Purple Noon: Alain Delon’s Blue Ivy-Style OCBD, Cream Jeans, and Loafers

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)

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Alain Delon as Tom Ripley, charming American con artist

Italy, Summer 1959

Film: Purple Noon
(French title: Plein soleil)
Release Date: March 10, 1960
Director: René Clément
Costume Designer: Bella Clément

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

French screen and style icon Alain Delon died one year ago this week on August 18, 2024. One of the actor’s most celebrated and stylish roles remains his portrayal of Tom Ripley in Purple Noon, René Clément’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The French/Italian co-production (released in France as Plein soleil) was the first cinematic adaptation of Highsmith’s novel, followed by Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley and Steven Zaillain’s 2024 Netflix miniseries Ripley. Clément was inspired to cast Delon after spotting the young actor in the 1959 comedy Women are Weak, and his enigmatic performance as Tom Ripley eventually launched him to wider global recognition.

Highsmith’s own opinion about the film ranged from cheers for Henri Decaë’s stunning cinematography to jeers against Clément’s bastardized ending, though the author fully praised Delon’s “excellent” portrayal of her devious creation. Continue reading →

The Naked Gun: Leslie Nielsen’s Taupe Suit as Frank Drebin

Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun (1988)

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Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin, straight-talking police lieutenant

Los Angeles, Spring 1988

Film: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Release Date: December 2, 1988
Director: David Zucker
Costume Designer: Mary E. Vogt

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

As this year’s  The Naked Gun continues to draw laughs, let’s flashback to 1988 when audiences first saw the bumbling Frank Drebin on the big screen.

After decades in dramatic roles (save for a zany turn in the first season of M*A*S*H), Leslie Nielsen’s comic potential was first appropriately realized when David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker cast the Canadian actor as Dr. Rumack in Airplane!, their 1980 spoof of disaster films.

The movie’s success—and Nielsen’s deadpan delivery—prompted ZAZ to craft a send-up of classic cop shows like M Squad, continuing their usual blend of slapstick, sight gags, and verbal puns. Police Squad! debuted as a mid-season replacement in March 1982, introducing viewers to “Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective-Lieutenant, Police Squad”. Critically acclaimed for its sense of humor far ahead of contemporary programming, Police Squad! was nonetheless canceled by ABC after only six episodes were produced.

Luckily, ZAZ never gave up on Nielsen’s character, co-writing a screenplay with Pat Proft that retooled the formula for a movie that would become arguably one of the funniest comedies of all time, spawning two sequels (which also starred Nielsen as Drebin) and the 2025 continuation with Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. Continue reading →

The Godfather, Part II: Fredo Corleone’s Pink in Havana

John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)

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John Cazale as Fredo Corleone, insecure mob family sibling

Havana, Cuba, December 1958

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

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

John Cazale was born 90 years ago today on August 12, 1935 in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Though his career was heartbreakingly brief, John Cazale—born 90 years ago today on August 12, 1935 in Suffolk County, Massachusetts—remains considered as one of the finest actors of his generation. Incredibly, all five feature films he appeared in during the 1970s were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Among these unforgettable roles, his most enduring may be Fredo Corleone—the insecure, overmatched middle brother of the Corleone crime family. Cazale first played Fredo in The Godfather (1972), but it was The Godfather Part II (1974) that gave him the tragic spotlight as Fredo, desperate for power and recognition, betrays his younger and more successful brother Michael (Al Pacino), setting off a slow-burning familial powder keg that mirrors the revolutionary unrest simmering around them in the streets of Havana. Continue reading →

The Two Jakes: Jack Nicholson’s Gray Donegal Tweed Jacket

Jack Nicholson as J.J. Gittes in The Two Jakes (1990)

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Jack Nicholson as J.J. “Jake” Gittes, world-weary private investigator and ex-policeman

Los Angeles, Fall 1948

Film: The Two Jakes
Release Date: August 10, 1990
Director: Jack Nicholson
Costume Designer: Wayne A. Finkelman

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

I had only just turned one when The Two Jakes was released 35 years ago today on August 10, 1990, so I can’t say whether anyone was really asking for a sequel to Roman Polanski’s 1974 neo-noir masterpiece Chinatown. What I can say is that there’s been surprisingly steady interest from BAMF Style readers in how Jack Nicholson’s wardrobe evolved from Anthea Sylbert’s Oscar-nominated designs for the 1930s-set Chinatown to suit the sequel’s setting in the fall of 1948. Continue reading →

Tough Guys Don’t Dance: Ryan O’Neal’s Party Sweater

Ryan O’Neal in Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987)

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Ryan O’Neal as Tim Madden, ex-convict and aspiring writer prone to blackouts

Provincetown, Massachusetts, Summer 1986

Film: Tough Guys Don’t Dance
Release Date: September 18, 1987
Director: Norman Mailer
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

My family’s vacation in New England this week has me reflecting on my questionable decision last year to watch Norman Mailer’s self-directed adaptation of his own Cape Cod-set novel Tough Guys Don’t Dance.

Continue reading →

Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter

Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter (1955)

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Robert Mitchum as Harry Powell, self-described preacher and serial-killing swindler

West Virginia, Summer 1930

Film: The Night of the Hunter
Release Date: July 26, 1955
Director: Charles Laughton
Wardrobe Credit: Jerry Bos

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Born 108 years ago today on August 6, 1917, Robert Mitchum delivered arguably the greatest performance of his prolific career in Charles Laughton’s 1955 gothic horror masterpiece The Night of the Hunter, which premiered 70 years ago last month in Des Moines, Iowa. Laughton’s first and only directorial effort was negatively received upon its release, though decades of reassessment have elevated its reputation and it’s now included on lists among the best movies ever made. Continue reading →

Alec Guinness’ Tropical Khaki Drill Uniform in The Bridge on the River Kwai

Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

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Alec Guinness as Lt. Col. L. Nicholson, duty-bound British Army officer and POW

Between Burma and Thailand, Spring 1943

Film: The Bridge on the River Kwai
Release Date: October 2, 1957
Director: David Lean
Wardrobe Credit: John Wilson-Apperson

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

One of the most acclaimed war epics of all time, The Bridge on the River Kwai was directed by David Lean and adapted from the 1952 novel by French author Pierre Boulle, a former POW who infused the story with a mix of firsthand insight and satirical commentary. The film became the highest-grossing release of 1957 and won six of its seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Alec Guinness, who died 25 years ago tomorrow on August 5, 2000.

In this fictionalized account of the construction of a railway bridge along the Burma-Siam route during World War II, Guinness portrayed dignified career officer Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson of the British Army, whom we meet as he leads his whistling troops into a Japanese prison camp deep in the arid Thai jungle. Continue reading →

Daniel Craig’s Cream Linen Suit in Queer

Daniel Craig as William Lee in Queer (2024)

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Daniel Craig as William Lee, dissolute American expatriate

Mexico City, Spring 1951 and 1953

Film: Queer
Release Date: November 27, 2024
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Costume Designer: Jonathan Anderson

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Following the success of Challengers earlier in the year, director Luca Guadagnino kept his 2024 momentum going with Queer, adapted from the 1985 novella by Beat Generation icon William S. Burroughs—who died 28 years ago today, on August 2, 1997. Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, a clear stand-in for Burroughs, complete with the author’s distinctive wardrobe, substance issues, and ever-present handgun—albeit with some of the rougher edges sanded down for the screen. Continue reading →

Dillinger (1973): Geoffrey Lewis’ Striped Suit as Harry Pierpont

Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont in Dillinger (1973)

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Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont, even-tempered bank robber

Across the Midwest, Fall 1933 to Spring 1934

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

Background

Today would have been the 90th birthday of character actor Geoffrey Lewis, born July 31, 1935. A familiar face across decades of movies and television, Lewis had one of his earliest prominent screen roles among the supporting cast of John Milius’ bullet-riddled 1973 directorial debut Dillinger, chronicling the life and crimes of the titular Depression-era bank robber.

Lewis co-starred as Harry Pierpont, a real-life associate of Dillinger’s known for his loyalty, cool head, and quiet leadership within the gang. Born in Muncie in 1902, the real “Pete” Pierpont first made a name for himself with Indiana law enforcement during the early 1920s through a spree of escalating crimes and bank heists. He was eventually captured and sentenced to both the Indiana State Reformatory and Indiana State Prison, where he crossed paths with a younger inmate named John Dillinger, then serving a 10–20 year stretch for mugging a grocer. Pierpont took the eager Dillinger under his wing, teaching him the tricks of the trade. Continue reading →

One Way Passage: William Powell’s Shipboard Flannel Suit

William Powell in One Way Passage (1932)

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William Powell as Dan Hardesty, recaptured death row fugitive

Hong Kong to San Francisco, via Honolulu, Fall 1932

Film: One Way Passage
Release Date: October 22, 1932
Director: Tay Garnett
Costume Designer: Orry-Kelly (gowns)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

On the anniversary of William Powell’s July 29, 1892, birthday, let’s look at how the dashing actor brought his marvelous sense of style to the screen in the last of his six major films opposite Kay Francis, the pre-Code drama One Way Passage.

Crafted from a story by Robert Lord, who won the Academy Award for Best Story, One Way Passage stars Powell and Francis as Dan Hardesty and Joan Ames, star-crossed lovers who meet over Paradise cocktails at the International Bar in Hong Kong. Shortly after, they reconnect aboard the S.S. Maloa steaming across the Pacific to San Francisco. Continue reading →