Tagged: New England
The Four Seasons: Alan Alda’s Après-ski Sweater in Winter
Alan Alda in The Four Seasons (1981)
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Alan Alda as Jack Burroughs, married lawyer
Stowe, Vermont, Winter 1980
Film: The Four Seasons
Release Date: May 22, 1981
Director: Alan Alda
Costume Designer: Jane Greenwood
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 90th birthday to Alan Alda, the movie and TV icon born January 28, 1936. Alda rose to prominence through the 1970s playing Army surgeon “Hawkeye” Pierce in the TV adaptation of M*A*S*H—an early style inspiration for yours truly, as I was particularly obsessed with Hawkeye’s rakish pairing of aloha shirts with his G.I.-issue OG-107 fatigue trousers.
In addition to being the only cast member to appear in all 256 episodes, Alda also ignited his talents behind the camera, ultimately writing 17 and directing 32 episodes during the series’ eleven-season run. Even before M*A*S*H ended, Alda penned his screenwriting debut, The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), starring as the eponymous fictional senator. As Alda’s own grandson Jake would summarize in his Letterboxd review: “My grandpa has an affair with a young Meryl Streep… what more can I ask for?”
Two years later, Alda released his directorial debut, The Four Seasons (1981), which he also wrote and—of course—starred in. Alda portrays New York lawyer Jack Burroughs who, along with his wife Kate (Carol Burnett), join two other middle-aged couples for quarterly getaways: one for each of the titular four seasons, and thus framed by Vivaldi’s violin concerti of the same name. Continue reading
The Family Stone: Luke Wilson’s New Plaid Polo Jacket on Christmas Morning
Luke Wilson as Ben Stone in The Family Stone (2005)
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Luke Wilson as Ben Stone, documentary film editor
New England, Christmas 2005
Film: The Family Stone
Release Date: December 16, 2005
Director: Thomas Bezucha
Costume Designer: Shay Cunliffe
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Merry Christmas!
Released twenty years ago this month, The Family Stone (written and directed by Thomas Bezucha) has quietly earned its place in the modern Christmas-movie canon—not through spectacle or sentimentality, but by capturing something far more recognizable: the particular emotional chaos of being home for the holidays with people who know you a little too well.
Already an emotionally demanding watch, The Family Stone feels newly poignant in the wake of Diane Keaton’s death in October 2025 at age 79. Her characteristically stylish, warm yet acerbic, and ultimately devastating performance as the matriarch Sybil Stone has long been the film’s emotional anchor, and revisiting it now adds an unavoidable layer of grief and gratitude to a story already steeped in both.
Headed by the formidable Sybil and her husband Kelly (Craig T. Nelson), the Stones live in the fictional New England town of Thayer, likely somewhere in Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley. Each Christmas, their five adult children—and an assortment of significant others—descend on the family home for a few days of overlapping traditions, unresolved resentments, and aggressively honest conversation.
Most families have a Ben. Luke Wilson’s youngest Stone sibling is the laid-back, free-spirited one—sometimes too laid-back, if his two consecutive missed flights are any indication. An excessive stoner even by his liberal New England family’s standards, Ben’s unbothered demeanor ultimately establishes him as the family diplomat: the only one who really gets along with his brother Everett’s tightly wound girlfriend Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker), gradually thawing her icy, defensive exterior. Continue reading
The Menswear of Clue
Film: Clue
Release Date: December 13, 1985
Director: Jonathan Lynn
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks the 40th anniversary since the release of Clue, which overcame an underwhelming initial release to become perhaps the most successful cinematic adaptation of a board game. The Parker Brothers classic formed the foundation for John Landis and Jonathan Lynn’s zany murder mystery, framed against the backdrop of the post-World War II “Red Scare” though, ultimately, communism was just a red herring.
Clue was released with three separate endings (a fourth was dropped during production), intended to be varied at each showing. In addition to reflecting the spirit of the original game, Landis had hoped that multiple endings would bring audiences back for multiple showings, but the gimmick unfortunately backfired as the public. It wasn’t until Clue was released to home video with all three endings presented sequentially that it gained a cult following.
The movie is set over a rainy New England night in June 1954, as the game’s six colorfully named suspects—Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn)—are summoned to dinner at the foreboding Hill House mansion, where each are greeted by the butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry). Continue reading
Tough Guys Don’t Dance: Ryan O’Neal’s Party Sweater
Ryan O’Neal in Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987)
Vitals
Ryan O’Neal as Tim Madden, ex-convict and aspiring writer prone to blackouts
Provincetown, Massachusetts, Summer 1986
Film: Tough Guys Don’t Dance
Release Date: September 18, 1987
Director: Norman Mailer
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
My family’s vacation in New England this week has me reflecting on my questionable decision last year to watch Norman Mailer’s self-directed adaptation of his own Cape Cod-set novel Tough Guys Don’t Dance.
Jaws: Roy Scheider’s Layers at Sea as Chief Brody
Roy Scheider as Martin Brody in Jaws (1975)
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Roy Scheider as Martin Brody, pragmatic island police chief
Off the coast of Amity Island, July 1974
Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is the 50th anniversary since Jaws first swam into theaters on June 20, 1975, redefining the summer blockbuster and establishing Steven Spielberg as a major director. In addition to breaking box office records and winning three Academy Awards (including one for John Williams’ iconic score), Jaws continues to succeed as a thriller, still terrifying generations with its portrayal of danger lurking beneath the waves.
Adapted from Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel of the same name, the story is relatively simple: after a string of deadly shark attacks off the coast of the fictional Amity Island (filmed on Martha’s Vineyard), three men—grizzled shark-hunter Quint (Robert Shaw), passionate oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and Amity’s aquaphobic new police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider)—set out aboard Quint’s boat to hunt the creature terrorizing the island’s residents and tourists. Continue reading
Christmas Eve in The Holdovers: Paul’s Corduroy Three-Piece Suit and Duffel Coat
Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers (2023)
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Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, cantankerous boarding school professor
Massachusetts, Christmas Eve 1970
Film: The Holdovers
Release Date: October 27, 2023
Director: Alexander Payne
Costume Designer: Wendy Chuck
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The release of The Holdovers last year filled a long-needed gap in theatrically released holiday canon, offering a fresh yet timeless addition to the roster of rewatchable Christmas movies. Directed by Alexander Payne, the movie is set during Christmas 1970 at the fictional Barton Academy boarding school in New England, where a group of students not going home for the holidays are chaperoned by a skeleton crew of the school’s staff.
After all but one are given the opportunity to leave before Christmas, the remaining student—the bright but troubled Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa)—remains behind under the watchful lazy eye of resentful classics professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti). Paul’s few friends on staff include the cheerful administrator Lydia Crane (Carrie Preston) and the cafeteria manager Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is mourning her son’s recent death in Vietnam.
Lydia invites them to spend Christmas Eve at her home, but Paul’s reluctance frustrates both Angus and Mary, who confronts him:
Mr. Hunham, if you are too chickenshit to go to this party, then just say that. But don’t fuck it up for the little asshole! What’s wrong with you? It’s just a party… what are you afraid of?
The Trouble With Harry: Royal Dano’s Leather Jacket
Royal Dano as Calvin Wiggs in The Trouble With Harry (1955)
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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
Jaws: Robert Shaw’s CPO Shirt and Sweater as Quint
Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws (1975)
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Robert Shaw as Quint, grizzled and tough shark hunter and U.S. Navy veteran
Amity Island, July 1974
Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose
Background
After early directorial efforts like Duel and The Sugarland Express, Steven Spielberg forever changed the cinematic landscape with Jaws, considered the first true blockbuster when it was released in the summer of 1975. Filming had commenced a year earlier, 50 years ago this week, on May 2, 1974.
Adapted from Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name, Jaws centered around a fictional shark terrorizing the swimmers off the idyllic New England community of Amity Island… though it had a very real impact on frightened beach-goers for years to follow.
Police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) and oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) team up with the hardened shark-hunter known only as Quint (Robert Shaw) to accompany them out into the water to bring an end to “Bruce” the shark’s reign of terror. Though local fishermen are eager to be the ones to stop the shark, Brody and Hooper are well aware of Quint’s qualifications that make him worth every cent of his requested $10,000 fee:
Y’all know me. Know how I earn a livin’. I’ll catch this bird for you, but it ain’t gonna be easy.
Tough Guys Don’t Dance: Ryan O’Neal in Denim
Ryan O’Neal in Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987)
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Ryan O’Neal as Tim Madden, ex-convict and aspiring writer prone to blackouts
Cape Cod, Fall 1986
Film: Tough Guys Don’t Dance
Release Date: September 18, 1987
Director: Norman Mailer
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Oh man! Oh God, oh man! Oh God, oh man! Oh God, oh man! Oh God, oh man! Oh God…!
While some recognize Ryan O’Neal from 1970s classics like Love Story, Paper Moon, and Barry Lyndon and others know him for his supporting role on Bones, the above poetry has immortalized the actor’s performance from the baffling 1987 neo-noir Tough Guys Don’t Dance, adapted and directed by Norman Mailer from his own novel of the same name.
Today is the first anniversary of O’Neal’s April 20, 1941 birthday since his death in December 2023 at the age of 82. Continue reading
Jaws: Mayor Vaughn’s Colorful Striped Blazer
Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn in Jaws (1975)
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Murray Hamilton as Larry Vaughn, ineffective mayor of Amity Island
Amity Island, July 1974
Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose
Background
Today would have been the 101st birthday of Murray Hamilton, the marvelous character actor whose talents were perhaps best showcased as the hopelessly stubborn mayor of Amity Island, the fictional New England beach town being terrorized by a great white shark in Steven Spielberg’s iconic 1975 blockbuster Jaws. Continue reading
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