Tagged: Federal Agent

Justifed: Raylan’s Grayscale Plaid Shirt and Henley in “The Collection”

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 1.06: “The Collection”)

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Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal

Between Lexington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, Spring 2010

Series: Justified
Episode: “The Collection” (Episode 1.06)
Air Date: April 20, 2010
Director: Rod Holcomb
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

I’ve recently been rewatching Justified with my wife—her first time seeing the series—and it renewed my interest in how Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) dresses while both on- and off-duty working the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Debuting sixteen years ago this month in March 2010, Justified‘s first season especially blended a case-of-the-week format with the series mythology revolving around how the Givens family feud with Harlan County families like the Crowders and Bennetts translated to Raylan’s crusade against arch criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) as well as his ongoing drama with his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea).

One of the last standalone episodes outside of this format was the sixth episode, “The Collection”, revolving around crooked Cincinnati art dealer Owen Carnes (Peter Jason), whom Raylan increasingly suspects was murdered by his wife Caryn (Katherine LaNasa), despite being reminded that murder alone doesn’t necessarily fall under the U.S. Marshals Service’s investigative purview. Continue reading

Twin Peaks: FBI Agent Dale Cooper’s Black Suit

Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks, in a promotional image for “The Man Behind the Glass” (Episode 2.03).

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Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper, unusually perceptive FBI agent

Twin Peaks, Washington, February and March 1989

Series: Twin Peaks (Seasons 1-2)
Air Dates: April 8, 1990 to June 10, 1991
Created by: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Costume Design: Sara Markowitz (seasons 1-2) & Patricia Norris (pilot episode only)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Diane… 11:30 a.m., February 24th, entering the town of Twin Peaks. It’s five miles south of the Canadian border, twelve miles west of the state line.

Twin Peaks canon brought FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) into this small upstate Washington town exactly 37 years ago today in 1989, narrating the first of many unreturned missives into a tape recorder after the corpse of popular local teenager Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) was discovered washed ashore near the town’s lumber mill. Continue reading

Denzel Washington in Déjà Vu

Denzel Washington in Déjà Vu (2006)

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Denzel Washington as Doug Carlin, ATF agent and Marine Corps veteran

New Orleans, Spring 2006

Film: Déjà Vu
Release Date: November 22, 2006
Director: Tony Scott
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

On this Fat Tuesday, flash back to 20 years ago when the observance set the scene for Tony Scott’s sci-fi crime thriller Déjà Vu. The movie itself is fine, but it’s a shining example of Denzel Washington’s uncanny ability to elevate any material with his considerable charisma and talent.

Déjà Vu begins with an explosion aboard the Sen. Alvin T. Stumpf passenger ferry which killed 543 people—mostly civilian families and U.S. Navy personnel en route New Orleans’ first Mardi Gras celebration following Hurricane Katrina. A task force across federal agencies and local police includes ATF Special Agent Doug Carlin, given the explosive nature of the act and the responsibilities covered by BAFTE’s final letter. Continue reading

Twin Peaks: Dale Cooper’s FBI Raid Jacket

Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks (Episode 1.06: “Episode 5”, aka “Cooper’s Dreams”)

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Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper, FBI agent

Twin Peaks, Washington, March 1989

Series: Twin Peaks
Episodes:
– “Cooper’s Dreams” (Episode 1.06, dir. Lesli Linka Glatter, aired 5/10/1990)
– “Realization Time” (Episode 1.07, dir. Caleb Deschanel, aired 5/17/1990)
– “Variations on Relations” (Episode 2.19, dir. Jonathan Sanger, aired 4/11/1991)
Created by: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Costume Design: Sara Markowitz

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Following what would have been series co-creator David Lynch’s 80th birthday on Tuesday, I decided to make this Twin Peaks week on BAMF Style to give Lynch and Mark Frost’s surreal mystery series some long overdue attention. If you don’t like that, fix your hearts or die.

Twin Peaks centered around the arrival of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) to the fictional titular small town in upper Washington state, where he joins Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) to investigate the murder of local teen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Even after the murder is ostensibly solved, Coop hangs around in Twin Peaks, lured by its colorful townsfolk and growing lore around the mysterious Black Lodge. Continue reading

Twin Peaks: David Lynch’s Black FBI Suit as Gordon Cole

David Lynch as FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole on Twin Peaks (Episode 13: “Demons”)

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David Lynch as Gordon Cole, hearing-impaired FBI regional bureau chief

Twin Peaks, Washington, March 1989

Series: Twin Peaks
Episodes:
– “Demons”, aka “Episode 13” (Episode 2.06, dir. Lesli Linka Glatter, aired 11/3/1990)
– “Lonely Souls”, aka “Episode 14” (Episode 2.07, dir. David Lynch, aired 11/10/1990)
– “On the Wings of Love, aka “Episode 25” (Episode 2.18, dir. Duwayne Dunham, aired 4/4/1991)
– “Variations on Relations”, aka “Episode 26” (Episode 2.19, dir. Jonathan Sanger, aired 4/11/1991)
Created by: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Costume Designer: Sara Markowitz

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 80th birthday of David Lynch, the celebrated filmmaker whose surrealist productions often blended elements of humor and horror. Born January 20, 1946 in Missoula, Montana, Lynch died just four days before his 79th birthday last year when his emphysema was exacerbated from his Hollywood Hills home during the destructive wildfires that ravaged southern California.

In addition to the ten feature films he directed, Lynch co-created the TV series Twin Peaks with Mark Frost. On its surface, this mystery series centered around FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) investigating the death of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in a small Washington town, while more surreal elements focused on the supernatural realm presented through Coop’s bizarre dreams and the interactions among the quirky Twin Peaks townsfolk that lean into the characteristically Lynchian references to mid-century Americana.

David Lynch on Twin Peaks

Lynch himself would finally appear on screen during the second season as Coop’s hearing-impaired supervisor: “Federal Bureau of Investigation Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole,” as he introduces himself to local sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean), adding, “that’s a real mouthful, but I can’t hear myself anyway.” Continue reading

Dillinger (1973): Ben Johnson’s Indigo Chalkstripe Suit as Melvin Purvis

Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis in Dillinger (1973)

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Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis, experienced federal agent

Northern Illinois, Winter 1933

Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Depression-era desperado roundup of 1934 which eventually took down the likes of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and “Baby Face” Nelson began in the last days of 1933 when a 24-man strike force of federal agents and local police surrounded the rented cottage where “Tri-State Terror” Wilbur Underhill was spending his honeymoon with his new bride Hazel Jarrett Hudson… as well as his partner-in-crime Ralph Roe and his girlfriend Eva May Nichols. The subsequent gunfight resulted in one of the women’s deaths and Underhill mortally wounded.

Despite the title character’s removal from these events, John Milius’ 1973 directorial debut Dillinger gets these general circumstances correct, though it relocates the action from outside Shawnee, Oklahoma to “northern Illinois” and places rising FBI star Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson) onsite to single-handedly lead the counterattack against Underhill, silently portrayed by Dillinger‘s cinematographer Jules Brenner. Continue reading

Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown vs. Out of Sight

Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown (1997)

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Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette, energetic federal agent

Los Angeles, Summer 1995

Film: Jackie Brown
Release Date: December 25, 1997
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Mary Claire Hannan

Film: Out of Sight
Release Date: June 26, 1998
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

My fellow Pittsburgher Michael Keaton was born 74 years ago today on September 5, 1951. Among his many roles, Keaton was introduced to the Elmore Leonard cinematic universe as the bimbo “good cop” Ray Nicolette to Michael Bowen’s more aggressive “bad cop” Mark Dargus in Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 adaptation of Leonard’s novel Rum Punch. Continue reading

Point Break: Keanu Reeves’ Purple Skydiving Shirt and Jeans

Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)

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Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, ambitious FBI agent

Los Angeles, Summer 1991

Film: Point Break
Release Date: July 12, 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Supervisors: Colby P. Bart & Louis Infante

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Not only was Point Break widely released 34 years ago today on July 12, 1991, but the second Saturday in July is also World Skydiving Day, so of course we’ll be following OSU quarterback-turned-FBI agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) as this one radical son-of-a-bitch jumps from a plane with the gang of bank-robbing surfers led by the enigmatic Bodhi (Patrick Swayze)… twice! Continue reading

Justifed: Raylan’s Pilot Episode Charcoal Pinstripe Suit Jacket and Jeans

Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in the pilot episode (“Fire in the Hole”) of Justified.
(Photo by: Prashant Gupta, FX)

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Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, proudly old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal

Miami to Kentucky, March 2010

Series: Justified
Episode: “Fire in the Hole” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: March 16, 2010
Director: Michael Dinner
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree

Background

Inspired by a selection of Elmore Leonard stories like “Fire in the Hole”, Justified premiered 15 years ago this week on March 16, 2010.

The series began with a literal bang as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) demonstrated his quick trigger finger by outdrawing a “gun thug” in his assigned territory of Miami. Though he frequently insists “it was justified,” Raylan is ordered by his superiors to leave Miami, reassigned to the Lexington field office in his home turf of eastern Kentucky where he used to dig coal with now-criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins).

“We weren’t what you call buddies, but you work a deep mine with a man, you look out for each other,” Raylan reflects of his and Boyd’s initial acquaintanceship. Continue reading

Dillinger (1973): Ben Johnson’s Stone Summer Suit as Melvin Purvis

Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis in Dillinger (1973)

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Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis, experienced federal agent

Memphis, Tennessee, September 1933

Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George

Background

My most recent post commemorated the 90th anniversary of outlaw “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s death following a brief manhunt through rural Ohio led by federal agent Melvin Purvis, as portrayed by Christian Bale in Michael Mann’s 2009 drama Public Enemies. Two days later, on what would have been his 121st birthday, agent Purvis has inspired his second consecutive BAMF Style post—this time via Ben Johnson’s more grizzled characterization in John Milius’ bullet-riddled 1973 film Dillinger. Continue reading