Tagged: Criminal
Heat: Val Kilmer’s Gray Glen Plaid Bank-Robbery Suit
Val Kilmer in Heat (1995)
Vitals
Val Kilmer as Chris Shiherlis, professional armed robber
Los Angeles, Spring 1995
Film: Heat
Release Date: December 15, 1995
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
R.I.P. Val Kilmer (1959-2025)
After becoming the youngest student ever accepted into Juilliard’s prestigious Drama Division at the time, Kilmer rose to fame through a streak of memorable ’80s hits like Top Secret! (1984), Real Genius (1985), and Top Gun (1986). The ’90s saw Kilmer take on a range of leading roles, from his magnetic turn as Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991) to donning the cape in Batman Forever (1995), as well as his scene-stealing performance as the sardonic and tubercular Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993).
Kilmer followed that success with another standout role in Heat (1995), Michael Mann’s masterful crime epic that celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Kilmer plays Chris Shiherlis, a reliable criminal but not-so-reliable husband, part of a tight-knit crew led by the calculating Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro). Hoping that one last big score will salvage his unraveling marriage, Shiherlis throws in on a high-stakes heist at the Far East National Bank in downtown Los Angeles. “The bank is worth the risk. I need it, brother,” he tells McCauley. Continue reading
Dillinger (1973): Harry Dean Stanton’s Raccoon Coat as a Doomed Homer Van Meter
Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter in Dillinger (1973)
Vitals
Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter, doomed and desperate Depression-era bandit
Wisconsin, Spring 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Ninety years ago today in the late afternoon of Sunday, August 23, 1934, a 28-year-old named Homer Van Meter was rushing to keep an appointment in St. Paul, Minnesota. The tall, slender Hoosier nicknamed “Wayne” had been arrested multiple times and was currently wanted for the string of armed robberies and murders committed during his tenure with the infamous John Dillinger gang, which had all but crumbled after its eponymous leader was killed in Chicago a month and a day earlier.
The saga of the Dillinger gang continues to inspire an abundance of books and films, including the fiercely entertaining 1973 movie Dillinger. Written and directed by John Milius in his directorial debut, Dillinger dramatizes the facts and folks associated with the gang, benefiting from the involvement of Clarence Hurt, a retired FBI agent who was part of ace agent Melvin Purvis’ team and present when Dillinger was killed in July 1934.
Led by Warren Oates and Ben Johnson as Dillinger and Purvis, respectively, Dillinger‘s cast includes some of the most recognizable and reliable supporting players of the ’70s filling out the ranks of Dillinger’s gang, including Steve Kanaly, Geoffrey Lewis, John P. Ryan, a young Richard Dreyfuss as “Baby Face” Nelson, and Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter. Continue reading
Al Pacino in Scarface: Tony Montana’s Red Tiger-Print Shirt
Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)
Vitals
Al Pacino as Tony Montana, fearless dishwasher-turned-drug courier
Miami Beach, Spring 1981
Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As this hot summer stretches into the first “Aloha Friday” of August, let’s flashback to the ’80s and Al Pacino’s explosive performance in Brian De Palma’s crime classic Scarface. The film was actually a remake of a 1932 gangster classic of the same name, which had been adapted from Armitage Trail’s contemporary novel… and which itself was loosely inspired by the infamous Al Capone. Oliver Stone’s screenplay updated the story for the ’80s by conceptualizing Pacino’s criminal protagonist Tony Montana as one of the approximately 125,000 Cuban refugees who arrived in Miami during the 1980 Mariel boatlift.
Failing to envision his low-wage dishwashing job as a step on the path toward money and power, Tony enlists his charismatic comrade Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) to take a job by the hotheaded Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) to broker a cocaine deal at the oceanside Sunray Motel in Miami Beach. Continue reading
Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition
Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition (2002)
Vitals
Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, recently widowed Irish mob enforcer and dedicated father
The Midwest, Winter 1931
Film: Road to Perdition
Release Date: July 12, 2002
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
Tailor: John David Ridge
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“Natural law… sons were put on this earth to trouble their fathers,” avuncular mob boss John Rooney (Paul Newman) advises his top enforcer Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) at a time that both men are facing crises with their respective sons.
Father’s Day feels like the appropriate time to celebrate the style from this unorthodox role for America’s Dad. Tom Hanks pivoted from a career built on playing affable heroes and everymen to a dangerous Depression-era mob hitman in Road to Perdition, Sam Mendes’ 2002 drama adapted by screenwriter David Self from a graphic novel series of the same name by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. Continue reading
Bonnie and Clyde (1967): Warren Beatty’s “Air Ties” and Vests
Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
Vitals
Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow, Depression-era bank robber and gang leader
Across the American South and Midwest, Spring 1932 to 1934
Film: Bonnie & Clyde
Release Date: August 13, 1967
Director: Arthur Penn
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
Background
Ninety years ago today on the morning of May 23, 1934, a light-gray Ford V-8 sedan traveling northeast on a rural Louisiana highway slowed as it approached a truck stopped by the side of the road. Suddenly, volleys of rifle fire peppered the car, obliterating the young couple in the front seat. After an estimated 167 rounds were fired, a half-dozen lawmen emerged from their ambush positions and approached the Ford, in which wanted outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were now unquestionably dead.
Despite their bloody crime spree that left at least a dozen men dead, Bonnie and Clyde captivated the fascination of a Depression-era public that often celebrated the exploits of contemporary outlaws like John Dillinger and “Pretty Boy” Floyd. The scrappy couple was hardly as criminally capable as their fellow “Public Enemies”, but Clyde’s remarkable ability to escape police traps and Bonnie’s frequent involvement added a romantic element that made them a newspaper favorite, especially after the discovery of undeveloped photos depicting the Barrow gang at play, including Bonnie smoking one of Clyde’s cigars—crafting a public image she would greatly resent—and holding him at gunpoint with one of the gang’s cut-down shotguns.
Among the many photos found at the gang’s abandoned Joplin, Missouri hideout after an April 1933 gunfight was this snapshot of Clyde and Bonnie in front of one of their many stolen Ford V-8 coupes, likely photographed earlier that year by their teenage gang member W.D. Jones. In the 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway posed in a similar manner, but this reenactment didn’t make the final cut.
The frequent news coverage during their lifetime ensured that Bonnie and Clyde wouldn’t be quickly forgotten after their deaths, inspiring a string of “couple of the run” crime movies like You Only Live Once (1937) and the films noir They Live By Night (1948) and Gun Crazy (1950). The couple’s story formed the basis for the highly fictionalized The Bonnie Parker Story, an exploitative 1958 quickie from American International Pictures starring Dorothy Provine as the “cigar-smoking hellcat of the roaring thirties” and Jack Hogan as her simping partner-in-crime, uh, “Guy Darrow”.
The outlaw couple would be immortalized on screen after the release of Bonnie & Clyde in 1967, produced by Warren Beatty who also starred as Clyde opposite newcomer Faye Dunaway as a redoubtable Bonnie Parker. Continue reading
Point Blank: Lee Marvin’s Green Suit
Lee Marvin in Point Blank (1967)
Vitals
Lee Marvin as Walker, revenge-driven armed robber
Los Angeles, Summer 1967
Film: Point Blank
Release Date: August 30, 1967
Director: John Boorman
Costume Designer: Margo Weintz
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The legendary Lee Marvin was born 100 years ago today on February 19, 1924. After his service with the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, Marvin began acting on the stage and screen. His lead role on the 1950s police series M Squad elevated him to starring film roles across the ’60s, including The Killers (1964), The Professionals (1966), The Dirty Dozen (1967).
After winning the Academy Award for his performance in the 1965 Western comedy Cat Ballou, Marvin wielded his considerable Hollywood clout for the production of Point Blank, including the selection of English director John Boorman. Continue reading
A Goodfellas Christmas: Jimmy’s Brown Party Suit
Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway, feared mob associate
Queens, New York, December 1978
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Nobody knows for sure just how much was taken in a daring pre-dawn raid at the Lufthansa cargo terminal at Kennedy airport. The FBI says two million dollars, Port Authority Police say four million dollars… it looks like a big one, maybe the biggest this town has ever seen!
Forty-five years ago today on Monday, December 11, 1978, more than $5.8 million in cash and jewelry was stolen from a cargo building at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Considered the most lucrative cash robbery on American soil to date, the heist was orchestrated by James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, a ruthless associate of the Lucchese crime family, one of the New York City Mafia’s infamous “Five Families”.
The Lufthansa heist and its violent aftermath drive much of the final act of Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese’s chronicle of street-level mob life across three decades from the perspective of Burke’s associate, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), who relayed much of the background information essential to the heist’s execution. The robbery itself isn’t depicted on screen, but a radio announcement assures a showering Henry—and the audience—that the job was a success for the mobsters, celebrated that evening with a Christmas party where Jimmy (Robert De Niro)—renamed “Jimmy Conway” for the movie—welcomes Henry with open arms.
Tony Montana’s Blue Striped Suit in Scarface
Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)
Vitals
Al Pacino as Tony Montana, ambitious drug dealer
Miami, Spring 1981
Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Tailor: Tommy Velasco
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Al Pacino introduced the world to his little friend 40 years ago today when Scarface premiered in New York City on December 1, 1983, eight days before it was widely released. Despite initial criticism for its now-famous violence, Scarface surpassed expectations by grossing $66 million globally, doubling its budget and securing its status as one of the most influential and popular gangster movies. Continue reading
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.
Reservoir Dogs — Tim Roth as Mr. Orange
Tim Roth as “Mr. Orange” in Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Vitals
Tim Roth as Freddie Newandyke, aka “Mr. Orange”, member of an armed robbery crew with a deep secret
Los Angeles, Summer 1992
Film: Reservoir Dogs
Release Date: October 9, 1992
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This month marks the 30th anniversary since the wide release of Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino’s influential debut that introduced many of the director’s own cinematic trademarks and has been described as one of the greatest independent films of all time.
As we’ve come to expect from QT, Reservoir Dogs pays homage to classic noir and crime films, including Kansas City Confidential (1952), The Big Combo (1955), and—most specifically—The Killing (1956), with a plot centered around a gang of tough guys hired for a what should be a straightforward diamond heist… only to be stymied when it becomes evident that a member of their crew is an informant. Continue reading