Tagged: 1970s
Harvey Keitel’s Tan Plaid Sport Suit in Mean Streets
Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets (1973)
Vitals
Harvey Keitel as Charlie Cappa, conflicted Mafia associate
New York, Fall 1972
Film: Mean Streets
Release Date: October 14, 1973
Director: Martin Scorsese
Wardrobe Credit: Norman Salling
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
To celebrate the prolific Harvey Keitel’s 85th birthday, today’s #MafiaMonday post flashes back to the New York-born actor’s first prominent starring performance as the conflicted and connected Charlie Cappa in Martin Scorsese’s breakout feature, Mean Streets. Continue reading
Barry Newman in Fear Is the Key
Barry Newman in Fear is the Key (1972)
Vitals
Barry Newman as John Talbot, “truculent, insolent, and a man of violence”
Louisiana, Spring 1972
Film: Fear Is the Key
Release Date: December 26, 1972
Director: Michael Tuchner
Wardrobe Credit: Mike Jarvis
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I had never heard of Fear Is the Key before I had the pleasure of catching it streaming on the Criterion Channel last November, so I feel comfortable describing it as underrated—the kind of raw ’70s-style adventure intended for pure entertainment with a thrilling momentum, great score, and a fine cast led by Barry Newman that also included Suzy Kendall, John Vernon, Dolph Sweet, and a “young”—well… middle-aged—Ben Kingsley. Perhaps best known for his performances in Vanishing Point and the TV series Petrocelli, the Boston-born Newman died one year ago today on May 11, 2023 at the age of 92.
Based on Alistair MacLean’s 1961 novel centered around one man’s mission for revenge against a criminal organization that killed his family, the movie blends classic adventure, ’70s grit, and international intrigue into a package adjacent to contemporary “hick flicks”. Maybe you’d describe it as Smokey and the Bandit meets Crank—or James Bond meets The Dukes of Hazzard—all with a twist of Three Days of the Condor. Continue reading
Jaws: Robert Shaw’s CPO Shirt and Sweater as Quint
Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws (1975)
Vitals
Robert Shaw as Quint, grizzled and tough shark hunter and U.S. Navy veteran
Amity Island, July 1974
Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose
Background
After early directorial efforts like Duel and The Sugarland Express, Steven Spielberg forever changed the cinematic landscape with Jaws, considered the first true blockbuster when it was released in the summer of 1975. Filming had commenced a year earlier, 50 years ago this week, on May 2, 1974.
Adapted from Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name, Jaws centered around a fictional shark terrorizing the swimmers off the idyllic New England community of Amity Island… though it had a very real impact on frightened beach-goers for years to follow.
Police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) and oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) team up with the hardened shark-hunter known only as Quint (Robert Shaw) to accompany them out into the water to bring an end to “Bruce” the shark’s reign of terror. Though local fishermen are eager to be the ones to stop the shark, Brody and Hooper are well aware of Quint’s qualifications that make him worth every cent of his requested $10,000 fee:
Y’all know me. Know how I earn a livin’. I’ll catch this bird for you, but it ain’t gonna be easy.
The Wicker Man: Christopher Lee’s Checked Jacket and Turtleneck on May Day
Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973)
Vitals
Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle, charismatic pagan cult leader
The Hebrides, Scotland, Spring 1973
Film: The Wicker Man
Release Date: December 6, 1973
Director: Robin Hardy
Costume Designer: Sue Yelland
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Hail the queen of the May!
The folk horror classic The Wicker Man is set on the fictional Hebridean island of Summerisle, where the well-meaning blockhead police sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) investigates a missing teenager’s likely death amidst the island’s annual May Day celebrations led by its magnetic leader, Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee). Continue reading
Al Pacino’s Pea Coat as Serpico
Al Pacino in Serpico (1973)
Vitals
Al Pacino as Frank Serpico, plainclothes New York Police Department office
New York, Winter 1967
Film: Serpico
Release Date: December 5, 1973
Director: Sidney Lumet
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
My eyes see… 84 birthday candles for Al Pacino, born April 25, 1940! Sandwiched between his acclaimed performances as Michael Corleone in the first two installments of The Godfather, the New York-born actor returned to the scrappy persona that signified many of his early screen roles as an easygoing drifter in Scarecrow and the police drama Serpico. Continue reading
The Sugarland Express: William Atherton’s Getaway Shirt and Jeans
William Atherton and Goldie Hawn in The Sugarland Express (1974)
Vitals
William Atherton as Clovis Michael Poplin, escaped fugitive and petty crook
Texas, Spring 1973
Film: The Sugarland Express
Release Date: March 30, 1974
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Robert Ellsworth & James Gilmore (uncredited)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Released 50 years ago at the end of March 1974, The Sugarland Express was Steven Spielberg’s theatrical debut after a number of well-received television productions like the ABC thriller Duel (1971) and “Murder by the Book,” the first episode of Columbo following two earlier pilots.
The Sugarland Express could be argued as fine companion viewing for fans of The Getaway (1972), Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), with Spielberg’s unique touch propelling this darkly funny piece of ’70s cinema that was also the director’s first collaboration with composer John Williams.
Following a title card that informs us “this film is based upon a real event which happened in Texas in 1969,” the fledgling director’s talent becomes evident from the start as he crafts an engaging and often funny road drama with the simple-minded Clovis Michael Poplin (William Atherton) and his Texas Gold stamp-obsessed wife Lou Jean (Goldie Hawn) representing the real-life Bobby and Ila Fae Dent. Continue reading
Jaws: Mayor Vaughn’s Colorful Striped Blazer
Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn in Jaws (1975)
Vitals
Murray Hamilton as Larry Vaughn, ineffective mayor of Amity Island
Amity Island, July 1974
Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose
Background
Today would have been the 101st birthday of Murray Hamilton, the marvelous character actor whose talents were perhaps best showcased as the hopelessly stubborn mayor of Amity Island, the fictional New England beach town being terrorized by a great white shark in Steven Spielberg’s iconic 1975 blockbuster Jaws. Continue reading
Taxi Driver: Travis Bickle’s Tanker Jacket
Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, disturbed taxi driver and Vietnam War veteran
New York City, Spring to Summer 1976
Film: Taxi Driver
Release Date: February 9, 1976
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Ruth Morley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy International Taxi Driver Day to all cabbies whose alienation doesn’t drive them to a violent murder spree shooting up a brothel! This observance commemorates when the first gas-powered taxi cabs reportedly arrived on the streets of London on March 22, 1907.
The profession was immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver, written by Paul Schrader and filmed on location in New York City during the scorching summer of 1975. Two years after his first Academy Award win (for The Godfather, Part II), Robert De Niro received his second Oscar nomination for his performance as Travis Bickle, the lonely Marine-turned-cabbie whose PTSD, insomnia, and paranoid psychosis becomes a dangerous powder keg in the squalid decay of 1970s New York. Continue reading
Al Pacino in Scarecrow
Al Pacino in Scarecrow (1973)
Vitals
Al Pacino as Francis Lionel “Lion” Delbuchi, scrappy drifter and former sailor
California to Detroit, Fall 1972
Film: Scarecrow
Release Date: April 11, 1973
Director: Jerry Schatzberg
Costume Designer: Jo Ynocencio
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Scarecrow was Al Pacino’s first film after his Oscar-nominated breakthrough performance in The Godfather, reuniting him with Jerry Schatzberg, who had previously directed the actor to success in The Panic in Needle Park two years earlier.
After he portrayed the cunning and reserved Michael Corleone, Scarecrow brought Pacino back to that Needle Park-type of scrappily ambitious and affable street-smart drifter, now characterized as the simple and seemingly carefree Francis “Lion” Delbuchi who teams up with the temperamental ex-con Max Millian (Gene Hackman) in their transformative trek across the country to realize Max’s dream of opening a car wash in Pittsburgh. Continue reading
The Longest Yard: Burt Reynolds’ 1970s Flashy Football Star Style
Burt Reynolds in The Longest Yard (1974)
Vitals
Burt Reynolds as Paul “Wrecking” Crewe, washed-up ex-pro football quarterback
Palm Beach, Florida, Fall 1973
Film: The Longest Yard
Release Date: August 21, 1974
Director: Robert Aldrich
Wardrobe Credit: Charles E. James
Background
You take your football down here real serious, don’t you?
What do you do when you’re a style writer facing a Super Bowl aligns with Burt Reynolds’ birthday? Why, you focus on the super-seventies duds that Reynolds wears at the beginning of his sports comedy classic, The Longest Yard, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year! Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.