Tagged: Ranch Suit

Gene Hackman’s Ranch Suit in Prime Cut

Gene Hackman as Mary Ann in Prime Cut (1972)

Gene Hackman as Mary Ann in Prime Cut (1972)

Vitals

Gene Hackman as Mary Ann, brutal “meat mobster”

Kansas City, summer 1972

Film: Prime Cut
Release Date: June 28, 1972
Director: Michael Ritchie
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris

Background

Today, March 10, is officially National Ranch Dressing Day. What could possibly be the relevance to menswear, you ask? Well, I managed to find a connection for National Potato Day so let’s use today’s observance to explore and celebrate that oft-tragic American phenomenon, the ranch suit.

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True Detective – Ray Velcoro’s Dark Western-Yoked Jacket

Colin Farrell as Ray Velcoro on the second season of True Detective (after ditching the mustache and bolo tie that defined the character's early-season look.)

Colin Farrell as Ray Velcoro on the second season of True Detective (after ditching the mustache and bolo tie that defined the character’s early-season look.)

Vitals

Colin Farrell as Ray Velcoro, troubled and crooked Vinci PD detective

Ventura County, California, fall 2014 to spring 2015

Series: True Detective
Season: 2
Air Dates: June 21, 2015 – August 9, 2015
Creator: Nic Pizzolatto
Costume Designer: Alix Friedberg

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The second season of HBO’s True Detective is, in my opinion, better judged when on its own than against its masterful and delightfully idiosyncratic first season. The second season brought together Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, and Vince Vaughn in an acid neo-noir more in the pulp crime tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler’s worlds than that of Rust Cohle and Marty Hart.

Even the show’s fictional and corrupt berg of Vinci, California, shares some undeniable similarities with the Bay City of Chandler’s Philip Marlowe novels, though it was indeed based on the rough industrial city of Vernon, where it was partially filmed.

Our self-destructive, repressed, and expendable cop protagonists, portrayed by the Farrell-McAdams-Kitsch triad, practice maverick techniques that border on impropriety but their ideals and values align them with the incorruptible Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade… naturally leading to the straight-out-of-pulp “last stand” holed up in a secluded motel room with seemingly endless bottles of whiskey. Continue reading

Casino – Ace’s Green Western Suit

Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone as the new Mr. and Mrs. Sam "Ace" Rothstein in Casino (1995).

Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone as the new Mr. and Mrs. Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino (1995).

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, Vegas casino executive and mob associate

Las Vegas, Spring 1974

Film: Casino
Release Date: November 22, 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: Rita Ryack & John A. Dunn

Background

Many Americans are rocking green today for St. Patrick’s Day, so BAMF Style is taking a look at an all-green outfit sported by Robert De Niro in Casino, one of his 70 costume changes and part of the movie’s staggering $1 million costume budget.

In the context of the film timeline, De Niro’s “Ace” Rothstein isn’t buying shots of Jameson in a cheaply decorated bar or vomiting in an alleyway while a parade of leprechauns walks by; he’s taking his new wife Ginger (Sharon Stone) to their first new home after their marriage. Continue reading

Casino – Ace’s Ivory Western Suit with Red-on-Red Silk

Robert De Niro as Sam "Ace" Rothstein in Casino (1995).

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino (1995).

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, Vegas casino executive and mob associate

Las Vegas, Summer 1977

Film: Casino
Release Date: November 22, 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: Rita Ryack & John A. Dunn

Background

By the mid-1970s, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal appeared to have it all. Having tried his hardest to leave his mob affiliations behind him back east, he was now running the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas with a beautiful ex-showgirl wife and a massive wardrobe pull of bespoke suits and sport coats.

Unfortunately, his mob affiliations were chasing him to Vegas in the form of vicious Chicago enforcer Tony “the Ant” Spilotro; he still didn’t have a license to legally be managing his casino; and his troubled wife Geri was still in contact with her shitty ex, Lenny Marmor. Continue reading

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

Cash at Folsom, 1968.

Cash at Folsom, 1968.

Vitals

Johnny Cash, badass country rock musician (later played by Joaquin Phoenix in 2005’s Walk the Line)

Folsom, CA, January 1968

Background

46 years ago today, Johnny Cash made music history by recording a live album from inside the walls of Folsom State Prison. Although he wrote the song “Folsom Prison Blues” while serving in the Air Force in the early ’50s, it wasn’t until fifteen years later that he actually performed at the titular prison. Many don’t know that he had performed in prisons before, beginning with gigs at Huntsville State Prison in 1957 and at San Quentin on New Year’s Day 1958, but At Folsom Prison was the first album Cash released that was actually recorded from a live prison concert. By the time of his Folsom gig, he had actually served some jail time. Continue reading