Tagged: Cold Climate
Fargo, Season 5: Jon Hamm’s Shearling Coat and Ranchwear as Sheriff Roy Tillman
Jon Hamm as Sheriff Roy Tillman on Fargo (Episode 5.02: “Trials and Tribulations”). Photo credit: Michelle Faye/FX.
Vitals
Jon Hamm as Roy Tillman, ranch-owning sheriff of Stark County, North Dakota, and “a hard man… for hard times”
North Dakota, Fall 2019
Series: Fargo, Season 5
Air Dates: November 21, 2023 – January 16, 2024
Creator: Noah Hawley
Costume Designer: Carol Case
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Celebrating his 53rd birthday today, Jon Hamm recently co-starred on the fifth season of Fargo as Roy Tillman, an “unorthodox” sheriff who runs Stark County, North Dakota with an iron fist backed by Old Testament-sounding guidance, “bound by duty, blood, and tradition,” though this—more often than not—just means bullying constituents and outsiders alike. To solidify his position, Roy doesn’t shy away from dangerous alliances, including a local militia of reactionaries that he supplies with arms and support. Continue reading
Fargo, Season 5: Sam Spruell as Ole Munch
Sam Spruell as Ole Munch on Fargo. Photo credit: Michelle Faye/FX.
Vitals
Sam Spruell as Ole Munch, mysterious mercenary and ancient sin-eater
Minnesota and North Dakota, Fall 2019
Series: Fargo
Episodes:
– “The Tragedy of the Commons” (Episode 5.01, dir. Noah Hawley, aired 11/21/2023)
– “Trials and Tribulations” (Episode 5.02, dir. Noah Hawley, aired 11/21/2023)
– “The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions” (Episode 5.03, dir. Donald Murphy, aired 11/28/2023)
– “The Tender Trap” (Episode 5.06, dir. Dana Gonzales, aired 12/19/2023)
– “Linda” (Episode 5.07, dir. Sylvian White, aired 12/26/2023)
– “The Useless Hand” (Episode 5.09, dir. Thomas Bezucha, aired 1/9/2024)
– “Bisquik” (Episode 5.10, dir. Thomas Bezucha, aired 1/16/2024)
Creator: Noah Hawley
Costume Designer: Carol Case
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I recently received a request from BAMF Style reader Joe (thanks for the tip, Joe!) to review the interesting style of Ole Munch (Sam Spruell), an antagonist from the fifth and latest season of Fargo, which just ended last month.
For those unfamiliar, the series is a loosely connected anthology inspired by—and tangentially related to—the 1996 masterpiece film by the Coen brothers, who also joined as executive producers after being impressed by series creator Noah Hawley’s interpretation. Each season is primarily set in a different era and locale throughout the snowy American Midwest, pulling additional inspiration from other Coen brothers’ films.
With his relentlessness and terrible haircut, Ole Munch arguably takes a few queues from No Country for Old Men‘s Anton Chigurh… though the mysterious Munch ultimately demonstrates a more merciful sense of pragmatism than the psychopathic Chigurh. A self-described nihilist (which also echoes the philosophy of German technopop stars-turned-kidnappers in The Big Lebowski), Munch reveals himself to be over 500 years old, doomed to immortality as a sin-eater from 16th century Wales… delivered by fate to 21st century Minnesota. Continue reading
The Pink Panther: Clouseau’s Après-ski Sweater
Peter Sellers with Claudia Cardinale in The Pink Panther (1963)
Vitals
Peter Sellers as Jacques Clouseau, bumbling Sûreté investigator
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Winter 1963
Film: The Pink Panther
Release Date: December 18, 1963
Director: Blake Edwards
Wardrobe Supervisor: Annalisa Nasalli-Rocca
Background
Four months after it premiered in Italy on December 18, 1963 (the same day that Brad Pitt was born, for what it’s worth), The Pink Panther was released in the United States sixty years ago this March, introducing audiences to the inept Inspector Clouseau portrayed by Peter Sellers.
Though future installments would focus more intentionally on Sellers’ pratfall-laden performance as Clouseau, The Pink Panther was initially more of a stylish, star-studded caper, set in the favorite winter destination for Camelot-era jet-setters: Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Italian Alps.
Clouseau is in the midst of his investigation into a prolific jewel thief known only as “the Phantom” when joining his wife Simone (Capucine) in Cortina, where we learn Simone had been planning to meet her lover, the dashing Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven)—who happens to be the mysterious Phantom that Clouseau had been chasing. Adding to the complication is the unexpected arrival of Sir Charles’ mischievous nephew and protege George (Robert Wagner) and the target of Charles and Simone’s next heist: the glamorous Princess Dala (Claudia Cardinale) and her princess gem called “The Pink Panther”.
Of course, Clouseau never suspects any of the intrigue happening right under his nose as he joins the buttoned-up insurance investigator Tucker (Colin Gordon) and the elegant après-ski set in the hotel lounge during a random but Fran-tastic performance of Henry Mancini’s samba “It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio stasera)”. Continue reading
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Bernard Horsfall as Shaun Campbell
Bernard Horsfall as Shaun Campbell in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
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Bernard Horsfall as Shaun Campbell, doomed MI6 agent
Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, December 1969
Film: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Release Date: December 18, 1969
Director: Peter R. Hunt
Costume Designer: Marjory Cornelius
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On the 00-7th of December, let’s return to the Alps in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the 1969 James Bond movie that distinguishes itself both as 007’s only adventure to date that’s decidedly set during the Christmas holidays and the only time Australian actor George Lazenby starred as the sophisticated secret agent.
Lazenby’s Bond arrives by train in Bern, where he’s observed from behind the latest issue of the Daily Express by a mysterious fellow agent, listed in the credits as “Campbell” though I don’t believe he’s ever referred to by name on screen. Continue reading
Die Another Day: Bond’s Turtleneck and Diving Gear in Iceland
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Die Another Day (2002).
Photo sourced from thunderballs.org.
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, smooth British government agent
Iceland, Winter 2002
Film: Die Another Day
Release Date: November 20, 2002
Director: Lee Tamahori
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Keep warm on this chilly 00-7th of February! Some of 007’s cinematic adventures are ideal “summer movies” (looking at you, Thunderball) while other adventures that follow Mr. Bond into snowy surroundings feel more appropriate to watch around this time of the year. Pierce Brosnan made his fourth and final appearance as James Bond in Die Another Day, which—with its Icelandic ice palace and cozy turtlenecks—clearly falls into the latter.
Warren Beatty in McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Warren Beatty as John McCabe in McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Vitals
Warren Beatty as John McCabe, enterprising gambler and pimp
Presbyterian Church, Washington, Fall to winter 1902
Film: McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Release Date: June 24, 1971
Director: Robert Altman
Wardrobe Credit: Ilse Richter
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
There are moments every January where I envy the idiosyncratic wardrobe of John McCabe, warmly swaddled in hefty furs as he trots into the humble hamlet of Presbyterian Church, Washington, scored by Leonard Cohen’s mournful baritone.
One of the most prolific pioneers of the “New Hollywood” movement that began in the 1960s, Robert Altman followed up his maverick success with MASH (1970) and his artistic experiment with Brewster McCloud (1970) by setting his sights on one of the most venerated genres in American cinema. Altman and Brian McKay adapted a 1959 novel by Edmund Naughton to deliver McCabe & Mrs. Miller, which the director would ultimately deem an “anti-Western” for its subversion of genre conventions and expectations. Continue reading
Keith David in The Thing
Keith David in The Thing (1982)
Vitals
Keith David as Childs, skeptical research facility chief mechanic
Antarctica, Winter 1982
Film: The Thing
Release Date: June 25, 1982
Director: John Carpenter
Costume Supervisors: Ronald I. Caplan, Trish Keating, and Gilbert Loe
Background
One of my favorite movies to watch in the middle of winter is The Thing, a personal favorite of its director John Carpenter, who celebrates his 75th birthday tomorrow. For The Thing‘s 40th anniversary last year, I wrote about its lead protagonist—helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell)—though there’s plenty of unique wintry wardrobe choices among the research crew of U.S. Outpost 31.
Keith David made his major film debut as chief mechanic Childs, launching his prolific career in a versatile range of movies from the serious likes of Platoon (1986) and Requiem for a Dream (2000) to comedies like There’s Something About Mary (1998) and The Nice Guys (2016), most recently appearing in Nope (2022). Continue reading
The Rocky IV Shearling Jacket
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV (1985)
Vitals
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, two-time heavyweight world champion boxer
Krasnogorsk, Russia, Winter 1985
Film: Rocky IV
Release Date: November 27, 1985
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Costume Designer: Tom Bronson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“New year, new you” messaging seems to dominate the beginning of every January, and what character better embodies getting in shape than the Italian Stallion and his famous training montages?
Steve Buscemi in Fargo
Steve Buscemi as Carl Showalter in Fargo (1996)
Vitals
Steve Buscemi as Carl Showalter, loquacious kidnapper
Minnesota, Winter 1987
Film: Fargo
Release Date: March 8, 1996
Director: Joel & Ethan Coen
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 65th birthday to Steve Buscemi, born in Brooklyn on December 13, 1957. After serving as a New York City firefighter in the early ’80s (and volunteering again the day after 9/11), Buscemi steadily became an increasingly familiar face in movies and TV, particularly films depicted by Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers. 1996 was a breakthrough year for Buscemi, who wrote and directed his first feature—the excellent Trees Lounge—and co-starred as the “funny-lookin'” crook Carl Showalter in the Coens’ acclaimed wintry black comedy Fargo.
Rambo: First Blood
Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo in First Blood (1982)
Vitals
Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, tough and resourceful Vietnam veteran who’s more than “just another smart-ass drifter”
Hope County, Washington, December 1981
Film: First Blood
Release Date: October 22, 1982
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Costume Designer: Tom Bronson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Six years after exploding to stardom having written and starred in Rocky, Sylvester Stallone returned to a similar formula playing a tough guy with a heart of gold and unbreakable determination whose five-letter name began with an “R” in First Blood, adapted by Stallone, Michael Kozoll, and William Sackheim from David Morrell’s 1972 novel of the same name, with Morrell himself having said that he prefers the film over his own novel! Continue reading