Tagged: Black Jeans
Rocky: Sylvester Stallone’s Black Leather Jacket
Sylvester Stallone in Rocky (1976)
Vitals
Sylvester Stallone as Robert “Rocky” Balboa, ambitious boxer and mob enforcer
Philadelphia, Fall/Winter 1975
Film: Rocky
Release Date: December 3, 1976
Director: John G. Avildsen
Costumer: Robert Campbel
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy New Year! Fifty years ago tonight, scrappy southpaw Rocky Balboa went the distance against the heavyweight champ, turning a Philadelphia club fighter into an American myth—so, in the spirit of “new year, new you”—let’s punch into the style of Sylvester Stallone’s era-defining breakthrough role. Continue reading
Taffin: Pierce Brosnan’s Leather U-Boat Coat and Black Jeans
Pierce Brosnan in Taffin (1988)
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as Mark Taffin, debt collector
Ballymoran, Ireland, Fall 1987
Film: Taffin
Release Date: February 26, 1988
Director: Francis Megahy
Costume Designer: Imogen Magnus
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
In the years between his career-defining roles as Remington Steele and James Bond, Pierce Brosnan’s career spanned a variety of roles, from classic adventurer Phileas Fogg in a TV production of Around the World in 80 Days to spurned lovers in Love Affair (1994) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)—losing his love interest to Warren Beatty (makes sense) and Robin Williams dressed as a fussy old British woman (oh!), respectively.
For the 00-7th of October today, let’s look at one of Brosnan’s more Bond-like roles during this period, portraying the title character in Taffin, adapted from Lyndon Mallet’s book series of the same name. Mallet reportedly balked at the casting choice as his literary Mark Taffin was described as overweight and unattractive—two words which would not describe Pierce Brosnan.
Taffin works as a debt collector in his small Irish hometown, filmed in County Wicklow, where his popularity ranges based on whether he’s helped you recover your debts… or had him knocking at your door on someone else’s behalf. Despite his cynical attitude and less-than-reputable profession, Taffin emerges as the town’s de facto defender, working against the developers who’ll stop at nothing to capitalize on the land. Continue reading
Bob Dylan’s Black Leather Jacket at Newport 1965: Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown (2024). Photo by Macall Polay.
Vitals
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, folk singer-songwriter
Newport, Rhode Island, Summer 1965
Film: A Complete Unknown
Release Date: December 25, 2024
Director: James Mangold
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Jacket Maker: Jimmy McBride
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Sixty years ago tonight, Bob Dylan closed out his third consecutive appearance at the annual Newport Folk Festival by taking the stage with a backing band, signaling a seismic shift in music that stunned and polarized the attendees.
The controversial Sunday night set became the climactic scene in James Mangold’s acclaimed A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet as Dylan alongside Ed Norton as Pete Seeger and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. Continue reading
La Collectionneuse: Patrick Bauchau’s Slate Sweater and Swimwear
Patrick Bauchau and Haydée Politoff in La Collectionneuse (1967)
Vitals
Patrick Bauchau as Adrien, art gallery owner
French Riviera, Summer 1966
Film: The Collector
(French title: La Collectionneuse)
Release Date: March 2, 1967
Director: Éric Rohmer
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Bastille Day feels like a fitting occasion to celebrate French director Éric Rohmer’s first color film, the 1967 drama La Collectionneuse, which has recently resurfaced across summer mood boards. No surprise, given its sun-drenched palette courtesy of cinematographer Néstor Almendros, a frequent Rohmer collaborator who also shot aesthetically satisfying masterpieces like Days of Heaven.
Considered the fourth entry in Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales”, La Collectionneuse was made with extreme efficiency while the director waited for Jean-Louis Trintignant’s availability to shoot My Night at Maud’s. Rohmer and Almendros worked with a minimal crew, relying on natural light and long takes to ground the characters in their idyllic—and quietly volatile—setting.
La Collectionneuse was also the first starring role for Belgian actor Patrick Bauchau, who had appeared uncredited in Rohmer’s La Carrière de Suzanne four years earlier and would later be known to 007 fans as the henchman Scarpine in Roger Moore’s final James Bond film, A View to a Kill. Here, he plays the narcissistic gallery owner Adrien, who intends to take advantage of the monastic conditions at his rich friend Rodolphe’s rented villa near Saint-Tropez to enjoy “a real vacation” in peace and solitude:
I even tried not to think. I was face-to-face alone with the sea, far from cruises and beaches, fulfilling a childhood dream put off year after year. I lost myself completely in the play of shadow and light, sinking into a lethargy heightened by the water. That state of passivity, of complete availability, promised to last much longer than the euphoria of one’s first summer dip into the ocean. I could easily see myself spending a whole month this summer this way.
However, this peace and solitude are threatened by the feisty young Haydée (Haydée Politoff), unexpectedly staying at the villa. Adrien and his friend Daniel (Daniel Pommereulle) are initially distrustful of the girl who brings a different lover to the villa every night, but he gradually comes to appreciate her company when she joins him on his early morning swims. Continue reading
Succession: Kendall’s Brown Leather Tom Ford Jacket
Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy on Succession (Episode 4.07: “Tailgate Party”). Photo credit: David Russell.
Vitals
Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, ousted media conglomerate exec and self-described defender of democracy
New York City, Fall 2020
Series: Succession
Episode: “Tailgate Party” (Episode 4.07)
Air Date: May 7, 2023
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Creator: Jesse Armstrong
Costume Designer: Michelle Matland
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It’s Election Day in America—a tense, centuries-old national tradition determining the fate of all those in the country not privileged enough to see politics as a mere game… which is exactly how the billionare Roy family experiences it on Succession, hosting their usual pre-election “tailgate party” fueled by money, gossip, and flag-waving finger foods.
Hosted at the apartment shared by Siobhan “Shiv” Roy (Sarah Snook) and her sleepy husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), the party provides an opportunity for the Roys to rub elbows with political insiders and industry bigwigs to position themselves for success over the next four years.
“They’re not all crypto-fascist and right-wing nutjobs, we also have some venture capital Dems and centrist ghouls,” Kendall (Jeremy Strong) observes of their late father’s guest list. “Dad’s ideological range was… wide.” Continue reading
The Limey: Terence Stamp’s Harrington Jacket and Black Jeans
Terence Stamp as Wilson in The Limey (1999)
Vitals
Terence Stamp as David Wilson, hardened English professional criminal
Los Angeles to Big Sur, California, Fall 1998
Film: The Limey
Release Date: October 8, 1999
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Limey was released 25 years ago today on October 8, 1999, months after its debut at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival. Terence Stamp stars as the titular Englishman, a crook known simply as Wilson*, who arrives in Los Angeles to investigate his own suspicions after his daughter Jenny’s death in a mysterious car accident. Continue reading
Sam Elliott’s Black Clothes in Road House
Sam Elliott in Road House (1989)
Vitals
Sam Elliott as Wade Garrett, reliable bouncer
Jasper, Missouri, Spring 1988
Film: Road House
Release Date: May 19, 1989
Director: Rowdy Herrington
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is the 80th birthday of Sam Elliott, the prolific actor who has brought his commanding voice and distinguished mustache to a variety of roles from his breakthrough performance in Lifeguard (1976) to hits like Mask (1985), Tombstone (1993), The Big Lebowski (1998), and A Star is Born (2018), to name just a few.
The first time I saw Road House, I was surprised to see that Elliott had shaved his signature soup-strainer to portray Wade Garrett, the tough and trusted bouncer that professional cooler Dalton (Patrick Swayze) calls to the small town of Jasper, Missouri, where local crime boss Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara) is making his task of taming the Double Deuce more of a challenge than he hoped. Continue reading
National Treasure: Nic Cage’s Urban Outfitters Outfit
Nicolas Cage in National Treasure (2004)
Vitals
Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates, treasure hunter and cryptographer
Philadelphia to New York City, Fall 2004
Film: National Treasure
Release Date: November 19, 2004
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Costume Designer: Judianna Makovsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans!
On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously ratified the Declaration of Independence that announced the separation of the thirteen American colonies from British rule. Primarily drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration remains one of the most sacred and influential documents in global history and underwent centuries of preservation and protection until it was ultimately stolen by Nicolas Cage in 2004.
At least he warned us first.
Appropriately titled given Mr. Cage’s reputation, National Treasure was released 20 years ago this November and centers around a historically informed search for a long-buried Freemason treasure trove. A rumored map on the back of the Declaration of Independence provides guidance to Cage’s well-meaning treasure-hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates as well as his assistant Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and the lovely government archivist Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) reluctantly roped into their mission.
Unfortunately for our heroes, Ben’s rival Ian Howe (Sean Bean) is also in pursuit of the treasure… but Ian is British, so one can only imagine the disrespect he would show the Declaration if he were the one to steal it first.
What’d He Wear?
The morning after Ben and Riley successfully liberate the Declaration during a gala event at the National Archives, they follow the early-00s product placement gods to an Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia (actually Pasadena), where they can purchase clothes more appropriate for evading detection while on the run in the City of Brotherly Love than their formal fits. Continue reading
Glen Powell in Hit Man: Gary’s Western-Inspired Wardrobe as “Ron”
Glen Powell as Gary Johnson in Hit Man (2023)
Vitals
Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, mild-mannered psychology professor moonlighting as an undercover police contractor
New Orleans, Fall 2022
Film: Hit Man
Release Date: May 24, 2024
Director: Richard Linklater
Costume Designer: Juliana Hoffpauir
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After a limited two-week run in theaters, Hit Man debuted on Netflix at the beginning of this month and quickly became the service’s #1 most-watched movie in the U.S. The screenplay by director Richard Linklater and star Glen Powell fictionalizes the life of Gary Johnson, a college professor and successful “fake hitman” whose undercover police work led to more than 70 arrests of people seeking the services of a contract killer.
Hit Man is Linklater’s second cinematic depiction of stranger-than-fiction true crime based on a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth (the first was Bernie in 2011), though the production and setting were moved from Houston to New Orleans to take advantage of Louisiana tax credits.
Described in the epilogue as the “chillest dude imaginable,” the real Gary Johnson—whom the same epilogue is sure to insist was never actually involved in any murders—died in 2022 at the age of 75 before getting to see this dark comedy that riffed on his life story.
Though sensationalizing his life for dramatic purposes, Hit Man includes many details from Johnson’s life, like his cats Id and Ego, his unassuming politeness, and the random opportunity that elevated him to the city’s most in-demand assassin who signals his identity to prospective clients with a single response phrase:
All pie is good pie.
From Dusk till Dawn: Tom Savini as Sex Machine
Tom Savini as “Sex Machine” in From Dusk till Dawn (1996)
Vitals
Tom Savini as “Sex Machine”, whip-snapping biker
Mexico, Summer 1995
Film: From Dusk till Dawn
Release Date: January 17, 1996
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Costume Designer: Graciela Mazón
Background
Though it may be a few days late to celebrate Halloween, it’s always the right time to celebrate Tom Savini, my fellow Pittsburgher who turns 76 tomorrow!
Born November 3, 1946, Savini grew up in the Bloomfield neighborhood and served in the Vietnam War before following his cinematic passion to become an iconic figure in horror movies, working extensively on both sides of the lens as a prosthetic makeup artist, stunt performer, actor, and director. (Non-horror fans may recognize Savini as the beleaguered shop teacher Mr. Callahan in the Pittsburgh-filmed The Perks of Being a Wallflower.)
Perhaps best known for his six (to date) collaborations with George A. Romero, Savini memorably appeared in From Dusk till Dawn, perhaps one of his earliest prominent roles in which he was solely credited as an actor. Savini co-stars as “Sex Machine”, a biker who becomes one of only a half-dozen initial survivors after the vampiric employees of a rowdy bar in the Mexican desert turn on its customers. Continue reading
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