Tagged: Side-Gusset Loafers

James Mason’s White Colonial Casual-wear in Island in the Sun

James Mason as Maxwell Fleury in Island in the Sun

James Mason as Maxwell Fleury in Island in the Sun (1957)

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James Mason as Maxwell Fleury, short-tempered plantation owner

On the fictional Caribbean island of Santa Marta, Spring 1955

Film: Island in the Sun
Release Date: June 12, 1957
Director: Robert Rossen
Costume Design: Phyllis Dalton & David Ffolkes

Background

Today’s post celebrates the great James Mason, who was born 113 years ago today on May 15, 1909. Whether playing a hero or villain or navigating a moral gray area in between, the velvet-voiced Mason brought a dignified presence to his performances.

Opposing the shining talents of Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge, Mason stars in this vividly photographed but dark-hearted drama as Maxwell Fleury, a privileged aristocrat dwelling on one of his family’s estates on the eponymous island.

Upon returning home in his sleek new Jaguar roadster one afternoon, he finds Egyptian cigarettes in his ashtray that fuel his baseless paranoia regarding his wife’s marital fidelity, a suspicion that dangerously spirals as the summery Santa Marta heat intensifies. Continue reading

Gene Barry’s Fawn Suit as Dr. Ray Flemming in Prescription: Murder

Gene Barry as Dr. Ray Flemming on Prescription: Murder, the TV pilot movie that led to Columbo

Gene Barry as Dr. Ray Flemming on Prescription: Murder, the TV pilot movie that led to Columbo

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Gene Barry as Dr. Ray Flemming, smarmy psychiatrist

Los Angeles, Spring 1967

Film: Prescription: Murder
Original Air Date: February 20, 1968
Director: Richard Irving
Costume Designer: Burton Miller

Background

This week in 1968, TV audiences were introduced to an unassuming yet indefatigable homicide detective in a wrinkled raincoat whose humble mannerisms and appearance belied an uncanny ability to bring murderers to justice. Oh, and just one more thing… that detective was named Columbo.

Peter Falk wasn’t the first to play the detective, nor was he even the first choice when Richard Levinson and William Link’s stage play was adapted for TV as Prescription: Murder, the first episode of what would become the long-running series Columbo. Bert Freed had originated the role in a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, to be followed by Thomas Mitchell when Levinson and Link debuted the play Prescription: Murder two years later in San Francisco.

Prescription: Murder establishes many trademark elements of Columbo, including the delayed introduction of the shrewd but shabbily dressed lieutenant himself until after we watch the murderer of the week commit his—or her—crime.

Gene Barry set a standard in Prescription: Murder that the killers foiled by Columbo would follow for decades to come: arrogant, well-dressed, and clever enough to pull together a murder scheme that keeps them above suspicion… from all but Lieutenant Columbo, of course. Continue reading

Alain Delon’s Leather Jacket in Any Number Can Win

Alain Delon as Francis Verlot in Any Number Can Win (Mélodie en sous-sol) (1963)

Alain Delon as Francis Verlot in Any Number Can Win (Mélodie en sous-sol) (1963)

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Alain Delon as Francis Verlot, swaggering small-time thief

Paris, September 1960

Film: Any Number Can Win
(French title: Mélodie en sous-sol)
Release Date: April 3, 1963
Director: Henri Verneuil

Background

Any Number Can Win was adapted from Zekial Marko’s 1959 novel The Big Grab, the first of the author’s crime stories that would be adapted to films starring Alain Delon. Marko himself would adapt his novel Scratch a Thief into Once a Thief (1965), starring Delon, Ann-Margret, and Van Heflin.

Considered one of the best and certainly among the most stylish movies of the early 1960s, the ice-cool Any Number Can Win—released in France as Mélodie en sous-sol—begins with recently released ex-con Charles (Jean Gabin) searching for a new partner to help him with his ambitious heist. “I have a kid who just might jut cut it… I hope I don’t find him good for scrap.”

We then cut to what looks like a messy bachelor pad, where a young man is sprawled out on his bed, snapping his fingers to the jazz on his record player. He’s already dressed for larceny in his leather jacket, a dinner plate doubling as an ashtray—crowded with spent Gitanes and shelved on a pile of books—not far from his reach. Pulling back, we reveal that the “bachelor pad” is merely a corner of the family apartment that the young man shares with his reasonably concerned mother, whose shout from the kitchen leaps him to attention… revealing the one and only Alain Delon!

Continue reading

Rod Taylor’s Baracuta Jacket in The Glass Bottom Boat

Rod Taylor as Bruce Templeton in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)

Rod Taylor as Bruce Templeton in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)

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Rod Taylor as Bruce Templeton, charismatic aerospace lab chief

Long Beach, California, Spring 1966

Film: The Glass Bottom Boat
Release Date: June 9, 1966
Director: Frank Tashlin
Costume Designer: Ray Aghayan (credited with Doris Day’s costumes only)

Background

In the years since I’ve started this blog, I’ve discovered that there are many unsung “style heroes” that are often lost in the discussion of Cary Grant, Clark Gable, and Steve McQueen, including actors like Rod Taylor who brought understated elegance to flatteringly tailored suits and timeless casual attire alike.

I was first familiar with Taylor in The Glass Bottom Boat, one of my grandma’s favorite movies and one that we used to watch until we wore the VHS tape thin. Last year, I was delighted to see that my friends Shawn Bongiorno and Ryan Hall had collaborated on a series of Instagram posts that highlighted a look from the movie, and that inspired us to put our heads together and take a deeper dive at a springtime essential that Taylor wears.

Continue reading

The Barefoot Contessa: Bogie’s Gray Check Sport Jacket

Humphrey Bogart as Harry Dawes in The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Humphrey Bogart as Harry Dawes in The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

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Humphrey Bogart as Harry Dawes, Hollywood director and screenwriter

Portofino, Italy, Fall 1953

Film: The Barefoot Contessa
Release Date: September 29, 1954
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Costume Designer: Rosi Gori (uncredited)

Background

Humphrey Bogart’s role in United Artists’ 1954 Technicolor triumph The Barefoot Contessa was not dissimilar to the film’s director, writer, and uncredited producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had been writing in Hollywood for a quarter century. Continue reading

From Russia With Love – Red Grant on the Orient Express

Robert Shaw as Donald "Red" Grant in From Russia With Love (1963)

Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant in From Russia With Love (1963)

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Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant, lethal SPECTRE assassin

The Orient Express, Spring 1963

Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards

Background

Two years ago on the 00-7th of October, I wrote about the gray wool suit that Sean Connery’s James Bond wore in From Russia With Love during his brutal fight with SPECTRE assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw) aboard the Orient Express. Today’s post features Grant’s suit – also gray wool but in a heavier suiting mixed with brown yarns for a warm, fall-friendly outfit – in addition to the watch and weapons that are the tools of Grant’s unsavory trade. Continue reading

From Russia With Love – Red Grant’s Gray Check Suit

Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant in From Russia With Love (1963)

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Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant, lethal SPECTRE assassin

Istanbul, Spring 1963

Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards

Background

Robert Shaw set the Bond franchise standard as the dangerous Donald “Red” Grant in From Russia With Love, one of the most memorable antagonists in the series.

Grant is arguably the archetype for subsequent villains that followed his laconic, icy blond example like Vargas in Thunderball, Necros in The Living Daylights, and Stamper in Tomorrow Never Dies, though none could ever match Robert Shaw’s truly menacing presence on screen. Continue reading

Bond’s Covert Black Polo and Pants in Goldfinger

Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger (1964).

Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger (1964).

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Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and super spy

Geneva, Switzerland, Fall 1964

Film: Goldfinger
Release Date: September 18, 1964
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Supervisor: Elsa Fennell

Background

James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Auric Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!

For this 00-7th of October installment, BAMF Style is looking at the classic scene from the most iconic of Bond flicks, Goldfinger.

After successfully trailing the sinister Auric Goldfinger to his metallurgy plant in Geneva, James Bond chooses the dark of night to cover his covert investigations of the plant. He discovers Goldfinger’s gold smuggling enterprise and overhears his conversation with a Red Chinese agent about the mysterious “Operation Grand Slam”. Continue reading

The Sopranos: Christopher’s Black-on-Black in “D-Girl”

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisani in "D-Girl", Episode 2.07 of The Sopranos (2000).

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisani in “D-Girl”, Episode 2.07 of The Sopranos (2000).

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Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, New Jersey Mafia associate and aspiring screenwriter

New York City, Fall 2000

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “D-Girl” (Episode 2.07)
Air Date: February 27, 2000
Director: Allen Coulter
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

Background

“D-Girl” is a turning point episode for Christopher Moltisanti. We had seen previous mentions of his screenwriting aspirations, including a poorly-written script on his Mac in “The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti”, but “D-Girl” provides his Bugsy moment. Continue reading

Bond Style – Summer Formalwear in Goldfinger

With today being the 50th anniversary of the release of Dr. No, the first Bond film, and the release last night of Adele’s theme song for Skyfall, the 23rd Bond film of the EON Productions series, I figured it was about time we looked at James Bond himself.

Fitting for a celebration, although a bit untimely after Labor Day, here is Bond from the pre-credits sequence of Goldfinger, arguably the most popular Bond film of all time.

Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger (1964).

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Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and legendary super spy

Mexico, Summer 1964

Film: Goldfinger
Release Date: September 18, 1964
Director: Guy Hamilton
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Wardrobe Supervisor: Elsa Fennell

Background

Ever need that one outfit that you could wear when swimming, disarming a bomb, smoking at a late night dance club, and beating the tar out of a club-wielding assassin?

If you answered “Yes” to the above question, not only are you a very strange person, you are also desperately in need of James Bond’s white dinner jacket ensemble from Goldfinger. Continue reading