Tagged: Leather Jacket
Taffin: Pierce Brosnan’s Leather U-Boat Coat and Black Jeans
Pierce Brosnan in Taffin (1988)
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as Mark Taffin, debt collector
Ballymoran, Ireland, Fall 1987
Film: Taffin
Release Date: February 26, 1988
Director: Francis Megahy
Costume Designer: Imogen Magnus
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
In the years between his career-defining roles as Remington Steele and James Bond, Pierce Brosnan’s career spanned a variety of roles, from classic adventurer Phileas Fogg in a TV production of Around the World in 80 Days to spurned lovers in Love Affair (1994) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)—losing his love interest to Warren Beatty (makes sense) and Robin Williams dressed as a fussy old British woman (oh!), respectively.
For the 00-7th of October today, let’s look at one of Brosnan’s more Bond-like roles during this period, portraying the title character in Taffin, adapted from Lyndon Mallet’s book series of the same name. Mallet reportedly balked at the casting choice as his literary Mark Taffin was described as overweight and unattractive—two words which would not describe Pierce Brosnan.
Taffin works as a debt collector in his small Irish hometown, filmed in County Wicklow, where his popularity ranges based on whether he’s helped you recover your debts… or had him knocking at your door on someone else’s behalf. Despite his cynical attitude and less-than-reputable profession, Taffin emerges as the town’s de facto defender, working against the developers who’ll stop at nothing to capitalize on the land. Continue reading
Kill Me Again: Michael Madsen’s Leather Jacket
Michael Madsen in Kill Me Again (1989)
Vitals
Michael Madsen as Vince Miller, ruthless armed robber
Nevada, Spring 1989
Film: Kill Me Again
Release Date: October 27, 1989
Director: John Dahl
Costume Designer: Terry Dresbach
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This year has seen the loss of screen legends across generations, from Gene Hackman and Robert Redford to Val Kilmer and Michael Madsen. On the first anniversary of Madsen’s September 25, 1957 birthday, let’s look at the one film where he and Kilmer starred together—the 1989 crime thriller Kill Me Again, where both men are drawn into a dangerous web spun by Fay, a femme fatale played by Kilmer’s then-wife Joanne Whalley.
Madsen steadily grew his career as a supporting actor through the ’80s in movies like WarGames (1982) and The Natural (1984) before appearing in Kill Me Again as the murderous thief Vince Miller, who could be argued as a template for the vicious villains he would play in movies like Reservoir Dogs (1992), The Getaway (1994), and Donnie Brasco (1997). Continue reading
Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown vs. Out of Sight
Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown (1997)
Vitals
Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette, energetic federal agent
Los Angeles, Summer 1995
Film: Jackie Brown
Release Date: December 25, 1997
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Mary Claire Hannan
Film: Out of Sight
Release Date: June 26, 1998
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
My fellow Pittsburgher Michael Keaton was born 74 years ago today on September 5, 1951. Among his many roles, Keaton was introduced to the Elmore Leonard cinematic universe as the bimbo “good cop” Ray Nicolette to Michael Bowen’s more aggressive “bad cop” Mark Dargus in Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 adaptation of Leonard’s novel Rum Punch. Continue reading
Robert Redford’s Flight Jacket as The Great Waldo Pepper
Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)
Vitals
Robert Redford as Waldo Pepper, daring stunt pilot
Midwest United States, Summer 1926 through Spring 1928
Film: The Great Waldo Pepper
Release Date: March 13, 1975
Director: George Roy Hill
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One year after portraying the titular Great Gatsby, Robert Redford starred in The Great Waldo Pepper as the fictional eponymous aviator—loosely inspired by several real-life daredevil flying aces of the Roaring ’20s—making it a fitting focus ahead of National Aviation Day tomorrow.
Born 89 years ago today on August 18, 1936, Redford was one of the biggest stars of the 1970s, thanks in part to his performances opposite Paul Newman in George Roy Hill’s hit comedies Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973). Released 50 years ago this March, The Great Waldo Pepper reunited Redford with Hill for a more lighthearted counterpoint to the actor’s contemporaneous political thrillers like Three Days of the Condor (1975) and All the President’s Men (1976).
We first meet barnstormer Waldo Pepper in the summer of 1926, landing his bright yellow Standard J-1 in a Nebraska field to sell plane rides to curious locals. Continue reading
Bob Dylan’s Black Leather Jacket at Newport 1965: Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown (2024). Photo by Macall Polay.
Vitals
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, folk singer-songwriter
Newport, Rhode Island, Summer 1965
Film: A Complete Unknown
Release Date: December 25, 2024
Director: James Mangold
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Jacket Maker: Jimmy McBride
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Sixty years ago tonight, Bob Dylan closed out his third consecutive appearance at the annual Newport Folk Festival by taking the stage with a backing band, signaling a seismic shift in music that stunned and polarized the attendees.
The controversial Sunday night set became the climactic scene in James Mangold’s acclaimed A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet as Dylan alongside Ed Norton as Pete Seeger and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. Continue reading
The Loveless: Willem Dafoe as Leather-clad Biker Vance
Willem Dafoe in The Loveless (1981)
Vitals
Willem Dafoe as Vance, lone biker and ex-convict
Rural Georgia, Summer 1959
Film: The Loveless
Release Date: August 7, 1981
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow & Monty Montgomery
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 70th birthday to Willem Dafoe, the versatile actor born July 22, 1955, in Appleton, Wisconsin—not far from Sheboygan, where I just spent the weekend!
After an uncredited part cut from Michael Cimino’s ambitious 1980 Western epic Heaven’s Gate, Dafoe made his credited screen debut as the lead in The Loveless, which also marked the directorial debut of Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery, who co-wrote the screenplay.
Dafoe stars as Vance, a brooding biker who describes himself as “what you’d call… ragged,” joining up with his small gang at a truck stop off U.S. Highway 17 in Georgia, en route to Daytona to catch the NASCAR races. The year’s never stated, but context clues—like the cars, music, and 10¢ Cokes—suggest the summer of 1959, the same year Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500.
As in the film’s spiritual predecessor The Wild One (1953), the gang sparks mixed reactions from the townspeople: suspicion and fear from the older generation, curiosity and desire from the younger. As the sun sets and the tension rises, both visitors and locals grow increasingly drunk… and increasingly armed. Continue reading
Mission: Impossible — Tom Cruise’s Black Leather Blazer as Ethan Hunt
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible (1996). Photo by Murray Close.
Vitals
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, Impossible Missions Force agent
Prague to London, Spring 1996
Film: Mission: Impossible
Release Date: May 22, 1996
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Penny Rose
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Despite how much I enjoy espionage-themed spy movies—indicated by the plethora I’ve written about James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Three Days of the Condor—I had strangely never seen Ethan Hunt in action until just last week, two months shy of my 36th birthday, when all the buzz around Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning convinced me that it was time for me to trust Tom Cruise’s almost-superhuman spy one… first… time.
And, of course, I loved it. I had either forgotten or didn’t know that the 1996 film was directed by Brian De Palma from a script co-written by Robert Towne—with David Koepp, from a story by Koepp and Steven Zaillain. None of that considerable talent was wasted in rebooting Bruce Geller’s TV series for the screen, resulting in a stylish and fun blockbuster that became the third highest-grossing movie of 1996 and spawned a successful film franchise with the eighth (and likely final) installment released last month.
Mission: Impossible reintroduces Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team leader Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), a reimagining of the character originated by Peter Graves on TV decades earlier. The movie begins as Jim assembles his squad—Ethan Hunt, Sarah Davies (Kristin Scott Thomas), Jack Harmon (an uncredited Emilio Estevez), Jim’s wife Claire Phelps (Emmanuelle Béart), and Hannah Williams (Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė)—at a Prague safe-house, where he briefs the team on their upcoming mission to surveil and stop a rogue agent from stealing a list of the CIA’s non-official cover (NOC) identities.
When the IMF team and their target are wiped out with the NOC list missing, suspicion falls on the mission’s lone survivor: Ethan Hunt, who now has to prove his innocence while finding the real mole at the center of the scheme.
Sounds impossible? Not for Ethan Hunt. Continue reading
Near Dark: Bill Paxton as a Vampire Biker
Bill Paxton in Near Dark (1987)
Vitals
Bill Paxton as Severen, vampire biker
Oklahoma to Kansas, Fall 1986
Film: Near Dark
Release Date: October 2, 1987
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Designer: Joseph A. Porro
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would’ve been the 70th birthday of Bill Paxton, born May 17, 1955. After his uncredited screen debut in Jonathan Demme’s period crime flick Crazy Mama (1975), Paxton emerged as one of director James Cameron’s favorite supporting players through the 1980s and ’90s as seen in The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), True Lies (1994), and Titanic (1997).
Amidst these, Paxton also appeared as the memorably psychotic vampire Severen in Kathryn Bigelow’s solo directorial debut, the 1987 neo-Western horror film Near Dark. Despite an underwhelming initial box office performance, many contemporary critics praised the film—specifically Paxton’s “exceptional [performance]… as the undead sex symbol,” according to Jay Scott for The Globe and Mail. Near Dark has continued growing a cult following in the decades since its release. Continue reading
Johnny Depp as Cry-Baby
Johnny Depp in Cry-Baby (1990)
Vitals
Johnny Depp as Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker, rebellious high school hellcat and rockabilly singer
Baltimore, Spring 1954
Film: Cry-Baby
Release Date: April 6, 1990
Director: John Waters
Wardrobe & Makeup Designer: Van Smith
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Just over three weeks after its premiere in John Waters’ native Baltimore where the film—among so many of his others—is set, Cry-Baby was more widely released 35 years ago tomorrow on April 5, 1990 in more than 1,200 theaters across North America—an unprecedented opening for the offbeat director.
This wider release indicated the film’s more mainstream appeal, lacking the more scatological elements of Waters’ prior works like Pink Flamingos (1972) while retaining enough of the director’s signatures to make it an effective introduction to his work. Despite this increased accessibility and some critical acclaim, Waters’ camped-up tribute to ’50s teen romances (think Grease for weirdos) still failed to find a solid audience at the outset. It wasn’t until years after its initial release that Cry-Baby developed a cult following among much of Waters’ other movies. Continue reading
Moonlighting: Bruce Willis’ First Brown Leather Jacket
Bruce Willis as David Addison on the pilot episode of Moonlighting
Vitals
Bruce Willis as David Addison Jr., wisecracking private detective
Los Angeles, Spring 1985
Series: Moonlighting
Episodes:
– “Pilot” (Episodes 1.01-1.02, dir. Glenn Gordon Caron, aired 3/3/1985)
– “The Murder’s in the Mail” (Episode 1.07, dir. Peter Werner, aired 4/2/1985)
– “Funeral for a Door Nail” (Episode 2.17, dir. Allan Arkush, aired 4/26/1986)
Creator: Glenn Gordon Caron
Costume Designer: Robert Turtrice
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
For Bruce Willis’ 70th birthday today, I was inspired by a reader’s recent comment to revisit the series that launched the actor to initial fame. Moonlighting premiered with its two-part pilot episode 40 years ago this month, starring Willis opposite Cybill Shepherd. Continue reading