Category: Three-Piece Suit
Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition
Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition (2002)
Vitals
Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, recently widowed Irish mob enforcer and dedicated father
The Midwest, Winter 1931
Film: Road to Perdition
Release Date: July 12, 2002
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
Tailor: John David Ridge
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“Natural law… sons were put on this earth to trouble their fathers,” avuncular mob boss John Rooney (Paul Newman) advises his top enforcer Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) at a time that both men are facing crises with their respective sons.
Father’s Day feels like the appropriate time to celebrate the style from this unorthodox role for America’s Dad. Tom Hanks pivoted from a career built on playing affable heroes and everymen to a dangerous Depression-era mob hitman in Road to Perdition, Sam Mendes’ 2002 drama adapted by screenwriter David Self from a graphic novel series of the same name by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. Continue reading
The Godfather Part II: Don Fanucci’s White Suit
Gastone Moschin as Don Fanucci in The Godfather Part II (1974)
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Gastone Moschin as Don Fanucci, ruthless Black Hand extortionist
New York City, Summer 1917
Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 95 years ago today on June 8, 1929, Italian actor Gastone Moschin may be most recognizable to audiences around the world for his portrayal of the sinister Don Fanucci in The Godfather, Part II (1974), celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Genco Abbandando (Frank Sivero) introduces the young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro)—and we the audience—to the sneering white-suited gangster as an enforcer for the “Black Hand”, the real-life extortion racket which preyed upon Italian-American immigrants in communities along the eastern seaboard from Boston to New Orleans, where it was linked to the 1890 assassination of police chief David Hennessy.
The Black Hand operated primarily within the United States around the turn of the 20th century, violently threatening victims who ranged from simple shopkeepers to celebrities like tenor Enrico Caruso, who enlisted the help of crusading NYPD Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino. Though Petrosino arrested two men connected with the Caruso threats, he himself would become a victim of Mano Nera when he was fatally shot in March 1909 while undercover in Sicily, investigating the history of brutal criminals he hoped to banish from the United States. The Petrosino murder increased pressure from law enforcement that all but dissolved the Black Hand’s influence by the 1920s, around the time that Prohibition provided the opportunity for younger and more ambitious crooks like “Lucky” Luciano to organize the former Black Hand threads into a structure known alternately as La Cosa Nostra (“Our Thing”) or simply Mafia.
One of the most prominent Black Hand gangsters of this era was the Sicilian-born Ignazio Lupo, known as “Lupo the Wolf” among the neighborhoods he terrorized in New York City’s Little Italy. Lupo was reportedly a direct inspiration for Mario Puzo to craft the character of Don Fanucci who first appeared in the 1969 novel The Godfather before he would be brought to life by Gastone Moschin in the cinematic sequel. Continue reading
Anthropoid: Cillian Murphy’s Brown Striped Suit and Raincoat as Jozef Gabčík
Cillian Murphy in Anthropoid (2016)
Vitals
Cillian Murphy as Jozef Gabčík, Czechoslovak Army soldier and SOE agent
Prague, Spring 1942
Film: Anthropoid
Release Date: September 9, 2016
Director: Sean Ellis
Costume Designer: Josef Cechota
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This week in 1942, one of the most evil officials of the Third Reich (and that’s saying something!) finally succumbed to injuries received after he was ambushed by two Czechoslovak Army soldiers operating on behalf of the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
The SOE had collaborated with Czechoslovak intelligence to plan “Operation Anthropoid”—the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi security chief who helped organize Kristallnacht and was considered a principal architect of the Holocaust. As Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, Heydrich’s brutality earned him nicknames like the “Butcher of Prague”, making him a strategic target for the exiled Czechoslovak government. From among nearly 2,000 Czechoslovak Army personnel now exiled to England, Czechoslovak intelligence chief František Moravec selected two dozen—including paratroopers Jozef Gabčík, Jan Kubiš, and Karel Svoboda—to be trained by the SOE in Scotland for the dangerous mission to remove Heydrich. Continue reading
Stavisky: Belmondo’s 1970s-Does-1930s Gray Chalkstripe Suit
Jean-Paul Belmondo in Stavisky… (1974)
Vitals
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Serge Alexandre Stavisky, debonair Russian-born French financier, impresario, and embezzler
Paris, Summer to Fall 1933
Film: Stavisky…
Release Date: May 15, 1974
Director: Alain Resnais
Costume Designer: Jacqueline Moreau
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After a series of well-acclaimed and unconventionally presented films, Alain Resnais’ sixth feature Stavisky… was released 50 years ago today, starring the late Jean-Paul Belmondo as the famous financial fraudster Serge Alexandre Stavisky who made a fortune selling worthless bonds in interwar-era France. Continue reading
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Bullet Train
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Bullet Train (2022). Photo credit: Scott Garfield.
Vitals
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as “Tangerine”, snarky contract killer
Tokyo to Kyoto, Japan, Spring 2021
Film: Bullet Train
Release Date: August 5, 2022
Director: David Leitch
Costume Designer: Sarah Evelyn
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Rumors continue swirling around who will be cast to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond. Henry Cavill, Richard Madden, Regé-Jean Page, and Aidan Turner have all been named as serious contenders, though English actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson often emerges as a current favorite for the likely choice. Thus, today’s 00-7th of the month post will focus not on a previous Mr. Bond but a possible future characterization of the sophisticated agent…by playing an contractor taking his codename from a “sophisticated” fruit. Continue reading
Oppenheimer: Cillian Murphy’s Charcoal-Blue 1950s Suit
Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer (2023).
Photo credit: Melinda Sue Gordon.
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Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist and “father of the atomic bomb”
Washington, D.C., Spring 1954
Film: Oppenheimer
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Director: Christopher Nolan
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Among its seven Oscar wins including Best Picture (as seen by Al Pacino’s eyes), last year’s blockbuster Oppenheimer received the Academy Award for Best Actor for Cillian Murphy’s spectacular performance as the eponymous J. Robert Oppenheimer, born 120 years ago today on April 22, 1904.
The latter portions of Oppenheimer‘s chronography are set across his security clearance hearings throughout the spring 1954. Between April 12th and May 6th, the United States Atomic Energy Commission investigated 24 allegations questioning Oppie’s allegiance, loyalty, and Communist affiliations, as well as his opposition to the hydrogen bomb despite his influential development in nuclear weaponry that resulted in his nickname as the “father of the atomic bomb.” Continue reading
The Godfather, Part II: Tom Hagen’s Gray Striped Suit
Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen in The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Vitals
Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, levelheaded Mafia lawyer
Nevada and Washington, D.C., Winter 1958 through Spring 1959
Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is the 93rd birthday of Robert Duvall, the prolific actor born January 5, 1931 whose extensive filmography includes the first two films of The Godfather saga as Tom Hagen, the orphan informally adopted by the Corleone family—and whose cool head and legal savvy resulted in his position as the family’s trusted consigliere.
As this is the 50th anniversary year of The Godfather Part II, today’s post will explore Tom’s character and costume in this masterful second installment, set across the late 1950s as Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) continues consolidating his power and seeks to legitimatize the family’s interest as Tom had long advised him to do.
Although he’s been transitioned from consigliere to being the family’s lawyer in Las Vegas, Tom still serving as Michael’s right-hand man, with duties beyond legal counsel including everything from buying Christmas presents for the don’s children to blackmailing a senator whom they’ve framed for the murder for a prostitute. Continue reading
Succession: Connor Roy’s Blue Glen Plaid Three-Piece “Rehearsal” Suit
Alan Ruck as Connor Roy on Succession, Episode 4.02 (“Rehearsal”)
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Alan Ruck as Connor Roy, neglected millionaire heir and failed presidential candidate
New York City, Fall 2020
Series: Succession
Episode: “Rehearsal” (Episode 4.02)
Air Date: April 2, 2023
Director: Becky Martin
Creator: Jesse Armstrong
Costume Designer: Michelle Matland
Background
It’s four in the morning, the end of December…
By Succession‘s timeline, poor Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) still had two months to go until the end of December when crooning Leonard Cohen’s 1971 folk ballad “Famous Blue Raincoat” in the private room of a Midtown Manhattan karaoke lounge. I use the adjective “poor” rather loosely here as Connor’s the kind of guy who can afford to spare millions on a misguided presidential campaign merely to prove his own relevance to himself and his family, but that’s beside the point. Continue reading
Tony Montana’s Blue Striped Suit in Scarface
Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)
Vitals
Al Pacino as Tony Montana, ambitious drug dealer
Miami, Spring 1981
Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Tailor: Tommy Velasco
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Al Pacino introduced the world to his little friend 40 years ago today when Scarface premiered in New York City on December 1, 1983, eight days before it was widely released. Despite initial criticism for its now-famous violence, Scarface surpassed expectations by grossing $66 million globally, doubling its budget and securing its status as one of the most influential and popular gangster movies. Continue reading
Harvey Keitel’s Navy Chalkstripe Suit in Mean Streets
Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets (1973)
Vitals
Harvey Keitel as Charlie Cappa, conflicted Mafia 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 don’t make up for your sins in the church. You do it in the streets. The rest is bullshit and you know it.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of Mean Streets, Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough film that premiered today in 1972 during the New York Film Festival, twelve days before it was widely released.
Though arguably the first of his movies to include many of his now-familiar themes and techniques, Mean Streets was actually Scorsese’s third film, following his debut Who’s That Knocking On My Door? (1967) and Boxcar Bertha (1972), the latter one of the low-budget Depression-era crime flicks produced by Roger Corman’s American International Pictures in the wake of the successful Bonnie and Clyde (1967).
Following John Cassavetes’ encouragement to “write what you know” and incorporate more of his own experiences onto the screen, Scorsese reintroduced himself to the world with the remarkable Mean Streets—essentially his own retelling of I Vitelloni (1953) set among the mobbed-up mooks in Little Italy—viewed through the same unapologetically gritty lens that Scorsese would return to three years later in Taxi Driver (1976).
Unlike the then-recent hit The Godfather (1972), Mean Streets focused not on the dons leading these crime families but rather the street-level hoods whose lives are defined by small-time scores, gambling debts, and long nights. Reuniting with Scorsese after appearing in his directorial debut, Harvey Keitel stars as Mean Streets‘ ostensible protagonist Charlie Cappa. Continue reading
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