Tagged: French Riviera
Gary Cooper’s Patterned Sport Jacket and White Bucks in Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife
Gary Cooper photographed by William Richard Walling Jr. in 1937, dressed in the same costume he would wear in Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938).
Vitals
Gary Cooper as Michael Brandon, millionaire industrialist
French Riviera, Summer 1937
Film: Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife
Release Date: March 23, 1938
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Costume Designer: Travis Banton
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 125 years ago today on May 7, 1901, Gary Cooper established a screen legacy through Oscar-winning performances in Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952) in addition to being a well-regarded style icon throughout his career. The modern #menswear community frequently looks to Coop for inspiration, including the frequently shared portraits taken by William Richard Walling Jr., in 1937, dressed in the same uniquely patterned sport jacket, deco swirl tie, and rakish belt holding up pleated trousers that he wore as a costume in Ernst Lubitsch’s 1938 screwball comedy Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife. Continue reading
The Good Thief: Nick Nolte’s Black Leather Bomber Jacket
Nick Nolte in The Good Thief (2002)
Vitals
Nick Nolte as Bob Montagnet, retired thief and junkie gambler
French Riviera, Spring 2002
Film: The Good Thief
Release Date: February 28, 2003
Director: Neil Jordan
Costume Designer: Penny Rose
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Since Nick Nolte turns 85 tomorrow, today’s post responds to a long-overdue request from BAMF Style reader Steve who has asked to see the actor’s style in The Good Thief, Neil Jordan’s remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1956 French film noir Bob le flembeur. Nolte stars as the titular Bob Mantagnet, a retired thief now living as a junkie gambler in the French Riviera, where he receives the opportunity to pull the proverbial “one last job”—stealing priceless art from the vault of a Monte Carlo casino on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix. Continue reading
The Last of Sheila: Ian McShane’s Hockney Shirt
Ian McShane as Anthony Wood in The Last of Sheila (1973)
Vitals
Ian McShane as Anthony Wood, controlling Hollywood husband and ex-convict
French Riviera, Late summer 1972
Film: The Last of Sheila
Release Date: June 14, 1973
Director: Herbert Ross
Costume Designer: Joel Schumacher
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As Ian McShane celebrates his 83rd trip around the sun today, I want to return to one of his earlier roles among the stylish 1973 murder mystery The Last of Sheila‘s ensemble cast.
Only thirty when the film was released, McShane co-stars as Anthony Wood, the charming but controlling manager for his actress wife Alice (Raquel Welch). The couple are included among the frenemies invited by eccentric producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) to spend a week stationed on his yacht, Sheila, named for the late wife who died exactly one year earlier in a mysterious hit-and-run. Clinton reveals a plan to be more than just hosting seven days frolicking in the Ligurian Sea, unveiling a dark—and ultimately deadly—mystery game centered around gossip and murder. Continue reading
Pierrot le Fou: Belmondo’s Navy Ribbed Seaside Shirt and Jeep Cap
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon in Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Vitals
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon, runaway husband and itinerant yacht-hand
French Riviera, Summer 1965
Film: Pierrot le Fou
Release Date: November 5, 1965
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Jean-Luc Godard’s tenth feature, Pierrot le Fou, premiered 60 years ago this week during at the 26th Venice International Film Festival, more than two months before its wider release in November 1965.
The film stars Godard’s frequent collaborators, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina (who was also the director’s wife), as the doomed Ferdinand and Marianne fleeing OAS gangsters from Paris to the Mediterranean. Continue reading
La Collectionneuse: Patrick Bauchau’s Slate Sweater and Swimwear
Patrick Bauchau and Haydée Politoff in La Collectionneuse (1967)
Vitals
Patrick Bauchau as Adrien, art gallery owner
French Riviera, Summer 1966
Film: The Collector
(French title: La Collectionneuse)
Release Date: March 2, 1967
Director: Éric Rohmer
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Bastille Day feels like a fitting occasion to celebrate French director Éric Rohmer’s first color film, the 1967 drama La Collectionneuse, which has recently resurfaced across summer mood boards. No surprise, given its sun-drenched palette courtesy of cinematographer Néstor Almendros, a frequent Rohmer collaborator who also shot aesthetically satisfying masterpieces like Days of Heaven.
Considered the fourth entry in Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales”, La Collectionneuse was made with extreme efficiency while the director waited for Jean-Louis Trintignant’s availability to shoot My Night at Maud’s. Rohmer and Almendros worked with a minimal crew, relying on natural light and long takes to ground the characters in their idyllic—and quietly volatile—setting.
La Collectionneuse was also the first starring role for Belgian actor Patrick Bauchau, who had appeared uncredited in Rohmer’s La Carrière de Suzanne four years earlier and would later be known to 007 fans as the henchman Scarpine in Roger Moore’s final James Bond film, A View to a Kill. Here, he plays the narcissistic gallery owner Adrien, who intends to take advantage of the monastic conditions at his rich friend Rodolphe’s rented villa near Saint-Tropez to enjoy “a real vacation” in peace and solitude:
I even tried not to think. I was face-to-face alone with the sea, far from cruises and beaches, fulfilling a childhood dream put off year after year. I lost myself completely in the play of shadow and light, sinking into a lethargy heightened by the water. That state of passivity, of complete availability, promised to last much longer than the euphoria of one’s first summer dip into the ocean. I could easily see myself spending a whole month this summer this way.
However, this peace and solitude are threatened by the feisty young Haydée (Haydée Politoff), unexpectedly staying at the villa. Adrien and his friend Daniel (Daniel Pommereulle) are initially distrustful of the girl who brings a different lover to the villa every night, but he gradually comes to appreciate her company when she joins him on his early morning swims. Continue reading
Diamonds are Forever: Sean Connery’s Bond Returns… in a Terrycloth Shirt
Sean Connery and Denise Perrier in Diamonds are Forever (1971)
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent
French Riviera, Spring 1971
Film: Diamonds are Forever
Release Date: December 17, 1971
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Master: Ray Beck
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
Born 94 years ago today on August 25, 1930, Sir Sean Connery rose to stardom as the first actor to play James Bond in the official EON Productions series, from Dr. No (1962) through Diamonds are Forever (1971).
Connery first retired from the role after You Only Live Twice (1967), resulting in Australian actor George Lazenby’s sole shot in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). After Lazenby too hung up 007’s shoulder holster, Connery was persuaded back for one last official performance as Ian Fleming’s iconic secret agent, commanding a record-setting $1.25 million salary to return as Commander Bond… which he then donated in its entirety to the Scottish International Education Trust.
Despite the somber ending of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that set Bond out for revenge, Diamonds are Forever began a lighter era for the series as the stories diverged from Fleming’s source material with an increased emphasis on comedic elements and spectacle.
After a few faceless vignettes in exotic locales like Cai-Cai-Cairo, Connery’s Bond makes his long-anticipated on-screen reappearance during the pre-credits sequence of Diamonds are Forever, striding down onto the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc’s stunning beach in Cap d’Antibes, where he makes his iconic introduction (“Bond, James Bond”) to Marie, an even more stunning bikini-clad brunette portrayed by Denise Perrier, the French-born Miss World 1953.
Marie: Is there something I can do for you?
Bond: Yes, as a matter of fact, there is… there is something I’d like you to get off your chest.
La Piscine: Alain Delon’s Herringbone Suit for a Funeral
Alain Delon in La Piscine (1969)
Vitals
Alain Delon as Jean-Paul Leroy, moody ad agency writer
French Riviera, Summer 1968
Film: The Swimming Pool
(French title: La Piscine)
Release Date: January 31, 1969
Director: Jacques Deray
Costume Designer: André Courrèges
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
French screen icon Alain Delon died yesterday on August 18, 2024. Today’s post pays tribute to the actor’s cinematic legacy by returning to La Piscine, Jacques Deray’s stylish psychological thriller set at a Saint-Tropez villa where a couple spends an increasingly uncomfortable summer holiday.
La Piscine reunited former real-life lovers Alain Delon and Romy Schneider as the vacationing writer Jean-Paul and his girlfriend Marianne, who welcome Marianne’s past paramour Harry (Maurice Ronet) and his 18-year-old daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin). As is wont to happen among a group so attractive, dissatisfied, and French, flirtatious dynamics emerge among the quartet as Marianne drifts back to the hard-drinking Harry while Jean-Paul focuses his attention on the young Penelope. Continue reading
The Last of Sheila: Ian McShane’s White Lacoste Cardigan
Ian McShane as Anthony Wood in The Last of Sheila (1973)
Vitals
Ian McShane as Anthony Wood, controlling Hollywood husband and ex-convict
French Riviera, Late summer 1972
Film: The Last of Sheila
Release Date: June 14, 1973
Director: Herbert Ross
Costume Designer: Joel Schumacher
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of my favorite “summer vibes” movies is The Last of Sheila, which I first watched last summer after learning that it was among Rian Johnson’s inspiration for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. As the third Knives Out movie has commenced filming and we’re approaching another summer solstice, let’s revisit the Riviera style on parade in The Last of Sheila, released 51 years ago this month on Flag Day 1973.
Written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, The Last of Sheila boasts a fine ensemble cast portraying “six hungry failures” summoned by Hollywood producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) to spend a week in the Ligurian Sea aboard his yacht, Sheila, named for his late wife who died exactly a year earlier in a mysterious hit-and-run.
After Clinton is murdered during his festivities, the six frenemies begin looking amongst each other for who would have had the means and opportunity to kill Clinton, though all had a motive—presumably to silence the gossip he knew about each of their pasts, revealed by the cards he had assigned to each on their first day at sea.
Perhaps the least connected of the six is the charismatic but shady Anthony Wood (Ian McShane), who fiercely promotes—and controls—the career of his glamorous actress wife Alice (Raquel Welch). When the “I am an EX-CONVICT” card held by the anxious Lee Parkman (Joan Hackett) is revealed to apply to Anthony’s dual convictions for assault, Lee’s writer husband Tom (Richard Benjamin) briefly focuses his interrogation on Anthony as the group tries to solve the mystery. Continue reading
La Piscine: Alain Delon’s Ivory Open-Knit Sweater and Lee Jeans
Alain Delon in La Piscine (1969)
Vitals
Alain Delon as Jean-Paul Leroy, moody ad agency writer
French Riviera, Summer 1968
Film: The Swimming Pool
(French title: La Piscine)
Release Date: January 3, 1969
Director: Jacques Deray
Costume Designer: André Courrèges
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy birthday to French screen and style icon Alain Delon, born November 8, 1935. One of Delon’s most popular films is the steamy 1969 thriller La Piscine, which reunited him on screen with former partner Romy Schneider.
La Piscine (released in English as The Swimming Pool) centers around the dangerous passion and possessiveness between four people spending their summer vacations at the same Côte d’Azur villa. Continue reading
The Last of Sheila: James Coburn’s White Yachting Gear
James Coburn in The Last of Sheila (1973)
Vitals
James Coburn as Clinton Greene, eccentric Hollywood producer
French Riviera, Late summer 1972
Film: The Last of Sheila
Release Date: June 14, 1973
Director: Herbert Ross
Costume Designer: Joel Schumacher
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
If you’re the sort of person who follows such sartorial conventions, Labor Day on Monday makes this the last weekend where it’s “acceptable” to wear white. Of course, there are many who take umbrage to being told what’s acceptable to wear and when—such as Clinton Greene, the flamboyant film producer at the center of The Last of Sheila‘s sun-bleached mystery. Clinton was played by James Coburn, the versatile Nebraska-born actor born 95 years ago today on August 31, 1928.
Recently widowed after his wife Sheila was killed during a mysterious hit-and-run accident near their Hollywood home, Clinton commemorates the one-year anniversary of Sheila’s death by inviting his six closest frenemies—most of whom had been present during the party at their home the night Sheila was killed—to spend a week playing high-stakes puzzles on his luxury yacht off the coast of southern France. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.