Tagged: Herringbone Coat

Remember the Night: Fred MacMurray’s Christmas Road Trip

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in Remember the Night (1940)

Vitals

Fred MacMurray as John “Jack” Sargent, smooth-talking New York prosecutor

New York to Indiana, Christmas 1938

Film: Remember the Night
Release Date: January 19, 1940
Director: Mitchell Leisen
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

This year’s winter #CarWeek installment kicks off with a holly jolly hoosier holiday in Remember the Night, a 1940 romcom released at the outset of a decade that included many classics of Christmas cinema like The Shop Around the Corner (1940), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), Holiday Inn (1942), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), The Bishop’s Wife (1947), It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), 3 Godfathers (1948), and Holiday Affair (1949). Yet before all those classics came Remember the Night, arguably one of the earliest major movies to recognize how compellingly Christmas, both at its loneliest and most celebratory, could be effectively woven into a story.

“While it has remained for decades mysteriously under the radar, its tender romance and comedy are so skillfully blended—and its use of Christmas so poignant—that it stands among the very best holiday movies,” describes Jeremy Arnold in the TCM volume Christmas in the Movies. Continue reading

Death Wish: Charles Bronson’s Reversible Herringbone Coat

Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey in Death Wish (1974)

Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey in Death Wish (1974)

Vitals

Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, vigilante family man

New York City, Winter 1974

Film: Death Wish
Release Date: July 24, 1974
Director: Michael Winner
Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 100th birthday of Charles Bronson, one of the most legendary cinematic ass-kickers perhaps best known for his starring role as family man-turned-street vigilante Paul Kersey in the 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish.

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Terry Leather’s Herringbone Coat in The Bank Job

Jason Statham as Terry Leather in The Bank Job (2008).

Jason Statham as Terry Leather in The Bank Job (2008).

Vitals

Jason Statham as Terry Leather, fledging bank robber and former car salesman

East London, September 1971

Film: The Bank Job
Release Date: February 29, 2008
Director: Roger Donaldson
Costume Designer: Odile Dicks-Mireaux

Background

Based partially on some possibly true events (or at least theories) surrounding the famous Baker Street robbery of 1971, The Bank Job is a fun caper flick from 2008 that stars Jason Statham in a decidedly less Statham-esque role than usual, leading a team of non-violent petty criminals chosen by the British government to burglarize a bank.

Of course, it’s not that simple as Statham’s crew isn’t even aware that they’re working for the government and wedging themselves between a sadistic London gangster and a militant revolutionary. Continue reading