Tagged: Horsebit Loafers
Bob Newhart’s Red Leisure Jacket on Thanksgiving
Bob Newhart as Dr. Bob Hartley in “Over the River and Through the Woods”, the fourth-season Thanksgiving-themed episode of The Bob Newhart Show.
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Bob Newhart as Robert Hartley, PhD, deadpan psychologist
Chicago, Thanksgiving 1975
Series: The Bob Newhart Show
Episode: “Over the River and Through the Woods” (Episode 4.11)
Air Date: November 22, 1975
Director: James Burrows
Created by: David Davis & Lorenzo Music
Men’s Costumes: Ralph T. Schlain
Clothes by: Botany 500
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of the most iconic Thanksgiving-themed TV episodes of all time aired fifty years ago this week: “Over the River and Through the Woods”, from the fourth season of The Bob Newhart Show, the 1970s sitcom starring Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette as Chicago couple Robert and Emily Hartley.
The demands of a psychologist’s patients during the holidays keep Bob home in Chicago for Turkey Day, though he’s hardly remiss to be missing Emily’s family’s annual gala in Seattle that includes square dancing and skipping stones across Puget Sound. Come Thursday, Bob hosts his fellow “Thanksgiving orphans”: orthodontist and office-mate Dr. Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz) his airheaded next-door neighbor Howard Borden (Bill Daily), and his chronic patient Elliot F. Carlin (Jack Riley), who declares “you know you’re at a bad party when Elliot Carlin is the happiest man in the room.” Continue reading
Purple Noon: Alain Delon’s Blue Ivy-Style OCBD, Cream Jeans, and Loafers
Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)
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Alain Delon as Tom Ripley, charming American con artist
Italy, Summer 1959
Film: Purple Noon
(French title: Plein soleil)
Release Date: March 10, 1960
Director: René Clément
Costume Designer: Bella Clément
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
French screen and style icon Alain Delon died one year ago this week on August 18, 2024. One of the actor’s most celebrated and stylish roles remains his portrayal of Tom Ripley in Purple Noon, René Clément’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley.
The French/Italian co-production (released in France as Plein soleil) was the first cinematic adaptation of Highsmith’s novel, followed by Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley and Steven Zaillain’s 2024 Netflix miniseries Ripley. Clément was inspired to cast Delon after spotting the young actor in the 1959 comedy Women are Weak, and his enigmatic performance as Tom Ripley eventually launched him to wider global recognition.
Highsmith’s own opinion about the film ranged from cheers for Henri Decaë’s stunning cinematography to jeers against Clément’s bastardized ending, though the author fully praised Delon’s “excellent” portrayal of her devious creation. Continue reading
The White Lotus: Walton Goggins’ Cream Tailoring in Bangkok
Walton Goggins on The White Lotus, Episode 3.08: “Amor Fati”
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Walton Goggins as Rick Hatchett, vengeful tourist
Bangkok, Thailand, Spring 2024
Series: The White Lotus
Episodes:
– “Denials” (Episode 3.06, aired 3/23/2025)
– “Killer Instincts” (Episode 3.07, aired 3/30/2025)
– “Amor Fati” (Episode 3.08, aired 4/6/2025)
Director: Mike White
Creator: Mike White
Costume Designer: Alex Bovaird
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
With Memorial Day weekend ushering in the unofficial start of summer, many gents are rotating their whites to the front of their closets.
On the latest season of Mike White’s anthological black comedy The White Lotus, costume designer Alex Bovaird contrasts the gloomy attitude of self-appointed vigilante Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) with an insouciant wardrobe of vibrant tropical shirts and bleached tailoring that he pulls together across the season’s final three episodes for his mission of revenge against the man he believes responsible for his father’s death: ruthless land baron Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn). Continue reading
Kramer vs. Kramer: Dustin Hoffman’s M-65 Field Jacket
Dustin Hoffman and Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
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Dustin Hoffman as Ted Kramer, ad man and divorced dad
New York City, January 1979
Film: Kramer vs. Kramer
Release Date: December 19, 1979
Director: Robert Benton
Costume Designer: Ruth Morley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of my more recent posts focused on a movie where Dustin Hoffman played a conniving con artist, so let’s allow him to redeem himself as a workaholic learning how to be a more present dad in Kramer vs. Kramer, Robert Benton’s 1979 divorce-centric drama that won Hoffman his first Academy Award for Best Actor—in addition to Oscars for his co-star Meryl Streep, Benton’s screenplay and directing, and the Best Picture trophy.
Hoffman and Streep play the titular Kramer couple, who split after eight years of marriage when an overwhelmed Joanna leaves Ted and their seven-year-old son Billy (Justin Henry) in the New York apartment they once shared. Ted initially struggles with the demands of parenting, but he grows from an aloof workaholic to an engaged dad over the year and a half that he raises Billy exclusively before Joanna re-enters their lives and requests custody. Continue reading
Arinzé Kene’s 1970s Leisure Jacket as Cal in I’m Your Woman
Arinzé Kene and Rachel Brosnahan in I’m Your Woman (2020)
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Arinzé Kene as Cal, taciturn and resourceful former thief
Western Pennsylvania, Fall 1979
Film: I’m Your Woman
Release Date: December 4, 2020
Director: Julia Hart
Costume Designer: Natalie O’Brien
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Julia Hart’s under-discussed crime drama I’m Your Woman premiered four years ago this month during the 2020 AFI Fest, followed by its limited theatrical release on December 4th and its streaming release one week later.
As a Pittsburgher, I remember when this was being filmed here in southwestern Pennsylvania through the fall of 2019 and was intrigued by its obvious 1970s setting and the fact that it starred Rachel Brosnahan, whom I recognized and liked from House of Cards and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. When I finally had the opportunity to watch it a year later, I was impressed by its unique spin on a classic noir crime story.
Brosnahan stars as Jean, a mostly idle housewife “somewhere in America” (according to Hart’s screenplay) who is understandably surprised when her criminal husband Eddie (Bill Heck) brings home a baby, whom she names Harry. The mysteries compound when Jean is awakened several nights later by Eddie’s partner-in-crime hands her a bag full of $200,000 and instructs her to go on the run with their quiet accomplice named Cal (Arinzé Kene), who packs Jean, baby Harry, and scant belongings into his blue 1979 Chevrolet Malibu. Continue reading
The Gambler: James Caan’s Tan Suede Shirt-jacket
James Caan as Axel Freed in The Gambler (1974)
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James Caan as Axel Freed, gambling-addicted English professor
New York City, Fall 1973
Film: The Gambler
Release Date: October 2, 1974
Director: Karel Reisz
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Released 50 years ago today on October 2, 1974, Karel Reisz’s drama The Gambler stars James Caan as Axel Freed, a literature professor whose gambling addiction spirals into self-destruction. Screenwriter James Toback drew on his own reckless experiences as a compulsive gambler during his time lecturing at City College of New York.
The film opens with Axel already deep in debt at Hips’ gambling den, where the seasoned bookie (Paul Sorvino) notes that Axel’s $44,000 losing streak is “the woist luck I seen in fifteen yearhs.” Continue reading
Moonraker: Roger Moore’s Cream Suit in Rio
Roger Moore as James Bond in Moonraker (1979)
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Roger Moore as James Bond, suave and sophisticated British MI6 agent
Rio de Janiero, Brazil, February 1979
Film: Moonraker
Release Date: June 26, 1979
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Costume Designer: Jacques Fonteray
Tailor: Angelo Vitucci
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Moonraker launched James Bond into orbit when it premiered 45 years ago today on June 26, 1979 as the fourth of Sir Roger Moore’s seven adventures as the dashing spy.
Before his out-of-this-world journey, 007 trots the globe from California to Italy and ultimately to Brazil, where he landed in Rio de Janiero during the annual Carnival festivities held in February. February is a summer month in Brazil, so Bond dresses for the warmth in a cream linen suit and open-neck brown shirt and matching pocket square as he alights from his plane. Continue reading
Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems: Black Leather Jacket and Yellow Polo
Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems (2019)
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Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, gambling-addicted jeweler
New York City, Spring 2012
Film: Uncut Gems
Release Date: December 13, 2019
Director: Josh Safdie & Benny Safdie
Costume Design: Miyako Bellizzi & Nawaal Hendricks
Costume Consultant: Mordechai Rubinstein
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 57th birthday to Adam Sandler, born September 9, 1966. The Sandman turned in an arguably career best performance in Uncut Gems, the Safdie brothers’ excellent and stress-inducing callback to gritty ’70s crime cinema, set during the 2012 NBA finals. The uncut gem at the center of the story is a rare black opal that we follow from the mines of Ethiopia to New York City’s Diamond District—specifically KMH, a store run by the frenetic Howard Ratner.
The Last of Sheila: Richard Benjamin’s Safari Jacket
Richard Benjamin and Joan Hackett in The Last of Sheila (1973)
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Richard Benjamin as Tom Parkman, spaghetti western screenwriter
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
I’ll bet you haven’t seen the last of Sheila! (Okay, so maybe you have seen this movie, but I can’t resist a pun.)
Released 50 years ago today on Flag Day 1973, The Last of Sheila was penned by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, inspired by the real-life scavenger hunts and murder parties that they used to organize for fellow friends in show business, from actors to agents like Sue Mengers. Director Herbert Ross had been part of the festivities at one point, telling Sondheim and Perkins to collaborate on a screenplay based on their parlor games, and it was Ross who ended up helming The Last of Sheila.
(It’s been reported that Mengers was actually offered a role in The Last of Sheila, but she turned it down as she wasn’t a professional actress and wanted to avoid taking work she felt her clients deserved, and she talked a characteristically effervescent Dyan Cannon into playing the part she inspired.)
The Last of Sheila has been the subject of renewed attention in recent years, thanks in part to Rian Johnson citing it as inspiration for Knives Out and its sequel, Glass Onion, both of which clearly share Sheila‘s DNA with their star-studded casts, plot complexity, and the balance of comic light-heartedness and deadly suspense, as well as specific plot elements like misinterpreted manners of death, a Mediterranean Sea full of red herrings, and an eccentric host welcoming a coterie of famous friends for a mystery party.
The film begins after colorful producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) lost his wife Sheila in a mysterious hit-and-run accident. To commemorate the one-year anniversary of Sheila’s death, Clinton invites his friends—”six hungry failures”—to spend a week in the Ligurian Sea on the yacht he had named for her, including vivacious talent agent Christine (Dyan Cannon), washed-up director Philip Dexter (James Mason), in-demand actress Alice Wood (Raquel Welch) and her shady husband and promoter Anthony (Ian McShane), and desperate screenwriter Tom Parkman (Richard Benjamin) and his cautious, witty wife Lee (Joan Hackett). Continue reading
A Warm December: Sidney Poitier’s Camel Blazer
Sidney Poitier as Dr. Matt Younger in A Warm December (1973)
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Sidney Poitier as Matt Younger, widowed father and clinic physician
London, Summer 1972
Film: A Warm December
Release Date: May 23, 1973
Director: Sidney Poitier
Wardrobe Supervisor: John Wilson-Apperson
Background
To remember the late screen legend Sidney Poitier KBE—born 96 years ago today on February 20, 1927—today’s post returns to the Oscar-winning actor’s second directorial effort, A Warm December.
In addition to directing, Poitier also stars as the recently widowed Dr. Matt Younger, who arrives in London with his daughter Stefanie (Yvette Curtis). Looking for nothing more than a mindless vacation with his daughter and riding his motorbike, Matt’s trip becomes considerably more complicated after an interesting encounter outside his Pall Mall hotel with the mysterious Catherine Oswandu (Ester Anderson). Continue reading