Tagged: Fall
Succession: Connor Roy’s Velvet Wedding Jacket
Alan Ruck and Justine Lupe on Succession, Episode 4.03 (“Connor’s Wedding”). Sourced from Justine Lupe’s Instagram: @mejustinelupe.
Vitals
Alan Ruck as Connor Roy, prospective groom and less-prospective presidential candidate
Jersey City, New Jersey, Fall 2020
Series: Succession
Episode: “Connor’s Wedding” (Episode 4.03)
Air Date: April 9, 2023
Director: Mark Mylod
Creator: Jesse Armstrong
Costume Designer: Michelle Matland
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Conheads made a strong showing to share how much they appreciated my first post featuring Alan Ruck’s style on Succession, so—in the spirit of Valentine’s Day tomorrow—”let’s just enjoy the sham marriage and the death of romance” as toasted by Connor’s younger half-sibling Roman (Kieran Culkin).
Despite the episode’s matter-of-fact title, the eldest son’s nuptials was hardly the most dramatic event in “Connor’s Wedding”, the third episode of Succession‘s fourth and final season. Continue reading
The Longest Yard: Burt Reynolds’ 1970s Flashy Football Star Style
Burt Reynolds in The Longest Yard (1974)
Vitals
Burt Reynolds as Paul “Wrecking” Crewe, washed-up ex-pro football quarterback
Palm Beach, Florida, Fall 1973
Film: The Longest Yard
Release Date: August 21, 1974
Director: Robert Aldrich
Wardrobe Credit: Charles E. James
Background
You take your football down here real serious, don’t you?
What do you do when you’re a style writer facing a Super Bowl aligns with Burt Reynolds’ birthday? Why, you focus on the super-seventies duds that Reynolds wears at the beginning of his sports comedy classic, The Longest Yard, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year! Continue reading
Succession: Connor Roy’s Blue Glen Plaid Three-Piece “Rehearsal” Suit
Alan Ruck as Connor Roy on Succession, Episode 4.02 (“Rehearsal”)
Vitals
Alan Ruck as Connor Roy, neglected millionaire heir and failed presidential candidate
New York City, Fall 2020
Series: Succession
Episode: “Rehearsal” (Episode 4.02)
Air Date: April 2, 2023
Director: Becky Martin
Creator: Jesse Armstrong
Costume Designer: Michelle Matland
Background
It’s four in the morning, the end of December…
By Succession‘s timeline, poor Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) still had two months to go until the end of December when crooning Leonard Cohen’s 1971 folk ballad “Famous Blue Raincoat” in the private room of a Midtown Manhattan karaoke lounge. I use the adjective “poor” rather loosely here as Connor’s the kind of guy who can afford to spare millions on a misguided presidential campaign merely to prove his own relevance to himself and his family, but that’s beside the point. Continue reading
Christine: Arnie’s Red Jacket and Famous ’58 Fury
Keith Gordon as Arnie Cunningham in Christine (1983)
Vitals
Keith Gordon as Arnie Cunningham, high school senior
Rockbridge, California, Fall/Winter 1978
Film: Christine
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: John Carpenter
Costume Designer: Darryl Levine
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
No shitter ever came between me and Christine!
Christine drove into theaters 40 years ago today, directed by the great John Carpenter and adapted by Bill Phillips from Stephen King’s supernatural horror novel of the same name that had been published just months earlier. The titular Christine is a white-over-red 1958 Plymouth Fury, high-schooler Arnie Cunningham’s prized possession… and possibly also possessed by a homicidal demon. Continue reading
In a Lonely Place: Bogie’s Twill Sports Coat and Turtleneck
Humphrey Bogart as Dix Steele in In a Lonely Place (1950)
Vitals
Humphrey Bogart as Dixon “Dix” Steele, frustrated screenwriter
Los Angeles, Fall 1949
Film: In a Lonely Place
Release Date: May 17, 1950
Director: Nicholas Ray
Costume Designer: Jean Louis (credited for gowns only)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today’s post wraps up #Noirvember on what would have been the 100th birthday of silver screen icon Gloria Grahame. Born November 28, 1923, Grahame’s film noir credits include Crossfire (1947) and The Big Heat (1953), though my favorite is In a Lonely Place (1950), directed by her then-husband Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart.
Some of Bogie’s friends and acquaintances have described the character of cynical screenwriter Dixon Steele to be the closest that the actor ever came to projecting his true charismatic yet insecure persona onto the screen. Continue reading
Kevin Costner in A Perfect World
Kevin Costner and T.J. Lowther in A Perfect World (1993)
Vitals
Kevin Costner as Robert “Butch” Haynes, escaped convict
Texas, Fall 1963
Film: A Perfect World
Release Date: November 24, 1993
Director: Clint Eastwood
Costume Designer: Erica Edell Phillips
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Released 30 years ago today, A Perfect World overcame its initial lukewarm box office to be acclaimed as among the career-best works for both director Clint Eastwood and star Kevin Costner.
Costner stars as Robert “Butch” Haynes, a petty criminal who escapes from a Texas prison on the night of Halloween 1963. Despite Butch’s own distaste for him, he breaks out with the reckless Terry Pugh (Keith Szarabajka), who jeopardizes their getaway—and Butch’s own code of ethics—by attempting to force himself onto a suburban mother while the two look for a car to steal. Butch stops the situation before Terry can take it too far, but the commotion wakes up the neighborhood and results in the two fugitives taking a hostage—the mother’s eight-year-old son, Philip (T.J. Lowther), with whom Butch develops a special bond:
Me and you got a lot in common, Philip. The both of us is handsome devils, we both like RC Cola, and neither one of us got an old man worth a damn.
Succession: Cousin Greg’s Pre-Thanksgiving Puffer Vest
Nicholas Braun as “Cousin Greg” Hirsch on Succession, Episode 1.05: “I Went to Market”
Vitals
Nicholas Braun as Greg Hirsch, mild-mannered media conglomerate underling and family outsider
Canada to New York City, The day before Thanksgiving 2018
Series: Succession
Episode: “I Went to Market” (Episode 1.05)
Air Date: July 1, 2018
Director: Adam Arkin
Creator: Jesse Armstrong
Costume Designer: Michelle Matland
Background
Ahead of Thanksgiving tomorrow, one of the things I’m grateful for is that—if Succession had to end this year—the fact that it did so perfectly when the series finale ended in May. To commemorate the final year from this landmark series, let’s flash back to the first season as we joined the Roys for their annual Turkey Day celebration.
From the start of Succession, the anxious Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun), aka “Cousin Greg”, aka “Greg the Egg”, initially served as an audience surrogate as we were all collectively introduced to the world of the extremely wealthy and highly dysfunctional Roy family, led by domineering patriarch Logan (Brian Cox) as his children Connor (Alan Ruck), Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Siobhan (Sarah Snook) wrested for their withholding father’s favor… and the keys to control his media conglomerate, Waystar RoyCo.
The outsider Greg had never been part of their circle, thrust into it during Logan’s 80th birthday party when his mother—Logan’s niece—dispatched him to New York for a job after he was fired from one of a Waystar amusement park for getting high inside a mascot costume. Within a month, he’s got a job with the company that pays himself just enough that he needn’t sneak food out of the Waystar break room in doggie-doo bags anymore, and he can afford enough gas to power his three-year-old Hyundai to Canada (“with the healthcare and the ennui!”) and back to transport his grandfather Ewan (James Cromwell) to New York for Logan’s Thanksgiving dinner.
Greg: Happy Thanksgiving!
Ewan: Not for the Indians.
Greg: No sir! Nope… that is still true.
Bad Lieutenant: Harvey Keitel’s Gray Nailhead Jacket
Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant (1992)
Vitals
Harvey Keitel as “The Lieutenant”, morally corrupt NYPD lieutenant
New York City, Fall 1991
Film: Bad Lieutenant
Release Date: November 20, 1992
Director: Abel Ferrara
Costume Designer: David Sawaryn
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Released 31 years ago today in 1992, Abel Ferrara’s controversial drama Bad Lieutenant features a fearless, uncompromising performance of a lifetime from Harvey Keitel, who replaced Christopher Walken in the titular role as the unnamed detective who regularly neglects his law enforcement duties in favor of a nightmarish spiral of blow, baseball, and broads. Continue reading
The Big Chill: Tom Berenger’s Convertible Down Jacket
Tom Berenger in The Big Chill (1983)
Vitals
Tom Berenger as Sam Weber, jaded TV star
Beaufort, South Carolina, Fall 1983
Film: The Big Chill
Release Date: September 28, 1983
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Costume Designer: April Ferry
Background
As I prepare to gather with friends today for our annual Friendsgiving celebration, there’s a cinematic choice that perfectly captures the essence of fall, friendship, and the shared warmth of communal meals.
Despite not being centered around the holiday itself, The Big Chill has earned a place among many as a quintessential “Thanksgiving movie” with its autumnal setting, the camaraderie of old friends reuniting, and the soul-stirring soundtrack creating a nostalgic backdrop reminiscent of the season’s familial gatherings.
Beyond this thematic resonance, the film also offers a visual feast served by costume designer April Ferry’s array of early ’80s threads worn by its ensemble cast. Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, and JoBeth Williams star as college friends who reunite more than a decade after their graduation to mourn one of their group lost to suicide—portrayed by Kevin Costner, who was almost entirely cut from the film. Almost.
I recently had a request to explore Berenger’s style as Sam Weber, who was become arguably the most famous of his college pals, gracing magazine covers as the star of the Magnum, P.I.-like series, J.T. Lancer. Continue reading
Sunset Boulevard: William Holden’s Mini-Check Sport Jacket and “Dreadful Shirt”
William Holden as Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Vitals
William Holden as Joe Gillis, struggling screenwriter
Los Angeles, Fall 1949
Film: Sunset Boulevard
Release Date: August 10, 1950
Director: Billy Wilder
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Noirvember continues with Sunset Boulevard, one of the great films noir that shines a light—or, more appropriately, casts a shadow—on the darker side of Hollywood, a theme popular with contemporary dramas like In a Lonely Place (1950) and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), with an added verisimilitude through mentions of real studios like 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures—who, of course, produced Sunset Boulevard—and cameos from Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper, and Buster Keaton.
William Holden stars as Joe Gillis, who describes himself in the opening narration as “a movie writer with a couple of B pictures to his credit.” On “the day when it all started,” Joe recounts living in a seedy one-room Hollywood apartment where he owes three months back rent, grinding out two original screenplays a week and fretting that he’s lost his touch. Three payments behind on his Plymouth, his screenplays aren’t selling, and his agent isn’t willing to help, instead insisting that “the finest things on the world have been written on an empty stomach,” though that may be just to get out of having to lend his client the $290 he needs to keep his car. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.