Tagged: Chambray Shirt
Gene Hackman’s Leather Jacket in Hoosiers
Gene Hackman in Hoosiers (1986)
Vitals
Gene Hackman as Norman Dale, controversial high school basketball coach and Navy veteran
Indiana, Fall 1951
Film: Hoosiers
Release Date: November 14, 1986
Director: David Anspaugh
Costume Designer: Jane Anderson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Welcome to Indiana basketball…
The legendary late actor Gene Hackman was born 96 years ago today on January 30, 1930. On the first anniversary of his birthday since his death last February, today’s post centers around Hackman’s celebrated performance in the 40-year-old sports drama Hoosiers as Norman Dale, hired to coach a small Indiana town’s basketball team whose roster includes names like Merle, Rade, Strap, and Whit—which I think is just great.
Though set in the fictional town of Hickory, Hoosiers was loosely inspired by the true story of the Milan High School basketball team’s victory against Muncie Central High School to win the 1954 state championship. And if you don’t think that’s a big deal, just take it from Norm himself:
I thought everybody in Indiana played basketball.
Chilly Scenes of Winter: John Heard’s Moth-eaten Maroon Sweater
John Heard in Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
Vitals
John Heard as Charles Richardson, obsessive state analyst
Salt Lake City, Winter 1979/80
Film: Chilly Scenes of Winter
Release Date: October 19, 1979
Director: Joan Micklin Silver
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The wintry weather this first full week of the year feels appropriate to slip into John Heard’s deceptively cozy wardrobe in Joan Micklin Silver’s 1979 comedy Chilly Scenes of Winter. Originally marketed by United Artists as a zany, lighthearted rom-com that the studio re-titled Head Over Heels (much to its cast and crew’s dismay), Chilly Scenes of Winter is actually an all-too-real exploration of the depths to which a seemingly sane person can fall when tortured by their concept of love.
Heard plays Charles Richardson, a seemingly normal Utah State Department of Development report analyst who begins dating his colleague Laura (Mary Beth Hurt), only to grow increasingly and desperately obsessed with winning back her affection after she ends their relationship. Continue reading
Al Lettieri in The Getaway: From Chalk-striped Suit to Corduroy and Chambray
Al Lettieri in The Getaway (1972)
Vitals
Al Lettieri as Rudy Butler, menacing and duplicitous armed robber
Texas, Spring 1972
Film: The Getaway
Release Date: December 13, 1972
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Men’s Costumer: Kent James
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
From The Godfather and The Getaway to McQ and Mr. Majestyk, if you needed a swarthy, mean, and snakishly charming son-of-a-bitch in the early ’70s, chances are you would call Al Lettieri. A bona fide tough guy who channeled his real-life connections to less reputable characters into his dynamic performances, Lettieri was only 47 years old when he died of a heart attack fifty years ago today on October 18, 1975.
Adapted from pulp author Jim Thompson’s 1958 crime novel of the same name, The Getaway was released in the final weeks of 1972—Lettieri’s breakthrough year, following the release of The Godfather in March. 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
Jaws: Roy Scheider’s Layers at Sea as Chief Brody
Roy Scheider as Martin Brody in Jaws (1975)
Vitals
Roy Scheider as Martin Brody, pragmatic island police chief
Off the coast of Amity Island, July 1974
Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is the 50th anniversary since Jaws first swam into theaters on June 20, 1975, redefining the summer blockbuster and establishing Steven Spielberg as a major director. In addition to breaking box office records and winning three Academy Awards (including one for John Williams’ iconic score), Jaws continues to succeed as a thriller, still terrifying generations with its portrayal of danger lurking beneath the waves.
Adapted from Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel of the same name, the story is relatively simple: after a string of deadly shark attacks off the coast of the fictional Amity Island (filmed on Martha’s Vineyard), three men—grizzled shark-hunter Quint (Robert Shaw), passionate oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and Amity’s aquaphobic new police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider)—set out aboard Quint’s boat to hunt the creature terrorizing the island’s residents and tourists. Continue reading
The Mechanic: Charles Bronson’s Deck Jacket
Charles Bronson in The Mechanic (1972)
Vitals
Charles Bronson as Arthur Bishop, disciplined but depressed contract killer
Los Angeles, Fall 1972
Film: The Mechanic
Release Date: November 17, 1972
Director: Michael Winner
Costume Designer: Lambert Marks
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Action star and Army veteran Charles Bronson was born 103 years ago today on November 3, 1921. Born and raised in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania where he mined coal before joining the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, Bronson brought his tough guy bona fides to supporting roles in 1960s war films and westerns like The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).
Bronson emerged as the world’s top box-office star by the early 1970s during collaborations with director Michael Winner that included Chato’s Land (1972), The Mechanic (1972), The Stone Killer (1973), and Death Wish (1974). Their sophomore collaboration, The Mechanic, may be my favorite of this group. Conceptualized and written by Lewis John Carlino, the story centers around the skilled but anxiety-ridden assassin Arthur Bishop, whose personal and professional comfort is disrupted after hiring a hotheaded protégé.
True to Carlino’s nuanced original vision, the first sixteen minutes of The Mechanic are devoid of dialogue as we follow the solitary Arthur through the motions of one of his artistic assassinations. Continue reading
The Trouble With Harry: Royal Dano’s Leather Jacket
Royal Dano as Calvin Wiggs in The Trouble With Harry (1955)
Vitals
Royal Dano as Calvin Wiggs, laconic deputy sheriff and antique car restorer
Vermont, Fall 1954
Film: The Trouble with Harry
Release Date: September 30, 1955
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
One of the most outwardly comedic of Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography, The Trouble with Harry remains a fall favorite for its lush autumnal setting in New England, where filming began 70 years ago last month in Craftsbury, Vermont. Of course, the production team was stunned to see that the leaves had already turned by late September and were forced to resort to gluing colorful leaves onto the trees to create the desired atmosphere in the fictional town of “Hightower”.
“It’s as if I had set up a murder alongside a rustling brook and spilled a drop of blood in the clear water,” Hitchcock explained to François Truffaut of his intention behind this setting.
Law is primarily enforced in Hightower by the laconic and literal-minded deputy sheriff Calvin Wiggs, who arguably lacks the sense of humor shared by our protagonists as they spend the better party of a crisp fall day hiding the fresh corpse of Harry Worp to avoid Calvin’s suspicions. Calvin was portrayed by Royal Dano, a 6’2″ character actor born in New York City who nonetheless built his convicning career often playing cowboys and Abraham Lincoln. Continue reading
Vic Morrow’s Cowboy Cop Style in Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
Vic Morrow in Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974)
Vitals
Vic Morrow as Everett Franklin, maverick police captain
San Joaquin County, California, Fall 1973
Film: Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
Release Date: May 17, 1974
Director: John Hough
Wardrobe Master: Phyllis Garr
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The talented actor Vic Morrow died 42 years ago today during a helicopter accident on the set of John Landis’ movie The Twilight Zone that also claimed the lives of child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen. Born on Valentine’s Day 1929 in the Bronx, Morrow’s acting career dates to the ’50s when he starred as Stanley Kowalski in a stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire and made his screen debut in the 1955 drama Blackboard Jungle. He later brought his real-life experience as a Navy veteran to his star-making role in the 1960s World War II series Combat!
One of my favorite of Vic Morrow’s performances is as Everett Franklin, a renegade police captain tasked with chasing Peter Fonda, Susan George, and Adam Roarke making their high-octane getaway through the walnut groves and highways of central California in Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, released 50 years ago in May 1974. 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.
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
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