join two other middle-aged couples for quarterly getaways: one for each of the titular four seasons, and thus framed by Vivaldi’s violin concerti of the same name. Continue reading →

Train Dreams: Joel Edgerton’s Wabash Chore Coat as Robert Grainier

Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier in Train Dreams (2025)

Vitals

Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, laconic logger

Pacific Northwest, Summer 1917 through 1920

Film: Train Dreams
Release Date: January 26, 2025
Director: Clint Bentley
Costume Designer: Malgosia Turzanska

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Train Dreams debuted at Sundance one year ago today but gained wider attention after its official November 2025 release, driving a momentum that led to its four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for director Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar’s treatment of Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella of the same name, Best Original Song for Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner’s contribution, and Best Cinematography for Adolpho Veloso’s majestic photography.

“His name was Robert Grainier, and he lived more than 80 years in and around the town of Bonners Ferry, Idaho,” narrates Will Patton as we meet our taciturn protagonist, portrayed by Joel Edgerton. “In his time, he traveled west to within a few dozen miles of the Pacific—so he’d never seen the ocean itself—and as far east as the town of Libby, 40 miles inside Montana.” Continue reading →

Twin Peaks: Michael Ontkean in Khakis and Fleck Jacket as Sheriff Harry Truman

Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Harry S. Truman in Twin Peaks (Episode 1.03: “Episode 2″, aka “Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer”)

Vitals

Michael Ontkean as Harry S. Truman, small-town sheriff

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

For Canadian actor Michael Ontkean’s 80th birthday, today’s post continues the Twin Peaks theme started this week with series co-creator David Lynch’s appearance as FBI Deputy Director Gordon Cole. Born just four days after Lynch on January 24, 1946, Ontkean rose to fame through the 1970s on the TV series The Rookies and the 1977 sports comedy Slap Shot before he took on the role of the even-tempered Sheriff Harry S. Truman—no known relation to the president of the same name, though the sheriff does hang the 33rd president’s portrait in his office. Continue reading →

Twin Peaks: Dale Cooper’s FBI Raid Jacket

Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks (Episode 1.06: “Episode 5”, aka “Cooper’s Dreams”)

Vitals

Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper, FBI agent

Twin Peaks, Washington, March 1989

Series: Twin Peaks
Episodes:
– “Cooper’s Dreams” (Episode 1.06, dir. Lesli Linka Glatter, aired 5/10/1990)
– “Realization Time” (Episode 1.07, dir. Caleb Deschanel, aired 5/17/1990)
– “Variations on Relations” (Episode 2.19, dir. Jonathan Sanger, aired 4/11/1991)
Created by: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Costume Design: Sara Markowitz

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Following what would have been series co-creator David Lynch’s 80th birthday on Tuesday, I decided to make this Twin Peaks week on BAMF Style to give Lynch and Mark Frost’s surreal mystery series some long overdue attention. If you don’t like that, fix your hearts or die.

Twin Peaks centered around the arrival of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) to the fictional titular small town in upper Washington state, where he joins Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) to investigate the murder of local teen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Even after the murder is ostensibly solved, Coop hangs around in Twin Peaks, lured by its colorful townsfolk and growing lore around the mysterious Black Lodge. Continue reading →

Twin Peaks: David Lynch’s Black FBI Suit as Gordon Cole

David Lynch as FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole on Twin Peaks (Episode 13: “Demons”)

Vitals

David Lynch as Gordon Cole, hearing-impaired FBI regional bureau chief

Twin Peaks, Washington, March 1989

Series: Twin Peaks
Episodes:
– “Demons”, aka “Episode 13” (Episode 2.06, dir. Lesli Linka Glatter, aired 11/3/1990)
– “Lonely Souls”, aka “Episode 14” (Episode 2.07, dir. David Lynch, aired 11/10/1990)
– “On the Wings of Love, aka “Episode 25” (Episode 2.18, dir. Duwayne Dunham, aired 4/4/1991)
– “Variations on Relations”, aka “Episode 26” (Episode 2.19, dir. Jonathan Sanger, aired 4/11/1991)
Created by: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Costume Designer: Sara Markowitz

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 80th birthday of David Lynch, the celebrated filmmaker whose surrealist productions often blended elements of humor and horror. Born January 20, 1946 in Missoula, Montana, Lynch died just four days before his 79th birthday last year when his emphysema was exacerbated from his Hollywood Hills home during the destructive wildfires that ravaged southern California.

In addition to the ten feature films he directed, Lynch co-created the TV series Twin Peaks with Mark Frost. On its surface, this mystery series centered around FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) investigating the death of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in a small Washington town, while more surreal elements focused on the supernatural realm presented through Coop’s bizarre dreams and the interactions among the quirky Twin Peaks townsfolk that lean into the characteristically Lynchian references to mid-century Americana.

David Lynch on Twin Peaks

Lynch himself would finally appear on screen during the second season as Coop’s hearing-impaired supervisor: “Federal Bureau of Investigation Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole,” as he introduces himself to local sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean), adding, “that’s a real mouthful, but I can’t hear myself anyway.” Continue reading →

Cary Grant’s Tuxedo in Notorious

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious (1946)

Vitals

Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin, American government agent

Rio de Janeiro, Spring 1946

Film: Notorious
Release Date: September 6, 1946
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Design: Edith Head (gowns only)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Released 80 years ago this September, Notorious marked the second of four screen collaborations between Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant—who was born 122 years ago today on January 18, 1904. Written by Ben Hecht, Notorious is vintage Hitch at full boil, blending noir-tinged espionage with a romance daring enough to taunt the censors, all delivered with the Master of Suspense’s unmistakable mix of wit, menace, and nerve-shredding tension.

Notorious reaches a boiling point during a party hosted by the urbane yet dangerous Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) and his new wife Alicia (Ingrid Bergman)—in fact a honeyspot spy recruited by American agent T.R. Devlin (Grant) to seduce her way into Sebastian’s circle of German emigrés hiding in post-World War II Brazil. Continue reading →

Our Man Flint: James Coburn’s Tuxedo

James Coburn in Our Man Flint (1966)

Vitals

James Coburn as Derek Flint, bon vivant superspy

New York City to Marseilles, Spring 1965

Film: Our Man Flint
Release Date: January 16, 1966
Director: Daniel Mann
Costume Designer: Ray Aghayan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

James Coburn originated the character of Derek Flint in Our Man Flint, one of the many spy spoofs in the wake of ’60s Bondmania, released sixty years ago today. Technically, the film premiered a month earlier in St. Ann’s Bay in Jamaica, though it wasn’t widely in theaters until the American release on January 16, 1966. It would be followed the next year by a sequel, In Like Flint—which also happens to be Austin Powers’ favorite movie… and, indeed, you can see plenty of shagadelic DNA in the Flint series. Continue reading →

The Grey: Liam Neeson’s Winter Survival Gear

Liam Neeson in The Grey (2011). Photo credit: Kimberley French.

Vitals

Liam Neeson as John Ottway, world-weary oil company sharpshooter

Alaskan Wilderness, Winter 2011

Film: The Grey
Release Date: December 11, 2011
Director: Joe Carnahan
Costume Designer: Courtney Daniel

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After a few reader requests that piqued my interest in survival stories, I recently watched The Grey, which premiered 14 years ago n January 2012 following its debut the previous month during the annual “Butt-Numb-a-Thon” film marathon in Austin.

Adapted by director Joe Caranhan and Ian MacKenzie Jeffers from the latter’s short story “Ghost Walker”, The Grey centers around Liam Neeson as the spiritually exhausted John Ottway, who describes his situation in the opening voiceover:

A job at the end of the world: a salaried killer for a big petroleum company. I don’t know why I did half the things I’ve done, but I know this is where I belong, surrounded by my own: ex-cons, fugitives, drifters, assholes. Men unfit for mankind.

Continue reading →

Sean Connery’s Sheepskin Coat and Plaid Suit in The Offence

Sean Connery in The Offence (1973)

Vitals

Sean Connery as Detective Sergeant “Johnny” Johnson, jaded police detective

Berkshire, England, Spring 1972

Film: The Offence
Release Date: January 11, 1973
Director: Sidney Lumet
Costume Designer: Evangeline Harrison

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Sean Connery and director Sidney Lumet’s third of five cinematic collaborations, The Offence, was released on this day in 1973. Adapted by John Hopkins from his own stage play This Story of Yours, the film was the first of two projects that United Artists agreed to finance through Connery’s production company Tantallon Films in exchange for the star returning to play James Bond in Diamonds are Forever.

As his first post-Bond film, Big Tam specifically chose The Offence to demonstrate his range and expand his screen image beyond the 007 persona, resulting in perhaps one of his greatest performances. Continue reading →