Tagged: Los Angeles
The Terminator: Arnie’s Leather Jacket and Gargoyle Sunglasses
Today’s post about an iconic screen badass was written by the curator of the popular Instagram account @jamesbondswardrobe. Enjoy!
Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984)
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Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800, an “unassuming” cyborg sent back in time to assassinate an unassuming waitress
Los Angeles, May 1984
Film: The Terminator
Release Date: October 26, 1984
Director: James Cameron
Costume Designer: Hilary Wright
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The same year that he was filming Conan the Destroyer, rising film star and retired bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger—along with his agent—was sent a script penned by James Cameron that was simply titled The Terminator. His interest piqued, the eight-time Mr. Olympia later met the aspiring director, ostensibly to be cast as Kyle Reese. However, Arnie’s own musings on how the titular villain ought to be played stirred Cameron’s imagination, who began to sketch his likeness on a notepad, coming to the conclusion that, instead of Reese, “he’d make a hell of a Terminator.” Continue reading
L.A. Confidential: Bud White’s Brown Flannel on Bloody Christmas
Russell Crowe as Wendell “Bud” White in L.A. Confidential (1997)
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Russell Crowe as Wendell “Bud” White, tough yet justice-minded LAPD plainclothes officer
Los Angeles, Christmas Eve 1952
Film: L.A. Confidential
Release Date: September 19, 1997
Director: Curtis Hanson
Costume Designer: Ruth Myers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, L.A. Confidential chronicles a faction of cops and crooks in the City of Angels through the early 1950s, with Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson’s Oscar-winning screenplay adapted from James Ellroy’s sprawling pulp novel of the same name. The movie begins on Christmas Eve 1952, based on a real-life episode known as “Bloody Christmas” when seven prisoners were abused while in LAPD custody on the morning of December 25, 1951, resulting in a wave of indictments, suspensions, and transfers of the more than four dozen officers involved.
“You’re like Santa Claus with that list, Bud… ‘cept everyone on it’s been naughty,” observes corrupt LAPD Sergeant Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel) of his crusading partner, Officer Wendell “Bud” White, who watches an abusive husband ruin his wife’s Christmas through gritted teeth. Continue reading
Devil in a Blue Dress: Don Cheadle as Mouse Alexander
Don Cheadle as Raymond “Mouse” Alexander in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
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Don Cheadle as Raymond “Mouse” Alexander, smooth but dangerous gunsel
Los Angeles, Summer 1948
Film: Devil in a Blue Dress
Release Date: September 29, 1995
Director: Carl Franklin
Costume Designer: Sharen Davis
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As #Noirvember comes to a close, I want to celebrate one of my favorite characters from neo-noir, the trigger-happy “Mouse” Alexander in Devil in a Blue Dress, played by Don Cheadle who was born November 29, 1964 and celebrates his 58th birthday today.
Fledgling private eye Ezekial “Easy” Rawlins (Denzel Washington) calls his old pal Mouse for some high-caliber help as the stakes climb but soon regrets his decision: “You ain’t been in my house five minutes and you gone and shot somebody already, Mouse!” Continue reading
Alan Ladd in This Gun for Hire
Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in This Gun for Hire (1942)
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Alan Ladd as Philip Raven, cold-blooded, cat-loving contract killer
San Francisco to Los Angeles, Spring 1942
Film: This Gun for Hire
Release Date: April 24, 1942
Director: Frank Tuttle
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I had already been planning to write about This Gun for Hire this month when I realized that today would have been the 100th birthday of Veronica Lake, who was born in Brooklyn on November 14, 1922 with the decidedly less glamorous name of Constance Ockelman. Lake was still in her teens when cast in her first starring role in Sullivan’s Travels (1941), the success of which convinced Paramount to cast her in their upcoming thriller, which would also be a vehicle to launch their next up-and-comer, Alan Ladd. Continue reading
The Candidate: Robert Redford’s Tweed Sport Jacket
Robert Redford and Karen Carlson in The Candidate (1972)
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Robert Redford as Bill McKay, charismatic lawyer-turned-senatorial candidate
California, Spring through Fall 1972
Film: The Candidate
Release Date: June 29, 1972
Director: Michael Ritchie
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Costume Supervisor: Bernie Pollack
Background
In case my fellow Americans’ phones haven’t been buzzing with incessant reminders about it… this Tuesday is Election Day!
Fifty years ago, American electoral politics were lampooned in The Candidate, starring Robert Redford as Bill McKay, an idealistic California lawyer tapped to run for a supposedly unwinnable seat in the U.S. Senate.
Inspired by screenwriter Jeremy Larner’s own experiences working on Senator Eugene McCarthy’s unsuccessful bid for the presidency in ’68, The Candidate chronicles the unpredictable insanity of American politics ranging from the mundane to the dramatic. Continue reading
Reservoir Dogs — Mr. Orange
Tim Roth as “Mr. Orange” in Reservoir Dogs (1992)
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Tim Roth as Freddie Newandyke, aka “Mr. Orange”, member of an armed robbery crew with a deep secret
Los Angeles, Summer 1992
Film: Reservoir Dogs
Release Date: October 9, 1992
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This month marks the 30th anniversary since the wide release of Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino’s influential debut that introduced many of the director’s own cinematic trademarks and has been described as one of the greatest independent films of all time.
As we’ve come to expect from QT, Reservoir Dogs pays homage to classic noir and crime films, including Kansas City Confidential (1952), The Big Combo (1955), and—most specifically—The Killing (1956), with a plot centered around a gang of tough guys hired for a what should be a straightforward diamond heist… only to be stymied when it becomes evident that a member of their crew is an informant. Continue reading
The Nice Guys: Russell Crowe’s Blue ’70s Leather Jacket
Russell Crowe as Jackson Healy in The Nice Guys (2016)
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Russell Crowe as Jackson Healy, unlicensed private detective
Los Angeles, Fall 1977
Film: The Nice Guys
Release Date: May 20, 2016
Director: Shane Black
Costume Designer: Kym Barrett
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I was pleased to again join my friends Pete Brooker and Ken Stauffer on another episode of Pete’s podcast From Tailors With Love, this time discussing the fun ’70s style of Shane Black’s action comedy The Nice Guys.
For those unfamiliar, the “nice guys” in question are Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, bringing back Black’s signature buddy comedy style in a big way as competing private eyes Jackson Healy and Holland March, respectively.
The older and worldlier yet paunchier Jack is more an enforcer than investigator, balancing his limb-breaking toughness with at least some remaining scruples, particularly when compared to the younger and less experienced Holly, who’s not above taking a case agreeing to help an aging woman track down her “missing” husband… whose ashes rest in an urn just a few feet away from them.
Like Crowe’s star-making turn almost twenty years earlier, The Nice Guys’ conspiratorial heartbeat is driven by Kim Basinger’s role at the intersection of corruption and porn in the City of Angels forty years prior, but the villains’ overcomplicated scheme are certainly secondary to the comedic chemistry between Crowe and Gosling, whom I—and Crowe himself—would love to see re-team for a follow-up… and with a built-in sequel title like The Nicer Guys, what’s stopping them? Continue reading
Sid Caesar in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Sid Caesar in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
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Sid Caesar as Melville Crump, honeymooning dentist
Southern California, Summer 1962
Film: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Release Date: November 7, 1963
Director: Stanley Kramer
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas
Background
Today would have been the 100th birthday of Sid Caesar, the pioneering comic actor whose influential variety series Your Show of Shows set a new standard during what some call the first “Golden Age of Television”, though I first knew Caesar for his part among the ensemble cast of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Day Shift: Jamie Foxx’s Vampire-Hunting Aloha Shirts
Jamie Foxx as Bud Jablonski in Day Shift (2022)
Photo by Andrew Cooper/Netflix
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Jamie Foxx as Bud Jablonski, maverick vampire hunter
San Fernando Valley, California, Summer 2022
Film: Day Shift
Release Date: August 12, 2022
Director: J.J. Perry
Costume Designer: Kelli Jones
Background
When I saw that Day Shift, the latest Netflix action comedy, centered around Jamie Foxx killing vampires while wearing a rotation of Hawaiian shirts, I knew I had to check it out.
Foxx stars as Bud Jablonski, whose job cleaning pools in the San Fernando Valley provides cover for his more serious occupation of hunting the undead. Continue reading
Inside Daisy Clover: Robert Redford’s Breton Stripes at Sea
Robert Redford and Natalie Wood in Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
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Robert Redford as Wade Lewis, cheeky, charismatic, and closeted actor
Santa Monica, California, Fall 1937
Film: Inside Daisy Clover
Release Date: December 22, 1965
Director: Robert Mulligan
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas
Background
Ahead of Robert Redford’s birthday tomorrow, let’s flashback to one of the actor and director’s earliest prominent roles. Redford had spent the early 1960s taking small parts in movies like Tall Story (1960) and War Hunt (1962), appearing occasionally on TV shows like Maverick, Perry Mason, Route 66, The Untouchables, and Alfred Hitchcock’s anthology series. His most significant performance at the time was on stage, originating the role of the hapless newlywed Paul Bratter in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, which would provide Redford’s breakthrough big screen success when adapted by Gene Saks in 1967.
The movie adaptation of Barefoot in the Park launched a nearly 40-year stretch where charismatic Redford exclusively played leading roles, following a two-year period of supporting performances in mostly forgettable movies like Inside Daisy Clover, which Gavin Lambert had adapted from his novel of the same name. Continue reading