Tagged: Green Short-sleeve Polo Shirt
Rob Reiner in This is Spinal Tap
Rob Reiner as Marty Di Bergi in This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Vitals
Rob Reiner as Marty Di Bergi, documentary filmmaker
Across the United States, Fall 1982 to Spring 1983
Film: This is Spinal Tap
Release Date: March 2, 1984
Director: Rob Reiner
Costume Stylist: Renee Johnston
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
To celebrate the life of the late Rob Reiner following his and his wife Michele’s tragic deaths over the weekend, today’s post turns it up to eleven with his directorial debut: the 1984 mockumentary—if you will, rockumentary—This is Spinal Tap.
As the son of comedy legends Carl and Estelle Reiner, Rob established his own career on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family as Mike “Meathead” Stivic, whose passion for political activism mirrored the actor’s own. “I could win the Nobel Prize and they’d write ‘Meathead wins the Nobel Prize’,” the two-time Emmy-winning Reiner once commented of the nickname’s lasting association. Though he continued to act, Reiner pivoted behind the camera with a prolific and wide-ranging filmography as the director of genre-spanning modern classics like Stand By Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally… (1989), Misery (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), and The American President (1995)—adept at everything from rom-coms and courtroom drama to fantasy and suspense.
Designed to satirize more hagiographical music documentaries, This is Spinal Tap popularized—if not effectively launched—the mockumentary: a comedic format that continues to thrive through titles like Abbott Elementary, Borat, Documentary Now!, The Office, Parks & Recreation, and What We Do in the Shadows.
Reiner allows Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer to shine as the fictional metal band Spinal Tap, also appearing on screen as Marty Di Bergi, a filmmaker tasked with chronicling the titular band’s American comeback tour. Continue reading
Tom Selleck’s Kelly Green Rugby Shirt on Magnum, P.I.
Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum on Magnum, P.I. (Episode 1.13: “All Roads Lead to Floyd”)
Vitals
Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, private investigator and former Navy SEAL
Hawaii, Summer 1981
Series: Magnum, P.I.
Episode: “All Roads Lead to Floyd” (Episode 1.13)
Air Date: March 12, 1981
Director: Ron Satlof
Creator: Donald P. Bellisario & Glen Larson
Costume Designer: Charles Waldo
Costume Supervisor: James Gilmore
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It’s been about six months since I last posted about Thomas Magnum, and some renewed interest in the style of Magnum, P.I. (at least according to a few Instagram DMs I’ve received!) inspired me to check back in with Tom Selleck as the paradise-dwelling private eye—er, private investigator.
With St. Patrick’s Day at the end of this week, it feels appropriate on this #MagnumMonday—which isn’t as much of an established thing as I’d like it to be—to find Magnum wearing some Irish green. Fans of the series know he wore rugby shirts and polos with almost as much frequency as his famous aloha shirts, including a Kelly green short-sleeved rugger that made its sole appearance in the first-season episode “All Roads Lead to Floyd”, which originally aired 42 years ago yesterday on March 12, 1981. Continue reading
Dirty Harry’s Navy Windbreaker in Magnum Force
Clint Eastwood as Inspector “Dirty Harry” Callahan in Magnum Force (1973)
Vitals
Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan, tough San Francisco Police Department inspector
San Francisco, August 1972
Film: Magnum Force
Release Date: December 25, 1973
Director: Ted Post
Costume Supervisor: Glenn Wright
Background
When the first Dirty Harry sequel was being conceptualized in the early 1970s, Clint Eastwood recalled a plot line introduced by Terrence Malick in an unused first draft for Dirty Harry that was fleshed out by John Milius to center around a group of young rogue officers in the San Francisco Police Department who formed a secret vigilante “death squad” to rid the city of its worst criminals. This neatly responded to criticism of Harry Callahan’s methods from the first film, illustrating that while Harry may be an antihero comfortable with skirting red tape to get the job done, he doesn’t extend down into the villainous domain that truly takes the law into their own hands, illustrated by the movie’s repeated motif that “a man’s got to know his limitations.” Continue reading
Mad Men, 1970 Style – On the Road with Don Draper
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 7.13: “The Milk and Honey Route”)
Vitals
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, former ad man in search of himself
Oklahoma to California, Fall 1970
Series: Mad Men
Episodes:
– “The Milk and Honey Route” (Episode 7.13), dir. Matthew Weiner, aired 5/10/2015
– “Person to Person” (Episode 7.14), dir. Matthew Weiner, aired 5/17/2015
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
To honor the anniversary of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, published today in 1957, I’m taking a look at “The Milk and Honey Route,” the penultimate episode of Mad Men in which Don Draper’s journey to find himself drives him through the heart-land of darkness.