Category: Black Tie
Midnight Mary: Ricardo Cortez’s 1930s Tuxedo
Ricardo Cortez in Midnight Mary (1933)
Vitals
Ricardo Cortez as Leo Darcy, sociopathic gangster
New York, Spring 1933
Film: Midnight Mary
Release Date: June 30, 1933
Director: William A. Wellman
Costume Designer: Adrian (gowns)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
When Midnight Mary was streaming on the Criterion Channel last year, I was impressed not just by the well-tailored costumes worn by its male characters on both sides of the law but also the amount of dialogue within this 74-minute pre-Code classic dedicated to discussing menswear, whether that’s a a lawyer’s butler modeling his new dressing gown or an underworld mook fishing for positive feedback about his new tuxedo only to receive conflicting criticism about the length of his jacket.
The movie centers around the titular Mary Martin (Loretta Young), whose hard life as an orphaned young girl led to her acquaintanceship with the smooth-talking gangster Leo Darcy (Ricardo Cortez) by her late teens. One of the most popular actors of pre-Code Hollywood, Cortez died 48 years ago today on April 28, 1977. Continue reading
Ten Little Indians: Hugh O’Brian’s Three-Piece Tuxedo as Lombard
Hugh O’Brian in Ten Little Indians (1965)
Vitals
Hugh O’Brian as Hugh Lombard, romantic adventurer
Austrian Alps, Winter 1965
Film: Ten Little Indians
Release Date: September 10, 1965
Director: George Pollock
Wardrobe Credit: John McCorry
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
American movie and TV actor Hugh O’Brian was born 100 years ago today on April 19, 1925.
During World War II, the teenage Hugh Krampe followed his father’s footsteps and joined the U.S. Marine Corps, becoming the youngest drill instructor in the branch’s history. While a young recruit at Camp Pendleton, Hugh participated in a boxing match refereed by none other than John Wayne, who was shooting a film nearby. More than three decades later, the two actors’ paths would cross again when Hugh appeared in Duke’s final film, The Shootist (1976), portraying the last character that John Wayne would shoot on screen.
After his discharge from the Marines, Sgt. Krampe embarked on an acting career initially marred by misspellings. When a program incorrectly spelled his name as “Hugh Krape”, the young actor decided to avoid even more embarrassing clerical errors and took his mother’s maiden name O’Brien as his last name; when even this was misspelled as “O’Brian”, the re-christened actor shrugged and stuck with it. It was thus as Hugh O’Brian that he rose to fame portraying the title character in 229 episodes of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp on ABC, establishing himself as a strapping and charismatic leading man.
O’Brian was a substantial enough star by the mid-1960s to command the “Tony Danza treatment” when he was cast in British filmmaker Harry Alan Towers’ first of three increasingly ill-advised adaptations of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery novel And Then There Were None; Christie had named one of the ten strangers Philip Lombard, though O’Brian’s casting evidently prompted someone to rechristen the character as Hugh Lombard. Continue reading
The Towering Inferno: William Holden’s Red Silk Dinner Jacket
William Holden in The Towering Inferno (1974)
Vitals
William Holden as James Duncan, commercial real estate developer
San Francisco, Summer 1974
Film: The Towering Inferno
Release Date: December 14, 1974
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Paul Zastupnevich
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 107 years ago today on April 17, 1918, charismatic actor William Holden was one of the biggest stars of the 1950s with landmark performances in Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Sabrina (1954), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
Though his screen presence continued into the next decade, Holden revitalized his career as the grizzled lead in Sam Peckinpah’s violent revisionist Western The Wild Bunch (1969), which led to several prominent roles through the 1970s—including Clint Eastwood’s artful romance Breezy (1973) and his final Oscar-nominated turn in Sidney Lumet’s media satire Network (1976).
Between those films, Holden joined the star-studded ensemble of The Towering Inferno (1974), Irwin Allen’s fiery follow-up to The Poseidon Adventure that earned eight Academy Award nominations—including Best Picture. And what better way to celebrate this fire-sign icon’s April 17th birthday than spotlighting his standout wardrobe in a disaster epic that quite literally turns up the Aries heat? Continue reading
The Cotton Club: Richard Gere in Prohibition-era Black Tie
Richard Gere as “Dixie” Dwyer in The Cotton Club (1984)
Vitals
Richard Gere as Dixie Dwyer, mob-connected movie star and jazz trumpeter
New York Spring, Winter 1928 to Winter 1931
Film: The Cotton Club
Release Date: December 14, 1984
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Fraught with almost as much deadly drama behind the scenes as depicted on screen, Francis Ford Coppola’s contentious crime epic The Cotton Club was released 40 years ago last month in December 1984. From a story by Coppola, William Kennedy, and Mario Puzo, the story centers around the real-life titular Harlem nightclub that operated during Prohibition, which was first enforced across the United States 105 years ago today on January 17, 1920. The movie was received about as well as Prohibition itself, with both Oscar and Razzie nominations, four-star ratings and dead financiers.
The Cotton Club blends actual gangsters like Owney Madden and Dutch Schultz and popular musicians like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington with fictional characters inspired by real-life figures. Richard Gere stars as “Dixie” Dwyer, a jazz musician destined for stardom as a matinee idol who shares biographical traits with the actor George Raft and alliteratively named trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke. Dixie finds himself vying against Schultz for the affections of Vera Cicero (Diane Lane), a vivacious singer reminiscent of nightclub owner “Texas” Guinan—who also inspired Gladys George’s brassy character in The Roaring Twenties. Continue reading
Death on the Nile: Maggie Smith in Menswear-informed Black Tie
Maggie Smith in Death on the Nile (1978)
Vitals
Maggie Smith as Miss Bowers, dependable nurse and traveling companion
Egypt, September 1937
Film: Death on the Nile
Release Date: September 29, 1978
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 90th birthday of prolific English actress Dame Maggie Smith, who died three months ago in September 2024. Born December 28, 1934, Smith was a two-time Academy Award winner for her performances in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978), later endearing herself to modern audiences for her roles in the Harry Potter film series and on Downton Abbey.
BAMF Style readers familiar with my appreciation for Agatha Christie novels and their screen adaptations may not be surprised to learn that I became a fan of hers following her appearances in the lavish Anthony Shaffer-penned adaptations of Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun, both of which starred Peter Ustinov as the fastidious Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Continue reading
Fred Astaire’s Tuxedo in The Towering Inferno
Fred Astaire in The Towering Inferno (1974)
Vitals
Fred Astaire as Harlee Claiborne, charming con artist
San Francisco, Summer 1974
Film: The Towering Inferno
Release Date: December 14, 1974
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Paul Zastupnevich
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Towering Inferno was released 50 years ago this week—released in Canada on December 14, 1974, two days before its Los Angeles premiere and wider release across the United States on December 16th.
Despite his prolific career primarily known for singing and dancing in musicals like Top Hat (1935), Holiday Inn (1942), and Funny Face (1957), Fred Astaire received his sole competitive Academy Award nomination for his performance as Harlee Claiborne, an aging con man with a heart of gold. On the day that the titular fire erupts in the new Glass Tower, Harlee has begun a flirtation with one of its residents, Lisolette Mueller (Jennifer Jones), escorting her to the dedication party in its top-floor “Promenade Room”, 135 floors and nearly 1,600 feet above the ground.
Though set on the fourth of July, the red sash that Astaire’s character knots around the waistband of his rented dinner suit adds a dash of festivity also appropriate for yuletide style analysis.
Harlee takes a moment to appreciate his tuxedoed appearance.
The Cat’s Meow: Cary Elwes’ White Dinner Jacket as Thomas Ince
Cary Elwes as Thomas Ince in The Cat’s Meow (2002)
Vitals
Cary Elwes as Thomas H. Ince, Hollywood movie mogul
USS Oneida off the coast of southern California, November 1924
Film: The Cat’s Meow
Release Date: April 12, 2002
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Costume Designer: Caroline de Vivaise
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One hundred years ago this weekend was the mysterious party aboard media tycoon William Randolph Hearst’s luxury yacht that resulted in the death of pioneering filmmaker Thomas H. Ince.
Known a “Father of the Western” with more than 800 producing and directing credits to his name, Ince was celebrating his 44th birthday on Sunday, November 16, 1924 with Hearst’s invited guests aboard the USS Oneida when he reportedly suffered indigestion that led to his death of heart failure three days later. However, Hollywood lore persisted that Ince’s death was actually the result of foul play. Continue reading
The World Is Not Enough: Pierce Brosnan’s Midnight Brioni Tuxedo as Bond
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in The World is Not Enough (1999).
Photo by Keith Hamshere/Sygma via Getty Images.
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, sophisticated English spy
Baku and Istanbul, December 1999
Film: The World Is Not Enough
Release Date: November 8, 1999
Director: Michael Apted
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Tailored by: Brioni
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On the 00-7th of November, today’s post celebrates Pierce Brosnan’s third and penultimate movie as James Bond—The World Is Not Enough—which premiered 25 years ago tomorrow on November 8, 1999 at the Fox Bruin Theater in Los Angeles.
With most of Ian Fleming’s original material already adapted by the end of Timothy Dalton’s tenure, Brosnan’s Bond films relied on original storylines with nods to earlier works in the franchise. In the case of The World Is Not Enough, this applies to the title itself—the English translation of the Bond family coat of arms (“Orbis non sufficit”) mentioned in the novel and film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Bruce Feirstein crafted the original screenplay for The World Is Not Enough, centered around Bond’s assignment to protect heiress Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) from Renard (Robert Carlyle), an international terrorist who had kidnapped her years earlier. As the stakes of his mission grow, he recruits the help of an old enemy-turned-friend Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane) and the improbably named—and improbably cast—nuclear physicist Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards).
A hallmark of the Bond franchise are its aspirational sequences that highlight both the danger and elevated lifestyle of James Bond’s missions, exemplified in The World Is Not Enough as he strides into a swanky casino in an exotic locale, clad as usual in an impeccable tuxedo with a Walther holstered under his arm and a dry martini in his hand. After a Bollinger-soaked romantic interlude with an impossibly beautiful woman, Bond’s back on the trail of his dangerous foe, who only narrowly escapes as Bond saves the life of yet another impossibly beautiful woman following a gunfight. Continue reading
The Godfather, Part II: Fredo’s Plaid Dinner Jacket
John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)
Vitals
John Cazale as Fredo Corleone, insecure mob family sibling
Lake Tahoe, Fall 1958
Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 89 years ago today on August 12, 1935, the late John Cazale racked up perhaps the most impressive screen batting average during his brief but significant film career. After more than a decade acting in theater, Cazale made his feature film debut as the weak-willed Corleone sibling Fredo in The Godfather (1972), a role he reprised to great acclaim two years later in The Godfather Part II (1974).
Cazale made one more film for Francis Ford Coppola, The Conversation (1974), before he again teamed with Al Pacino as a pair of hapless bank robbers in Dog Day Afternoon (1975). The Deer Hunter (1978) was Cazale’s next film and his fifth and final big screen credit prior to his death from lung cancer in March 1978 at the age of 42.
As this is the 50th anniversary year of The Godfather Part II, considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time, let’s use Cazale’s birthday as an opportunity to celebrate his remarkable performance as the doomed Fredo Corleone. Continue reading
Heaven Can Wait: Don Ameche’s Blue Silk Smoking Jacket
Don Ameche in Heaven Can Wait (1943)
Vitals
Don Ameche as Henry Van Cleve, successful businessman
New York City, Fall 1923
Film: Heaven Can Wait
Release Date: August 11, 1943
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Costume Designer: René Hubert
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 116 years ago today on May 31, 1908, actor Don Ameche stated during a 1983 interview that his favorite filmmaking experience over what was then a half-century in the movies was appearing in Ernst Lubitsch’s dazzling supernatural comedy Heaven Can Wait, adapted by screenwriter Samson Raphaelson from Ladislaus Bus-Fekete’s play “Birthday”. Continue reading