Tagged: Leather Jacket
Jeff Bridges in Starman
Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen in Starman (1984)
Vitals
Jeff Bridges as “Star Man”, an alien taking the humanoid form of Scott Hayden
Wisconsin to Arizona, Spring 1984
Film: Starman
Release Date: December 14, 1984
Director: John Carpenter
Men’s Costumer: Andy Hylton
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 75th birthday to Jeff Bridges, born December 4, 1949. The actor received his third Academy Award nomination for Starman, an interdimensional dramedy considered by director John Carpenter to be his sci-fi twist on romantic classics like It Happened One Night and Brief Encounter. Released 40 years ago this month in December 1984, Starman remains Carpenter’s second-highest grossing movie.
The movie begins seven years after NASA launched the Voyager 2 space probe designed for diplomatic contact with extra-terrestrials when the eponymous “Star Man” crashes to Earth outside the remote Chequamegon Bay in northern Wisconsin. He takes refuge in the lakeside home of young widow Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen) while she skims through memories of her late husband Scott, inadvertently providing the opportunity for our Star Man to assume his likeness.
After initially freaking Jenny out by morphing from an alien-looking child into the form of her deceased husband standing nude before her, Star Man uses his loose grasp of language—despite knowing how to communicate “greetings” in 54 of them, including English—to compel her to drive him to his designated meeting point somewhere in “Arizona maybe”, at the wheel of the burnt-orange ’77 Mustang she had shared with Scott. Continue reading
When Harry Met Sally: Harry’s Leather Flight Jacket
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Vitals
Billy Crystal as Harry Burns, sarcastic political consultant and recent divorcée
New York City, Fall 1987
Film: When Harry Met Sally…
Release Date: July 14, 1989
Director: Rob Reiner
Costume Designer: Gloria Gresham
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of the most aesthetically pleasing fall movies, Rob Reiner’s romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally celebrated its 35th anniversary earlier this year. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan—who celebrates her 63rd birthday today—star as the titular enemies-turned-friends-turned lovers. Continue reading
Succession: Kendall’s Brown Leather Tom Ford Jacket
Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy on Succession (Episode 4.07: “Tailgate Party”). Photo credit: David Russell.
Vitals
Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, ousted media conglomerate exec and self-described defender of democracy
New York City, Fall 2020
Series: Succession
Episode: “Tailgate Party” (Episode 4.07)
Air Date: May 7, 2023
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Creator: Jesse Armstrong
Costume Designer: Michelle Matland
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It’s Election Day in America—a tense, centuries-old national tradition determining the fate of all those in the country not privileged enough to see politics as a mere game… which is exactly how the billionare Roy family experiences it on Succession, hosting their usual pre-election “tailgate party” fueled by money, gossip, and flag-waving finger foods.
Hosted at the apartment shared by Siobhan “Shiv” Roy (Sarah Snook) and her sleepy husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), the party provides an opportunity for the Roys to rub elbows with political insiders and industry bigwigs to position themselves for success over the next four years.
“They’re not all crypto-fascist and right-wing nutjobs, we also have some venture capital Dems and centrist ghouls,” Kendall (Jeremy Strong) observes of their late father’s guest list. “Dad’s ideological range was… wide.” Continue reading
The Trouble With Harry: Royal Dano’s Leather Jacket
Royal Dano as Calvin Wiggs in The Trouble With Harry (1955)
Vitals
Royal Dano as Calvin Wiggs, laconic deputy sheriff and antique car restorer
Vermont, Fall 1954
Film: The Trouble with Harry
Release Date: September 30, 1955
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
One of the most outwardly comedic of Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography, The Trouble with Harry remains a fall favorite for its lush autumnal setting in New England, where filming began 70 years ago last month in Craftsbury, Vermont. Of course, the production team was stunned to see that the leaves had already turned by late September and were forced to resort to gluing colorful leaves onto the trees to create the desired atmosphere in the fictional town of “Hightower”.
“It’s as if I had set up a murder alongside a rustling brook and spilled a drop of blood in the clear water,” Hitchcock explained to François Truffaut of his intention behind this setting.
Law is primarily enforced in Hightower by the laconic and literal-minded deputy sheriff Calvin Wiggs, who arguably lacks the sense of humor shared by our protagonists as they spend the better party of a crisp fall day hiding the fresh corpse of Harry Worp to avoid Calvin’s suspicions. Calvin was portrayed by Royal Dano, a 6’2″ character actor born in New York City who nonetheless built his convicning career often playing cowboys and Abraham Lincoln. Continue reading
George Clooney and Brad Pitt as Wolfs in Leather and Cashmere
I’m pleased to again present a guest post contributed by my friend Ken Stauffer, who has written several pieces for BAMF Style previously and chronicles the style of the Ocean’s film series (and beyond!) on his excellent Instagram account, @oceansographer. Ken visited the set of Wolfs for three weeks of filming in early 2023 and attended its premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month.
Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Wolfs (2024)
Photo credit: Scott Garfield
Vitals
George Clooney as Jack, a.k.a. Margaret’s Man, professional underworld fixer
Brad Pitt as Nick a.k.a. Pam’s Man, professional underworld fixer
New York, December 2024
Film: Wolfs
Release Date: September 20, 2024
Director: Jon Watts
Costume Designer: Amy Westcott
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It’s been 16 years since the dynamic duo of George Clooney and Brad Pitt made a film together, but the wait is finally over! The pair star in Wolfs, written and directed by Jon Watts (Cop Car, Spider-Man: No Way Home), which is now streaming on Apple TV+ worldwide.
For over a year, the only description of the film was that it concerned “two lone wolf fixers who are unexpectedly assigned to the same job.” Unlike their Ocean’s characters who had years of history together, the aging duo of criminal cleaners played by Clooney and Pitt here have never met before the events of the movie. As Watts wrote in his Director’s Statement for the Venice Film Festival, “Le Samouraï, Blast of Silence, Ghost Dog, Collateral—I love films about solitary professionals dedicated to their craft and always wanted to see what would happen if two of those guys were forced to work together.”
Set entirely in New York City over the course of one long winter night, the film feels like a true throwback to crime films of the ’70s. The plot cleverly plays with well-trodden crime film tropes, while the dialogue recalls the buddy comedy rhythm of Midnight Run, 48 Hours, and Lethal Weapon. The difference here is that rather than being opposites who must find common ground, these characters are so alike that they can’t help but resent and insult one another. To quote Watts again, “It can be hard to make new friends as an adult, even if you have a lot in common.” Continue reading
Battle of Britain: Christopher Plummer’s RCAF Uniform and Flying Jacket
Christopher Plummer in Battle of Britain (1969)
Vitals
Christopher Plummer as RAF Squadron Leader Colin Harvey
France and England, Spring to Summer 1940
Film: Battle of Britain
Release Date: September 15, 1969
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Credit: Bert Henrikson
Background
Battle of Britain Day is commemorated in England on September 15th and in Canada on the third Sunday of September. Both dates coincide this year, making it the perfect time to review the dashing style of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer’s portrayal of a Royal Canadian Air Force officer in Guy Hamilton’s 1969 war epic, Battle of Britain.
Plummer stars as Squadron Leader Colin Harvey, whom we meet while commanding Squadron No. 188’s retreat from France in May 1940. After finding out the following month that he’s been assigned to a position in Scotland, he joins his wife, Section Officer Maggie Harvey (Susannah York) at a country pub in Denton to discuss the opportunity. He enjoys a “large Scotch”, perhaps to get into the spirit of his upcoming command, but it’s hard for him to feel spirited rather than disappointed when he learns that Maggie can’t apply for a job near him, responding to her with “What have we got? What the hell is this? Is it a marriage or a flaming Air Force committee?”
Colin’s new command distinguishes itself in battle after Adlertag (“Eagle Day”), the first day of the Luftwaffe’s attempted air invasion of the United Kingdom, though he and Maggie fail to reconcile before he’s badly burned during the climactic air battle over London on September 15, 1940, 84 years ago today.
The resulting British victory that day likely prevented a full-scale German invasion of the UK, prompting Prime Minister Winston Churchill to famously declare:
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Legends of the Fall: Brad Pitt’s Tan Leather Car Coat
Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall (1994)
Vitals
Brad Pitt as Tristan Ludlow, tough bootlegger and World War I veteran
Montana, Fall 1925
Film: Legends of the Fall
Release Date: December 23, 1994
Director: Edward Zwick
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Legends of the Fall may be a biblical title, but the style is autumnal, set amidst the network of the fictional Ludlow ranch in Montana across the first quarter of the 20th century.
Family patriarch William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) had been a decorated Army colonel before leaving the service in protest of the government’s treatment of Native Americans, raising his sons Alfred (Aidan Quinn), Tristan (Brad Pitt), and Samuel (Henry Thomas) on their remote ranch, where they learn to be the self-sufficient types that can survive bear confrontations… and if they don’t survive them, at least put up enough of a fight to earn “a good death.”
Portraying the tough but troubled Tristan Ludlow provided a breakthrough opportunity for Pitt, continuing the momentum he’d built in a similar role two years earlier in A River Runs Through It, though Tristan is arguably a more rugged character than Paul Maclean. By the mid-1920s, Tristan had seen and done it all, as a cowboy, soldier, big-game hunter, and now a bootlegger whose rumrunning runs him afoul of his own Volstead-voting brother Alfred and his nemeses, the crooked O’Banion brothers. As blood spills on both sides of the conflict, Tristan fears that those he love most are damned to die before him, only to be saved by the bonds of his family. Continue reading
And Then There Were None (2015): Anthony Marston’s Pink Terry Shirt
Douglas Booth as Anthony Marston in And Then There Were None (2015)
Vitals
Douglas Booth as Anthony Marston, irresponsible socialite
Devon, England, August 1939
Series Title: And Then There Were None
Air Date: December 26-28, 2015
Director: Craig Viveiros
Costume Designer: Lindsay Pugh
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
A recent rewatch of the 2015 BBC One series And Then There Were None brought to mind the exquisite parade of interesting menswear designed by Lindsay Pugh for the half-dozen gents summoned to the mysterious Soldier Island off the coast of Devon. The series is set during a late summer weekend in August 1939 on the brink of World War II, a specter that hauntingly looms over the darkly faithful series which is the first English-language adaptation to restore Agatha Christie’s original ending.
The story centers around ten strangers—eight guests and a married couple to serve as their staff—invited to the island by the enigmatic U.N. Owen, whom it is quickly established none of the ten have ever met… nor will they meet him, as their unknown host only makes his presence known by a recording accusing each of the ten of murder. All but two of the attendees respond with horrified denials, with the roguish adventurer Philip Lombard (Aidan Turner) and brash socialite Anthony Marston (Douglas Booth) being the only two to instantly own up to their past crimes. Continue reading
Glen Powell in Hit Man: Gary’s Western-Inspired Wardrobe as “Ron”
Glen Powell as Gary Johnson in Hit Man (2023)
Vitals
Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, mild-mannered psychology professor moonlighting as an undercover police contractor
New Orleans, Fall 2022
Film: Hit Man
Release Date: May 24, 2024
Director: Richard Linklater
Costume Designer: Juliana Hoffpauir
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After a limited two-week run in theaters, Hit Man debuted on Netflix at the beginning of this month and quickly became the service’s #1 most-watched movie in the U.S. The screenplay by director Richard Linklater and star Glen Powell fictionalizes the life of Gary Johnson, a college professor and successful “fake hitman” whose undercover police work led to more than 70 arrests of people seeking the services of a contract killer.
Hit Man is Linklater’s second cinematic depiction of stranger-than-fiction true crime based on a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth (the first was Bernie in 2011), though the production and setting were moved from Houston to New Orleans to take advantage of Louisiana tax credits.
Described in the epilogue as the “chillest dude imaginable,” the real Gary Johnson—whom the same epilogue is sure to insist was never actually involved in any murders—died in 2022 at the age of 75 before getting to see this dark comedy that riffed on his life story.
Though sensationalizing his life for dramatic purposes, Hit Man includes many details from Johnson’s life, like his cats Id and Ego, his unassuming politeness, and the random opportunity that elevated him to the city’s most in-demand assassin who signals his identity to prospective clients with a single response phrase:
All pie is good pie.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan: Robert Montgomery’s Belted Leather Jacket
Robert Montgomery in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Vitals
Robert Montgomery as Joe Pendleton, prizefighter and pilot known as “The Flying Pug”
En route New York City, Spring 1941
Film: Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Release Date: August 7, 1941
Director: Alexander Hall
Costume Designer: Edith Head (gowns)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Perhaps one of the first true “Renaissance men” in Hollywood, Robert Montgomery was born 120 years ago today on May 21, 1904 in New York’s Hudson Valley. Montgomery displayed a versatile range across movies and television, his comedic and dramatic abilities resulting in two Academy Award nominations and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was also an inventive director, pioneering an unusual but daring first-person narrative style for his 1947 directorial debut Lady in the Lake, adapted from Raymond Chandler’s pulp novel of the same name.
When World War II began in Europe, Montgomery enlisted for the American Field Service in London and drove ambulances in France up through the famous Dunkirk evacuation. After the United States entered the war a year and a half later, Montgomery joined the U.S. Navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander.
Amidst all this, Montgomery received his second Oscar nomination for his performance as the charismatic, saxophone-playing boxer Joe Pendleton in the smart supernatural comedy Here Comes Mr. Jordan, based on Harry Segall’s 1938 play Heaven Can Wait. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.