Tagged: Paul Newman

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Paul Newman’s Pajamas

Paul Newman as Brick Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Brick Pollitt, bitter and repressed ex-athlete

Mississippi, Summer 1958

Film: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Release Date: August 27, 1958
Director: Richard Brooks
Wardrobe Credit: Helen Rose

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

April 16 is traditionally National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day, designed as a sartorial reprieve after the stress of meeting a late-night deadline to file taxes by April 15. As it felt incongruous to celebrate that “holiday” on a Sunday, I waited until today to celebrate a Hollywood icon who had the good fortune to wear pajamas for the majority of his screen-time in his first Oscar-nominated performance.

Thanks to movies like Somebody Up There Likes Me and The Long, Hot Summer, Paul Newman’s career was on the rise through the late 1950s when he was cast as Brick Pollitt alongside Elizabeth Taylor in the cinematic adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Continue reading

Absence of Malice: Paul Newman’s Yellow Pocket Polo for a Picnic at Sea

Paul Newman as Michael Gallagher in Absence of Malice (1981)

Paul Newman as Michael Gallagher in Absence of Malice (1981)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Michael Gallagher, wholesale liquor distributor

Miami, Fall 1980

Film: Absence of Malice
Release Date: December 18, 1981
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Bernie Pollack

Background

Ethan Hawke’s recently released HBO Max docuseries The Last Movie Stars chronicling Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s iconic marriage inspired me to respond to a few earlier requests analyzing the blue-eyed actor’s warm-weather everyman style in Absence of Malice, Sydney Pollack’s 1981 exploration of journalistic integrity.

Newman stars as Michael Gallagher, a Miami liquor wholesaler surprised to find himself the subject of a front-page Miami Standard newspaper story written by reporter Megan Carter (Sally Field), suggesting his potential involvement in the presumed murder of a local union official. He directly confronts Megan and her bosses to understand the basis for their claims, beginning a relationship with the reporter that ranges from contentious to flirtatious. Finally, Michael takes Megan up on her offer to listen to his side of the story, thus ostensibly ensuring that her reporting is as accurate and comprehensive a possible.

Michael: How long you got for lunch?
Megan: Long as I want!
Michael: Good job…

Megan slyly invites a photographer—the “weird” and conspicuous Walker (William Kerwin)—to follow them, but this part of the plan is foiled when Michael surprises her by inviting her to lunch on his yacht, the 1934-built “Rum Runner” so named in tribute to his bootlegger father. Continue reading

Paul Newman in Paris Blues

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, filming Paris Blues (1961)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Ram Bowen, temperamental jazz trombonist

Paris, Fall 1960

Film: Paris Blues
Release Date: September 27, 1961
Director: Martin Ritt

Background

On this day in 1958, one of the most legendary marriages in Hollywood history began when Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward tied the knot in Las Vegas, three days after his 33rd birthday. The two had met earlier that decade during a Broadway production of Picnic and reunited while filming The Long, Hot Summer for director Martin Ritt. Newman and Woodward would co-star in several subsequent movies together, but their next collaboration with their ostensible “matchmaker” Ritt was Paris Blues, adapted from Harold Flender’s 1957 novel of the same name.

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The Towering Inferno: Paul Newman’s Tan Suede Jacket

Paul Newman as Doug Roberts in The Towering Inferno (1974)

Paul Newman as Doug Roberts in The Towering Inferno (1974)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Doug Roberts, ambitious architect

San Francisco, Summer 1974

Film: The Towering Inferno
Release Date: December 14, 1974
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Paul Zastupnevich

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Alongside disco and bell-bottoms, one major cultural trend that emerged during the 1970s—for better or worse—was the disaster movie. True, the genre had existed since the early days of film, but the ’70s saw a boom in these high-budget, star-studded dramas that introduced as many calamities as the decade’s most popular celebrities could handle. After conquering air (Airport), earth (Earthquake), and water (The Poseidon Adventure), the Hollywood gods—specifically Irwin Allen—turned their attention to the one remaining element.

Thus, on the eve of National Fire Prevention Week, let’s take a look at one of the protagonists who was trapped in The Towering Inferno!

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Paul Newman’s Tan Work Jacket as Butch Cassidy

Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy, affable leader of the Hole-in-the-Wall bandit gang

Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, Fall 1898

Film: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Release Date: September 23, 1969
Director: George Roy Hill
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

“He speaks well and quickly, and has been all his life a leader of men; but if you asked him, he would be damned if he could tell you why,” William Goldman introduced Robert Leroy Parker in his Academy Award-winning screenplay, inspired by the true story of Parker and his partner-in-crime Harry Longabaugh… aka Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, respectively. Continue reading

Hud: Paul Newman as a Cadillac-Driving Cowboy

Paul Newman in Hud (1963)

Paul Newman in Hud (1963)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Hud Bannon, arrogant rancher’s son

Texas Panhandle, Summer 1962

Film: Hud
Release Date: May 29, 1963
Director: Martin Ritt
Costume Designer: Edith Head

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Let’s complete this #CarWeek installment by looking at the third of the “Big Three” Detroit automakers: General Motors, specifically its high-end Cadillac division that has offered luxurious American autos for nearly 120 years.

A few years before Paul Newman caught the racing bug while training for Winning at the end of the decade, the car most associated with his screen image was arguably the pink Cadillac convertible he drove as the eponymous cowboy in Hud.

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Paul Newman’s 1967 Fishing Trip

Paul Newman, photographed by Mark Kauffman, 1967.

Paul Newman, photographed by Mark Kauffman, 1967.

Vitals

Paul Newman, acclaimed actor, activist, and Navy veteran

Florida Keys, Summer 1967

Photographs by Mark Kaufmann

Part of BAMF Style’s Iconic Photo Series, focusing on style featured in famous photography of classic stars rather than from specific productions.

Background

June 18 is annually celebrated as “National Go Fishing Day”, an observance encouraging Americans to take some time to take a break and cast a line.

Following his acclaimed performance in Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman turned to the comfort of rod and reel on a friend’s fishing boat off the Florida Keys. The actor was in the midst of his directorial debut—directing his wife Joanne Woodward in Rachel, Rachel—but looks as stress-free as it gets as he stands top side with a beer in one hand and rod in the other.

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Paul Newman’s Glenurquhart Plaid Suit in The Color of Money

Paul Newman as "Fast Eddie" Felson in The Color of Money (1986)

Paul Newman as “Fast Eddie” Felson in The Color of Money (1986)

Vitals

Paul Newman as “Fast Eddie” Felson, liquor salesman and former pool hustler

Chicago, Spring 1986

Film: The Color of Money
Release Date: October 17, 1986
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno

Background

Today would have been the 95th birthday of Paul Newman, the acclaimed actor, philanthropist, entrepreneur and motorsports enthusiast. Over his legendary career that spanned more than half a century, Newman’s sole Academy Award for acting recognized his performance in The Color of Money (1986), in which he reprised the role of “Fast Eddie” Felson that he had originated on screen in The Hustler (1961). Continue reading

Cool Hand Luke

Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Lucas “Luke” Jackson, chain gang inmate, war veteran, and “natural-born world-shaker”

Florida Road Prison 36, summer, early 1950s

Film: Cool Hand Luke
Release Date: November 1, 1967
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Costume Designer: Howard Shoup

Background

What we’ve got here is… failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach.

The iconic “failure to communicate” line in Cool Hand Luke is first uttered by Strother Martin as the stern, insensitive captain in charge of Road Prison 36 where most of the film is set. Lucas “Luke” Jackson (Paul Newman), recently sentenced to the facility after a drunken night of vandalizing parking meters, is proud to be one of the men that the captain can’t reach.

Just in time for the stifling midsummer heat, I’m focusing on Cool Hand Luke, voted one of the sweatiest movies of all time by the patrons of Cheers… in addition to various other accolades.

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Torn Curtain: Paul Newman’s Charcoal Brown Flannel Suit

Paul Newman as Professor Michael Armstrong in Torn Curtain (1966)

Paul Newman as Professor Michael Armstrong in Torn Curtain (1966)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Michael Armstrong, American physicist and amateur spy

East Berlin, September 1965

Film: Torn Curtain
Release Date: July 14, 1966
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Supervisor: Grady Hunt

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Alfred Hitchcock’s 50th film, Torn Curtain, marked his one and only collaboration with Paul Newman. Production on the Cold War spy thriller was plagued by the veteran director clashing with his leads, unused to method actor Paul Newman’s constant questioning of his character’s motivation. “Your motivation is your salary,” Hitch reportedly replied.

The famously easygoing Newman was a little more enthusiastic, later recalling, “I think Hitch and I could have really hit it off, but the script kept getting in the way.”

Indeed, the serious political thriller was a departure from Hitchcock’s usual scripts, developed in response to the growing popularity of the James Bond franchise through the ’60s. Continue reading