Tagged: Leather Jacket
Happy Days: Henry Winkler’s Leather Jacket as Fonzie
Henry Winkler as Fonzie on Happy Days
Vitals
Henry Winkler as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli, cool mechanic-turned-diner owner and high school teacher
Milwaukee, late 1950s and early 1960s
Series: Happy Days
Air Dates: January 15, 1974 – July 19, 1984
Creator: Garry Marshall
Men’s Costumer: Mickey Sherrard (1977-1984)
Background
Happy Days premiered 50 years ago today on January 15, 1974, the start of an impressive 11-season run on ABC chronicling an idealized look at mid-century life in the Midwest. Created by the prolific Garry Marshall, the series initially centered around all-American teenager Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) and his family and friends until retooling to increase focus on Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler), a quintessential ’50s greaser in the mold of Marlon Brando and James Dean who quickly rose to become an audience favorite. Continue reading
Santa Claus on AOL Blast for Detective Crashmore
Santa Claus on AOL Blast
Vitals
Biff Wiff as Santa Claus, serious actor who does Christmas
AOL Blast studio, Summer 2022
Series: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
Episode: “You sure about that? You sure about that that’s why?” (Episode 2.03)
Streaming Date: July 6, 2021
Directed by: Alice Mathias, Zach Kanin, Akiva Schaffer, and Zachary Johnson
Created by: Tim Robinson & Zach Kanin
Costume Designer: Monica Chamberlain
Background
If Leonardo DiCaprio was here, would you ask him about Christmas is around the corner?
Santa Claus graciously appeared on AOL Blast—despite the fact that no one watches it due to its unprofessional bullshit—to promote his latest film Detective Crashmore, for which Lamador Pictures paid him his rate of $2 mil to play the eponymous crazier-than-hell detective.
Once the unprofesssional host Wesley Fillmore finally determined that he would follow his guest’s instructions to interview him as an actor, we learn about the cosmic gumbo—Santa had joked with his co-star Ryan Tanna on set about how it was a cosmic gumbo—that mixes “the action of the ’90s combined with the exploitation films of the ’70s” while almost moving to the beat of jazz. Continue reading
The Seven-Ups: Roy Scheider’s Leather Jacket and Pontiac Ventura
Roy Scheider as Buddy Manucci in The Seven-Ups (1973)
Vitals
Roy Scheider as Buddy Manucci, renegade NYPD detective
New York City, Winter 1972
Film: The Seven-Ups
Release Date: December 14, 1973
Director: Philip D’Antoni
Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Philip D’Antoni’s sole directorial effort The Seven-Ups was released 50 years ago today, starring Roy Scheider in his first major leading role as the lead of a group of renegade NYPD detectives who specialize in securing arrests for crooks who will serve sentences of at least seven years… hence being known as “the seven-ups.”
The Seven-Ups could be argued as a spiritual continuation of The French Connection, which D’Antoni had accepted the Academy Award for producing two years earlier. Both movies were filmed and set during a gritty winter in early 1970s New York City, focused on crusading cops unafraid to break a few rules—including Scheider as an Italian-American detective named Buddy, inspired by the real-life Sonny Grosso.
Both The French Connection and The Seven-Ups also featured a thrilling car chase centered around our protagonist behind the wheel of an ordinary Pontiac, pushed to perform extraordinary stunts thanks to the late, great Bill Hickman.
If you liked seeing one Pontiac at the heart of The French Connection‘s famous chase, you’ll love seeing two Pontiacs duking it out in The Seven-Ups!
But before that…
Richard Roundtree’s Black Leather as Shaft
Richard Roundtree as John Shaft in Shaft (1971)
Vitals
Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, tough private detective
New York City, Winter 1971 and 1972
Film: Shaft
Release Date: June 25, 1971
Director: Gordon Parks
Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
Film: Shaft’s Big Score!
Release Date: June 21, 1972
Director: Gordon Parks
Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
Background
R.I.P. Richard Roundtree (1942-2023), who shot to stardom in the early 1970s after making his iconic screen debut as the eponymous detective in Shaft. Continue reading
Lone Starr in Spaceballs
Bill Pullman as Lone Starr in Spaceballs (1987)
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Bill Pullman as Lone Starr, cynical “hero for hire”
“Once upon a time warp… in a galaxy very, very, very, very far away…”
Film: Spaceballs
Release Date: June 24, 1987
Director: Mel Brooks
Costume Designer: Donfeld (Donald Lee Feld)
Background
Spaceballs was my first exposure to Mel Brooks, having appealed to my being a Star Wars fan through my childhood. Of course, as I was nine years old the first time I watched Spaceballs, many of the meta humor and more mature-minded jokes went straight over my head, but I still thought it was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen. More than two decades later, it’s still a fun watch, as this peerless master of modern comedy riffs on far more than just what had been my favorite sci-fi franchise.
Continuing the Star Wars parallels, Spaceballs merges Han Solo’s persona with Luke Skywalker’s folklore into one character, the swaggering space cowboy Lone Starr (Bill Pullman), traversing the galaxy in his Winnebago spaceship with his loyal half-canine sidekick Barf (John Candy).
The duo are recruited by the desperate King Roland of Druidia (Dick Van Patten) to save his daughter Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) and her gilt droid-of-honor Dot Matrix (Joan Rivers) from the clutches of the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis), who also turns out to be Lone Starr’s father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate. The adventure becomes a life-changing journey for Lone Starr as he learns how to harness the mysterious power of “the Schwartz”. Continue reading
The Italian Connection: Henry Silva’s Leather Jacket
Henry Silva in The Italian Connection (1973)
Vitals
Henry Silva as Dave Catania, swaggering Mafia hitman
New York to Milan, Spring 1972
Film: The Italian Connection
(Italian title: La mala ordina)
Release Date: September 2, 1972
Director: Fernando Di Leo
Costume Designer: Francesco Cuppini
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Henry Silva, a screen stalwart whose credits included the Rat Pack-led Ocean’s Eleven (1960) and political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1962) before his first leading role in the jazzy noir Johnny Cool (1963). The latter set a precedent that would characterize the next decade of Silva’s career as he would star in many “poliziottesco” films like Fernando Di Leo’s The Italian Connection, released 51 years ago this month. Continue reading
Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems: Black Leather Jacket and Yellow Polo
Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems (2019)
Vitals
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.
Dennis Quaid in Frequency
Dennis Quaid and Daniel Henson in Frequency (2000)
Vitals
Dennis Quaid as Frank Sullivan, Sr., firefighter and family man
New York, Fall 1969
Film: Frequency
Release Date: April 28, 2000
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Costume Designer: Elisabetta Beraldo
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Frequency might be one of those movies that doesn’t get discussed much these days, but I remember being intrigued when I caught it on TNT a few years after it came out. Flash forward to a few months ago when I saw it was among the movies leaving HBO Max that month, and I decided to revisit.
Without spoiling too much, the plot centers on a ham radio-driven multiverse without the added complication of a serial killer seemingly inspired by one part Richard Speck, one part Ted Bundy, while Frequency‘s most significant emotional impact comes from the intragenerational bond between a father and son—hence my posting about it on Father’s Day weekend. Continue reading
The Professional: Belmondo’s Blue Leather Jacket
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Joss Beaumont in The Professional/Le Professionnel (1981)
Vitals
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Josselin “Joss” Beaumont, vengeful French secret agent specializing in “espionage and brawls”
Paris, Spring 1981
Film: The Professional
(French title: Le Professionnel)
Release Date: October 21, 1981
Director: Georges Lautner
Costume Designer: Paulette Breil
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 90th birthday of Jean-Paul Belmondo, the prolific and popular French star who rose to fame during the New Wave cinematic movement in movies like Breathless and Pierrot le Fou before he was established as a dynamic hero of action and adventure movies. Belmondo actually appeared in a 1984 movie titled Happy Easter, but—despite the egg-cellent holiday today—let’s refocus to three years earlier and Bébel’s iconic action role in The Professional, released in France as Le Professionnel. Continue reading
Noah Segan in Blood Relatives
Noah Segan in Blood Relatives (2022)
Vitals
Noah Segan as Francis, classical music-loving vampire
Across the Great Plains and Southwest, Summer 2022
Film: Blood Relatives
Release Date: November 22, 2022
Director: Noah Segan
Costume Designer: Michael Bevins
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Sometimes I read a description of or watch a trailer for a movie and think that it had to have been written specifically for me. A recent example of this phenomenon is Blood Relatives, Noah Segan’s directorial debut that premiered on Shudder four months ago, following a leather-jacketed Jewish vampire on a Paper Moon-style road trip in a classic muscle car through the neon-lit small towns of the Midwest and Central Great Plains while unpacking generational trauma with his daughter.
Needless to say, I loved the movie and urge all fellow fans to vote for it as Best First Feature for the 2023 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards, which ends on Monday, February 27. Continue reading
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