Tagged: Safari Jacket
Asteroid City: Jason Schwartzman’s Safari Jacket
Jason Schwartzman as Augie Steenbeck in Asteroid City (2023)
Vitals
Jason Schwartzman as Augie Steenbeck, widowed war photojournalist (portrayed in-universe by Jones Hall)
The Mojave Desert, Fall 1955
Film: Asteroid City
Release Date: June 16, 2023
Director: Wes Anderson
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“Each year, we celebrate Asteroid Day, commemorating September 23, 3007 B.C., when the Arid Plains Meteorite made Earth impact,” General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright) explains to the gathered crowd of Junior Stargazers and Space Cadets and their parents in Asteroid City, the latest from Wes Anderson—a colorful reflection of grief and loneliness in a delightfully surreal “cosmic wilderness”.
Vividly photographed in Anderson’s signature style, Asteroid City centers around a fictional play staged for live television in the 1950s, scored by a great early ’50s guitar soundtrack featuring contemporary hits by Les Paul & Mary Ford and cowboy singers like Slim Whitman and Tennessee Ernie Ford as well as Alexandre Desplat’s evocative original score. The play is set in a fictional town of 87, located approximately “halfway between Parched Gulf and Arid Plains” near a nuclear testing site in the California/Arizona/Nevada region, according to the opening lines of playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton).
The ostensible protagonist among our ensemble cast is the Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), a jaded war photojournalist and—initially unbeknownst to his “brainiac” son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and three younger daughters that he’s traveling with—a recent widow. “Let’s say she’s in Heaven… which doesn’t exist for me, of course, but you’re Episcopalian,” Augie reassures his children while grasping their mother’s ashes in a teal Tupperware bowl. Continue reading
The Last of Sheila: Richard Benjamin’s Safari Jacket
Richard Benjamin and Joan Hackett in The Last of Sheila (1973)
Vitals
Richard Benjamin as Tom Parkman, spaghetti western screenwriter
French Riviera, Late summer 1972
Film: The Last of Sheila
Release Date: June 14, 1973
Director: Herbert Ross
Costume Designer: Joel Schumacher
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I’ll bet you haven’t seen the last of Sheila! (Okay, so maybe you have seen this movie, but I can’t resist a pun.)
Released 50 years ago today on Flag Day 1973, The Last of Sheila was penned by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, inspired by the real-life scavenger hunts and murder parties that they used to organize for fellow friends in show business, from actors to agents like Sue Mengers. Director Herbert Ross had been part of the festivities at one point, telling Sondheim and Perkins to collaborate on a screenplay based on their parlor games, and it was Ross who ended up helming The Last of Sheila.
(It’s been reported that Mengers was actually offered a role in The Last of Sheila, but she turned it down as she wasn’t a professional actress and wanted to avoid taking work she felt her clients deserved, and she talked a characteristically effervescent Dyan Cannon into playing the part she inspired.)
The Last of Sheila has been the subject of renewed attention in recent years, thanks in part to Rian Johnson citing it as inspiration for Knives Out and its sequel, Glass Onion, both of which clearly share Sheila‘s DNA with their star-studded casts, plot complexity, and the balance of comic light-heartedness and deadly suspense, as well as specific plot elements like misinterpreted manners of death, a Mediterranean Sea full of red herrings, and an eccentric host welcoming a coterie of famous friends for a mystery party.
The film begins after colorful producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) lost his wife Sheila in a mysterious hit-and-run accident. To commemorate the one-year anniversary of Sheila’s death, Clinton invites his friends—”six hungry failures”—to spend a week in the Ligurian Sea on the yacht he had named for her, including vivacious talent agent Christine (Dyan Cannon), washed-up director Philip Dexter (James Mason), in-demand actress Alice Wood (Raquel Welch) and her shady husband and promoter Anthony (Ian McShane), and desperate screenwriter Tom Parkman (Richard Benjamin) and his cautious, witty wife Lee (Joan Hackett). Continue reading
Roger Moore’s Safari Suit in Octopussy
Roger Moore as James Bond in Octopussy (1983). Photo sourced from Thunderballs archive at thunderballs.org.
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, British government agent
Udaipur, India, Spring 1983
Film: Octopussy
Release Date: June 6, 1983
Director: John Glen
Costume Designer: Emma Porteous
Tailor: Douglas Hayward
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The 00-7th of June feels appropriate for celebrating Roger Moore’s penultimate James Bond adventure Octopussy, which premiered 40 years ago this week—June 6, 1983 in the United Kingdom, followed by its American premiere four days later.
As would result from a man dressed in keeping with the fashions of his era, Sir Roger’s sartorial legacy in the Bond franchise has included some divisive reference to him as the “leisure suit” Bond. While he did sport a few examples of leisure suits in his inaugural 007 film, Live and Let Die, he more frequently—and only when appropriate—wore more function-oriented safari suits and jackets. Bond Suits founder Matt Spaiser has written extensively about the contextual purpose that Moore’s safari-inspired clothing served in the Bond franchise, an effort that has hopefully reversed some of these negative attitudes.
Four years after he sported his first true safari suit in Moonraker, Octopussy reaffirmed Moore’s reputation as the safari-sporting Bond when he appropriately donned a khaki two-piece safari suit to escape from the Monsoon Palace. Continue reading
The White Lotus: F. Murray Abraham’s Beige Safari Jacket
F. Murray Abraham as Bert Di Grasso on The White Lotus (Episode 2.06: “Abductions”)
Vitals
F. Murray Abraham as Bert Di Grasso, libertine grandfather
Sicily, Summer 2022
Series: The White Lotus
Episodes:
– “Bull Elephants” (Episode 2.03, aired 11/13/2022)
– “Abductions” (Episode 2.06, aired 12/4/2022)
Director: Mike White
Creator: Mike White
Costume Designer: Alex Bovaird
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
During the 29th annual SAG Awards on Sunday night, the acclaimed second season of The White Lotus was awarded Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Speaking on behalf of the cast while accepting the award, F. Murray Abraham said that “this was the best job I ever had,” not unsubstantial praise from the prolific actor whose six-decade career included his Oscar-winning performance in Amadeus (1984).
The first season had premiered as a limited series, produced in Hawaii during the final months of 2020, its limited location and characters making it ideal to be produced under COVID-19 guidelines. Following the show’s success, a second season was green-lit, filmed at the Four Seasons San Domenico Hotel in Taormina, Sicily.
The second season followed a similar structure as the first, with the opening scene suggesting a mysterious death and only providing a handful of characters whom we knew would be still alive by the season’s end. We then cut to a week earlier as the guests begin arriving, greeted at the dock by their pink-suited hotel manager. The oldest of the guests is Bert Di Grasso (F. Murray Abraham), traveling with his wealthy son Domenic (Michael Imperioli) and grandson—and ostensible namesake—Albie (Adam DiMarco), all intent on tracing their family’s heritage. Continue reading
The Omega Man: Charlton Heston’s Safari Jacket and Ford Convertibles
Charlton Heston as Robert Neville in The Omega Man (1971)
Vitals
Charlton Heston as Colonel Robert Neville, MD, former military scientist and resourceful survivor
Los Angeles, August 1977
Film: The Omega Man
Release Date: August 1, 1971
Director: Boris Sagal
Costumers: Margo Baxley & Bucky Rous
Tailor: Albert Mariani
Background
As #CarWeek continues, let’s check out the pair of Ford convertibles that a safari-clad Colonel Robert Neville commandeers as one of the last men in the world at the heart of The Omega Man, released 50 years ago in the summer of 1971.
Bond’s Cream Safari Jacket and Tie in The Man with the Golden Gun
Roger Moore, flanked by co-stars Maud Adams and Britt Ekland, in his second film as James Bond, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, British government agent
Macau, Spring 1974
Film: The Man with the Golden Gun
Release Date: December 20, 1974
Director: Guy Hamilton
Tailor: Cyril Castle
Wardrobe Supervisor: Elsa Fennell
Background
Following the release of Orlebar Brown’s 007-inspired collection earlier this year, the company’s take on Roger Moore’s green safari jacket from The Man with the Golden Gun renewed my interest in the actor’s sophomore adventure as James Bond which also happened to be the first 007 movie I had ever seen.
After Bond retrieves a gold bullet during his rendezvous with Saida the belly dancer, Q identifies the soft 23-karat gold dum-dum bullet plopped from Saida’s navel as a product of Portuguese gunmaker Lazar (Marne Maitland), currently living in Macau.
“An unexpected honor, Mr. Bond,” Lazar greets him. “Your reputation precedes you.” Well… so much for that whole “secret agent” thing. Continue reading
Bond’s Green Safari Jacket in The Man with the Golden Gun
Roger Moore as James Bond in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, British government agent
Bangkok, Thailand, Spring 1974
Film: The Man with the Golden Gun
Release Date: December 20, 1974
Director: Guy Hamilton
Tailor: Cyril Castle
Clothes by: Jimmy Chen
Wardrobe Supervisor: Elsa Fennell
Background
Today marks the momentous 20th anniversary of the first time I’d ever seen a James Bond movie. June 19, 1999, was the first Saturday of my summer vacation after 4th grade, and my friend Nate was hosting a dozen friends for his 10th birthday party. Among the pizza, pop, and festivities was a rented copy of The Man with the Golden Gun on VHS… and thus Roger Moore was my introduction to agent 007.
Arguably one of the most iconic outfits—for better or worse—from Moore’s sophomore outing is the green safari shirt-jacket and cream trousers that the agent wears when he arrives to meet Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) at a Muay Thai match to take possession of the film’s MacGuffin, a solex agitator.
Mogambo: Clark Gable on Safari
Clark Gable with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly in Mogambo (1953)
Vitals
Clark Gable as Victor Marswell, big game hunter
Kenya, Summer 1952
Film: Mogambo
Release Date: October 9, 1953
Director: John Ford
Costume Designer: Helen Rose
Tailor: H. Huntsman & Sons, London
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
In my home state of Pennsylvania, the Monday after Thanksgiving is considered an unofficial holiday among hunters as the opening day of the state’s firearms deer season, a day when hunters are expected to bag approximately 25% of the season’s harvest, according to the Tribune-Review.
The 1953 adventure Mogambo stars Clark Gable as a hunter on safari in Africa with his eyes on even bigger game than deer: the hearts of Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly.
Arsenic and Old Lace’s “Teddy Roosevelt”
John Alexander as “Teddy Roosevelt” Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace (1941)
Vitals
John Alexander as “Teddy Roosevelt” Brewster
Brooklyn, Halloween 1941
Film: Arsenic and Old Lace
Release Date: September 23, 1944
Director: Frank Capra
Background
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, was born this day 159 years ago on October 27, 1858. A son of New York City, the timid Theodore overcame his childhood asthma with his robust physical pursuits matched only by his professional ambition as a career soldier, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Governor of New York, and finally the youngest President of the United States when he assumed office at the age of 42 after the assassination of William McKinley.
The proximity of T.R.’s birthday to Halloween always makes me think of Arsenic and Old Lace, the Frank Capra-directed dark comedy set one Halloween in Brooklyn involving Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), his two dangerous but darling elderly aunts, and – like all of the best movies of the 1940s – Peter Lorre being Peter Lorre.
Originally a play (and doubtlessly one that your high school has performed), actor John Alexander reprised his role from the stage as “Teddy” Brewster, Mortimer’s delusional but harmless brother who believes that he is Teddy Roosevelt.
“So what?” says a friendly local cop who visits the Brewsters on his beat. “There’s a lot worse guys he could think he was.” Continue reading
The Spy Who Loved Me: Bond’s Safari-Inspired Sportcoat
Roger Moore as James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, suave British MI6 agent
Cairo, Egypt, August 1977
Film: The Spy Who Loved Me
Release Date: July 7, 1977
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Wardrobe Supervisor: Rosemary Burrows
Tailor: Angelo Vitucci
Background
The Spy Who Loved Me was released 40 years ago today on July 7, 1977. As James Bond himself, the late Sir Roger Moore, noted in his highly entertaining 2012 book Bond on Bond: “The date on the posters read 07/07/77. Jim’s lucky numbers.” The day seems like an appropriate time for BAMF Style to celebrate the uniquely fashionable Bond so charmingly portrayed by Sir Roger during his 12-year tenure as 007. Continue reading