The Untouchables: Ness’ Gray 3-Piece Suit

Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness in The Untouchables (1987).

Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness in The Untouchables (1987).

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Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness, honest and intrepid federal agent

Chicago, September 1930

Film: The Untouchables
Release Date: June 3, 1987
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
Wardrobe: Giorgio Armani

Background

This blog has been focusing on a lot of bad guys lately, so let’s take a look at a good guy… at least according to the film about him.

Despite what Robert Stack and Kevin Costner’s portrayals may have you believe, Eliot Ness didn’t single-handedly stop Al Capone’s reign of terror over the city of Chicago. Even Ness’ own account paints himself as a crime-fighting pariah who overcame the odds with a tight-knit group of rogue lawmen and brought down a monster. Continue reading →

Black Tie in Scarface – 1932 Style

Paul Muni (center) aims a Thompson submachine gun as Tony Camonte in Scarface (1932).

Paul Muni (center) aims a Thompson submachine gun as Tony Camonte in Scarface (1932).

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Paul Muni as Tony Camonte, ruthless Italian-born bootlegger and mob enforcer

Chicago, Summer 1929

Film: Scarface
Release Date: April 9, 1932
Director: Howard Hawks

Background

The 1983 Scarface film starring Al Pacino is one of the most popular crime flicks out there, popular enough to warrant the first of many entries on this blog last week. Many people know that it is a remake (although I prefer to think of it as an “update”) of a 1932 film. This earlier movie, also entitled Scarface but given the morality-enforced subtitle The Shame of a Nation, is one of my favorite films of all time. Continue reading →

The Scarface White Wedding Suit

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983).

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983).

To wrap up the week of weddings, BAMF Style presents the first post about a character who was an adaptation of a character who was based on the man who was likely behind the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

So, yeah, logical choice for today once you wrap your brain around it.

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Al Pacino as Tony Montana, aka “Scarface”, Cuban drug kingpin

Miami, Summer 1982

Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris Continue reading →

Goodfellas – Henry Hill’s Wedding Suit

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990).

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990).

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Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, New York mob associate and briefly-loyal husband

New York, Summer 1964

Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno

Background

After years of introspection and deep, deep soul-searching, I have determined that Goodfellas is my favorite film. Thus, when my inevitable wedding day is here, I’ll invite every Peter, Paul, and Marie I know and get a huge bag ready for envelopes that better be filled with cash. I’ll also invite Joe Pesci, just for good measure. Continue reading →

Catch Me If You Can: Frank’s White Dinner Jacket

Hey, guys, remember how last year in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day we had the Week of Weddings? Well, it’s back with hopes of bringing you some of the more manly posts out there to have the word “wedding” in them.

Leonardo DiCaprio as a furtive Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can (2002).

Leonardo DiCaprio as a furtive Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can (2002).

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Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr., aka “Frank Conners”, a young doctor lawyer con artist

New Orleans, Summer 1966

Film: Catch Me If You Can
Release Date: December 25, 2002
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres Continue reading →

Skyfall – Bond’s Glen Plaid Suit in London

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Skyfall (2012).

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Skyfall (2012).

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Daniel Craig as James Bond, recently re-instated British secret agent

London, Spring 2012

Film: Skyfall
Release Date: November 9, 2012
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Jany Temime

Background

For the last 007th of the month, I broke down the first Glen check suit worn by Sean Connery in From Russia With Love. Almost fifty years later, Skyfall‘s costume designer Jany Temime worked with clothier Tom Ford to create an updated look for Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Continue reading →

Bugsy Siegel’s Gray Chalkstripe Suit

Warren Beatty as

Warren Beatty as “Bugsy” Siegel in Bugsy (1991).

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Warren Beatty as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, violent and visionary “celebrity” gangster

Los Angeles, January 1945

Film: Bugsy
Release Date: December 13, 1991
Director: Barry Levinson
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky

Background

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel is one of the most fascinating mobsters. He was certainly innovative, developing the idea of Las Vegas as a money-grabbing desert mecca. However, he had an insanely volatile personality, which made him both good and hated as a gangster.

By the film’s chronology, Bugsy is sent out to the west coast by his New York pals Luciano and Lansky in January 1945. In real life, he had made the trek out about ten years earlier, but who’s counting? On the first day, he butts heads with local boss Jack Dragna and manipulates control of Dragna’s wire system immediately. Not only that, he buys a mansion from a famous opera singer, buys a beautiful Cadillac convertible, and meets the fiery woman for whom he would throw his life away. Continue reading →

Daniel Craig in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Daniel Craig as Mikhail Blomkvist in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

Sorry this one took me long, fellas. I had planned to have it up by Tuesday (timed for the “polar vortex” ooooh…) but it’s a long-ass movie with a lot of clothes. However, this should still be pretty well-timed for anyone in North America dealing with record low temperatures this winter.

Vitals

Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist, disgraced Swedish investigative journalist

Hedestad, Sweden, Winter 2006

Film: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Release Date: December 20, 2011
Director: David Fincher
Costume Designer: Trish Summerville

Background

This isn’t one of those movies you pop in just for a laugh on a summer day or to fall asleep to. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a very dark (both thematically and literally) film that’ll stick with you for days after watching. It’s long – closer to 3 hours than 2 – but the fast-paced, heart-racing sequences and the stellar acting, particularly from leads Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, make the time fly.

Craig plays Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist in some hot water after his investigation into a corrupt businessman resulted in a libel case. He is mysteriously called to the home of Henrik Vanger (the always excellent and debonair Christopher Plummer) and thrown into a dark investigation of a forty-year-old murder. Continue reading →

Clooney’s Train Station “Double Coat” in The American

George Clooney as Jack in The American (2010), showing us what men should look like when traveling.

George Clooney as Jack in The American (2010)

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George Clooney as Jack (aka “Edward”), weary paid assassin/hitman and gunsmith

Rome, April 2010

Film: The American
Release Date: September 1, 2010
Director: Anton Corbijn
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb

Background

George Clooney is the titular hitman in The American, a 2010 film directed by Anton Corbijn based on Martin Booth’s novel A Very Private Gentleman. Though he’d played gun-wielding badasses before, The American was the first role placing Clooney in the now mythic film profession of paid assassin. Continue reading →

Gatsby’s Sweater and Linen Slacks (2013)

A very jovial Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (2013).

A very jovial Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (2013).

Vitals

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, eagerly romantic millionaire and bootlegger

Long Island, New York, Summer 1922

Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: May 10, 2013
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Costume Designer: Catherine Martin

Background

Today in 1920, Prohibition went into effect, kicking off a decade-long party known to many as the “roaring twenties” and most famously coined “the Jazz Age” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald would have certainly been the expert, having written the novel that defined the decade and, by extension, the entire country. That novel, The Great Gatsby, didn’t have much success at the time, and Fitzgerald himself considered his masterpiece to be a flop at the time of his death in 1940. Continue reading →