Clark Griswold’s Christmas Eve Cardigan

Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

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Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold Jr., food additive executive and “last true family man”

Chicago, Christmas Eve 1989

Film: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Release Date: December 1, 1989
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Merry Christmas! Now a perennial holiday classic, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was released 35 years ago this month in December 1989 as the third installment to feature Chevy Chase as the hapless head of the Griswold family.

After zany misadventures on an American road trip and a European vacation, Clark clings to his idealistic hope for a “fun, old-fashioned family Christmas,” which somehow means inviting both his and his wife’s sets of parents to stay with them for more than a week leading up to the actual holiday. In the meantime, Clark is eager to surprise his family with the news that he placed a down payment on a swimming pool… a payment he’ll be able to cover as soon as he receives his company’s usual holiday bonus.

(For modern readers, a “holiday bonus” is a monetary payment that employers used to give to their employees at the end of each year. In the late 1980s when Christmas Vacation was made, this often amounted to several thousand dollars; for most employees today, this may take the form of a branded reusable water bottle, already-obsolete Bluetooth earbuds, or simply not being fired.)

Inspired by producer and co-writer John Hughes’ semi-autobiographical short story “Christmas ’59”, the festivities culminate on Christmas Eve as both sides of Clark and Ellen’s families gather at the over-illuminated Griswold home for an over-cooked turkey dinner, a surprise rodent guest, and the family’s first kidnapping. Happy holidays!

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) Continue reading →

White Christmas: Burgundy Jackets and Boaters for “Blue Skies”

Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas (1954)

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Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, Broadway entertainers and World War II veterans

Florida, December 1954

Film: White Christmas
Release Date: October 14, 1954
Director: Michael Curtiz
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

One of the most stylish classic Christmas movies, White Christmas was released 70 years ago this year in October 1954. The movie was intended to re-team Bing Crosby with Fred Astaire after their previous collaborations in Irving Berlin musicals Holiday Inn (1942) and Blue Skies (1946), but Astaire dropped out after reading the script and Danny Kaye was hired to co-star with Crosby.

Crosby and Kaye share a marvelous screen chemistry that showcases their respective talents while also allowing for a greater emphasis on humor, illustrated by their performance of “Sisters” that was devised on set after director Michael Curtiz was entertained watching Crosby and Kaye clown around performing the song.

The story follows Crosby and Kaye as Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, two World War II veterans who met while entertaining their fellow troops in the U.S. Army’s fictitious 151st Division. After Phil saved Bob from a falling wall during an attack, Phil talked Bob into joining him for a double act that has catapulted them to musical stardom a decade later. Continue reading →

The Godfather, Part II: Michael Corleone’s Black Pinstripe Suit

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)

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Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, calculating Mafia boss

Washington, D.C., Winter 1959

Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Just over a week after its New York City premiere on December 12th, The Godfather Part II was widely released 50 years ago today on December 20, 1974. The follow-up to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 epic continued chronicling the ambitions of underworld boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) following his ascension to power after the death of his father and the orchestrated murders of his enemies.

By the latter half of Part II, the tension between Michael’s public persona and private life reach a boiling point as he’s faced with the consequences of his ruthlessness. Called to testify in front of a Senate subcommittee investigating organized crime, he maintains composure while defending his reputation—starkly contrasted by the emotionally charged confrontation with his wife Kay (Diane Keaton).

Kay’s revelations about the loss of what would have been their third child strains their already fragile marriage to a pivotal breaking point that underscores Michael’s increasing isolation and the personal cost of his choices. Continue reading →

Christmas Eve in The Holdovers: Paul’s Corduroy Three-Piece Suit and Duffel Coat

Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers (2023)

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Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, cantankerous boarding school professor

Massachusetts, Christmas Eve 1970

Film: The Holdovers
Release Date: October 27, 2023
Director: Alexander Payne
Costume Designer: Wendy Chuck

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The release of The Holdovers last year filled a long-needed gap in theatrically released holiday canon, offering a fresh yet timeless addition to the roster of rewatchable Christmas movies. Directed by Alexander Payne, the movie is set during Christmas 1970 at the fictional Barton Academy boarding school in New England, where a group of students not going home for the holidays are chaperoned by a skeleton crew of the school’s staff.

After all but one are given the opportunity to leave before Christmas, the remaining student—the bright but troubled Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa)—remains behind under the watchful lazy eye of resentful classics professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti). Paul’s few friends on staff include the cheerful administrator Lydia Crane (Carrie Preston) and the cafeteria manager Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is mourning her son’s recent death in Vietnam.

Lydia invites them to spend Christmas Eve at her home, but Paul’s reluctance frustrates both Angus and Mary, who confronts him:

Mr. Hunham, if you are too chickenshit to go to this party, then just say that. But don’t fuck it up for the little asshole! What’s wrong with you? It’s just a party… what are you afraid of?

Continue reading →

Rafe Spall’s Colorful Plaid Jacket in the Black Mirror Christmas Special

Rafe Spall in the Black Mirror Christmas Special (2014)

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Rafe Spall as Joe Potter

Set on Christmas… somewhere

Series: Black Mirror
Episode: “White Christmas” (Episode 7)
Air Date: December 16, 2014
Director: Carl Tibbetts
Creator: Charlie Brooker
Costume Designer: Sharon Gilham

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Black Mirror‘s Christmas special—considered one of the series’ best episodes—aired ten years ago today on December 16, 2014. Written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker, the episode takes a yuletide twist to Black Mirror‘s trademark tech-infused dystopia, centering on a new kind of “Christmas cookies” that you would not want at your holiday gathering!

We’re introduced to Joe Potter (Rafe Spall) as he wakes up on the morning of December 25th to the sounds of Christmas music and the sounds of cooking in the mysterious remote cabin here he’s evidently lived for five years. Stepping out into the kitchen, Joe discovers his apparent colleague and co-resident Matt Trent (Jon Hamm), a loquacious former social interaction engineer whose work included creating “cookies”—digital clones of people to serve as their own assistants.

“No one ends up here without things going to total shit for them back out there,” Matt observes when discussing their respective pasts with Joe. Continue reading →

Fred Astaire’s Tuxedo in The Towering Inferno

Fred Astaire in The Towering Inferno (1974)

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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.

Fred Astaire in The Towering Inferno (1974)

Harlee takes a moment to appreciate his tuxedoed appearance.

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Christopher Plummer in The Silent Partner

Christopher Plummer in The Silent Partner (1978)

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Christopher Plummer as Harry Reikle, sadistic armed robber

Toronto, Christmas 1977 through Summer 1978

Film: The Silent Partner
Release Date: September 7, 1978
Director: Daryl Duke
Wardrobe Credit: Debi Weldon

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 95th birthday of Christopher Plummer, born December 13, 1929. To celebrate the Toronto-born actor’s birthday amidst the holiday season, today’s post centers around Daryl Duke’s Canadian Christmas-centric 1978 thriller, The Silent Partner.

Plummer appears as Harry Reikle, a ruthless criminal who begins terrorizing Miles Cullen (Elliott Gould), a mild-mannered teller who foiled Harry’s earlier attempt to rob a branch of the First Bank of Toronto within Eaton Centre, a then-new shopping mall filled with bustling holiday shoppers who may have expected long lines but certainly would not expect to see Santa Claus exchanging shots with a bank security guard.

Christopher Plummer in The Silent Partner (1978)

The real Bad Santa.

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Die Hard: Hart Bochner as Harry Ellis

Hart Bochner as Harry Ellis in Die Hard (1988)

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Hart Bochner as Harry Ellis, coked-out Nakatomi Corporation executive

Los Angeles, Christmas 1987

Film: Die Hard
Release Date: July 15, 1988
Director: John McTiernan
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

As the season of holiday festivities continues, let’s flash back to one of the most famous office Christmas parties in cinematic history—the Nakatomi Corporation’s Christmas Eve extravaganza that was ruined by a dozen armed terrorists led by the charismatic Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman).

Gruber’s takeover definitely ruined plans for Harry Ellis (Hart Bochner), Nakatomi’s sleazy director of international development who masks his holiday loneliness with plenty of cocaine and half-hearted pickup attempts toward his colleague Holly Gennero (Bonnie Bedelia), so he’s none too pleased when her husband John McClane (Bruce Willis) arrives at the party from New York… even as John ultimately proves to be the group’s only chance to fight back against the terrorists.

After Gruber kills their boss Joe Takagi (James Shigeta), Ellis fortifies with a bump and decides to take things into his own hands (“I negotiate million-dollar deals for breakfast, I think I can handle this Euro-trash”), though he’s too coked-out to realize that he’s fatally out of his element against this professional, motivated, and happenin’ group of killers. Continue reading →

The Deer Hunter: Robert De Niro’s Hunting Gear

Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter (1978)

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Robert De Niro as Mike Vronsky, steel worker

Southwestern Pennsylvania, Fall 1967 and Winter 1973

Film: The Deer Hunter
Release Date: December 8, 1978
Director: Michael Cimino
Costume Supervisor: Eric Seelig

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Michael Cimino’s acclaimed second film The Deer Hunter was released 46 years ago today on December 8, 1978. Aside from the sequences set in Vietnam, the film primarily takes place among the steel towns of western Pennsylvania. As we’re currently in the midst of the two-week deer-hunting season for Pennsylvania riflemen, let’s look at how Robert De Niro dressed as the titular outdoorsman Mike Vronsky. Continue reading →

Two-Lane Blacktop: Dennis Wilson as “The Mechanic”

Dennis Wilson in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

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Dennis Wilson as “The Mechanic”, an unnamed car mechanic

Arizona through Tennessee, Fall 1970

Film: Two-Lane Blacktop
Release Date: July 7, 1971
Director: Monte Hellman
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

This week would have been the 80th birthday of Beach Boys drummer and co-founding member Dennis Wilson, whose sole acting credit was Monte Hellman’s 1971 road movie Two-Lane Blacktop. Born December 4, 1944 in Inglewood, California, Wilson was the sole Beach Boy—even among his bandmate brothers Brian and Carl—who could actually surf, despite the band’s many songs celebrating surf culture.

Though Two-Lane Blacktop has gained a cult following in the decades since its unceremonious release in the summer of 1971, this wasn’t Wilson’s first brush with cults as he had briefly been acquainted with Charles Manson during the year before the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders.

Wilson was cast only four days before production began in August 1970. Casting director Fred Roos had recommended him to Hellman, who later explained to Marc Savlov for the Austin Chronicle that he had confidence in the inexperienced Wilson as “he had lived that role, that he really grew up with cars. It was almost as though he were born with a greasy rag in his back pocket.”

Wilson starred opposite James Taylor, a fellow popular musician making his screen debut—and, to date, sole credit—as the restless young men racing their ’55 Chevy around the country. No names are given for any of the film’s major characters, with Taylor and Wilson credited simply as “The Driver” and “The Mechanic”, respectively. Continue reading →