Tagged: 1960s
A Bronx Tale: Sonny’s Gray Silk Jacket
Chazz Palminteri in A Bronx Tale (1993)
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Chazz Palminteri as Sonny LoSpecchio, local mob capo
The Bronx, New York, Fall 1960
Film: A Bronx Tale
Release Date: September 29, 1993
Director: Robert De Niro
Costume Designer: Rita Ryack
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Thirty years ago this week, A Bronx Tale was released in theaters across the United States, two weeks after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. This mobbed-up coming-of-age story was adapted from Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical one-man show of the same name, recalling Palminteri’s own childhood experiences growing up in the Bronx during the 1960s. Continue reading
Hawaii Five-O, Episode 1: Jack Lord’s Slate Suit
Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O (Episode 1.01: “Cocoon”)
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Jack Lord and Steve McGarrett, Hawaii state police “Five-O” task force commander
Honolulu, Fall 1967
Series: Hawaii Five-O
Episode: “Cocoon” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 20, 1968
Director: Paul Wendkos
Creator: Leonard Freeman
Costume Designer: Richard Egan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Book ’em, Danno! Today is the 55th anniversary of when the original Hawaii Five-O series premiered with the TV movie “Cocoon” on Friday, September 20, 1968. Conceptualized by creator Leonard Freeman, Hawaii Five-O set new records for TV longevity by lasting twelve seasons, all of which were almost entirely set and filmed in the Hawaiian islands.
The series centers around the Five-O Task Force, a fictional state police agency commanded by Detective Captain Steve McGarrett, who reports directly to the governor. Despite the pivotal role, McGarrett wasn’t cast until less than a week before filming began when Freeman called on Jack Lord. Continue reading
Peter Falk’s Tuxedo in Machine Gun McCain
Peter Falk as Charlie Adamo in Machine Gun McCain (1969)
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Peter Falk as Charlie Adamo, ambitious gangster
San Francisco and Las Vegas, Summer 1968
Film: Machine Gun McCain
(Italian title: Gli intoccabili)
Release Date: April 1, 1969
Director: Giuliano Montaldo
Costume Designer: Enrico Sabbatini
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 96 years ago today on September 16, 1927, Peter Falk may be best remembered as the rumpled but indefatigable Lieutenant Columbo (to the extent that his September 16th is also observed as “Wrinkled Raincoat Day”), but Falk spending most of his screen time wearing a handsomely tailored tuxedo in the 1969 Italian crime film Machine Gun McCain illustrates how the Bronx-born actor could clean up well. (And yes, I do plan on writing about Falk’s iconic wardrobe in Columbo someday!)
Released in Italy as Gli intoccabili (translated to “The Untouchables”) and based on the Ovid Demaris novel Candyleg, Machine Gun McCain joins the subject of my prior post as a prime example of poliziottesco, an Italian crime subgenre that emerged during the nation’s violent “Years of Lead” era and typified by corruption, violence, cynicism… and American lead actors. In this case, Falk was joined by his pal and frequent collaborator John Cassavetes, who portrays the eponymous ex-bank robber opposite Falk as gangster Charlie Adamo. Continue reading
Salt and Pepper: Peter Lawford’s Plaid Sports Coat
Peter Lawford as Christopher Pepper in Salt and Pepper (1968)
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Peter Lawford as Christopher Pepper, nightclub owner
London, Spring 1968
Film: Salt and Pepper
Release Date: June 21, 1968
Director: Richard Donner
Costume Designer: Cynthia Tingey
Tailor: Douglas Hayward
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 100th birthday of Peter Lawford, born September 7, 1923. Though primarily an actor, the London-born Lawford may be best remembered for his affiliations with the Rat Pack and the Kennedy family, the latter by way of his 12-year marriage to Patricia Kennedy.
It was shortly after Lawford’s divorce from Pat that he was reunited with fellow Rat Pack entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr., in Salt and Pepper, one of the many spy comedies released in the late 1960s as filmmakers spoofed Bond-mania with films like Our Man Flint (1966), the satirized 007 adaptation Casino Royale (1967), and the quartet of Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin—also of Rat Pack fame.
Salt and Pepper was the second feature directed by Richard Donner, who would later—and arguably more successfully—revisit the concept of high-stakes buddy comedies with the Lethal Weapon series. When Salt and Pepper was bafflingly greenlit for the sequel suggested by Davis’ vocals over the end credits, it wasn’t Donner but Jerry Lewis who directed the two Rat Packers in One More Time (1970).
Davis and Lawford brought their time-tested chemistry to their respective roles as Charlie Salt and Christopher Pepper, a pair of swingin’ London nightclub owners who find themselves at the center of a deadly mystery involving a revolution brewing among the top ranks of the British government. “I’m Pepper, he’s Salt,” Lawford’s character informs a bemused police inspector during the opening scene. Continue reading
The Day of the Jackal: Edward Fox’s Tan Herringbone Suit
Edward Fox in The Day of the Jackal (1973)
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Edward Fox as “The Jackal”, mysterious professional assassin
Europe, Summer 1963
Film: The Day of the Jackal
Release Date: May 16, 1973
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Costume Design: Joan Bridge, Rosine Delamare, and Elizabeth Haffenden
Background
The Day of the Jackal culminated 60 years ago today on August 25, 1963 in Paris, commemorating the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany during World War II. Frederick Forsyth’s excellent 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal was hardly two years old before it was adapted for the screen by screenwriter Kenneth Ross and director Fred Zinnemann, who reportedly wanted to make the film after reading Forsyth’s yet-unpublished manuscript all in one night.
Zinnemann didn’t want a recognizable major star to distract from the intrigue on screen, and—despite Universal Studios pushing for Jack Nicholson—cast Edward Fox as the eponymous “Jackal”, whose codename is determined in the book after he was “speaking of hunting” with his handlers. In addition to the film benefiting from faithfully following Forysth’s narrative and structure, a highlight is Fox’s performance as the enigmatic and oft-elegantly dressed assassin, whose demeanor can shift from affable to icily dangerous as needed. Continue reading
Ron Howard in American Graffiti
Ron Howard as Steve Bolander in American Graffiti (1973)
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Ron Howard as Steve Bolander, conflicted high school graduate
Modesto, California, Summer 1962
Film: American Graffiti
Release Date: August 11, 1973
Director: George Lucas
Costume Designer: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“Where were you in ’62?” asked the promotional materials for American Graffiti, widely released 50 years ago today on August 11, 1973. George Lucas followed his directorial debut THX 1138 with a neon-lit nostalgic ode to his rock-scored youth cruising the streets of Modesto, California in the early 1960s.
The film centers around four recent high school graduates who meet in the parking lot of Mel’s Drive-In on the last night of summer vacation: even-keeled Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss), confident drag-racer John Milner (Paul Le Mat), the fittingly nicknamed Terry “the Toad” Fields (Charles Martin Smith), and the aloof Steve Bolander (Ron Howard), who lends his stunning white ’58 Impala to Terry while he’s away at college.
It’s a moody night for Steve, battling with his decision to leave both Modesto and his relationship with Laurie (Cindy Williams), summing up the movie’s thesis when he observes “you just can’t stay seventeen forever.” Continue reading
Terry-Thomas in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Terry-Thomas as J. Algernon Hawthorne in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
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Terry-Thomas as J. Algernon Hawthorne, British Army officer and rare plant collector
Southern California, Summer 1962
Film: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Release Date: November 7, 1963
Director: Stanley Kramer
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas
Background
Today wraps up Car Week and a mini-celebration of the 60th anniversary year of the star-studded madcap road comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, following on Wednesday’s post by commemorating yet another star’s birthday. Although many sources list July 10 as his birthday, Terry-Thomas himself listed July 14, 1911 as his birthday in his autobiographies, so we’ll celebrate the famously gap-toothed English character actor today by way of his Jeep-driving Lieutenant Colonel J. Algernon Hawthorne. Continue reading
Milton Berle in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
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Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch, seaweed salesman and beleaguered son-in-law
Southern California, Summer 1962
Film: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Release Date: November 7, 1963
Director: Stanley Kramer
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas
Background
Car Week continues with a look at a road movie very close to my heart, Stanley Kramer’s 1963 epic comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, released 60 years ago this November. I used to spend many weekends at my grandma’s house watching this cavalcade of comics—many of whom had died even before I was born—as they sped, flew, and chased each other through southern California in pursuit of a $350,000 payday.
The movie begins as a black two-door Ford Fairlane recklessly snakes its way along Seven Level Hill, a mountainous segment of California State Route 74 just south of Palm Desert, honking as it weaves through traffic. The Fairlane shakes its way past an Imperial Crown convertible, but the driver loses control of the car and the Fairlane goes careening—no, sailing—off a cliff. The four carloads of people behind it all pull to a stop and get out—surely no one could survive such a fatal tumble. But alas, the significantly schnozzed driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) hasn’t kicked the bucket yet, sprawled out among the rocky hillside.
In his dying moments, Smiler tells the gathered men of a hidden fortune, the $350,000 proceeds from a 15-year-old tuna factory robbery, buried under “a big W!” in Santa Rosita Park. He indeed kicks the bucket (and how!) before he can elaborate on the admission, leaving the witnesses to debate its veracity amongst themselves and as a group. When it becomes abundantly clear that, no matter what way they figure it, “it’s every man—including the old bag—for himself”, the four groups run back to their respective automobiles and tear off for the fictional Santa Rosita.
Though they’d been leading traffic when the Fairlane went sailing right past them off the cliff, the Imperial Crown is now trailing the others. At the wheel of the Imperial is mild-mannered J. Russell Finch (Milton Berle), an edible-seaweed entrepreneur from Fresno on his way to Lake Meade with his prim wife Emeline (Dorothy Provine) and her brash mother (Ethel Merman).
On the 115th anniversary of Uncle Milty’s July 12, 1908 birthday, let’s dig into this iconic entertainer’s wardrobe from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Continue reading
Dennis Quaid in Frequency
Dennis Quaid and Daniel Henson in Frequency (2000)
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Dennis Quaid as Frank Sullivan, Sr., firefighter and family man
New York, Fall 1969
Film: Frequency
Release Date: April 28, 2000
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Costume Designer: Elisabetta Beraldo
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Frequency might be one of those movies that doesn’t get discussed much these days, but I remember being intrigued when I caught it on TNT a few years after it came out. Flash forward to a few months ago when I saw it was among the movies leaving HBO Max that month, and I decided to revisit.
Without spoiling too much, the plot centers on a ham radio-driven multiverse without the added complication of a serial killer seemingly inspired by one part Richard Speck, one part Ted Bundy, while Frequency‘s most significant emotional impact comes from the intragenerational bond between a father and son—hence my posting about it on Father’s Day weekend. Continue reading
Jimmy Stewart in The Flight of the Phoenix
James Stewart as Frank Towns in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
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James Stewart as Frank Towns, experienced cargo pilot and war veteran
Libyan desert, Spring 1965
Film: The Flight of the Phoenix
Release Date: December 15, 1965
Director: Robert Aldrich
Costume Designer: Norma Koch
Background
James Maitland Stewart had to fly. His earliest memories of flight involved colorful covers of Literary Digest depicting the Great War, then in progress, and the incredible use of air power by both sides. Jim tacked up each magazine cover on the wall in his bedroom. “Airplanes were the last thing I thought of every night and the first thing I thought of every morning,” he would say as an adult.
— Robert Matzen, Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe, Chapter 1
Born 115 years ago today on May 20, 1908, Jimmy Stewart had a lifelong passion for flight that followed him through his career, from the model airplane he lovingly constructed with Henry Fonda during their salad days on Broadway through his celebrated service flying dangerous combat missions as a U.S. Army Air Forces officer during World War II. Reticent to discuss his service after the war, Stewart flew B-24 Liberators on 20 combat missions over Europe and, by war’s end, was one of only a handful of Americans to rise from the rank of private to colonel in only four years.
Aviation continued to be a theme of Stewart’s life during his postwar film career, often starring in flight-themed dramas like No Highway in the Sky (1951), The Glenn Miller Story (1954), Strategic Air Command (1955), and The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), playing famed aviator Charles Lindbergh.
One of the last—and perhaps best—of Stewart’s aviation-centered films is The Flight of the Phoenix, Robert Aldrich’s 1965 survival drama based on Elleston Trevor’s novel of the same name. Stewart plays civilian cargo pilot Frank Towns, described by his navigator Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) as “one of the few really great pilots left in this push-button world of yours.” Continue reading