Tagged: Corduroy Suit
Christmas Eve in The Holdovers: Paul’s Corduroy Three-Piece Suit and Duffel Coat
Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers (2023)
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Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, cantankerous boarding school professor
Massachusetts, Christmas Eve 1970
Film: The Holdovers
Release Date: October 27, 2023
Director: Alexander Payne
Costume Designer: Wendy Chuck
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The release of The Holdovers last year filled a long-needed gap in theatrically released holiday canon, offering a fresh yet timeless addition to the roster of rewatchable Christmas movies. Directed by Alexander Payne, the movie is set during Christmas 1970 at the fictional Barton Academy boarding school in New England, where a group of students not going home for the holidays are chaperoned by a skeleton crew of the school’s staff.
After all but one are given the opportunity to leave before Christmas, the remaining student—the bright but troubled Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa)—remains behind under the watchful lazy eye of resentful classics professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti). Paul’s few friends on staff include the cheerful administrator Lydia Crane (Carrie Preston) and the cafeteria manager Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is mourning her son’s recent death in Vietnam.
Lydia invites them to spend Christmas Eve at her home, but Paul’s reluctance frustrates both Angus and Mary, who confronts him:
Mr. Hunham, if you are too chickenshit to go to this party, then just say that. But don’t fuck it up for the little asshole! What’s wrong with you? It’s just a party… what are you afraid of?
The Holdovers: Paul Giamatti’s Tan Corduroy Suit and Sweater Vest
Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers (2023)
Vitals
Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, cantankerous boarding school professor
Massachusetts, Winter 1970/1971
Film: The Holdovers
Release Date: October 27, 2023
Director: Alexander Payne
Costume Designer: Wendy Chuck
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of my favorite new releases in 2023 is The Holdovers, Alexander Payne’s comedy-drama centered around the skeleton staff chaperoning a group of boarding school students who aren’t going home for the holidays.
Set through the 1970 winter break, The Holdovers centers around the cranky classics professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), an odorous, lazy-eyed loner whose few friends among the Barton Academy staff include cafeteria manager Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and administrator Lydia Crane (Carrie Preston). After four of the five students are given the opportunity to leave Barton days before Christmas, Paul and the remaining student—the bright but troubled Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa)—transform their mutual dislike into a surprising bond.
As many are returning to work and school this week after the holidays, let’s take a deeper look at Paul’s classic Ivy fashions that he wears to bookend the Barton Academy holiday break. Continue reading
Kirk Douglas in The Brotherhood: Corduroy in Sicily
Kirk Douglas as Frank Ginetta in The Brotherhood (1968)
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Kirk Douglas as Frank Ginetta, Sicilian-American mob boss
Sicily, Spring 1968
Film: The Brotherhood
Release Date: December 25, 1968
Director: Martin Ritt
Costume Designer: Ruth Morley
Background
On what would have been Kirk Douglas’ 105th birthday, today’s post recognizes a unique passion project among the prolific actor’s varied filmography. Though he’d been an uncredited producer on more than a dozen movies, Douglas had only been listed as a producer on Spartacus before he selected The Brotherhood as the next production to carry his name. Despite some valid feedback that he may not be the right visual type for the leading role of Sicilian-born gangster Frank Ginetta, Douglas welcomed the acting challenge… and the help of some dye to darken a newly grown mustache in addition to his famous coiff. Continue reading
Psycho: Norman Bates in Corduroy
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in Psycho (1960)
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Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, mother-obsessed motel proprietor and amateur bird taxidermist
Fairvale, California, Fall 1959
Film: Psycho
Release Date: September 8, 1960
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Rita Riggs (uncredited)
Costume Supervisor: Helen Colvig
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
A boy’s best friend is his mother…
Alfred Hitchcock would probably find some dark humor in choosing Mother’s Day to focus on Psycho, the story of a young man’s complicated relationship with his mother.
James Coburn’s Corduroy Suit in Charade
James Coburn as Tex Panthollow in Charade (1963)
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James Coburn as Tex Panthollow, larcenous former OSS commando
Paris, April 1963
Film: Charade
Release Date: December 5, 1963
Director: Stanley Donen
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As portrayed by the brilliant and versatile James Coburn, Tex Panthollow makes his dramatic introduction in the beginning of Charade as the second of three mysterious men who show up to “pay respects” at the funeral of their one-time brother-in-arms Charles Lampert, each one increasingly perplexing his widow Reggie (Audrey Hepburn) with their behavior. Par examplum: Tex draws a hand-sized mirror from his inside breast pocket and holds it directly under the deceased’s nose to ensure that he’s really passed from this world before sneering: “Arrive-derci, Charlie.”
All the President’s Men: Woodward’s Corduroy Suit
Robert Redford as Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men (1976)
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Robert Redford as Bob Woodward, investigative journalist for The Washington Post
Washington, D.C., Summer 1972
Film: All the President’s Men
Release Date: April 9, 1976
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Costume Supervisor: Bernie Pollack
Background
In the spirit of the U.S. midterm elections tomorrow, I’m exploring one of my favorite political-themed movies, the 1976 thriller All the President’s Men based on the real-life investigative reporting of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal that led to Richard Nixon’s resignation as U.S. President.
June 18, 1972: Woodward had only been at The Washington Post for nine months when he was assigned to cover the arrest of five burglars who had been caught breaking into the DNC office at the Watergate hotel complex the previous evening. As Woodward continued to investigate with fellow Post reporter Carl Bernstein, the once-minor story connects the break-in to campaign contributions for Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (aptly nicknamed “CREEP”), revealing then-unprecedented levels of political corruption. Continue reading
Sidney Reilly’s Corduroy Suit in Manchuria
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 2: “Prelude to War”)
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Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, shrewd Russian-born British government triple agent
Port Arthur, China (then Manchuria), February 1904
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “Prelude to War” (Episode 2)
Air Date: September 7, 1983
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
Today’s Throwback Tuesday installment throws us all the way back to February 1904 on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War. According to Reilly: Ace of Spies, the newly minted Sidney Reilly is stationed in Port Arthur, Manchuria, ostensibly under the cover of a shipping agent but secretly working with the Japanese military developing their plans for a sneak attack to take the port away from the Russians. Reilly is shown to be a cold pragmatist, working with Japan against his better judgement and dispassionate regarding his poor wife, Margaret (Jeananne Crowley), whom he had married three years earlier after the mysterious* death of her clergic husband.
* Reverend Hugh Thomas’s death was even more mysterious in real life, with many suspecting that Reilly posed as a doctor in order to poison the clergyman.