Tagged: Single-Breasted Suit
God Told Me To: Tony Lo Bianco’s Tan Suit
Tony Lo Bianco in God Told Me To (1976)
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Tony Lo Bianco as Peter J. Nicholas, devout NYPD detective
New York City, Spring 1976
Film: God Told Me To
Release Date: October 22, 1976
Director: Larry Cohen
Costume Designer: Halston (credited for Deborah Raffin’s wardrobe)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 90th birthday of Tony Lo Bianco, born in New York City on October 19, 1936. A terrific character actor who was often on the sidelines of great ’70s cinema like The French Connection (1971), Serpico (1973), and The Seven-Ups (1973), Lo Bianco also shined in starring roles like Leonard Kastle’s haunting 1970 true crime drama The Honeymoon Killers and the sci-fi horror thriller God Told Me To, which was released 50 years ago this week in October 1976.
Lo Bianco stars as NYPD Detective Peter J. Nicholas, who begins questioning his own past while investigating a series of violent crimes perpetrated by people claiming that God informed their murders. Continue reading
Laurence Olivier’s Tailored Shades of Gray in Marathon Man
Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man (1976)
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Laurence Olivier as Dr. Christian Szell, escaped war criminal aka “Christopher Hess”
New York City, Fall 1975
Film: Marathon Man
Release Date: October 8, 1976
Director: John Schlesinger
Costume Credit: Robert De Mora
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of the defining paranoid thrillers of the ’70s, Marathon Man was released 50 years ago today on October 8, 1976 and has spent the subsequent half-century spreading as much positive PR for dentistry as Psycho did for showers.
Adapted by William Goldman from his novel of the same title, Marathon Man follows Columbia grad student “Babe” Levy (Dustin Hoffman), who falls teeth-first into a scheme involving escaped Nazi war criminal Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) and his cache of diamonds obtained by trading the gold fillings he extracted from Holocaust victims. Babe’s unwitting involvement culminates in Szell’s famously gruesome orthodontic torture as the doctor attempts to learn where the diamonds have been hidden. Continue reading
Summertime: Rossano Brazzi’s Gray Suit
Rossano Brazzi as Renato de Rossi in Summertime (1955)
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Rossano Brazzi as Renato de Rossi, antique store owner
Venice, Summer 1954
Film: Summertime
Release Date: June 21, 1955
Director: David Lean
Costume Designer: Rosi Gori (uncredited)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Prolific Italian actor and director Rossano Brazzi was born 110 years ago tomorrow on September 18, 1916. An on-screen fixture of Italian cinema since the late 1930s, Brazzi rose to global fame after three consecutive roles as a suave Italian romancing American women visiting his country in The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), and Summertime (1955).
The latter paired Brazzi opposite Katharine Hepburn, who portrayed American secretary Jane Hudson visiting Venice at the end of her lifelong dream vacation to Europe. Over evening drinks in Piazza San Marco, she spies the dashing antiques dealer Renato de Rossi (Brazzi), who romantically pursues her with goblets and gardenias until the two embark on a brief but passionate aestival affair.
With summertime officially ending after this weekend, let’s explore how Brazzi dressed for, well, the ending of Summertime. Continue reading
Walter Matthau’s Gray Striped Suit as Charley Varrick
Walter Matthau in Charley Varrick (1973)
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Walter Matthau as Charley Varrick, clever crop-dusting pilot and bank robber
Albuquerque to Reno, Summer 1973
Film: Charley Varrick
Release Date: October 19, 1973
Director: Don Siegel
Costume Designer: Helen Colvig
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Although International Crop Duster’s Day is observed on May 27th, August 3rd was established as Airplane Crop Duster Day to commemorate U.S. Army pilot Lt. John A. Macready’s first-ever aerial crop-dusting flight on this day in 1921. More than a half century later, Walter Matthau broke from his usual comedic roles to portray the the titular crop-duster who broke bad in Charley Varrick, Don Siegel’s 1973 adaptation of John H. Reese’s crime novel The Looters.
Down on his luck as “the last of the independents” as he bills himself, Charley had organized a bank robbery in Tres Cruces, New Mexico, that tragically resulted in the death of his wife Nadine (Jacqueline Scott) and another accomplice. Charley and his remaining accomplice, hotheaded Harman (Andy Robinson), spirit away with the $765,118 haul—a surprisingly hefty take which tips Charley off to the fact that they must have robbed a Mafia drop bank.
Without waiting for confirmation beyond TV news only reporting that less than $2,000 was taken, Charley swiftly begins securing plans to make his final escape. Continue reading
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me — Chris Isaak’s Black FBI Suit as Chet Desmond
Chris Isaak as FBI Agent Chester “Chet” Diamond in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
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Chris Isaak as Chester “Chet” Desmond, FBI agent
Deer Meadow, Washington, February 1988
Film: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Release Date: August 28, 1992
Director: David Lynch
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
GET ME SPECIAL AGENT CHESTER DESMOND OUT IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA!
Kyle MacLachlan had been intended to more prominently reprise his role as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, David Lynch’s 1992 cinematic prequel to the then-recently canceled series. But the actor’s reluctance to be typecast prompted Lynch to reimagine the first act’s federal investigator as the more laconic Chester “Chet” Desmond—which became the first major acting role for singer Chris Isaak, born 70 years ago today on June 26, 1956. Isaak’s music career had already received a boost after his breakthrough song “Wicked Game” was featured in Lynch’s previous film, Wild at Heart. Continue reading
The Omen: Gregory Peck’s Charcoal Pinstripe Suit
Gregory Peck in The Omen (1976)
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Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn, American diplomat
Rome, June 6, 1970 and London, June 1975
Film: The Omen
Release Date: June 6, 1976
Director: Richard Donner
Wardrobe Supervisor: Tiny Nicholls
Tailor: H. Huntsman & Sons, London
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Omen was released fifty years ago today on June 6, 1976—a date intentionally selected to mirror the film’s opening on June 6th at 6 a.m., when American ambassador Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) rushes through Rome to reach his wife Katherine (Lee Remick). Robert arrives to learn that the child Katherine has just delivered died moments after birth, but hospital chaplain Father Spiletto (Martin Benson) convinces him to secretly adopt a newborn orphan and raise the boy as their own without Katherine’s knowledge.
Unfortunately for Robert, Katherine, and the world at large, that boy is Damien—the Antichrist—but I suppose you’ll have that when someone’s birth is the infamous 6-6-6: the “Number of the Beast” described in the Book of Revelation.
A Face in the Crowd: Andy Griffith’s Silky Shirt, String Tie, and Sport Suit
Andy Griffith as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd (1957)
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Andy Griffith as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, folksy yet power-hungry media personality
Memphis to New York City, Spring 1956
Film: A Face in the Crowd
Release Date: May 28, 1957
Director: Elia Kazan
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 100th birthday of Andy Griffith, born June 1, 1926. Already somewhat known as a comedian for routines like his breakthrough 1953 monologue “What It Was, Was Football”, Griffith made his explosive screen debut in Elia Kazan’s excellent 1957 drama A Face in the Crowd, a devastatingly prescient depiction of how susceptible American culture is to populism and celebrity cycloning into demagoguery. Budd Schulberg adapted his own short story “Your Arkansas Traveler” into the screenplay centered around Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, a charismatic drifter-turned-demagogue plucked from obscurity by radio producer Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) who ascends out of control into an influential public figure. Continue reading
Insomnia: Al Pacino’s Leather Jacket in the Alaskan Midnight Sun
Al Pacino as Will Dormer in Insomnia (2002)
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Al Pacino as Will Dormer, shrewd but increasingly sleepy LAPD detective
Northern Alaska, June 2002
Film: Insomnia
Release Date: May 22, 2002
Director: Christopher Nolan
Costume Designer: Tish Monaghan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
By this time in mid-May, towns like Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) in the northern tip of Alaska are experiencing the midnight sun, typically lasting 83 days from May 10th or 11th through the beginning of August. The mid-June setting of Insomnia—to date, the only film Christopher Nolan directed without an official writing credit—is set during this phenomenon, to the initial puzzlement of legendary LAPD homicide detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino), visiting on request to help solve the murder of young high school student. Continue reading
Gregory Peck’s Herringbone Tweed Huntsman-Tailored Suit in Arabesque
Gregory Peck with Sophia Loren on the set of Arabesque (1966)
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Gregory Peck as David Pollock, American hieroglyphics professor
London, June 1965
Film: Arabesque
Release Date: May 5, 1966
Director: Stanley Donen
Tailor: H. Huntsman & Sons, London
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The stylish espionage-themed romantic comedy thriller Arabesque was released sixty years ago tomorrow on May 5, 1966. Producer and director Stanley Donen had hoped to replicate Charade‘s success with Cary Grant in the lead, but the now-retired Grant wasn’t thrilled enough with the script to make this his return to the silver screen. Donen himself wasn’t impressed with the script either, adapted from Gordon Cotler’s 1961 novel The Cipher (published under his pseudonym Alex Gordon.)
With Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren contracted as the leads, the script was constantly being rewritten, but cinematographer recalled that “the more the script was rewritten, the worse it got,” and that Donen told him their “only hope was to make it so visually exciting the audience will never have time to work out what the hell is going on.” Continue reading
Ryan O’Neal’s Seersucker Suit in What’s Up, Doc?
Ryan O’Neal in What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
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Ryan O’Neal as Dr. Howard Bannister, awkward musicologist
San Francisco, Summer 1972
Film: What’s Up, Doc?
Release Date: March 9, 1972
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Costume Designer: Polly Platt (uncredited)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The late Ryan O’Neal was born 85 years ago today on April 20, 1941. Though perhaps best known for his roles in Love Story (1970), Paper Moon (1973), Barry Lyndon (1975), or The Driver (1978), the first O’Neal performance that I ever watched was Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 comedy What’s Up, Doc?, which Maureen Lee Lenker posited for Entertainment Weekly after his death as the actor’s strongest performance. Continue reading
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