Tagged: Plaid Shirt
Point Break: Keanu Reeves’ Plaid Shirt and Jeans
Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)
Vitals
Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, ambitious FBI agent
Los Angeles, Summer 1991
Film: Point Break
Release Date: July 12, 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Supervisors: Colby P. Bart & Louis Infante
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 60th birthday to Keanu Reeves, the Canadian actor born in Beirut on September 2, 1964. After his breakthrough performance in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Reeves continued his path to stardom as the OSU quarterback-turned-FBI agent Johnny Utah pursuing a gang of bank-robbing surfers in Point Break (1991). Continue reading
From Pinstripes to Plaid: Travis Henderson’s Transformation in Paris, Texas
Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas (1984)
Vitals
Harry Dean Stanton as Travis Henderson, wandering drifter
West Texas to Los Angeles, Fall 1983
Film: Paris, Texas
Release Date: September 19, 1984
Director: Wim Wenders
Costume Designer: Birgitta Bjerke
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Wim Wenders’ masterpiece Paris, Texas debuted during 40 years ago today on May 19, 1984 during the 37th Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Palme d’Or among other accolades. The film arrived at theaters exactly four months later and would continue to garner critical acclaim including a BAFTA win for Wenders’ direction.
Co-written by Sam Shepard and L.M. Kit Carson, Paris, Texas presents a rare starring role for stalwart character actor Harry Dean Stanton—one of my personal favorites—who had been well-regarded for his performances in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Dillinger (1973), Alien (1979), Escape from New York (1981), and Christine (1983) before Shepard tapped the nearly 60-year-old actor for the leading role of the lost Travis Henderson.
Two for the Road: Albert Finney’s Cream Trucker Jacket and Jeans
Albert Finney in Two for the Road (1967)
Vitals
Albert Finney as Mark Wallace, young architect and amateur photographer
Northern France, Spring 1954
Film: Two for the Road
Release Date: April 27, 1967
Director: Stanley Donen
Wardrobe Coordinator: Sophie Issartel-Richas
Albert Finney’s Clothes: Hardy Amies
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 88 years ago today on May 9, 1936, the late, great Albert Finney’s prolific stage and screen career spanned six decades from his 1956 stage debut in Henry V to his final screen appearance as the grizzled Scottish groundskeeper Kincade in Daniel Craig’s 2012 James Bond adventure Skyfall.
The 1967 romantic road comedy Two for the Road presented one of Finney’s most stylish performances—appropriate for starring as the romantic lead opposite Audrey Hepburn. The story chronicles the 12-year relationship between the English couple Mark and Joanna Wallace through a series of trips taken together through northern France, including the first trip when they meet on the ferry from England to Dieppe. Continue reading
The Sugarland Express: William Atherton’s Getaway Shirt and Jeans
William Atherton and Goldie Hawn in The Sugarland Express (1974)
Vitals
William Atherton as Clovis Michael Poplin, escaped fugitive and petty crook
Texas, Spring 1973
Film: The Sugarland Express
Release Date: March 30, 1974
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Robert Ellsworth & James Gilmore (uncredited)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Released 50 years ago at the end of March 1974, The Sugarland Express was Steven Spielberg’s theatrical debut after a number of well-received television productions like the ABC thriller Duel (1971) and “Murder by the Book,” the first episode of Columbo following two earlier pilots.
The Sugarland Express could be argued as fine companion viewing for fans of The Getaway (1972), Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), with Spielberg’s unique touch propelling this darkly funny piece of ’70s cinema that was also the director’s first collaboration with composer John Williams.
Following a title card that informs us “this film is based upon a real event which happened in Texas in 1969,” the fledgling director’s talent becomes evident from the start as he crafts an engaging and often funny road drama with the simple-minded Clovis Michael Poplin (William Atherton) and his Texas Gold stamp-obsessed wife Lou Jean (Goldie Hawn) representing the real-life Bobby and Ila Fae Dent. Continue reading
Carnal Knowledge: Jack Nicholson’s Duffel Coat
Jack Nicholson in Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Vitals
Jack Nicholson as Jonathan Fuerst, arrogant Amherst College student
Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Winter 1946
Film: Carnal Knowledge
Release Date: June 30, 1971
Director: Mike Nichols
Costume Designer: Anthea Sylbert
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As we continue facing snow and below-freezing temps here in the northeast U.S., I’m finding comfort in the layered winter style from movies like Carnal Knowledge, Mike Nichols’ cold (in every sense of the word) depiction of sexuality through the mid-20th century.
Even though the “New Hollywood” movement led by directors like Nichols, Robert Altman, and Arthur Penn had been breaking cinematic barriers since the late ’60s when the strict Production Code crumbled and the ratings system was introduced, the content and presentation of Carnal Knowledge was still considered too obscene and offensive for some audiences, to the point that a Georgia theater owner was convicted of obscenity charges (later overhauled by the U.S. Supreme Court) for showing it in his theater.
Carnal Knowledge centers around the swaggering Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) and his mild-mannered friend Sandy (Art Garfunkel), whom we first meet as students at Amherst College in the years following World War II. Continue reading
Kevin Costner in A Perfect World
Kevin Costner and T.J. Lowther in A Perfect World (1993)
Vitals
Kevin Costner as Robert “Butch” Haynes, escaped convict
Texas, Fall 1963
Film: A Perfect World
Release Date: November 24, 1993
Director: Clint Eastwood
Costume Designer: Erica Edell Phillips
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Released 30 years ago today, A Perfect World overcame its initial lukewarm box office to be acclaimed as among the career-best works for both director Clint Eastwood and star Kevin Costner.
Costner stars as Robert “Butch” Haynes, a petty criminal who escapes from a Texas prison on the night of Halloween 1963. Despite Butch’s own distaste for him, he breaks out with the reckless Terry Pugh (Keith Szarabajka), who jeopardizes their getaway—and Butch’s own code of ethics—by attempting to force himself onto a suburban mother while the two look for a car to steal. Butch stops the situation before Terry can take it too far, but the commotion wakes up the neighborhood and results in the two fugitives taking a hostage—the mother’s eight-year-old son, Philip (T.J. Lowther), with whom Butch develops a special bond:
Me and you got a lot in common, Philip. The both of us is handsome devils, we both like RC Cola, and neither one of us got an old man worth a damn.
Leave Her to Heaven: Cornel Wilde’s Brown Plaid Flannel Shirt
Cornel Wilde in Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Vitals
Cornel Wilde as Richard “Dick” Harland, idealistic novelist
Northern Maine, August 1942
Film: Leave Her to Heaven
Release Date: December 25, 1945
Director: John M. Stahl
Costume Designer: Kay Nelson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I began Noirvember this month by highlighting a costume from one of the rare classic examples of “color noir”—which is exactly what it sounds like, a crime-centered drama from the 1940s and ’50s that includes many of the same themes and techniques as the shadowy film noir but photographed in full color, rather than the typical black-and-white.
Arguably the first major example of color noir is Leave Her to Heaven, widely released on Christmas 1945 and starring Cornel Wilde opposite the ravishing Gene Tierney, whose performance resulted in the actress’ only Academy Award nomination. Tierney died 32 years ago today on November 6, 1991. Continue reading
Far From Heaven: Dennis Haysbert’s Green Work Jacket and Red Plaid Shirt
Dennis Haysbert as Raymond Deagan in Far From Heaven (2002)
Vitals
Dennis Haysbert as Raymond Deagan, affable gardener and widowed father
Suburban Connecticut, Fall 1957
Film: Far From Heaven
Release Date: November 8, 2002
Director: Todd Haynes
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell
Background
Far From Heaven premiered twenty years ago this week, a smart, sincere, and stylish drama that stands alone as a thoughtful story beyond its oft-discussed intentional parallels to the Douglas Sirk melodramas of a half-century prior.
The Sirk homages are evident not just in the autumnal photography but also the plot, recalling the romance between a woman and her gardener in All That Heaven Allows (1955) as well as the racial themes driving Imitation of Life (1959). In this case, the woman is housewife Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore), who raises her friends’ eyebrows through her growing bond with Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert), a kind gardener taking over his late father’s accounts. Continue reading
Roddy Piper in They Live
Roddy Piper in They Live (1988)
Vitals
Roddy Piper as “Nada”, tough drifter and anti-alien vigilante
Los Angeles, Spring 1988
Film: They Live
Release Date: November 4, 1988
Director: John Carpenter
Costume Supervisor: Robin Michel Bush
Background
Released on this day in 1988, They Live followed the example of most of John Carpenter’s work by finding a cult following considerably after it came out, though it debuted at the top of the North American box office.
Adapted from Ray Nelson’s 1963 short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning”, They Live stars Canadian-born wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as an unnamed drifter who arrives in Los Angeles looking for work… and finds a box of sunglasses that literally open his eyes to the fact that an alien ruling class has been subliminally manipulating the public to conform, consume, and reproduce. Continue reading
The Right Stuff: Sam Shepard’s Flight Jacket as Chuck Yeager
Sam Shepard with Brig Gen Chuck Yeager during production of The Right Stuff (1983)
Vitals
Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager, record-setting U.S. Air Force test pilot
Murac Army Air Field (now Edwards Air Force Base), Kern County, California, from fall 1947 to summer 1961
Film: The Right Stuff
Release Date: October 21, 1983
Director: Philip Kaufman
Costume Supervisor: James W. Tyson
Background
Today marks the 75th anniversary of when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, piloting a rocket-propelled Bell X-1 aircraft—named Glamorous Glennis, after his wife—over the Mojave Desert at a speed greater than Mach 1. The event is depicted at the start of The Right Stuff, Philip Kaufman’s 1983 flight epic based on Tom Wolfe’s nonfiction book of the same name, chronicling the pivotal early years of American aeronautics between Yeager’s supersonic achievement and the conclusion of the successful Project Mercury manned space missions.
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