Tagged: Corduroy Jacket
Taxi Driver: De Niro’s Date-ready Maroon Corduroy Jacket as Travis Bickle
Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, disturbed taxi driver and Vietnam War veteran
New York City, Spring 1976
Film: Taxi Driver
Release Date: February 9, 1976
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Ruth Morley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Ahead of Robert De Niro’s birthday tomorrow, let’s celebrate Taxi Driver‘s 50th anniversary this year by seeing how well Travis Bickle cleans himself up for a date. Paul Schrader’s screenplay indicates the importance of Travis making a good impression on the more sophisticated campaign volunteer Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) by describing his approach:
TRAVIS, dressed to the teeth, walks brightly down the sidewalk. His face is freshly shaved, his hair combed, his tie straightened.
Of course, while Travis may know enough to look the part, he hasn’t quite grasped the concept of taking his first date literally anywhere but a porn palace. Continue reading
This Property Is Condemned: Robert Redford’s Depression-era Cap and Corduroy
Robert Redford and Natalie Wood in This Property Is Condemned (1966)
Vitals
Robert Redford as Owen Legate, railroad representative
Mississippi, Summer 1931
Film: This Property Is Condemned
Release Date: August 3, 1966
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Robert Redford was on the verge of stardom when he was cast as the romantic lead opposite Natalie Wood in This Property is Condemned, released sixty years ago this week on August 3, 1966 and marking the late actor’s first of seven collaborations with director Sydney Pollack.
Set in the fictional Mississippi town of Dodson (but actually filmed in the Gulf Coast city of Bay St. Louis) during the Great Depression, Redford stars as Owen Legate—a representative of the railroad that provides much of Dodson’s economic base. He literally drops into Dodson by the night train, dusting off his trousers and striding up to a raucous boarding house where the owner’s daughter, Willie Starr (Mary Badham), introduces him to rent a room from her mother, Hazel (Kate Reid), during Hazel’s 43rd birthday party. She comments “a buck is a buck” when he pays for a week’s worth in advance, prompting him to quip back “if you’re lucky” to her delight.
His room and board secured, Owen lingers around the periphery of the party, eating fried chicken and eventually meeting Willie’s older sister Alva (Natalie Wood). The popular Miss Alva sets her flirtatious sights on Owen, until he insults her by implying that “if you come with the room, if you’re included with the two meals, then let’s get on with it.” Continue reading
James Stewart’s Western Gear as The Man from Laramie
James Stewart in The Man from Laramie (1955)
Vitals
James Stewart as Will Lockhart, freight hauler and former cavalry officer
New Mexico, Late 1870s
Film: The Man from Laramie
Release Date: September 20, 1955
Director: Anthony Mann
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Since 2008, the National Day of the Cowboy has been observed on the fourth Saturday in July to recognize the spirit of the pioneering men and women who helped establish the American West. James Stewart’s homespun persona naturally lent itself to Western cinema as the actor’s prolific Western filmography includes Destry Rides Again (1939), Winchester ’73 (1950), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and John Wayne’s swan song The Shootist (1976). Among these, Stewart recalled that his favorite Western was his eighth and final collaboration with director Anthony Mann: The Man from Laramie. Continue reading
Body Double: Craig Wasson’s Tan Corduroy Sport Jacket
Craig Wasson and Deborah Shelton in Body Double (1984)
Vitals
Craig Wasson as Jake Scully, sensitive struggling actor
Los Angeles, January 1984
Film: Body Double
Release Date: October 26, 1984
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Gloria Gresham
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After a long, cold winter, the promise of a milder spring invites us to trade heavy wool coats and thick sweaters for lighter, transitional layers—think the corduroy-anchored wardrobe of Jake Scully in Brian De Palma’s Hitchcock-inspired Body Double. This 1984 erotic thriller stars Craig Wasson (born 72 years ago today on March 15, 1954) as Jake, a claustrophobic struggling actor who loses his most promising gig, his girlfriend, and his apartment in one swift collapse.
The cuckolded Jake ultimately stumbles into a promising new arrangement, house-sitting a swingin’ Hollywood Hills pad for the enigmatic Sam (Gregg Henry), who explains it’s “one struggling actor helpin’ out another, that’s what it’s all about, right?” Filmed at the John Lautner-designed modernist Chemosphere off Mulholland Drive, the joint comes with a telescope conveniently pointed into the neighboring home of striking brunette Gloria Revelle (Deborah Shelton).
Jake’s voyeurism grows over the next few days of watching Gloria’s onanistic dancing until he believes she has a more dangerous stalker and takes matters into his own hands, drawing him into a horny Rear Window-meets-Vertigo intrigue that includes an adult film star named Holly Body (Melanie Griffith) and a murder-by-power-drill incident. Continue reading
The Amityville Horror: James Brolin’s Corduroy Jacket and Cargo Pants
James Brolin and Margot Kidder in The Amityville Horror (1979)
Vitals
James Brolin as George Lutz, surveyor and stepdad
Long Island, New York, Fall 1975
Film: The Amityville Horror
Release Date: July 27, 1979
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Men’s Costumes: Richard Butz
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Fifty years ago next month, George Lutz and his family moved into 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville on the south shore of Long Island. Amity, as you know, means friendship (as the mayor in Jaws has made clear), but there’s nothing friendly about the paranormal activity that drove the Lutz family from that Dutch Colonial Revival house after only 28 days.
Though the veracity of the events have been called into question (and, I believe, generally debunked), they remain in the forefront of public consciousness thanks to Jay Anson’s 1977 book The Amityville Horror and its subsequent film adaptations—the best-known and best-regarded of which being the 1979 horror thriller of the same name starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder as George and Kathy Lutz. Continue reading
Rock Hudson’s Corduroy Jacket on McMillan & Wife (“Murder by the Barrel”)
Rock Hudson on McMillan and Wife (Episode 1.01: “Murder by the Barrel”)
Vitals
Rock Hudson as Stuart “Mac” McMillan, San Francisco police commissioner and former defense attorney
San Francisco, Fall 1971
Series: McMillan & Wife
Episode: “Murder by the Barrel” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 29, 1971
Director: John Astin
Creator: Leonard B. Stern
Costumes: Burton Miller
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Screen icon Rock Hudson was born 100 years ago today on November 17, 1925. After launching his career as a romantic leading man through the 1950s and ’60s, Hudson redefined the second phase of his career with a dramatic role in John Frankenheimer’s excellent experimental drama Seconds (1966) and the espionage thriller Ice Station Zebra (1968)—the latter a favorite of both Hudson himself and eccentric superfan Howard Hughes. Unsatisfied with the screen roles he was being offered, even after creating his own production companies, Hudson turned to television with the mystery series McMillan & Wife.
Hudson starred as San Francisco police commissioner Stuart “Mac” McMillan with Susan Saint James as his titular wife, Sally. The series may be the closest spiritual successor to The Thin Man films, as Mac and Sally’s witty banter and affectionate, equal-footed partnership recall the dynamic charm of William Powell and Myrna Loy’s Nick and Nora Charles. What sets McMillan & Wife apart from contemporaries, however, is that Mac isn’t a typical TV detective but a high-ranking commissioner, whose background as a criminal defense attorney gives him a greater familiarity with the city’s crooks and their cohorts.
Like the other NBC Mystery Movie pilots that debuted during the 1971-1972 season (specifically Columbo and McCloud), McMillan & Wife became a hit and the first canonical episode, “Murder by the Barrel”, aired less than two weeks later after its feature-length debut. 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
And Justice for All: Al Pacino’s Corduroy Jacket on Thanksgiving
Al Pacino in …And Justice for All (1979)
Vitals
Al Pacino as Arthur Kirkland, determined defense attorney
Baltimore, Fall and Winter 1978
Film: …And Justice for All
Release Date: October 19, 1979
Director: Norman Jewison
Costume Designer: Ruth Myers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Al Pacino closed out the 1970s with his fifth Academy Award-nominated performance, portraying frazzled Baltimore lawyer Arthur Kirkland in Norman Jewison’s 1979 dark comedy …And Justice for All, satirizing the American legal system.
Kirkland’s host of issues that follow him through the fall and holiday season include troublesome clients like the unfairly arrested Jeff McCullaugh (Thomas Waites) and weekly visits to his steadfast but increasingly senile grandfather Sam (Lee Strasberg), whom he brings to Thanksgiving dinner with Sam’s slightly sharper friend Arnie (Sam Levene). Continue reading
Society of the Snow: Numa Turcatti’s Corduroy Trucker Jacket
Enzo Vogrincic as Numa Turcatti in Society of the Snow (2023)
Photo by Quim Vives
Vitals
Enzo Vogrincic as Numa Turcatti, Uruguayan law student and college soccer player
Andes Mountains, Fall 1972
Film: Society of the Snow
(Spanish title: La sociedad de la nieve)
Release Date: December 13, 2023
Director: J.A. Bayona
Costume Designer: Julio Suárez
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On October 13th, 1972, an Uruguayan plane crashed in the Andean mountain range. Forty of us passengers and five crew members were on board the plane. Some say it was a tragedy, others call it a miracle. What really happened? What happens when the world abandons you? When you have no clothes and you’re freezing? When you have no food and you’re dying? The answer is in the mountain. We have to go back to the past to understand that the past is what changes the most…
Society of the Snow begins with the narration of Numa Turcatti (Enzo Vogrincic), a 24-year-old law student and footballer encouraged by friends to buy a cheap plane ticket to Chile on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, joining his friend Gastón Costemalle (LOUTA) who was traveling with the Old Christians Rugby Club to play a match in Santiago. The flight departed from Montevideo 52 years ago today, followed by an overnight stop in Mendoza, Argentina.
The following day—Friday the 13th of October, 1972—Numa became one of 33 initial survivors when this FH-227D crashed into the Andes just inside the Argentinian side of the Chilean border. Numa’s narration describes this inhospitable pocket of nature where the temperature plunges to −22 °F at night as “a place where life is impossible.”
While official search efforts were called off after the first eight days, the young men endured a total of 72 days through an inspiring mix of fierce determination, resourcefulness, and teamwork, all while continually facing hardships like injury, disease, extreme weather, and avalanches that reduced them to less than half of their number. With an already dwindling food supply exhausted, the small group of remaining survivors resorted to cannibalism of their dead companions to stay alive—an unimaginable decision yet one that almost certainly saved the lives of the sixteen who were ultimately rescued in December 1972.
Skillfully directed by J.A. Bayona, Society of the Snow doesn’t shy away from these more disturbing facts of the incident while remaining a tasteful retelling that celebrates the survival of these sixteen while simultaneously honoring the memory of the dead. Wendy Ide of ScreenDaily cited the latter as one of the film’s greatest strengths, applauding that “Bayona is at pains to ensure that the voices that are foregrounded are not necessarily those of the crash victims who eventually make it home.” 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
You must be logged in to post a comment.