Tagged: Fall
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
Rocky IV: The Italian Stallion’s Adidas Sweatsuit and Lamborghinis
Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV (1985)
Vitals
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, two-time heavyweight world champion boxer
Philadelphia, Fall 1985
Film: Rocky IV
Release Date: November 27, 1985
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Costume Designer: Tom Bronson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 80th birthday to Sylvester Stallone! Born July 6, 1946, the carved his own path to Hollywood success by writing and starring in Rocky as the fictional Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa. What started as a simple sports drama with a million-dollar budget has advanced over a half-century to $2 billion-grossing franchise of nine films and counting.
The first six films were all entirely written by Stallone who also directed four of the sequels, including Rocky IV (1985), which essentially pits Rocky as a symbol of American greatness against the cold-hearted cruelty of the Soviet Union as embodied by his deadly rival Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren).
A brief but memorable scene finds Rocky washing his pair of Lamborghinis outside his Philly mansion while his son Rocky Jr. (Rocky Krakoff) plays with the robot they gave Rocky’s brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young) until this domestic bliss is interrupted by a phone call from Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) to discuss Drago.
Let’s continue this summer’s Car Week with a look at Rocky’s look and his Lambos! Continue reading
John Wayne’s Blue Cowboy Bib Shirt in The Searchers
John Wayne in The Searchers (1956)
Vitals
John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, obsessive Confederate Army veteran
West Texas and New Mexico Territory, Fall 1868 through 1873
Film: The Searchers
Release Date: May 26, 1956
Director: John Ford
Costume Designer: Charles Arrico (uncredited)
Background
Ten days after its Chicago premiere, John Ford’s Western epic The Searchers was released 70 years ago today on May 26, 1956—which coincided with its star John Wayne’s 49th birthday. Successful upon its release, The Searchers remains considered not just one of the greatest Westerns but also one of the best films of all time, influencing generations of contemporary and future filmmakers including David Lean, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Wim Wenders. Continue reading
Sterling Hayden’s Four-Pocket Sport Jackets in The Killing
Sterling Hayden in The Killing (1956)
Vitals
Sterling Hayden as Johnny Clay, professional armed robber and ex-convict
Los Angeles, Fall 1955
Film: The Killing
Release Date: May 19, 1956
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Wardrobe Credit: Jack Masters
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Stanley Kubrick’s third directorial feature The Killing arrived in select theaters 70 years ago today on May 19, 1956. The limited release hurt its box office, though it was well-received by critics and even received a BAFTA nomination for Best Film. In addition to establishing Kubrick as a more mainstream talent, it remains a quintessential example of heist film noir, influencing filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino who described his own debut Reservoir Dogs as his own take on The Killing.
Kubrick collaborated with pulp novelist Jim Thompson on the hard-boiled screenplay, adapted from Lionel White’s novel Clean Break. The action centers around recently paroled Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), who is already planning his next heist: the two-million-dollar robbery of a thoroughbred racetrack. Johnny’s scrappy gang includes two track employees, a crooked cop, a self-destructive former associate, and a sharpshooter whose job will be to shoot the favored horse and create chaos that distracts from the robbery. Continue reading
Mean Streets: De Niro’s Plaid Jacket and Dobbs Hat as Johnny Boy
Robert De Niro in Mean Streets (1973)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy Civello, irresponsible mob associate
New York, Fall 1972
Film: Mean Streets
Release Date: October 14, 1973
Director: Martin Scorsese
Wardrobe Credit: Norman Salling
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“You’ve blogged about this movie, right?” my wife asked me during her first-ever viewing of Mean Streets this weekend. When I responded that of course I have, she nodded and pointed to Robert De Niro swinging a broken pool cue in a bar full of angry mooks, adding “I can tell. This outfit is very you.” And that’s when I realized I needed to quickly rectify my BAMF Style blind spot that had so far overlooked Robert De Niro’s style as the reckless Johnny Boy in director Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough feature.
Heeding his pal John Cassavetes’ advice to make something more personal than his last film (Boxcar Bertha), Scorsese crafted Mean Streets as his own spin on I Vitelloni (1953), drawing on experiences and characters he knew growing up in New York’s Little Italy. He shot the film over 27 days in spring 1973, including seven days on location in New York City—often without permits.
Harvey Keitel led the billing as mob associate Charlie Cappa, whose internal conflict swirls around intense Catholic guilt, his ambitions within his uncle’s organized crime family, and his self-imposed responsibility for the self-destructive Johnny Boy—whose brash attitude doesn’t endear him to the mob loan sharks who are chasing him over his increasing debts to them. Continue reading
Glenn Ford’s Tanker Jacket in Human Desire
Glenn Ford in Human Desire (1954)
Vitals
Glenn Ford as Jeff Warren, railroad engineer and Army veteran
El Reno, Oklahoma, Fall 1953
Film: Human Desire
Release Date: August 6, 1954
Director: Fritz Lang
Costume Designer: Jean Louis (gowns)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Glenn Ford was born 110 years ago on May 1, 1916. The Quebec-born actor specialized as everymen with a tough side, making him the ideal star in classic film noir like Gilda (1946) and The Big Heat (1953) as well as westerns like 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and the school-set social drama Blackboard Jungle (1955) that featured both “Rock Around the Clock” and a young Sidney Poitier. In addition to being one of the most popular and bankable stars in the United States for a decade, Ford also enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II and returned to service with a Navy Reserve commission in 1958.
While I always liked Ford’s screen presence which reminds me of my grandfather, the Golden Globe-winning actor’s complicated personal life as a serial womanizer included four marriages that all ended in divorce and—according to his son Peter’s biography—affairs with at least 140 Hollywood actresses, including an on-and-off romance with Gilda co-star Rita Hayworth that lasted four decades. He also recorded all of his home’s phone calls (resulting from a paranoid belief that his first wife Eleanor Powell would discover his frequent infidelity), supported candidates on both sides of the political arena, and was busted for illegally raising 140 white leghorn chickens.
Hardly the best-known from either its stars or director, the solid 1954 film noir Human Desire reteamed Ford with director Fritz Lang and co-star Gloria Grahame one year after their previous collaboration in The Big Heat. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.