Tagged: Desert Boots
Jimmy Stewart in The Flight of the Phoenix
James Stewart as Frank Towns in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
Vitals
James Stewart as Frank Towns, experienced cargo pilot and war veteran
Libyan desert, Spring 1965
Film: The Flight of the Phoenix
Release Date: December 15, 1965
Director: Robert Aldrich
Costume Designer: Norma Koch
Background
James Maitland Stewart had to fly. His earliest memories of flight involved colorful covers of Literary Digest depicting the Great War, then in progress, and the incredible use of air power by both sides. Jim tacked up each magazine cover on the wall in his bedroom. “Airplanes were the last thing I thought of every night and the first thing I thought of every morning,” he would say as an adult.
— Robert Matzen, Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe, Chapter 1
Born 115 years ago today on May 20, 1908, Jimmy Stewart had a lifelong passion for flight that followed him through his career, from the model airplane he lovingly constructed with Henry Fonda during their salad days on Broadway through his celebrated service flying dangerous combat missions as a U.S. Army Air Forces officer during World War II. Reticent to discuss his service after the war, Stewart flew B-24 Liberators on 20 combat missions over Europe and, by war’s end, was one of only a handful of Americans to rise from the rank of private to colonel in only four years.
Aviation continued to be a theme of Stewart’s life during his postwar film career, often starring in flight-themed dramas like No Highway in the Sky (1951), The Glenn Miller Story (1954), Strategic Air Command (1955), and The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), playing famed aviator Charles Lindbergh.
One of the last—and perhaps best—of Stewart’s aviation-centered films is The Flight of the Phoenix, Robert Aldrich’s 1965 survival drama based on Elleston Trevor’s novel of the same name. Stewart plays civilian cargo pilot Frank Towns, described by his navigator Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) as “one of the few really great pilots left in this push-button world of yours.” Continue reading
Bugsy’s Houndstooth Sports Coat
Warren Beatty as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in Bugsy (1991)
Vitals
Warren Beatty as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, “celebrity” gangster and casino builder
Los Angeles, Spring 1945 and Las Vegas, Fall 1946
Film: Bugsy
Release Date: December 13, 1991
Director: Barry Levinson
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Everybody deserves a fresh start once in a while.
At least three times while wearing this outfit alone, Warren Beatty’s Bugsy Siegel pontificates on the power of fresh starts. While the real Siegel may not have been quite as forgiving, Beatty plays him with the actor’s characteristic charisma to better communicate to audiences how a violent gangster could have charmed the stars of “golden age” Hollywood.
New Girl – Nick’s Holiday Party Tweed for “The 23rd”
Jake Johnson as Nick Miller on New Girl (Episode 1.09: “The 23rd”)
Vitals
Jake Johnson as Nick Miller, grumpy bartender
Los Angeles, December 23, 2010 (“Christmas Eve Eve“)
Series: New Girl
Episode: “The 23rd” (Episode 1.09)
Air Date: December 13, 2011
Director: Jason Winer
Creator: Elizabeth Meriwether
Costume Designer: Debra McGuire
Background
Nick: All dressed up. What, are you in The Temptations tonight?
Winston: That’s so cute, Nick, you’re intimidated by my style. But one of us is walking out of here with a job.
Nick Miller is easily the least fashion-conscious of the dwellers of the 4D loft. Between Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris) with his colorful printed “bird shirts” to the materialistic Schmidt (Max Greenfield), who is obsessive about his tailoring and whose heart could be won over by a pair of gray Calvin Klein slacks, Nick is the most content to roll out of bed in a stained henley shirt and unwashed sweatpants before heading straight to work at his bar. Continue reading
Bugsy’s Checked Jacket and Mint Green Shirt
Warren Beatty as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in Bugsy (1991)
Vitals
Warren Beatty as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, “celebrity” gangster and casino builder
Los Angeles, Spring 1945
Film: Bugsy
Release Date: December 13, 1991
Director: Barry Levinson
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
BAMF Style goes green for the first #MafiaMonday after St. Patrick’s Day!
We catch up with Ben “don’t-call-him-Bugsy” Siegel in the middle of realizing his dream – the Flamingo Hotel and Casino and, by extension, Las Vegas. Continue reading
The Rum Diary: Gabardine Windbreaker and Chinos
Johnny Depp as Paul Kemp in The Rum Diary (2011)
Vitals
Johnny Depp as Paul Kemp, expatriate American journalist
San Juan, Puerto Rico, Summer 1960
Film: The Rum Diary
Release Date: October 28, 2011
Director: Bruce Robinson
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood
Background
“In summary, this airman, although talented, will not be guided by policy,” heralded Hunter S. Thompson’s honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force in November 1957, a considerable understatement given the iconic writer’s eventual symbolic anti-authoritarian status.
Following his discharge, Thompson tried a few journalistic stints in New York but was fired by Time (for insubordination) and the Middletown Daily Record (for damaging a candy machine) and moved to Puerto Rico in 1960.
Having failed to procure a position with the San Juan Star, Thompson wrote for the El Sportivo sporting magazine… though it folded quickly after his arrival. His experiences in San Juan formed the basis of The Rum Diary, a novel that he penned shortly after his return to the U.S. the following year, although it wasn’t published for more than three decades.
While it would be inaccurate to describe The Rum Diary as a strict roman à clef, its morose, restless narrator Paul Kemp is clearly modeled on Thompson himself, and Thompson’s friend Johnny Depp was naturally tapped to play the role in the film adaptation. Continue reading
Harry’s Suede Shirt-Jacket in The Enforcer
Clint Eastwood as “Dirty Harry” Callahan in The Enforcer (1976)
Vitals
Clint Eastwood as Insp. Harry Callahan, reassigned San Francisco inspector
San Francisco, Summer 1976
Film: The Enforcer
Release Date: December 22, 1976
Director: James Fargo
Costume Designer: Glenn Wright
Background
After all the romance of Valentine’s Day, Clint Eastwood is bringing some toughness back to BAMF Style as one of his most iconic characters, “Dirty Harry” Callahan. The third film in the “Dirty Harry” series, The Enforcer, finds Harry teamed up with tough rookie detective Kate Moore (Tyne Daly) against a gang of militant revolutionaries.
Harry begins the final day of his investigation roughing up a massage parlor, noting that it’s the sort of place where “for $75, you get to make it with a rubber dolly.” A tip leads him to a gunfight in a church which ultimately leads to a gunfight at Alcatraz. Continue reading
Bond’s Blue Hawaiian Shirt in Die Another Day
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Die Another Day (2002)
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, suave semi-rogue British government agent and “ornithologist”
Havana, Fall 2002
Film: Die Another Day
Release Date: November 20, 2002
Director: Lee Tamahori
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
For this 00-7th of June, BAMF Style is honoring a request from Troy Swezey to analyze how the world’s least secret secret agent dresses casually for a warm afternoon under the Cuban sun.
After his release from North Korean captivity and subsequent escape from British medical captivity, James Bond follows a lead to Havana to get some answers. While there, he meets fellow badass Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson (Halle Berry), an American NSA agent who is able to meets him toe-to-toe when it comes to trading liquor shots, gunshots, or innuendo-laced wit. Continue reading
Bond Style – Bolivian Desert Combat in Quantum of Solace
Daniel Craig as a dirty James Bond in Quantum of Solace (2008).
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, rogue British secret agent
Bolivia, Summer 2008
Film: Quantum of Solace
Release Date: October 31, 2008
Director: Marc Forster
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
Background
Recently, I covered Butch Cassidy’s attire while in Bolivia. Exactly 100 years later, James Bond was wreaking havoc on the country in Quantum of Solace. Of course, real Bond fans know that the film’s version of “Bolivia” was actually filmed in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Some have complained about Bond wearing jeans for these scenes, but it’s actually very utilitarian and – come on already, people – this was 2008, not 1958. With some jeans costing thousands of dollars, albeit impractically, denim has come a long way from being the domain of the laborer. Continue reading
Vintage Hank Moody in NYC: The “In Utero” Flashback on Californication
David Duchovny and Natascha McElhone in New York City while filming “In Utero”, the tenth episode of Californication‘s second season.
Vitals
David Duchovny as Hank Moody, aspiring novelist
New York City, April 1994
Series: Californication
Episode: “In Utero” (Episode 2.10)
Air Date: November 30, 2008
Director: David Von Ancken
Costume Designer: Peggy A. Schnitzer
Background
“In Utero” (2.10) is often cited as a favorite episode among Californication fans. It serves as an origins episode for Hank and Karen, popular in this era of reboots including Batman Begins and Casino Royale. Here, we see Hank as a young, struggling writer, having just met – and subsequently knocked up – Karen. The two are anything but ready for an unexpected pregnancy, as they’re both middling in their respective careers and dating other people. Adding to the couple’s problems, news has just broken of Kurt Cobain’s death by suicide, thus dating the episode’s setting to April 8, 1994.
Of course, the baby in question turns out to be Becca, the center of Hank’s life as we know it. Given that this is the artistic center of New York City in 1994, Hank and Karen are both younger, grungier versions of themselves. Continue reading
Bond Style – Bond Relaxes in Quantum of Solace
Daniel Craig and Lucrezia Lante della Rovere in Quantum of Solace (2008)
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, rogue but relaxed British secret agent
Talamone, Italy, September 2006
Film: Quantum of Solace
Release Date: October 31, 2008
Director: Marc Forster
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
Background
After once again upsetting off his boss by killing a few folks in Austria, James Bond goes off the map, going rogue for at least the third or fourth time in the series. 007’s first stop is Villa Le Torre near Talamone, a Tuscan village where his old friend Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) now resides in retirement with his Italian girlfriend Gemma (Lucrezia Lante della Rovere). Brosnan’s Bond would’ve almost certainly (and unnecessarily) worn a suit for this occasion, but Craig’s Bond smartly wears a professional but indubitably casual cardigan and slacks for his apologetic visit. Continue reading