Category: Casual
National Treasure: Nic Cage’s Urban Outfitters Outfit
Nicolas Cage in National Treasure (2004)
Vitals
Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates, treasure hunter and cryptographer
Philadelphia to New York City, Fall 2004
Film: National Treasure
Release Date: November 19, 2004
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Costume Designer: Judianna Makovsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans!
On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously ratified the Declaration of Independence that announced the separation of the thirteen American colonies from British rule. Primarily drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration remains one of the most sacred and influential documents in global history and underwent centuries of preservation and protection until it was ultimately stolen by Nicolas Cage in 2004.
At least he warned us first.
Appropriately titled given Mr. Cage’s reputation, National Treasure was released 20 years ago this November and centers around a historically informed search for a long-buried Freemason treasure trove. A rumored map on the back of the Declaration of Independence provides guidance to Cage’s well-meaning treasure-hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates as well as his assistant Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and the lovely government archivist Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) reluctantly roped into their mission.
Unfortunately for our heroes, Ben’s rival Ian Howe (Sean Bean) is also in pursuit of the treasure… but Ian is British, so one can only imagine the disrespect he would show the Declaration if he were the one to steal it first.
What’d He Wear?
The morning after Ben and Riley successfully liberate the Declaration during a gala event at the National Archives, they follow the early-00s product placement gods to an Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia (actually Pasadena), where they can purchase clothes more appropriate for evading detection while on the run in the City of Brotherly Love than their formal fits. Continue reading
The Graduate: William Daniels’ Blue Cabana Set as Mr. Braddock
William Daniels as Elizabeth Wilson in The Graduate (1967)
Vitals
William Daniels as Mr. Braddock, affable but aloof suburban father
Los Angeles, Summer 1967
Film: The Graduate
Release Date: December 22, 1967
Director: Mike Nichols
Costume Designer: Patricia Zipprodt
Background
The Graduate made Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) an icon for many, whether they could identify with his aimless disillusionment or his killer Ivy style. It may be my own “advancing” age—as I’ll officially be old enough to run for president exactly three weeks from today—that recently drew me more to his father’s charmingly dated leisurewear, specifically the matching blue cabana set when unintentionally humiliating poor Benjamin on his 21st birthday by forcing him to model a full scuba suit for “a practical demonstration” in the Braddock family swimming pool in front of their friends.
It may help my affection for the character that Mr. Braddock was portrayed by the great William Daniels, whose prolific career has spanned eight decades with iconic roles like John Adams in the stage and screen presentations of 1776 and as the avuncular Mr. Feeny on ’90s sitcom Boy Meets World, as well as a distinctive voice that he lent to KITT on the ’80s series Knight Rider. Continue reading
Glen Powell in Hit Man: Gary’s Western-Inspired Wardrobe as “Ron”
Glen Powell as Gary Johnson in Hit Man (2023)
Vitals
Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, mild-mannered psychology professor moonlighting as an undercover police contractor
New Orleans, Fall 2022
Film: Hit Man
Release Date: May 24, 2024
Director: Richard Linklater
Costume Designer: Juliana Hoffpauir
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After a limited two-week run in theaters, Hit Man debuted on Netflix at the beginning of this month and quickly became the service’s #1 most-watched movie in the U.S. The screenplay by director Richard Linklater and star Glen Powell fictionalizes the life of Gary Johnson, a college professor and successful “fake hitman” whose undercover police work led to more than 70 arrests of people seeking the services of a contract killer.
Hit Man is Linklater’s second cinematic depiction of stranger-than-fiction true crime based on a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth (the first was Bernie in 2011), though the production and setting were moved from Houston to New Orleans to take advantage of Louisiana tax credits.
Described in the epilogue as the “chillest dude imaginable,” the real Gary Johnson—whom the same epilogue is sure to insist was never actually involved in any murders—died in 2022 at the age of 75 before getting to see this dark comedy that riffed on his life story.
Though sensationalizing his life for dramatic purposes, Hit Man includes many details from Johnson’s life, like his cats Id and Ego, his unassuming politeness, and the random opportunity that elevated him to the city’s most in-demand assassin who signals his identity to prospective clients with a single response phrase:
All pie is good pie.
The Gambler: James Caan’s White Tennis Gear
James Caan as Axel Freed in The Gambler (1974)
Vitals
James Caan as Axel Freed, gambling-addicted English professor
New York City, Fall 1973
Film: The Gambler
Release Date: October 2, 1974
Director: Karel Reisz
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
In addition to today being the first day of summer, June 20th is also observed as International Tennis Day, established ten years ago to recognize the day when the first “Tennis Court Oath” was taken in 1789 at a tennis court near the Palace of Versailles.
The sport has found renewed interest this year after the release of Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, a film not without its own notable style including—but certainly not limited to—the “I TOLD YA” T-shirt homage to John F. Kennedy Jr. that costume designer J.W. Anderson chose for Zendaya’s wardrobe.
“We don’t talk enough about the scene in the original version of The Gambler where the James Caan character absolutely destroys his own mother at tennis,” Matt Zoller Seitz tweeted after Caan’s death in July 2022, so I’m hoping to rectify this oversight.
While Challengers will have its BAMF Style spotlight soon, the intersection of International Tennis Day and the summer solstice during the 50th anniversary year of The Gambler drew me toward the Fred Perry-branded tennis whites that Caan wore as Axel Freed in this 1974 drama. Continue reading
The Last of Sheila: Ian McShane’s White Lacoste Cardigan
Ian McShane as Anthony Wood in The Last of Sheila (1973)
Vitals
Ian McShane as Anthony Wood, controlling Hollywood husband and ex-convict
French Riviera, Late summer 1972
Film: The Last of Sheila
Release Date: June 14, 1973
Director: Herbert Ross
Costume Designer: Joel Schumacher
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of my favorite “summer vibes” movies is The Last of Sheila, which I first watched last summer after learning that it was among Rian Johnson’s inspiration for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. As the third Knives Out movie has commenced filming and we’re approaching another summer solstice, let’s revisit the Riviera style on parade in The Last of Sheila, released 51 years ago this month on Flag Day 1973.
Written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, The Last of Sheila boasts a fine ensemble cast portraying “six hungry failures” summoned by Hollywood producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) to spend a week in the Ligurian Sea aboard his yacht, Sheila, named for his late wife who died exactly a year earlier in a mysterious hit-and-run.
After Clinton is murdered during his festivities, the six frenemies begin looking amongst each other for who would have had the means and opportunity to kill Clinton, though all had a motive—presumably to silence the gossip he knew about each of their pasts, revealed by the cards he had assigned to each on their first day at sea.
Perhaps the least connected of the six is the charismatic but shady Anthony Wood (Ian McShane), who fiercely promotes—and controls—the career of his glamorous actress wife Alice (Raquel Welch). When the “I am an EX-CONVICT” card held by the anxious Lee Parkman (Joan Hackett) is revealed to apply to Anthony’s dual convictions for assault, Lee’s writer husband Tom (Richard Benjamin) briefly focuses his interrogation on Anthony as the group tries to solve the mystery. Continue reading
Warren Beatty’s Brown Trucker Jacket in The Parallax View
Warren Beatty as Joe Frady in The Parallax View (1974)
Vitals
Warren Beatty as Joe Frady, maverick political reporter
Seattle and Los Angeles, Spring 1974
Film: The Parallax View
Release Date: June 14, 1974
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Costume Designer: Frank L. Thompson
Background
The Parallax View was released 50 years ago today on Flag Day 1974—an appropriate observance for this second of Alan J. Pakula’s trio of politically themed paranoid thrillers that also included Klute (1971) and All the President’s Men (1976).
Warren Beatty provides one of the arguably best performances of his career as Joe Frady, an investigative reporter for an Oregon newspaper who is tipped to a deadly political conspiracy by ex-girlfriend Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) shortly before she too died under questionable circumstances attributed to a drug overdose. At a time when, in Joe’s words, “every time you turned around, some nut was knockin’ off one of the best men in the country,” Lee witnessed the assassination of a presidential hopeful three years earlier. Continue reading
Bonnie and Clyde (1967): Warren Beatty’s “Air Ties” and Vests
Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
Vitals
Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow, Depression-era bank robber and gang leader
Across the American South and Midwest, Spring 1932 to 1934
Film: Bonnie & Clyde
Release Date: August 13, 1967
Director: Arthur Penn
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
Background
Ninety years ago today on the morning of May 23, 1934, a light-gray Ford V-8 sedan traveling northeast on a rural Louisiana highway slowed as it approached a truck stopped by the side of the road. Suddenly, volleys of rifle fire peppered the car, obliterating the young couple in the front seat. After an estimated 167 rounds were fired, a half-dozen lawmen emerged from their ambush positions and approached the Ford, in which wanted outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were now unquestionably dead.
Despite their bloody crime spree that left at least a dozen men dead, Bonnie and Clyde captivated the fascination of a Depression-era public that often celebrated the exploits of contemporary outlaws like John Dillinger and “Pretty Boy” Floyd. The scrappy couple was hardly as criminally capable as their fellow “Public Enemies”, but Clyde’s remarkable ability to escape police traps and Bonnie’s frequent involvement added a romantic element that made them a newspaper favorite, especially after the discovery of undeveloped photos depicting the Barrow gang at play, including Bonnie smoking one of Clyde’s cigars—crafting a public image she would greatly resent—and holding him at gunpoint with one of the gang’s cut-down shotguns.
Among the many photos found at the gang’s abandoned Joplin, Missouri hideout after an April 1933 gunfight was this snapshot of Clyde and Bonnie in front of one of their many stolen Ford V-8 coupes, likely photographed earlier that year by their teenage gang member W.D. Jones. In the 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway posed in a similar manner, but this reenactment didn’t make the final cut.
The frequent news coverage during their lifetime ensured that Bonnie and Clyde wouldn’t be quickly forgotten after their deaths, inspiring a string of “couple of the run” crime movies like You Only Live Once (1937) and the films noir They Live By Night (1948) and Gun Crazy (1950). The couple’s story formed the basis for the highly fictionalized The Bonnie Parker Story, an exploitative 1958 quickie from American International Pictures starring Dorothy Provine as the “cigar-smoking hellcat of the roaring thirties” and Jack Hogan as her simping partner-in-crime, uh, “Guy Darrow”.
The outlaw couple would be immortalized on screen after the release of Bonnie & Clyde in 1967, produced by Warren Beatty who also starred as Clyde opposite newcomer Faye Dunaway as a redoubtable Bonnie Parker. Continue reading
Here Comes Mr. Jordan: Robert Montgomery’s Belted Leather Jacket
Robert Montgomery in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Vitals
Robert Montgomery as Joe Pendleton, prizefighter and pilot known as “The Flying Pug”
En route New York City, Spring 1941
Film: Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Release Date: August 7, 1941
Director: Alexander Hall
Costume Designer: Edith Head (gowns)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Perhaps one of the first true “Renaissance men” in Hollywood, Robert Montgomery was born 120 years ago today on May 21, 1904 in New York’s Hudson Valley. Montgomery displayed a versatile range across movies and television, his comedic and dramatic abilities resulting in two Academy Award nominations and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was also an inventive director, pioneering an unusual but daring first-person narrative style for his 1947 directorial debut Lady in the Lake, adapted from Raymond Chandler’s pulp novel of the same name.
When World War II began in Europe, Montgomery enlisted for the American Field Service in London and drove ambulances in France up through the famous Dunkirk evacuation. After the United States entered the war a year and a half later, Montgomery joined the U.S. Navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander.
Amidst all this, Montgomery received his second Oscar nomination for his performance as the charismatic, saxophone-playing boxer Joe Pendleton in the smart supernatural comedy Here Comes Mr. Jordan, based on Harry Segall’s 1938 play Heaven Can Wait. Continue reading
From Pinstripes to Plaid: Travis Henderson’s Transformation in Paris, Texas
Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas (1984)
Vitals
Harry Dean Stanton as Travis Henderson, wandering drifter
West Texas to Los Angeles, Fall 1983
Film: Paris, Texas
Release Date: September 19, 1984
Director: Wim Wenders
Costume Designer: Birgitta Bjerke
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Wim Wenders’ masterpiece Paris, Texas debuted during 40 years ago today on May 19, 1984 during the 37th Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Palme d’Or among other accolades. The film arrived at theaters exactly four months later and would continue to garner critical acclaim including a BAFTA win for Wenders’ direction.
Co-written by Sam Shepard and L.M. Kit Carson, Paris, Texas presents a rare starring role for stalwart character actor Harry Dean Stanton—one of my personal favorites—who had been well-regarded for his performances in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Dillinger (1973), Alien (1979), Escape from New York (1981), and Christine (1983) before Shepard tapped the nearly 60-year-old actor for the leading role of the lost Travis Henderson.
Road House: Patrick Swayze’s ’80s Suede Jacket and Jeans
Patrick Swayze as Dalton in Road House (1989)
Vitals
Patrick Swayze as James Dalton, professional bouncer
Jasper, Missouri, Spring 1988
Film: Road House
Release Date: May 19, 1989
Director: Rowdy Herrington
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The recent announcement of a sequel green-lit for the 2024 remake of Road House came just in time to celebrate the anniversary of the original, released 35 years ago this week on May 19, 1989. Patrick Swayze famously starred as Dalton, a New York City cooler who has mastered a zen-like approach to his work to overcome being haunted by having ripped a guy’s throat out several years earlier. Continue reading
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