Tagged: John McClane

Budget Fall Flannel for 2020

Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2 (1990), John Saxon in Moonshine County Express (1977), Dennis Haysbert in Far From Heaven (2002), and Rock Hudson in All That Heaven Allows (1955)After I shared some of my favorite budget-friendly movie and TV-inspired summer shirts this year, I also received some interest in a similar post for the autumn so my thoughts immediately went to rounding up some fall-friendly flannel shirts, jackets, and shackets based on my favorite types of movies to watch around this time of year.

My taste in fall movies runs from the rough to the refined. Having grown up watching The Dukes of Hazzard, I always had a soft spot for the low-budget “hick flicks” (and I use the term endearingly) often rolled out during the ’70s by groups like American International Pictures or New World Pictures. The latter distributed Moonshine County Express, one of many movies I saw for the first time while under quarantine this year, and a clear bridge between Burt Reynolds’ early fare like White Lightning and the more formulaic world of the Duke boys in Hazzard County.

Of course, it also wouldn’t be fall without the melodramatic sophistication of Douglas Sirk or his romantic heroes with a taste for flannel as modeled by Rock Hudson in All That Heaven Allows or by his spiritual successor Dennis Haysbert in the autumnal drama Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes’ 2002 ode to Sirk.

Finally, the holidays means we’re in Die Hard season with both the 1988 original film and its 1990 sequel each set during an action-packed Christmas Eve. Bruce Willis’ cynical hero may be tragically underdressed for his adventure in Nakatomi Tower, but he makes up for it two years later by keeping his shirt and shoes while battling baddies in the snow.

Please feel free to add your own observations or flannel favorites in the comments! Continue reading

Die Hard with a Vengeance

Bruce Willis as NYPD Lt. John McClane in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995).

Bruce Willis as NYPD Lt. John McClane in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995).

I imagine there’s nothing more American to celebrate the 4th of July than the first Die Hard film set in summer with plenty of explosions, car crashes, and gunfights. Happy Independence Day!

(I’m aware that Live Free or Die Hard was actually set on the 4th of July, but that flick is when things started getting a little too ridiculous. McClane was no longer vulnerable, and I just wasn’t feeling it. I might post about it sometime, or I might not.)

Vitals

Bruce Willis as John McClane, increasingly cynical NYPD lieutenant

New York City, Late Summer 1995

Film: Die Hard with a Vengeance
Release Date: May 19, 1995
Director: John McTiernan
Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
Bruce Willis’ Costumer: Lori Stilson Continue reading

Die Hard 2

Bruce Willis as John McClane in Die Hard 2 (1990)

Bruce Willis as John McClane in Die Hard 2 (1990)

Merry Christmas from BAMF Style to you and yours!

Vitals

Bruce Willis as John McClane, LAPD detective lieutenant

Washington, D.C., Christmas 1990

Film: Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Release Date: July 4, 1990
Director: Renny Harlin
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
Bruce Willis’ Key Costumer: Charles Mercuri

Background

One of the complaints about the Die Hard series is that there’s no way the same thing can keep happening to the one guy in the world who’s able to save it. Of course, these sort of complaints mostly started cropping up after the fourth installment in 2007 where John McClane literally saved the world. Prior to that, he’d saved about 30 lives in an office building, a few hundred in airplanes, and the population of New York City. Okay, so the scale kept getting bigger, but at least then he had a reason for being around. It’s even lampshaded in Die Hard 2 when McClane rants to himself:

Oh man, I can’t fucking believe this. Another basement, another elevator. How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?

Continue reading

Die Hard

BAMF Style’s 5 Days of Christmas

One of my all-time favorite Christmas movies is Die Hard. If you’re traveling for the holidays this year, make sure you dress comfortably for the plane ride and for taking on a skyscraper full of European terrorists. Don’t worry about packing extra shoes.

Bruce Willis as Det. John McClane in Die Hard.

Bruce Willis as Det. John McClane in Die Hard (1988)

Vitals

Bruce Willis as John McClane, NYPD detective

Los Angeles, Christmas 1987

Film: Die Hard
Release Date: July 15, 1988
Director: John McTiernan
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
Bruce Willis’ Key Costumer: Charles Mercuri

Background

John McClane was the direct American response to James Bond. Nothing against Bond; we’re obviously fans here, but McClane provided a brutal anti-hero that the ’80s needed. Before we delve into the attire, let’s briefly contrast these two. (This is all pre-Craig Bond being compared as Dan Craig certainly exemplifies a jaded physical toughness that McClane would be proud of.) Continue reading