Tagged: Blue Shirt
Purple Noon: Alain Delon’s Blue Ivy-Style OCBD, Cream Jeans, and Loafers
Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)
Vitals
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
Don Draper’s Gray Jacket and Striped Tie for a “Zou Bisou” Birthday Surprise
Jon Hamm and Jessica Paré on Mad Men, Episode 5.01: “A Little Kiss, Part 1”. Photo by Ron Jaffe/AMC.
Vitals
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, 40-year-old remarried ad man
New York City, June 1966
Series: Mad Men
Episode: “A Little Kiss, Part 1” (Episode 5.01)
Air Date: March 25, 2012
Director: Jennifer Getzinger
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Mad Men‘s fifth season double-episode premiere “A Little Kiss” begins on Memorial Day 1966 and follows through the next weekend, when Don Draper’s new wife Megan (Jessica Paré) curiously decides to throw her husband a surprise 40th birthday party… despite knowing literally anything about him. Continue reading
The Limey: Peter Fonda’s Layered Shirts at Big Sur
Peter Fonda as Terry Valentine in The Limey (1999)
Vitals
Peter Fonda as Terry Valentine, shady rock producer/promoter
Big Sur, California, Fall 1998
Film: The Limey
Release Date: October 8, 1999
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Steven Soderbergh’s stylish 1999 crime film The Limey follows paroled English career criminal Wilson (Terence Stamp) on a quest for revenge after his daughter’s mysterious death, leading him to her final boyfriend—L.A. rock promoter Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda). As Wilson’s pursuit grows increasingly deadly, Terry high-tails it to his Big Sur beach house, where he holes up with his latest girlfriend Adhara (Amelia Heinle) and a handful of boyguards, including security chief Jim Avery (Barry Newman).
Soderbergh filmed The Limey on location in Big Sur, a picturesque region on California’s Central Coast. Spanish settlers originally named this unexplored coastal expanse “el sur grande” (“the big south”). As more English-speaking inhabitants arrived over the following decades, the name was simplified to the Spanglish “Big Sur”. This name was officially adopted 100 years ago today when the U.S. Postal Service approved a petition to rename the local post office from Arbolado to Big Sur on March 6, 1915. Continue reading
The Great Gatsby: Sam Waterston’s Tan Shawl-collar Cardigan
Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (1974)
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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.
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”)
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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
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974): H.B. Halicki’s Glen Plaid Jacket and “Eleanor” Mustang
H.B. Halicki in Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
Vitals
H.B. “Toby” Halicki as Maindrian Pace, insurance investigator and car thief
Long Beach, California, Spring 1974
Film: Gone in 60 Seconds
Release Date: July 28, 1974
Director: H.B. Halicki
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Fifty years ago today on July 28, 1974, independent filmmaker and stunt driver H.B. “Toby” Halicki released Gone in 60 Seconds, a high-octane parade of car chases and crashes.
In addition to directing, writing, and producing the film on a $150,000 budget, Halicki also starred and did his own driving as Maindrian Pace, a curiously named car thief whose respectable day job as an insurance investigator covers his criminal activity.
Working with a ring of professionals, Pace is hired to steal 48 very specific cars ranging from limousines to semi-tractor trucks and even Parnelli Jones’ famous ’71 “Big Oly” Bronco. Each of the target cars is assigned a female codename, with the final car—a bumblebee-colored 1973 Ford Mustang—designated as “Eleanor”. Continue reading
Bill Paxton in Twister
Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in Twister (1996)
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Bill Paxton as Bill Harding, experienced storm chaser-turned-weatherman
Oklahoma, Summer 1996
Film: Twister
Release Date: May 10, 1996
Director: Jan de Bont
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
With its standalone sequel Twisters starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell now arriving in theaters, let’s revisit the original Twister, Jan de Bont’s 1996 blockbuster centered around a group of storm-chasers pursuing and researching tornadoes across Oklahoma.
Our lead storm-chasers are the star-crossed Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill Harding (Bill Paxton), in the midst of a divorce as Bill seeks to leave his dangerous storm-chasing days as “The Extreme” and settle into a more comfortable life as a TV weatherman with his new fiancée Dr. Melissa Reeves (Jami Gertz). “New job, new truck, new wife, it’s like a whole new you!” Jo observes as Bill arrives in his new Dodge Ram truck to request that she sign the papers to finalize their divorce.
In the meantime, Jo and her team are preparing to deploy their innovative tornado-measuring device—the realized execution of Bill’s original concept, nicknamed “Dorothy”—into the record-breaking storms wreaking havoc through Oklahoma. Continue reading
After the Sunset: Pierce Brosnan’s Blue Linen Popover Shirt and Camaro
Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett in After the Sunset (2004)
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett, retired(?) jewel thief
The Bahamas, Summer 2004
Film: After the Sunset
Release Date: November 12, 2004
Director: Brett Ratner
Costume Designer: Rita Ryack
Pierce Brosnan’s Costumer: Edward T. Hanley
Background
This summer Car Week focus begins on the 00-7th of July by focusing not on Mr. Bond himself but rather one of Pierce Brosnan’s first prominent movies after hanging up 007’s shoulder holster and tuxedo.
Indeed, Max Burdett’s lifestyle in After the Sunset shares some similarities with how we’ve been presented with James Bond’s retirement: a rugged yet swanky seaside home in the Caribbean with a sweet ride and a stashed handgun to greet unwanted visitors. Continue reading
The Graduate: William Daniels’ Blue Cabana Set as Mr. Braddock
William Daniels as Elizabeth Wilson in The Graduate (1967)
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William Daniels as Mr. Braddock, affable but aloof suburban father
Los Angeles, Summer 1967
Film: The Graduate
Release Date: December 22, 1967
Director: Mike Nichols
Costume Designer: Patricia Zipprodt
Background
The Graduate made Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) an icon for many, whether they could identify with his aimless disillusionment or his killer Ivy style. It may be my own “advancing” age—as I’ll officially be old enough to run for president exactly three weeks from today—that recently drew me more to his father’s charmingly dated leisurewear, specifically the matching blue cabana set when unintentionally humiliating poor Benjamin on his 21st birthday by forcing him to model a full scuba suit for “a practical demonstration” in the Braddock family swimming pool in front of their friends.
It may help my affection for the character that Mr. Braddock was portrayed by the great William Daniels, whose prolific career has spanned eight decades with iconic roles like John Adams in the stage and screen presentations of 1776 and as the avuncular Mr. Feeny on ’90s sitcom Boy Meets World, as well as a distinctive voice that he lent to KITT on the ’80s series Knight Rider. Continue reading