Tagged: Fall
The Four Seasons: Alan Alda’s Fall Soccer Sweatshirt and Wranglers
Alan Alda in The Four Seasons (1981)
Vitals
Alan Alda as Jack Burroughs, married lawyer
Connecticut, Fall 1980
Film: The Four Seasons
Release Date: May 22, 1981
Director: Alan Alda
Costume Designer: Jane Greenwood
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The start of each new season this year tends to send me back to The Four Seasons for content. Written and directed by Alan Alda, this 1981 comedy follows three couples on their seasonal group trips as they navigate their own complicated relationships.
Alda stars as Jack Burroughs, stably centered in a marriage with Kate (Carol Burnett), who typically plans each vacation. The fall trip follows the Burroughses and their four friends up to Connecticut for Parents’ Weekend with two of their daughters who are enrolled in the same college, resulting in a hyper-competitive soccer game which reveals a deeper conflict within the group, from Jack’s anger at the womanizing Nick (Len Cariou) to Kate’s resentment at having to plan each trip. Continue reading
When Harry Met Sally: Billy Crystal’s Field Jacket as Harry
Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Vitals
Billy Crystal as Harry Burns, sarcastic political consultant and recent divorcée
New York City, Fall 1988
Film: When Harry Met Sally…
Release Date: July 14, 1989
Director: Rob Reiner
Costume Designer: Gloria Gresham
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Rob Reiner’s 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally is often (deservedly) included on lists compiling the greatest fall movies. As tomorrow will be the first day of autumn here, I return to my own frequent celebration of Billy Crystal’s fall wardrobe as Harry—specifically during his fateful visit to comfort Sally (Meg Ryan) at her apartment after she learns that her ex-boyfriend is getting married. Continue reading
Wild at Heart: Nicolas Cage’s Snakeskin Jacket as Sailor Ripley
Nicolas Cage as Sailor Ripley in Wild at Heart (1990)
Vitals
Nicolas Cage as Sailor Ripley, an A #1-certified manslaughterer who just broke parole
Cape Fear to Texas via New Orleans, Fall 1989
Film: Wild at Heart
Release Date: August 17, 1990
Director: David Lynch
Costume Designer: Amy Stofsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This week continues to explore unconventional style from David Lynch movies with a long-overdue look at Nic Cage’s snakeskin jacket as the swaggering Sailor Ripley in Wild at Heart, Lynch’s darkly comic adaptation of Barry Gifford’s 1989 novel of the same name. The film premiered at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival where it garnered some controversy for winning the Palme d’Or, three months prior to its wider North American release in August 1990.
Specifically considered for the role after Lynch read Gifford’s novel, Cage described Sailor as “a kind of romantic Southern outlaw,” reunited with his girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern) after spending 22 months and 18 days in the Pee Dee Correctional Institution for fatally defending himself—and Lula’s honor—against an attacker hired by Lula’s domineering mama Marietta (Dern’s real-life mother Diane Ladd) after Sailor spurned her drunken advances. Two years has done little to dampen Marietta’s dislike for Sailor, who again sends paid killers on Sailor’s trail as he and Lula flee Cape Fear on their way west to sunny California. Continue reading
The Sopranos: Paulie Walnuts’ Black-and-Blue Givenchy Tracksuit
Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri on The Sopranos (Episode 1.13: “I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano”)
Vitals
Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri, mob enforcer and Army veteran
New Jersey, Fall 1998
Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano” (Episode 1.13)
Air Date: April 4, 1999
Director: John Patterson
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of my closest friends recently started watching The Sopranos for the first time, and our conversations as she makes her way through the first season inspired me to revisit the signature style of my all-time favorite series. Her progress toward the season finale reminded me of one of my favorite sequences, balancing the show’s casual brutality with equally casual absurdity.
After a season spent making life difficult—and more obnoxious—for New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, Uncle Junior’s scuzzy consigliere Mikey Palmice (Al Sapienza) finds his morning jog turned into a literal run for his life as Soprano enforcers Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) and Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperoli) chase him through the autumnal suburban woods. Peppered with fatal 9mm rounds, Mikey isn’t the only casualty of the aftenroon as poor Paulie also comes away from the hit with a mild case of poison ivy. Continue reading
Tim Curry’s Safari Style in Congo
Tim Curry as Herkermer Homolka in Congo (1995)
Vitals
Tim Curry as Herkermer Homolka, desperate Romanian treasure-hunter
Central Africa, Fall 1994
Film: Congo
Release Date: June 9, 1995
Director: Frank Marshall
Costume Designer: Marilyn Matthews
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After last week’s back-to-back losses of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, my Letterboxd has been ablaze with fans rewatching 9 to 5, Clue, Steel Magnolias, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While I’ve seen all but the latter (which seems best experienced among a knowing theater audience), I wanted to tackle my own blind spots in these legends’ filmographies… which led me to the Razzie-nominated Congo, adapted from Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name.
A characteristic survival adventure from director Frank Marshall, Congo follows an expedition led by a talking gorilla (“I know it’s not Mr. Ed”) into the Congolian rainforest in search of a communications team who disappeared near the “Lost City of Zinj”. The movie likely deserved many of its negative reviews at the time of its release, with at least some admitting its goofy camp makes it a fun watch. And with a cast that includes Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson, Joe Don Baker, Bruce Campbell, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Delroy Lindo, Joey Pants, Jimmy Buffett, and Tim Curry… of course it does.
Curry delightfully chews the scenery (and sesame cake) as Herkermer Homolka, “formerly of Romania, free from the chains of Ceaușescu, traveling the world and doing good.” This last bit of his introduction rightly comes into question until Hudson’s Errol Flynn-esque guide Monroe Kelly clarifies that “he is a Romanian and he has done a lot of good… but mostly for Mr. Homolka.” Continue reading
Rudolf Nureyev’s Dancing Tailcoat as Valentino
Rudolf Nureyev as Rudolph Valentino in Valentino (1977)
Vitals
Rudolf Nureyev as Rudolph Valentino, Italian-American dancer and future silent film star
Los Angeles, Fall 1919
Film: Valentino
Release Date: October 4, 1977
Director: Ken Russell
Costume Designer: Shirley Russell
Tailor: Anderson & Sheppard
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The sudden death of screen icon Rudolph Valentino 100 years ago today on August 23, 1926 prompted mass public mourning including approximately 100,000 mourners lining the streets of Manhattan to pay their respects. Among these was his lover—and fellow silent-era sex symbol—Pola Negri, who theatrically collapsed over his $10,000 coffin, which she had previously adorned with an eleven-foot-long bank of lilies spelling out her own name. In contrast to more tasteful tributes offered by contemporaries like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, fans launched a day-long riot by smashing the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel’s windows in attempts to get in, while there were also reported suicides from despondent devotees.
Valentino’s death at age 31 at the height of his stardom contributed to his lasting mystique and old Hollywood legends. His star had shown hard and fast during the silent film era of the roaring ’20s, following his global breakthrough in the 1921 anti-war epic The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Nicknamed the “Latin Lover” but alternately known simply as “Valentino”, the actor’s intense and exotic presence in romantic roles earned him wide devotion among female fans… and a jealous ire among men who questioned his masculinity.
The latter backlash to his persona dogged Valentino throughout his career, culminating in the actor challenging a Chicago Tribune reporter to a boxing or wrestling match. Following the writer’s failure to respond, New York Evening Journal boxing writer Frank “Buck” O’Neil took the challenge and publicly faced off against Valentino on the roof of the Ambassador Hotel in New York, refereed by heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, who would later describe Valentino as “the most virile and masculine of men.” O’Neil only landed one punch before the Latin Lover swiftly knocked him down and won the bout. Ever the gentleman, the victorious Valentino apologized to O’Neil when helping him to his feet.
The real Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) dances with Alice Terry in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), which would transform Valentino from a supporting player into a superstar.
Valentino’s life and legend has made him a popular subject for film and TV representation, from the 1951 biopic Valentino to Finn Wittrock portraying a vampiric Valentino in the fifth season of American Horror Story. But perhaps the most notorious retelling was Ken Russell’s 1977 drama Valentino, based on Chaw Mank and Brad Steiger’s biography subttitled “an Intimate Exposé of the Sheik” and starring Russian-born dancer Rudolf Nureyev as the titular actor. Continue reading
Manhunter: William Petersen’s Dark Sport Jackets as Will Graham
William Petersen as Will Graham in Manhunter (1986)
Vitals
William Petersen as Will Graham, tortured FBI criminal profiler
Across the United States, Fall 1986
Film: Manhunter
Release Date: August 15, 1986
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
While the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs is a deservedly great movie that brought Thomas Harris’ fictional killer psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter to widespread public attention, the cannibalistic murderer had actually made his cinematic debut a half-decade earlier when Brian Cox portrayed the renamed Dr. Lecktor in Manhunter. Adapted by writer/director Michael Mann from Harris’ 1981 novel Red Dragon (with its title changed by producer Dino De Laurentiis), Manhunter was released 40 years ago this week on August 15, 1986.
Cox starred opposite William Petersen as FBI agent Will Graham, establishing the characters’ antagonistically layered screen dynamic that would be repeated in the 2002 remake Red Dragon and the NBC TV adaptation Hannibal. Continue reading
John Saxon’s Floral-collared Chambray Shirt in Moonshine County Express
John Saxon in Moonshine County Express (1977)
Vitals
John Saxon as J.B. Johnson, race car driver and occasional moonshine runner
Jackson County, Kentucky, Fall 1976
Film: Moonshine County Express
Release Date: June 1, 1977
Director: Gus Trikonis
Wardrobe Coordinator: Adrianne Levesque
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Moonshine County Express was produced by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in 1977 during the height of the cinematic “hick flick” trend that often posited guys like Burt Reynolds as rural heroes driving fast cars full of booze. Directed by Corman favorite Gus Trikonis, Moonshine County Express stars the late John Saxon in its central role—no doubt due to the actor’s own considerable talent and his resemblance to a pre-mustached Reynolds—as well as Susan Howard, William Conrad, a post-Brady Bunch Maureen McCormick as a Daisy Duke protoype, and “hick flick” regulars Jeff Corey and Dub Taylor; Seinfeld fans may also recognize Uncle Leo (aka Len Lesser) in a supporting role as a bargain barn owner. (Both Saxon and McCormick share their August 5th birthday, with McCormick celebrating her 70th today while Saxon would have turned 90 this year.)
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! Except it’s Betty, Sissy, and Dot.
It would be hard to recommend in good faith to all my readers, but Moonshine County Express is the kind of movie you throw on when you want that raw, Southern-fried tale of fast-driivng whiskey runners in the same authentic, dobro-twanging, semi-exploitative ilk as Moonrunners, the 1975 B-movie that directly inspired The Dukes of Hazzard, though Moonshine County Express also features many of the elements that would be familiar in Hazzard County: a corrupt and corpulent county boss, a white-suited antagonist, short-shorted Southern beauties, and a liquor-hauling hero speeding around in a Dodge muscle car. Continue reading
Paris, Texas: Harry Dean Stanton’s Red Road Trip Shirt and Ranchero
Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas (1984)
Vitals
Harry Dean Stanton as Travis Henderson, once-wandering drifter
Los Angeles to Houston, Fall 1983
Film: Paris, Texas
Release Date: September 19, 1984
Director: Wim Wenders
Costume Designer: Birgitta Bjerke
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of my favorite actors, Harry Dean Stanton, was born 100 years ago today on July 14, 1926 in Kentucky. Following his U.S. Navy service during World War II, Stanton began an acting career that lasted more than six decades until his death from heart failure at age 91 in September 2017 after completing his penultimate film Lucky, which also afforded Stanton the rare starring role. He was a close, respected friend of many A-listers like Francis Ford Coppola, David Lynch, and Jack Nicholson, who included Stanton as best man in his 1962 wedding and habitually scrawled “H.D. Stanton” on the sets of his films.
Stanton typically made the most of supporting roles in films like Cool Hand Luke (1967), Dillinger (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), Alien (1979), Escape from New York (1981), Christine (1983), Red Dawn (1984), Pretty in Pink (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Green Mile (1999), and The Avengers (2012)—a filmography so prolific that Roger Ebert once declared that, with the sole exception of Dream a Little Dream (1989), “no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.”
Despite his prolific supporting career, Stanton was cast in leading parts for back-to-back films released in 1984: Alex Cox’s dark sci-fi comedy Repo Man and Wim Wenders’ elegiac road drama Paris, Texas. The latter won the Palme d’Or when it premiered at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival and, though overlooked by most American award bodies, has grown its cult reputation as one of the greatest movies ever made. With additional style provided by Ry Cooder’s original score and Robby Müller’s masterful cinematography, the script was written by L.M. Kit Carson and Sam Shepard, who offered Stanton the part after the two connected at a Santa Fe film festival. Continue reading
Two-Lane Blacktop: James Taylor as a ’55 Chevy Driver
James Taylor with Dennis Wilson and Laurie Bird in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Vitals
James Taylor as “The Driver”, laconic race car driver
Arizona through Tennessee, Fall 1970
Film: Two-Lane Blacktop
Release Date: July 7, 1971
Director: Monte Hellman
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Monte Hellman’s offbeat cult classic road movie Two-Lane Blacktop was released 55 years ago this week on July 7, 1971, starring musicians James Taylor and Dennis Wilson as the unnamed driver and mechanic of a ’55 Chevy gasser that picks up a hitchhiker (Laurie Bird) and falls into a cross-country race for pinks against the blustering driver of a new Pontiac GTO, played by Warren Oates.
Always an unorthodox maverick, Hellman was inspired to cast Taylor after spying his face on a Sunset Boulevard billboard, recalling that he “just flipped over his face.” Both Taylor and his late co-star Oates recalled the first-time actor feeling frustrated with his lack of control as Hellman and his 30-person crew shot the film in sequence, offering the cast only a few pages of the script at a time. “I’m not talking out of turn when I say Jimmy Taylor had terrible struggles relinquishing control to Monte,” Oates later shared.
The on-set strife reached a point where Hellman convinced Taylor not to quit the production by finally allowing him to read the entirety of Rudy Wurtlizer’s screenplay… which he didn’t do. Still, Taylor didn’t see Two-Lane Blacktop as the detour to a new path in his career, explaining in a contemporary interview with the Los Angeles Times that “I’m not an actor. I’ll never do this again. If I ever did another film I’d have to be the director and writer, I’d have to be in control.” To date, this remains the six-time Grammy-winning Taylor’s sole big-screen acting credit apart from cameos.
As this summer’s Car Week feature stretches on, let’s follow Sweet Baby James in that primer-gray Chevy along America’s blue highways stretching east from Arizona. Continue reading
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