Tagged: Car Salesman
Tom Cruise in Rain Man
Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt in Rain Man (1988)
Vitals
Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, yuppie exotic car sales executive
Across the United States, Summer 1988
Film: Rain Man
Release Date: December 16, 1988
Director: Barry Levinson
Wardrobe Credit: Bernie Pollack
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Let’s kick off this summer’s #CarWeek! As today, July 3, is Tom Cruise’s birthday, there’s hardly a more appropriate subject than the iconic Buick Roadmaster he drives for his trip across the United States with Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.
Cruise stars as Charlie Babbitt, an L.A. yuppie with a failing exotic car import and sales business who just had to postpone a romantic getaway with his girlfriend Susanna (Valeria Golino) to return to Cincinnati for his estranged father’s funeral. With his business in trouble, Charlie at least looks forward to the promise of a substantial inheritance until he learns that his sole endowment from the millionaire’s estate is the very 1949 Buick convertible that drove father and son apart in the first place… Continue reading
Terry Leather’s Herringbone Coat in The Bank Job
Jason Statham as Terry Leather in The Bank Job (2008).
Vitals
Jason Statham as Terry Leather, fledging bank robber and former car salesman
East London, September 1971
Film: The Bank Job
Release Date: February 29, 2008
Director: Roger Donaldson
Costume Designer: Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Background
Based partially on some possibly true events (or at least theories) surrounding the famous Baker Street robbery of 1971, The Bank Job is a fun caper flick from 2008 that stars Jason Statham in a decidedly less Statham-esque role than usual, leading a team of non-violent petty criminals chosen by the British government to burglarize a bank.
Of course, it’s not that simple as Statham’s crew isn’t even aware that they’re working for the government and wedging themselves between a sadistic London gangster and a militant revolutionary. Continue reading
Terry Leather’s Brown Leather Jacket in The Bank Job
Jason Statham as Terry Leather in The Bank Job (2008).
Vitals
Jason Statham as Terry Leather, struggling car salesman and petty thief
East London, September 1971
Film: The Bank Job
Release Date: February 29, 2008
Director: Roger Donaldson
Costume Designer: Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Background
The Bank Job is a fun and different approach to the well-worn territory of the heist film by taking a true event and deconstructing it to propel the story forward with an appropriate mix of lightheartedness and genuine suspense. While Jason Statham once again plays a charming wiseass who’s a bit too comfortable on the wrong side of the law, his typical ass-kicking bravado is replaced by a combination of wit and desperation that provides a realistic motive for a man in his circumstances.
The movie begins by introducing Statham as Terry Leather, a car salesman and repair shop owner trying to make ends meet between loans from various London gangsters. He’s no gangster himself, although he’s got some criminal pals, and it is they who will come in handy once the alluringly mysterious model Martine (Saffron Burrows) comes calling with a tip that may get him back on his feet.
What’d He Wear?
When we first meet Terry Leather, he’s doing a fine job living up to his name by actually wearing a cool leather jacket. The titles tell us that this is “East London, 1971”, but the sight of Jason Statham in a badass vintage brown leather jacket as he stands between a black ’62 Singer sedan and a sweet Austin-Healey roadster give us all the context we need. Continue reading