Tagged: Cowboy Boots
Moonrunners: Kiel Martin’s Fringed Buckskin Jacket and Blue Jeans
Kiel Martin in Moonrunners (1975)
Vitals
Kiel Martin as Bobby Lee Hagg, daredevil moonshine driver and part-time guitar picker
Georgia, Fall 1973
Film: Moonrunners
Release Date: May 14, 1975
Director: Gy Waldron
Costume Designer: Patty Shaw
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Two rambunctious and fast-driving cousins speed through a fictional county in the deep south, running moonshine for their uncle Jesse while evading local sheriff Roscoe Coltrane and his connections to a corrupt local crime boss who drives a white Cadillac—all set to the music and homespun voiceover of outlaw country legend Waylon Jennings. And no, I’m not talking about The Dukes of Hazzard.
Four years before the Dukes debuted on CBS, Gy Waldron’s B-movie Moonrunners premiered in drive-in theaters across the South fifty years ago tomorrow on May 14, 1975.
Moonrunners could have been lost in the traffic jam of cheap ’70s hick flicks about moonshine and muscle cars until it was plucked from potential obscurity by Warner Brothers’ perplexing—but indeed prophetic—suggestion that it could form the basis for a successful TV show. Now best known as the rawer progenitor to The Dukes of Hazzard, Moonrunners has essentially all the same elements and characters but distilled into a dirtier, hornier jar of shine—seasoned with the visceral authenticity that comes from filming on location in rural Georgia and not a WB backlot. Continue reading
Justifed: Raylan’s Pilot Episode Charcoal Pinstripe Suit Jacket and Jeans
Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in the pilot episode (“Fire in the Hole”) of Justified.
(Photo by: Prashant Gupta, FX)
Vitals
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, proudly old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal
Miami to Kentucky, March 2010
Series: Justified
Episode: “Fire in the Hole” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: March 16, 2010
Director: Michael Dinner
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree
Background
Inspired by a selection of Elmore Leonard stories like “Fire in the Hole”, Justified premiered 15 years ago this week on March 16, 2010.
The series began with a literal bang as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) demonstrated his quick trigger finger by outdrawing a “gun thug” in his assigned territory of Miami. Though he frequently insists “it was justified,” Raylan is ordered by his superiors to leave Miami, reassigned to the Lexington field office in his home turf of eastern Kentucky where he used to dig coal with now-criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins).
“We weren’t what you call buddies, but you work a deep mine with a man, you look out for each other,” Raylan reflects of his and Boyd’s initial acquaintanceship. Continue reading
“Hey, Mr. Sporting Goods!” Llewelyn’s Fancy-Striped Shirt in No Country for Old Men
Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men (2007)
Vitals
Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss, ex-welder and Vietnam War vet on the run
El Paso, Texas, Summer 1980
Film: No Country for Old Men
Release Date: November 9, 2007
Director: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 57th birthday to Josh Brolin! Born February 12, 1968 to casting director Jane Cameron and actor James Brolin, Josh starred in The Goonies as a teen before his career resurgence as an adult following his celebrated performance as Llewelyn Moss in the Coen brothers’ 2007 masterpiece No Country for Old Men, faithfully adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name. Continue reading
Heaven Can Wait: Warren Beatty’s Leather Jacket
Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Vitals
Warren Beatty as Joe Pendleton, L.A. Rams quarterback
Los Angeles, February 1978
Film: Heaven Can Wait
Release Date: June 28, 1978
Directed by: Warren Beatty & Buck Henry
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Ahead of the Super Bowl this weekend, one of the movies that the big game always brings to mind for me is Heaven Can Wait, Warren Beatty and Buck Henry’s 1978 remake of Harry Segall’s 1930s play of the same name, which had already been adapted for the screen in 1941 as Here Comes Mr. Jordan.
Beatty stars as Joe Pendleton, an affably simple-minded backup quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams whose sole ambition is to lead his team to the Super Bowl. Continue reading
Hour of the Gun: James Garner’s “Vendetta Ride” Wardrobe as Wyatt Earp
James Garner as Wyatt Earp in Hour of the Gun (1967)
Vitals
James Garner as Wyatt Earp, taciturn Deputy U.S. Marshal
Arizona Territory to Mexico, Spring 1882
Film: Hour of the Gun
Release Date: November 1, 1967
Director: John Sturges
Wardrobe Credit: Gordon T. Dawson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
A decade after he released Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1957, director John Sturges returned to the legendary gunfight at Tombstone, Arizona for his continuation of the story, Hour of the Gun. While Gunfight at the O.K. Corral fictionalized the events leading up to the titular confrontation, Hour of the Gun begins with the showdown followed by a slightly more fact-based retelling of the “vendetta ride” led by Wyatt Earp, who died 96 years ago today on January 13, 1929. Continue reading
Lee Van Cleef as “Angel Eyes” in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Lee Van Cleef in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Vitals
Lee Van Cleef as “Angel Eyes”, ruthless mercenary
New Mexico Territory, Spring 1862
Film: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
(Italian title: Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo)
Release Date: December 23, 1966
Director: Sergio Leone
Costume Designer: Carlo Simi
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 100th birthday of Lee Van Cleef, the actor whose Golden Boot Award-winning contributions to the Western genre began with his debut performance in the iconic High Noon (1952) but remains arguably best known for his back-to-back roles in the latter two films of Sergio Leone’s “Dollars trilogy” that established the spaghetti Western subgenre.
Born January 9, 1925 in New Jersey, Van Cleef served in the U.S. Navy aboard a minesweeper during World War II. Following his debut in High Noon, Van Cleef’s distinctive appearance and sinister mannerisms resulted in a string of supporting—and often villainous—roles in crime stories and Westerns until his breakout role as Colonel Douglas Mortimer in Leone’s For a Few Dollars More (1965), which resulted in his sole Golden Globe nomination.
Leone followed For a Few Dollars More with the Civil War-set The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly—the final installment of his so-called “Dollars trilogy”—which also prominently co-starred Van Cleef opposite Clint Eastwood’s stoic “Man with No Name”. As opposed to the more heroic Colonel Mortimer whose violent quest was driven by a sense of justice, Van Cleef’s character in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly embodied the eponymous “Bad”—a sadistic assassin who kills for money… and occasionally pleasure. Continue reading
Midnight Cowboy: Jon Voight as Joe Buck
Jon Voight as Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Vitals
Jon Voight as Joe Buck, naïve Texan wannabe gigolo and Army veteran
New York City, Summer through Winter 1968
Film: Midnight Cowboy
Release Date: May 25, 1969
Director: John Schlesinger
Costume Designer: Ann Roth
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Harry Nilsson recorded his cover of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin'” 57 years ago this week on November 13, 1967. This Grammy-winning folk hit has since become inextricably linked with the 1969 drama Midnight Cowboy—which celebrated its 55th anniversary in May—after director John Schlesinger chose it as the film’s theme song.
Adapted by Waldo Salt from James Leo Herlihy’s 1965 novel of the same name, Midnight Cowboy received a controversial if critically acclaimed response upon its release. Six months earlier, the MPAA implemented its voluntary rating system to classify age suitability for major releases, replacing the increasingly outdated “Hays Code” that had been enforced since the early 1930s. Midnight Cowboy was one of the first mainstream movies to be rated “X”, which forbade any audience members under age 17 to be admitted and was reserved for movies demonstrating the most extreme sexual themes, graphic violence or language. Despite the stigma of this dramatically restrictive rating, Midnight Cowboy was the third highest-grossing American movie released in 1969 and won three of the seven Oscars for which it was nominated—Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay—and it remains the only movie with an X (or equivalent NC-17) rating to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Continue reading
Silkwood: Kurt Russell’s A-2 Deck Jacket
Kurt Russell in Silkwood (1983)
Vitals
Kurt Russell as Drew Stephens, mechanic and former nuclear plant technician
Oklahoma, Fall 1974
Film: Silkwood
Release Date: December 14, 1983
Director: Mike Nichols
Costume Designer: Ann Roth
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Fifty years ago tonight, chemical technician and labor activist Karen Silkwood died in a mysterious car accident near Crescent, Oklahoma. Silkwood had recently testified to the Atomic Energy Commission about safety concerns at the Kerr-McGee Corporation plant where she worked and was subsequently found to be contaminated with plutonium.
On the evening of November 13, 1974, the 28-year-old Silkwood was en route to meet a journalist from the New York Times and her national union representative when her white 1973 Honda Civic crashed into the wall of a concrete culvert off Highway 74, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Contemporary findings strongly suggested foul play, though it was more likely that her pursuer’s intent was to intimidate Silkwood rather than to kill her.
The tumultuous last year of Karen Silkwood’s life was depicted in Mike Nichols’ 1983 drama Silkwood, starring Meryl Streep as the titular technician, Cher as her co-worker and roommate, and Kurt Russell as her boyfriend and fellow Kerr-McGee colleague Drew Stephens. Continue reading
Kris Kristofferson’s Brown Suede Jacket as Cisco Pike
Kris Kristofferson on the cover of his 1971 album The Silver Tongued Devil and I, photographed by Baron Wolman the previous year while in costume for Cisco Pike (1973).
Vitals
Kris Kristofferson as Cisco Pike, down-on-his-luck musician and former drug dealer
Venice Beach, California, Fall 1970
Film: Cisco Pike
Release Date: January 14, 1972
Director: Bill L. Norton
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
He’s a poet, he’s a picker, he’s a prophet, he’s a pusher, he’s a pilgrim and a preacher and a problem when he’s stoned. He’s a walkin’ contradiction—partly truth and partly fiction—takin’ every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
In tribute to the late outlaw country icon who died one month ago today at the age of 88, I recently received a great suggestion from a BAMF Style reader to cover the style that Kris Kristofferson wore in Bill L. Norton’s directorial debut Cisco Pike. Continue reading
Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story
Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight in The Straight Story (1999)
Vitals
Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight, septuagenarian retiree
Across the Midwest from Iowa to Wisconsin, Fall 1994
Film: The Straight Story
Release Date: October 15, 1999
Director: David Lynch
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Background
Perhaps the most accessible and mainstream entry in David Lynch’s electric filmography (and the only one to be rated G), The Straight Story was released 25 years ago this week on October 15, 1999. The film depicts the real-life journey undertaken by Alvin Straight, a retired laborer who rode a lawn mower for 240 miles from Laurens, Iowa to Mount Zion, Wisconsin to visit and make amends with his ailing older brother after the latter’s stroke.
Born 104 years ago today on October 17, 1920, Alvin Straight had served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War, but diabetes and emphysema had taken their toll on his health over the following decades to the point where he couldn’t see well enough to receive a driver’s license. Undeterred, the 73-year-old widower set out eastward in July 1994 on an old John Deere riding mower with a homemade trailer in tow, sticking to highway shoulders and side roads at a top speed of five miles per hour. Continue reading
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