Tagged: Riding Boots
Death on the Nile: Simon MacCorkindale’s Honeymoon on Horseback
Simon MacCorkindale and Lois Chiles in Death on the Nile (1978)
Vitals
Simon MacCorkindale as Simon Doyle, newlywed honeymooner
Egypt, September 1937
Film: Death on the Nile
Release Date: September 29, 1978
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As my wife and I are basking in the sun during our Jamaican honeymoon this week, I wanted to focus on another cinematic honeymoon… though I hope I’m not dooming us by pulling an example from Agatha Christie’s poison pen. Based on her 1937 novel of the same name, the 1978 adaptation of Death on the Nile was the first of six films to star Peter Ustinov as Christie’s eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, here pulled into a dangerous love triangle.
Simon Doyle (Simon MacCorkindale) was a simple young Englishman, relatively devoid of funds and creativity, but charming enough to attract the fiery Jacqueline de Bellefort (Mia Farrow). The seemingly happy couple’s engagement doesn’t last long after Simon meets Jackie’s dazzlingly wealthy and glamorous friend, Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles), and it’s she whom Simon marries instead. The Doyles spend their honeymoon touring Egypt and exploring the pyramids, “some of the most recognizable—not to mention pointiest—buildings in history,” according to the great Philomena Cunk. Continue reading
Brendan Fraser in The Mummy
Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy (1999)
Vitals
Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell, American adventurer and former Legionnaire
Egypt, Summer 1926
Film: The Mummy
Release Date: May 7, 1999
Director: Stephen Sommers
Costume Designer: John Bloomfield
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
A quarter-century after its release, The Mummy is finding renewed love among audiences, no doubt due to star Brendan Fraser who has been enjoying a own career renaissance following his Oscar-nominated turn in The Whale that has already won the actor more than two dozen awards.
Directed and written by Stephen Sommers, The Mummy updated Karl Freund’s 1932 thriller of the same name, released among a wave of Universal’s now-iconic horror films including Dracula and Frankenstein. Sommers’ adaptation retained the supernatural elements while playing down the horror in favor of a more lighthearted adventure story inspired by Errol Flynn’s screen swashbucklers and the classic serials that influenced the character of Indiana Jones, to whom Fraser’s roguish Rick O’Connell has been likened. Continue reading
Warren Beatty in McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Warren Beatty as John McCabe in McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Vitals
Warren Beatty as John McCabe, enterprising gambler and pimp
Presbyterian Church, Washington, Fall to winter 1902
Film: McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Release Date: June 24, 1971
Director: Robert Altman
Wardrobe Credit: Ilse Richter
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
There are moments every January where I envy the idiosyncratic wardrobe of John McCabe, warmly swaddled in hefty furs as he trots into the humble hamlet of Presbyterian Church, Washington, scored by Leonard Cohen’s mournful baritone.
One of the most prolific pioneers of the “New Hollywood” movement that began in the 1960s, Robert Altman followed up his maverick success with MASH (1970) and his artistic experiment with Brewster McCloud (1970) by setting his sights on one of the most venerated genres in American cinema. Altman and Brian McKay adapted a 1959 novel by Edmund Naughton to deliver McCabe & Mrs. Miller, which the director would ultimately deem an “anti-Western” for its subversion of genre conventions and expectations. Continue reading
Paul Newman’s Tan Work Jacket as Butch Cassidy
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
The Guns of Navarone: David Niven’s Commando Coats
David Niven as Corporal Miller in The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Vitals
David Niven as Corporal Miller, British Army commando and explosives expert
Aegean Sea, Fall 1943
Film: The Guns of Navarone
Release Date: April 27, 1961
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Wardrobe Credit: Monty M. Berman & Olga Lehmann
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Tomorrow would have been the 110th birthday of David Niven, the Academy Award-winning English actor, author, and decorated war veteran. Instead of looking at one of the famously debonair Niven’s tailored suits or elegant dinner jackets, let’s explore his scrappier seafaring attire as a covert commando in The Guns of Navarone, the 1961 adaptation of Alistair MacLean’s World War II-set adventure novel.
Escape to Athena: Telly Savalas’ Leather Jacket
Telly Savalas as Zeno in Escape to Athena (1979)
Vitals
Telly Savalas as Zeno, Greek resistance leader
“Somewhere in the Greek islands”, Fall 1944
Film: Escape to Athena
Release Date: June 6, 1979
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Costume Designer: Yvonne Blake
Background
Escape to Athena assembles an incredible cast for a World War II adventure comedy in the spirit of The Dirty Dozen… or am I just saying the latter because it co-stars Telly Savalas?
The Sundance Kid’s Charcoal Dress Suit
Robert Redford as Harry “the Sundance Kid” Longbaugh in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Vitals
Robert Redford as Harry Longbaugh, aka “The Sundance Kid”, American outlaw
New York City to Bolivia, Spring 1901
Film: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Release Date: October 24, 1969
Director: George Roy Hill
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
For Western Wednesday, BAMF Style is taking a look at one of the most classic and unique films in the genre, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The film is loosely based on the true story of the turn-of-the-century outlaws who fled to South America after their gang, the Wild Bunch, was broken up by the long arm of the law. William Goldman’s witty, engaging screenplay became a hot commodity in Hollywood once studio execs warmed up to the idea of its Old West heroes fleeing. A veritable “who’s who” of the era’s most popular actors were considered for the titular leading roles before Paul Newman and Robert Redford were cast, cementing their place in film history as one of the most dynamic buddy duos to hit the screen. Continue reading
Lethal Weapon: Riggs’ Gray Jacket and Jeans
Mel Gibson as Det. Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon (1987).
Vitals
Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs, suicidal LAPD detective
Los Angeles, Christmas 1987
Film: Lethal Weapon
Release Date: March 6, 1987
Director: Richard Donner
Costume Designer: Mary Malin
Background
In a way, Lethal Weapon is too entertaining for its own good. It’s a bit corny, it’s a bit ’80s, and it’s a bit over-the-top, but it set the standard for the “buddy cop comedy” with its bizarre but efficient mix of neo-noir (a sax soundtrack in L.A.) and The Three Stooges. Over the years, it has been constantly compared to Die Hard, often unfavorably. While they both involve “loose cannon” left-handed cops in L.A. at Christmas, both armed with Beretta 92F pistols, the two films are radically different.
Lethal Weapon‘s main character (partnership be damned) is Martin Riggs, an LAPD narc who is very good at his job, mostly because he doesn’t care if he lives or dies. The film follows Riggs as he is partnered with the older and wiser Sgt. Roger Murtaugh. They both learn from each other and manage to solve the case by throwing smoke grenades in the desert, getting electroshocked, and beating the shit out of Gary Busey. Now if that doesn’t sound entertaining, what does? Continue reading
Butch Cassidy in Bolivia
Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
Vitals
Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy, exiled American outlaw in Bolivia
Bolivia, November 1908
Film: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Release Date: October 24, 1969
Director: George Roy Hill
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
105 years ago today, a group of scared and confused law officers surrounded a small boarding house in San Vincente, Bolivia. Inside the house were two tired American men, believed responsible for a score of robberies throughout South America over the past three years. Outside the house stood the police chief, the mayor, city officials, and three soldiers – one of whom was dead.
At 2:00 a.m., the officials heard a man screaming from inside the house. A single shot ended the screaming, soon followed by one final gunshot. These were the last shots fired in a daylong gun battle that had raged for nearly 12 hours. Under the light of the morning, the officials cautiously entered the house and found the two men dead, one of a bullet wound in the forehead and the other with a bullet wound in his temple.
There remains some doubt as to who the two men really were, but they were believed to be the thieves of a mining payroll stolen five days earlier. These thieves were better known to history, and film, as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Continue reading
Donnie Brasco’s Brown Leather Jacket
Johnny Depp as Joe Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco, with his clothing undergoing Al Pacino’s scrutiny in Donnie Brasco.
Vitals
Johnny Depp as Joe Pistone, aka “Donnie Brasco”, undercover FBI agent infiltrating the Mafia
New York City, November 1978
Film: Donnie Brasco
Release Date: February 28, 1997
Director: Mike Newell
Costume Designer: Aude Bronson-Howard & David C. Robinson
Background
I try to respond to all requests, though unfortunately not in as timely a fashion as I would prefer. However, last December, BAMF Style had a request from Max to cover the leather from Donnie Brasco. Anyone who has seen the film knows that this is a wise suggestion as Donnie Brasco, and Depp’s titular character in particular, showcases a great array of ’70s leather in the great era before everyone was wearing ugly neon windbreakers, as I assume everyone in the ’80s did.
Depp wears three leather jackets during the film, the first being this everyday brown car coat. He follows it with another brown leather jacket, styled like a sports coat. By the end of the film, and in time for his transformation over to the “dark side”, he is wearing an all-black leather jacket.
What’d He Wear?
Through the beginning of the film, as Donnie quickly rises with Lefty and Sonny Black’s crew, the main staple of his wardrobe is a very ‘70s and very cool brown textured leather car coat. The color is a reddish brown, closer to saddle brown than russet. Continue reading