Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story

Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight in The Straight Story (1999)

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Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight, septuagenarian retiree

Across the Midwest from Iowa to Wisconsin, Fall 1994

Film: The Straight Story
Release Date: October 15, 1999
Director: David Lynch
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris

Background

Perhaps the most accessible and mainstream entry in David Lynch’s electric filmography (and the only one to be rated G), The Straight Story was released 25 years ago this week on October 15, 1999.  The film depicts the real-life journey undertaken by Alvin Straight, a retired laborer who rode a lawn mower for 240 miles from Laurens, Iowa to Mount Zion, Wisconsin to visit and make amends with his ailing older brother after the latter’s stroke.

Born 104 years ago today on October 17, 1920, Alvin Straight had served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War, but diabetes and emphysema had taken their toll on his health over the following decades to the point where he couldn’t see well enough to receive a driver’s license. Undeterred, the 73-year-old widower set out eastward in July 1994 on an old John Deere riding mower with a homemade trailer in tow, sticking to highway shoulders and side roads at a top speed of five miles per hour. Continue reading →

Pulp Fiction: Travolta’s Black Suit and Tie as Vincent Vega

John Travolta as Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction (1994)

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John Travolta as Vincent Vega, laidback mob hitman and self-described “Elvis man”

Los Angeles, Summer 1992

Film: Pulp Fiction
Release Date: October 14, 1994
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Pulp Fiction was released 30 years ago today on October 14, 1994, establishing Quentin Tarantino’s trademarks like a nonlinear narrative, many references to older movies and TV, and even the “trunk shot” from the POV of an open car trunk.

In addition to establishing Tarantino as a serious filmmaker after his impressive debut Reservoir Dogs, the movie also revitalized John Travolta’s career. The actor received an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Vincent Vega, the canonical brother to Michael Madsen’s psychotic killer Vic Vega—aka “Mr. Blonde”—in Reservoir Dogs. Continue reading →

Society of the Snow: Numa Turcatti’s Corduroy Trucker Jacket

Enzo Vogrincic as Numa Turcatti in Society of the Snow (2023)
Photo by Quim Vives

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Enzo Vogrincic as Numa Turcatti, Uruguayan law student and college soccer player

Andes Mountains, Fall 1972

Film: Society of the Snow
(Spanish title: La sociedad de la nieve)
Release Date: December 13, 2023
Director: J.A. Bayona
Costume Designer: Julio Suárez

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

On October 13th, 1972, an Uruguayan plane crashed in the Andean mountain range. Forty of us passengers and five crew members were on board the plane. Some say it was a tragedy, others call it a miracle. What really happened? What happens when the world abandons you? When you have no clothes and you’re freezing? When you have no food and you’re dying? The answer is in the mountain. We have to go back to the past to understand that the past is what changes the most…

Society of the Snow begins with the narration of Numa Turcatti (Enzo Vogrincic), a 24-year-old law student and footballer encouraged by friends to buy a cheap plane ticket to Chile on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, joining his friend Gastón Costemalle (LOUTA) who was traveling with the Old Christians Rugby Club to play a match in Santiago. The flight departed from Montevideo 52 years ago today, followed by an overnight stop in Mendoza, Argentina.

The following day—Friday the 13th of October, 1972—Numa became one of 33 initial survivors when this FH-227D crashed into the Andes just inside the Argentinian side of the Chilean border. Numa’s narration describes this inhospitable pocket of nature where the temperature plunges to −22 °F at night as “a place where life is impossible.”

While official search efforts were called off after the first eight days, the young men endured a total of 72 days through an inspiring mix of fierce determination, resourcefulness, and teamwork, all while continually facing hardships like injury, disease, extreme weather, and avalanches that reduced them to less than half of their number. With an already dwindling food supply exhausted, the small group of remaining survivors resorted to cannibalism of their dead companions to stay alive—an unimaginable decision yet one that almost certainly saved the lives of the sixteen who were ultimately rescued in December 1972.

Skillfully directed by J.A. Bayona, Society of the Snow doesn’t shy away from these more disturbing facts of the incident while remaining a tasteful retelling that celebrates the survival of these sixteen while simultaneously honoring the memory of the dead. Wendy Ide of ScreenDaily cited the latter as one of the film’s greatest strengths, applauding that “Bayona is at pains to ensure that the voices that are foregrounded are not necessarily those of the crash victims who eventually make it home.” Continue reading →

Arinzé Kene’s 1970s Leisure Jacket as Cal in I’m Your Woman

Arinzé Kene and Rachel Brosnahan in I’m Your Woman (2020)

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Arinzé Kene as Cal, taciturn and resourceful former thief

Western Pennsylvania, Fall 1979

Film: I’m Your Woman
Release Date: December 4, 2020
Director: Julia Hart
Costume Designer: Natalie O’Brien

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Julia Hart’s under-discussed crime drama I’m Your Woman premiered four years ago this month during the 2020 AFI Fest, followed by its limited theatrical release on December 4th and its streaming release one week later.

As a Pittsburgher, I remember when this was being filmed here in southwestern Pennsylvania through the fall of 2019 and was intrigued by its obvious 1970s setting and the fact that it starred Rachel Brosnahan, whom I recognized and liked from House of Cards and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. When I finally had the opportunity to watch it a year later, I was impressed by its unique spin on a classic noir crime story.

Brosnahan stars as Jean, a mostly idle housewife “somewhere in America” (according to Hart’s screenplay) who is understandably surprised when her criminal husband Eddie (Bill Heck) brings home a baby, whom she names Harry. The mysteries compound when Jean is awakened several nights later by Eddie’s partner-in-crime hands her a bag full of $200,000 and instructs her to go on the run with their quiet accomplice named Cal (Arinzé Kene), who packs Jean, baby Harry, and scant belongings into his blue 1979 Chevrolet Malibu. Continue reading →

The Limey: Terence Stamp’s Harrington Jacket and Black Jeans

Terence Stamp as Wilson in The Limey (1999)

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Terence Stamp as David Wilson, hardened English professional criminal

Los Angeles to Big Sur, California, Fall 1998

Film: The Limey
Release Date: October 8, 1999
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Limey was released 25 years ago today on October 8, 1999, months after its debut at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival. Terence Stamp stars as the titular Englishman, a crook known simply as Wilson*, who arrives in Los Angeles to investigate his own suspicions after his daughter Jenny’s death in a mysterious car accident. Continue reading →

The Trouble With Harry: Royal Dano’s Leather Jacket

Royal Dano as Calvin Wiggs in The Trouble With Harry (1955)

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Royal Dano as Calvin Wiggs, laconic deputy sheriff and antique car restorer

Vermont, Fall 1954

Film: The Trouble with Harry
Release Date: September 30, 1955
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

One of the most outwardly comedic of Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography, The Trouble with Harry remains a fall favorite for its lush autumnal setting in New England, where filming began 70 years ago last month in Craftsbury, Vermont. Of course, the production team was stunned to see that the leaves had already turned by late September and were forced to resort to gluing colorful leaves onto the trees to create the desired atmosphere in the fictional town of “Hightower”.

“It’s as if I had set up a murder alongside a rustling brook and spilled a drop of blood in the clear water,” Hitchcock explained to François Truffaut of his intention behind this setting.

Law is primarily enforced in Hightower by the laconic and literal-minded deputy sheriff Calvin Wiggs, who arguably lacks the sense of humor shared by our protagonists as they spend the better party of a crisp fall day hiding the fresh corpse of Harry Worp to avoid Calvin’s suspicions. Calvin was portrayed by Royal Dano, a 6’2″ character actor born in New York City who nonetheless built his convicning career often playing cowboys and Abraham Lincoln. Continue reading →

Inherent Vice: Doc’s Blue Denim Western Shirts

Joaquin Phoenix as Doc Sportello in Inherent Vice (2014)

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Joaquin Phoenix as Larry “Doc” Sportello, hippie private investigator

Los Angeles County, Fall 1970

Film: Inherent Vice
Release Date: December 12, 2014
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

Adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s novel of the same name, Inherent Vice premiered as the centerpiece of the New York Film Festival ten years ago today on October 4, 2014, two months before its initial public release.

“Doc may not be a do-gooder, but he’s done good,” the trailer describes of the protagonist Larry “Doc” Sportello, the stoner sleuth played by Joaquin Pheonix who reprised his Oscar-winning role of Arthur Fleck in Joker: Folie à Deux, released in theaters today.

Five years before he first donned Joker’s clown makeup, Phoenix framed his face in mutton chops as the scraggly beach-dwelling private eye spurned into action by visits from his estranged ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), first to ask his help in protecting the real estate developer she’s been seeing. Continue reading →

The Gambler: James Caan’s Tan Suede Shirt-jacket

James Caan as Axel Freed in The Gambler (1974)

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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

Released 50 years ago today on October 2, 1974, Karel Reisz’s drama The Gambler stars James Caan as Axel Freed, a literature professor whose gambling addiction spirals into self-destruction. Screenwriter James Toback drew on his own reckless experiences as a compulsive gambler during his time lecturing at City College of New York.

The film opens with Axel already deep in debt at Hips’ gambling den, where the seasoned bookie (Paul Sorvino) notes that Axel’s $44,000 losing streak is “the woist luck I seen in fifteen yearhs.” Continue reading →

George Clooney and Brad Pitt as Wolfs in Leather and Cashmere

I’m pleased to again present a guest post contributed by my friend Ken Stauffer, who has written several pieces for BAMF Style previously and chronicles the style of the Ocean’s film series (and beyond!) on his excellent Instagram account, @oceansographer. Ken visited the set of Wolfs for three weeks of filming in early 2023 and attended its premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Wolfs (2024)
Photo credit: Scott Garfield

Vitals

George Clooney as Jack, a.k.a. Margaret’s Man, professional underworld fixer

Brad Pitt as Nick a.k.a. Pam’s Man, professional underworld fixer

New York, December 2024

Film: Wolfs
Release Date: September 20, 2024
Director: Jon Watts
Costume Designer: Amy Westcott

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

It’s been 16 years since the dynamic duo of George Clooney and Brad Pitt made a film together, but the wait is finally over! The pair star in Wolfs, written and directed by Jon Watts (Cop Car, Spider-Man: No Way Home), which is now streaming on Apple TV+ worldwide.

For over a year, the only description of the film was that it concerned “two lone wolf fixers who are unexpectedly assigned to the same job.” Unlike their Ocean’s characters who had years of history together, the aging duo of criminal cleaners played by Clooney and Pitt here have never met before the events of the movie. As Watts wrote in his Director’s Statement for the Venice Film Festival, “Le Samouraï, Blast of Silence, Ghost Dog, Collateral—I love films about solitary professionals dedicated to their craft and always wanted to see what would happen if two of those guys were forced to work together.”

Set entirely in New York City over the course of one long winter night, the film feels like a true throwback to crime films of the ’70s. The plot cleverly plays with well-trodden crime film tropes, while the dialogue recalls the buddy comedy rhythm of Midnight Run, 48 Hours, and Lethal Weapon. The difference here is that rather than being opposites who must find common ground, these characters are so alike that they can’t help but resent and insult one another. To quote Watts again, “It can be hard to make new friends as an adult, even if you have a lot in common.” Continue reading →

Marcello Mastroianni in 8½

Marcello Mastroianni in 8½ (1963)

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Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi, disillusioned Italian film director

Rome, Summer 1962

Film: 8½
(Italian title: Otto e mezzo)
Release Date: February 13, 1963
Director: Federico Fellini
Costume Designer: Piero Gherardi

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Italian screen and style icon Marcello Mastroianni was born 100 years ago today on September 28, 1924. A five-time winner of the David di Donatello Award for Best Actor and three-time Oscar nominee, Mastroianni may be best known for co-starring opposite Sophia Loren eight times and his half-dozen collaborations with director Federico Fellini, beginning with La Dolce Vita (1960) and including Fellini’s quasi-autobiographical 8½ (1963).

After cycling through a few titles more relevant to the fantastic chaos depicted on screen, Fellini reinforced the metafictional aspects with a title referring to the fact that this would be his eighth-and-a-half film—including six features, two shorts, and his 1951 directorial debut Luci del varietà, co-directed with Alberto Lattuada.

Often considered one of the best movies of all time by sources like the British Film Institute and director Martin Scorsese, 8½ centers around Guido Anselmi, an Italian filmmaker struggling with creative block amidst his romantic turmoil. Mastroianni was transformed for Guido to resemble Fellini himself, from his mannerisms and gait to his appearance with graying hair under that distinctive hat. Continue reading →