Coup de Torchon: Philippe Noiret’s Khaki Uniform

Philippe Noiret in Coup de Torchon (1981)

Vitals

Philippe Noiret as Lucien Cordier, ineffective yet conniving colonial police chief

French West Africa, Summer 1938

Film: Coup de Torchon
(English title: Clean Slate)
Release Date: November 4, 1981
Director: Bertrand Tavernier
Costume Designer: Jacqueline Moreau

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

For the 12th anniversary of my first-ever BAMF Style post, today’s entry is a labor of love analyzing the style from the French adaptation of one of my favorite novels, Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson. Born 118 years ago tomorrow on September 27, 1906, Thompson specialized in hardboiled crime fiction that has frequently been adapted into movies, including The Getaway, The Grifters, and The Killer Inside Me.

Published sixty years ago in 1964, Pop. 1280 is a darkly comic retread of the themes Thompson explored in The Killer Inside Me, following a southern sheriff whose mild-mannered persona masks his psychopathy. Set during the 1910s, Pop. 1280 is narrated by Nick Corey, the blissfully lazy “high sheriff of Potts County,” the 47th largest in an unnamed state of 47 counties. Nick presents himself as a dimwitted pushover, while secretly manipulating and murdering his way through his friends, family, and mistresses, all while nurturing delusions of being God’s agent sent to punish the sinful town of Pottsville.

Though there are rumors of a future adaptation directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (who seems well-suited for the material), the only major screen adaptation to date is Bertrand Tavernier’s Coup de Torchon, which earned ten César Award nominations and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Academy Awards.

Adapted by Tavernier and Jean Aurenche, Coup de Torchon maintains the story’s center around a lazy lawman living with his domineering wife and her overly affectionate and slow-witted, uh, “brother”, in a small town where he’s the constant target of bullies, from those in his own household to a boastful fellow lawman who works several towns away. However, the setting is shifted to the fictional French West African town of Bourkessa on the eve of World War II, and the protagonist is reimagined as Lucien Cordier, played by Philippe Noiret, a two-time César Award-winning actor born in Lille on October 1, 1930.

“Doing nothing is my job, I’m paid for it,” Cordier explains to the two snappily dressed pimps who regularly torment him, adding with some earnestness: “At times—not always—I think I’ve found paradise on Earth.” Continue reading →

The Great Gatsby: Sam Waterston’s Tan Shawl-collar Cardigan

Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (1974)

Vitals

Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway, impressionable bachelor and bond salesman

Long Island, New York, Summer 1925

Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren

Background

Born on this day in 1896, F. Scott Fitzgerald left an indelible mark on American literature with his classic novel The Great Gatsby, which has been adapted for the screen at least a half dozen items—including Jack Clayton’s iconic 1974 film.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, this lush adaptation stars Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, and Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway, the narrator and ostensibly a surrogate for Fitzgerald himself—though the author also reflected elements of himself in the romantic hero Jay Gatsby.

A knitwear-clad F. Scott Fitzgerald in the third-floor bedroom of his parents’ residence at 599 Summit Avenue in St. Paul, where he wrote This Side of Paradise. (Source: Twin Cities Pioneer Press)

After hosting the reunion between his married cousin Daisy and her old flame, Nick’s wealthy neighbor Gatsby, Nick spends the rest of the summer observing the couple retreat into furtive seclusion, dodging not only Daisy’s prideful husband but also the gossip of Gatsby’s now-dismissed household staff and newspaper reporters showing up at Nick’s door.

When curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest, the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night.

Continue reading →

Humphrey Bogart’s Blazer at Sea in Sabrina

Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (1954)

Vitals

Humphrey Bogart as Linus Larrabee, industrious businessman

Long Island, New York, Summer 1954

Film: Sabrina
Release Date: September 3, 1954
Director: Billy Wilder
Costume Supervisor: Edith Head

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The talent-laden Sabrina was released in the United States 70 years ago today on September 23, 1954, debuting in New York and Los Angeles twenty days after its Toronto premiere on September 3rd. Directed by the prolific Billy Wilder, the romantic comedy stars Audrey Hepburn as the titular Sabrina Fairchild who finds herself romanced by the opposing Larrabee brothers: playboy David (William Holden) and workaholic Linus (Humphrey Bogart). Continue reading →

A Bridge Too Far: Sean Connery in British Battledress and Denison Smock as Roy Urquhart

Sean Connery in A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Vitals

Sean Connery as Major General Roy Urquhart, courageous British Army officer

Holland, Fall 1944

Film: A Bridge Too Far
Release Date: June 15, 1977
Director: Richard Attenborough
Costume Designer: Anthony Mendleson

Background

Operation Market Garden commenced eighty years ago this week through late September 1944, a daring yet ultimately ill-fated Allied attempt to secure key bridges throughout the Netherlands and advance into Germany. This major World War II operation was immortalized in the star-studded 1977 war epic A Bridge Too Far, directed by Richard Attenborough and adapted by William Goldman from Cornelius Ryan’s nonfiction volume of the same name.

Among the film’s ensemble cast, Sean Connery’s charisma commands the screen as Major General Roy Urquhart, the British officer tasked with leading the 1st Airborne Division (“Red Devils”) during the operation. Despite Connery’s star power, the real General Urquhart had no idea who Connery was, though his daughters were thrilled at the casting. Attenborough chose Connery not only for his acting chops but also for his striking resemblance to a younger Urquhart.

In a memorable scene before the airborne assault, Connery’s Urquhart reveals to General Browning that he’s never actually jumped out of a plane—an amusing confession for the man leading an airborne division. The moment becomes even more ironic as they spot asylum escapees laughing at them from the roadside, prompting Urquhart to quip, “Do you think they know something we don’t?” Continue reading →

Paris, Texas: Travis Borrows a Cream Suit

Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas (1984)

Vitals

Harry Dean Stanton as Travis Henderson, once-wandering drifter

Los Angeles, Fall 1983

Film: Paris, Texas
Release Date: September 19, 1984
Director: Wim Wenders
Costume Designer: Birgitta Bjerke

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Exactly four months after its Palme d’Or-winning debut at the 37th Cannes Film Festival, Paris, Texas was officially released in France forty years ago today on September 19, 1984.

Directed by Wim Wenders, this reflective film provided a rare leading role for stalwart character actor Harry Dean Stanton, who portrayed the lost Travis Henderson, who attempts to reconnect with his family after four years of aimless wandering, following the dissolution of his increasingly troubled relationship with his estranged wife.

Travis’ brother Walt (Dean Stockwell)—who had been raising Travis’ young son Hunter (Hunter Carson)—brought a disconnected Travis back from the west Texas desert to Los Angeles, where he confronts his own past and works on rebuilding a relationship with his son as part of his profound desire for redemption. Continue reading →

Miami Vice: Sonny Crockett’s Peach Linen Jacket in the Pilot Episode

Don Johnson as Detective Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice (Episode 1.01: “Brother’s Keeper”)

Vitals

Don Johnson as James “Sonny” Crockett, smooth Miami-Dade vice detective

Miami, Spring 1984

Series: Miami Vice
Episode: “Brother’s Keeper” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 16, 1984
Director: Thomas Carter
Creator: Anthony Yerkovich
Costume Designer: Jodie Lynn Tillen

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Miami Vice premiered 40 years ago tonight on Sunday, September 16, 1984 when NBC aired the feature-length pilot “Brother’s Keeper” at 9:00 p.m., introducing audiences to stylish Metro-Dade Police Department detectives Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). The two-part episode established the show’s signature pop-scored blend of fashion and fast action, set against the sun-bleached days and neon nights of Magic City. Continue reading →

Battle of Britain: Christopher Plummer’s RCAF Uniform and Flying Jacket

Christopher Plummer in Battle of Britain (1969)

Vitals

Christopher Plummer as RAF Squadron Leader Colin Harvey

France and England, Spring to Summer 1940

Film: Battle of Britain
Release Date: September 15, 1969
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Credit: Bert Henrikson

Background

Battle of Britain Day is commemorated in England on September 15th and in Canada on the third Sunday of September. Both dates coincide this year, making it the perfect time to review the dashing style of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer’s portrayal of a Royal Canadian Air Force officer in Guy Hamilton’s 1969 war epic, Battle of Britain.

Plummer stars as Squadron Leader Colin Harvey, whom we meet while commanding Squadron No. 188’s retreat from France in May 1940. After finding out the following month that he’s been assigned to a position in Scotland, he joins his wife, Section Officer Maggie Harvey (Susannah York) at a country pub in Denton to discuss the opportunity. He enjoys a “large Scotch”, perhaps to get into the spirit of his upcoming command, but it’s hard for him to feel spirited rather than disappointed when he learns that Maggie can’t apply for a job near him, responding to her with “What have we got? What the hell is this? Is it a marriage or a flaming Air Force committee?”

Colin’s new command distinguishes itself in battle after Adlertag (“Eagle Day”), the first day of the Luftwaffe’s attempted air invasion of the United Kingdom, though he and Maggie fail to reconcile before he’s badly burned during the climactic air battle over London on September 15, 1940, 84 years ago today.

The resulting British victory that day likely prevented a full-scale German invasion of the UK, prompting Prime Minister Winston Churchill to famously declare:

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

Continue reading →

The Rockford Files: Jim’s Navy-and-Beige Houndstooth Jacket for “The Kirkoff Case”

James Garner in The Rockford Files (Episode 1.01: “The Kirkoff Case”)

Vitals

James Garner as Jim Rockford, wisecracking private detective and ex-convict

Los Angeles, Summer 1974

Series: The Rockford Files
Episode: “The Kirkoff Case” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 13, 1974
Director: Lou Antonio
Creator: Roy Huggins & Stephen J. Cannell
Costume Designer: Charles Waldo

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

This is Jim Rockford. At the tone, leave your name and number. I’ll get back to you…

Following the TV movie “Backlash of the Hunter” that served as the pilot when it aired six months earlier, The Rockford Files officially premiered 50 years ago tonight when NBC aired the first canonical episode “The Kirkoff Case” at 9 p.m. on Friday, September 13, 1974. Continue reading →

Q’s Tropical Style in Thunderball

Desmond Llewelyn as “Q” in Thunderball (1965)

Vitals

Desmond Llewelyn as “Q”, MI6’s trusted quartermaster and gadgeteer

Nassau, Summer 1965

Film: Thunderball
Release Date: December 29, 1965
Director: Terence Young
Wardrobe Designer: Anthony Mendleson

Background

Welsh actor Desmond Llewelyn, best known for his portrayal of the steadfast “Q” in 17 James Bond films over 36 years, was born 110 years ago today on September 12, 1914. Llewelyn may have been destined to be indelibly intertwined with James Bond’s world of gadgetry, as his father purchased the first production Bentley in 1921, decades before Ian Fleming assigned agent 007 a Bentley 4½ Litre in his early novels.

After serving in the Royal Welch Fusiliers during World War II, Llewelyn resumed his acting career, which consisted largely of uncredited bit parts in films such as Hamlet (1948) and A Night to Remember (1958). His big break came when director Terence Young invited him to audition for the role of MI6’s equipment officer in the second Bond film, From Russia With Love (1963). Both Young and Fleming envisioned the character of Major Boothroyd—named after firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd—with a Welsh accent, although Llewelyn believed the character should speak with the upper-class accent that he ultimately adopted for the role. Although the name Boothroyd was occasionally referenced (most notably in The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977), the character became widely known as “Q,” a nod to his title as quartermaster and head of MI6’s “Q branch.”

Llewelyn returned for Goldfinger (1964), where he and Sean Connery established Bond and Q’s signature relationship, marked by affectionately antagonistic banter during the now-iconic scenes where Q introduces Bond to his latest innovative gadgets—often destined for considerable abuse. This playful dynamic continued in Thunderball (1965), during a memorable scene where a tropically dressed Q arrives in the Bahamas to equip his most troublesome agent with a selection of pocket-sized gadgets… provided Bond has a convenient pocket, of course. Continue reading →

Legends of the Fall: Brad Pitt’s Tan Leather Car Coat

Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall (1994)

Vitals

Brad Pitt as Tristan Ludlow, tough bootlegger and World War I veteran

Montana, Fall 1925

Film: Legends of the Fall
Release Date: December 23, 1994
Director: Edward Zwick
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Legends of the Fall may be a biblical title, but the style is autumnal, set amidst the network of the fictional Ludlow ranch in Montana across the first quarter of the 20th century.

Family patriarch William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) had been a decorated Army colonel before leaving the service in protest of the government’s treatment of Native Americans, raising his sons Alfred (Aidan Quinn), Tristan (Brad Pitt), and Samuel (Henry Thomas) on their remote ranch, where they learn to be the self-sufficient types that can survive bear confrontations… and if they don’t survive them, at least put up enough of a fight to earn “a good death.”

Portraying the tough but troubled Tristan Ludlow provided a breakthrough opportunity for Pitt, continuing the momentum he’d built in a similar role two years earlier in A River Runs Through It, though Tristan is arguably a more rugged character than Paul Maclean. By the mid-1920s, Tristan had seen and done it all, as a cowboy, soldier, big-game hunter, and now a bootlegger whose rumrunning runs him afoul of his own Volstead-voting brother Alfred and his nemeses, the crooked O’Banion brothers. As blood spills on both sides of the conflict, Tristan fears that those he love most are damned to die before him, only to be saved by the bonds of his family. Continue reading →