Trevor Howard’s Swiss Holiday Sportswear in The Passionate Friends

Trevor Howard in The Passionate Friends (1949)

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Trevor Howard as Steven Stratton, romantic biology professor

Switzerland, Summer 1948

Film: The Passionate Friends
Release Date: January 26, 1949
Director: David Lean
Costume Designer: Margaret Furse

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Based on H.G. Wells’ 1913 novel of the same name, The Passionate Friends was director David Lean’s second film in four years to star Trevor Howard as a dignified and dashing gentleman who sweeps a bored housewife off her feet. In this case, the woman in question is Mary Justin (Ann Todd), pleasantly—if dispassionately—married to respected financial advisor Howard Justin (Claude Rains).

The Passionate Friends begins with Mary’s arrival in Switzerland for a long overdue holiday, traveling with her husband’s dutiful secretary Miss Layton (Betty Ann Davies) with Howard himself to follow later. (Though set in Switzerland, these sequences were actually filmed just across the French border at Lac d’Annecy in Haute-Savoie.)

As Mary drifts to sleep in her luxurious suite at the Hotel Splendide, she recalls her previous romances with biology professor Steven Stratton (Trevor Howard), whom she last saw nine years earlier in London when their reunion resulted in an extramarital affair that nearly destroyed her marriage to Howard. Little does she know, coincidence—or fate—has brought Steven not only to the same lakeside luxury hotel but indeed the adjoining room. Continue reading →

Rolling Thunder: William Devane’s USAF Lightweight Blue Jacket

William Devane in Rolling Thunder (1977)

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William Devane as Major Charles Rane, twice-traumatized Vietnam War veteran and “one macho motherfucker”

Texas and Mexico, Summer 1973

Film: Rolling Thunder
Release Date: October 7, 1977
Director: John Flynn
Wardrobe Credit: Nancy McArdle

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

You learn to love the rope. That’s how you beat ’em. That’s how you beat people who torture you. You learn to love ’em. Then they don’t know you’re beatin’ ’em.

Today is the 85th birthday of William Devane, the talented Albany-born actor who appeared in the rare starring role in the 1977 revenge-centered action thriller Rolling Thunder.

Written by Paul Schrader and Heywood Gould as an intended expansion of the Travis Bickle Cinematic Universe that began in Schrader’s script for Taxi Driver, Rolling Thunder centers around Major Charles Rane, a United States Air Force pilot returning home to San Antonio after seven years of imprisonment and torture in a Hanoi hellhole.

“He’s unemotional, unresponsive, and stoic to the point of not being among the living,” writes Quentin Tarantino in Cinema Speculation, the volume that introduced me to Rolling Thunder. Continue reading →

Point Break: Keanu Reeves’ Plaid Shirt and Jeans

Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)

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Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, ambitious FBI agent

Los Angeles, Summer 1991

Film: Point Break
Release Date: July 12, 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Supervisors: Colby P. Bart & Louis Infante

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 60th birthday to Keanu Reeves, the Canadian actor born in Beirut on September 2, 1964. After his breakthrough performance in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Reeves continued his path to stardom as the OSU quarterback-turned-FBI agent Johnny Utah pursuing a gang of bank-robbing surfers in Point Break (1991). Continue reading →

Breathless: Richard Gere’s Rockabilly Shirt and Plaid Trousers

Richard Gere in Breathless (1983)

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Richard Gere as Jesse Lujack, swaggering drifter

Los Angeles, Summer 1982

Film: Breathless
Release Date: May 13, 1983
Director: Jim McBride
Costume Designer: J. Allen Highfill

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 75th birthday to Richard Gere! To celebrate this prolific actor’s August 31, 1949, today’s post looks at one of my unexpectedly favorite performances from the prolific actor.

Jim McBride’s 1983 remake of Breathless flips the nationalities of the French crook and his American girlfriend in the 1960 French New Wave classic, starring Gere as the cocky ne’er-do-well Jesse Lujack who shacks up with Monica Poiccard (Valérie Kaprisky), a French UCLA student he had met once during a weekend trip to Las Vegas. Continue reading →

Little Murders: Elliott Gould’s Beige Suede Belted Jacket

Elliott Gould in Little Murders (1971)

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Elliott Gould as Alfred Chamberlain, aloof photographer

New York City, Spring 1970

Film: Little Murders
Release Date: February 9, 1971
Director: Alan Arkin
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

As we wave goodbye to summer and celebrate the 86th birthday of Elliott Gould, born August 29, 1938, let’s review the actor’s style in the final act of Alan Arkin’s 1971 directorial debut Little Murders, a stark, satirical portrait of a chaotic New York City plagued by unsolved homicides, power blackouts, and rampant street crime. Continue reading →

And Then There Were None (2015): Anthony Marston’s Pink Terry Shirt

Douglas Booth as Anthony Marston in And Then There Were None (2015)

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Douglas Booth as Anthony Marston, irresponsible socialite

Devon, England, August 1939

Series Title: And Then There Were None
Air Date: December 26-28, 2015
Director: Craig Viveiros
Costume Designer: Lindsay Pugh

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

A recent rewatch of the 2015 BBC One series And Then There Were None brought to mind the exquisite parade of interesting menswear designed by Lindsay Pugh for the half-dozen gents summoned to the mysterious Soldier Island off the coast of Devon. The series is set during a late summer weekend in August 1939 on the brink of World War II, a specter that hauntingly looms over the darkly faithful series which is the first English-language adaptation to restore Agatha Christie’s original ending.

The story centers around ten strangers—eight guests and a married couple to serve as their staff—invited to the island by the enigmatic U.N. Owen, whom it is quickly established none of the ten have ever met… nor will they meet him, as their unknown host only makes his presence known by a recording accusing each of the ten of murder. All but two of the attendees respond with horrified denials, with the roguish adventurer Philip Lombard (Aidan Turner) and brash socialite Anthony Marston (Douglas Booth) being the only two to instantly own up to their past crimes. Continue reading →

Diamonds are Forever: Sean Connery’s Bond Returns… in a Terrycloth Shirt

Sean Connery and Denise Perrier in Diamonds are Forever (1971)

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Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent

French Riviera, Spring 1971

Film: Diamonds are Forever
Release Date: December 17, 1971
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Master: Ray Beck
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair

Background

Born 94 years ago today on August 25, 1930, Sir Sean Connery rose to stardom as the first actor to play James Bond in the official EON Productions series, from Dr. No (1962) through Diamonds are Forever (1971).

Connery first retired from the role after You Only Live Twice (1967), resulting in Australian actor George Lazenby’s sole shot in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). After Lazenby too hung up 007’s shoulder holster, Connery was persuaded back for one last official performance as Ian Fleming’s iconic secret agent, commanding a record-setting $1.25 million salary to return as Commander Bond… which he then donated in its entirety to the Scottish International Education Trust.

Despite the somber ending of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that set Bond out for revenge, Diamonds are Forever began a lighter era for the series as the stories diverged from Fleming’s source material with an increased emphasis on comedic elements and spectacle.

After a few faceless vignettes in exotic locales like Cai-Cai-Cairo, Connery’s Bond makes his long-anticipated on-screen reappearance during the pre-credits sequence of Diamonds are Forever, striding down onto the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc’s stunning beach in Cap d’Antibes, where he makes his iconic introduction (“Bond, James Bond”) to Marie, an even more stunning bikini-clad brunette portrayed by Denise Perrier, the French-born Miss World 1953.

Marie: Is there something I can do for you?
Bond: Yes, as a matter of fact, there is… there is something I’d like you to get off your chest.

Continue reading →

Dillinger (1973): Harry Dean Stanton’s Raccoon Coat as a Doomed Homer Van Meter

Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter in Dillinger (1973)

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Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter, doomed and desperate Depression-era bandit

Wisconsin, Spring 1934

Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George

Background

Ninety years ago today in the late afternoon of Sunday, August 23, 1934, a 28-year-old named Homer Van Meter was rushing to keep an appointment in St. Paul, Minnesota. The tall, slender Hoosier nicknamed “Wayne” had been arrested multiple times and was currently wanted for the string of armed robberies and murders committed during his tenure with the infamous John Dillinger gang, which had all but crumbled after its eponymous leader was killed in Chicago a month and a day earlier.

The saga of the Dillinger gang continues to inspire an abundance of books and films, including the fiercely entertaining 1973 movie Dillinger. Written and directed by John Milius in his directorial debut, Dillinger dramatizes the facts and folks associated with the gang, benefiting from the involvement of Clarence Hurt, a retired FBI agent who was part of ace agent Melvin Purvis’ team and present when Dillinger was killed in July 1934.

Led by Warren Oates and Ben Johnson as Dillinger and Purvis, respectively, Dillinger‘s cast includes some of the most recognizable and reliable supporting players of the ’70s filling out the ranks of Dillinger’s gang, including Steve Kanaly, Geoffrey Lewis, John P. Ryan, a young Richard Dreyfuss as “Baby Face” Nelson, and Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter. Continue reading →

Under the Silver Lake: Andrew Garfield’s Jungle King T-Shirt

Andrew Garfield in Under the Silver Lake (2018)

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Andrew Garfield as Sam, sensitive stoner and conspiracy theorist

Los Angeles, Late Summer 2011

Film: Under the Silver Lake
Release Date: April 19, 2019
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Costume Designer: Caroline Eselin

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 41st birthday to Golden Globe-winning screen and stage actor Andrew Garfield. Born in Los Angeles on August 20, 1993 but raised in England, Garfield rose to prominence through his role in The Social Network (2011), his portrayal of Spider-Man in three movies, and his Oscar-nominated performances in Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021). However, my favorite of Garfield’s movies to date is Under the Silver Lake, the surreal neo-noir pastiche in the spirit of The Big Lebowski (1998) and Inherent Vice (2014).

Written, produced, and directed by David Robert Mitchell, Under the Silver Lake premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was released in France that August before it was finally released by A24 in the United States in April 2019. Continue reading →

La Piscine: Alain Delon’s Herringbone Suit for a Funeral

Alain Delon in La Piscine (1969)

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Alain Delon as Jean-Paul Leroy, moody ad agency writer

French Riviera, Summer 1968

Film: The Swimming Pool
(French title: La Piscine)
Release Date: January 31, 1969
Director: Jacques Deray
Costume Designer: André Courrèges

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

French screen icon Alain Delon died yesterday on August 18, 2024. Today’s post pays tribute to the actor’s cinematic legacy by returning to La Piscine, Jacques Deray’s stylish psychological thriller set at a Saint-Tropez villa where a couple spends an increasingly uncomfortable summer holiday.

La Piscine reunited former real-life lovers Alain Delon and Romy Schneider as the vacationing writer Jean-Paul and his girlfriend Marianne, who welcome Marianne’s past paramour Harry (Maurice Ronet) and his 18-year-old daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin). As is wont to happen among a group so attractive, dissatisfied, and French, flirtatious dynamics emerge among the quartet as Marianne drifts back to the hard-drinking Harry while Jean-Paul focuses his attention on the young Penelope.  Continue reading →