Tagged: Slip-on Loafers
Dennis Weaver in Duel
Dennis Weaver in Duel (1971)
Vitals
Dennis Weaver as David Mann, traveling salesman
Southern California, Summer 1971
Film: Duel
Release Date: November 13, 1971
Director: Steven Spielberg
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I’d like to report a truck driver who’s been endangering my life.
Steven Spielberg made his directorial debut with the suspenseful “road rage” thriller Duel starring Dennis Weaver, the actor best known for his TV roles like Gunsmoke and McCloud who was born 100 years ago today on June 4, 1924. Duel was no exception as it first aired on ABC in November 1971; Spielberg would continue to distinguish himself with extraordinary TV direction for series like Columbo until he transitioned to the silver screen with The Sugarland Express (1974).
Weaver stars as David Mann, a mild-mannered and married salesman whose Plymouth Valiant is terrorized by a dilapidated Peterbilt 281 tanker truck driven by an unseen and murderous opponent antagonizing him across the desert highways, pitting this easygoing everyman as a valiant David against a gas-guzzling Goliath seeking to destroy him. Continue reading
Desert Fury: John Hodiak’s Suede Loafer Jacket
John Hodiak as Eddie Bendix in Desert Fury (1947)
Vitals
John Hodiak as Eddie Bendix, smooth gangster and gambler
Nevada, Spring 1947
Film: Desert Fury
Release Date: August 15, 1947
Director: Lewis Allen
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
John Hodiak was born 110 years ago today on April 16, 1914 in Pittsburgh. The actor’s first prominent role was in Alfred Hitchcock’s seagoing 1944 drama Lifeboat, followed by a brief but memorable career—consisting largely of war movies and westerns—before his October 1955 death of a heart attack at age 41.
One of Hodiak’s screen credits was the 1947 crime drama Desert Fury, a “color noir” among the likes of Leave Her to Heaven (1945) and Niagara (1953) that maintain the themes, style, and story elements frequently associated with traditional film noir. Continue reading
Jaws: Mayor Vaughn’s Colorful Striped Blazer
Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn in Jaws (1975)
Vitals
Murray Hamilton as Larry Vaughn, ineffective mayor of Amity Island
Amity Island, July 1974
Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose
Background
Today would have been the 101st birthday of Murray Hamilton, the marvelous character actor whose talents were perhaps best showcased as the hopelessly stubborn mayor of Amity Island, the fictional New England beach town being terrorized by a great white shark in Steven Spielberg’s iconic 1975 blockbuster Jaws. Continue reading
The Longest Yard: Burt Reynolds’ 1970s Flashy Football Star Style
Burt Reynolds in The Longest Yard (1974)
Vitals
Burt Reynolds as Paul “Wrecking” Crewe, washed-up ex-pro football quarterback
Palm Beach, Florida, Fall 1973
Film: The Longest Yard
Release Date: August 21, 1974
Director: Robert Aldrich
Wardrobe Credit: Charles E. James
Background
You take your football down here real serious, don’t you?
What do you do when you’re a style writer facing a Super Bowl aligns with Burt Reynolds’ birthday? Why, you focus on the super-seventies duds that Reynolds wears at the beginning of his sports comedy classic, The Longest Yard, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year! Continue reading
Moonraker: Roger Moore’s Double-Breasted Dinner Jacket
Roger Moore as James Bond in Moonraker (1979). Photo sourced from thunderballs.org archive.
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, suave and sophisticated British MI6 agent
Rio de Janiero, Brazil, February 1979
Film: Moonraker
Release Date: June 26, 1979
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Costume Designer: Jacques Fonteray
Tailor: Angelo Vitucci
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 00-7th of February! To warm up, let’s join James Bond on assignment in Rio de Janiero, his last stop in Moonraker before an unexpected detour into outer space, following both our villain Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) and the overall sci-fi trends of the late ’70s thanks to blockbusters like Star Wars.
Before strapping on a Drax Industries spacesuit, Bond dons a more characteristic suit with the tailored tuxedo he chooses to wear for Carnival, the annual Brazilian festival held every February—scheduled to start at the end of this week. Continue reading
Leave Her to Heaven: Cornel Wilde’s Brown Plaid Flannel Shirt
Cornel Wilde in Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Vitals
Cornel Wilde as Richard “Dick” Harland, idealistic novelist
Northern Maine, August 1942
Film: Leave Her to Heaven
Release Date: December 25, 1945
Director: John M. Stahl
Costume Designer: Kay Nelson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I began Noirvember this month by highlighting a costume from one of the rare classic examples of “color noir”—which is exactly what it sounds like, a crime-centered drama from the 1940s and ’50s that includes many of the same themes and techniques as the shadowy film noir but photographed in full color, rather than the typical black-and-white.
Arguably the first major example of color noir is Leave Her to Heaven, widely released on Christmas 1945 and starring Cornel Wilde opposite the ravishing Gene Tierney, whose performance resulted in the actress’ only Academy Award nomination. Tierney died 32 years ago today on November 6, 1991. Continue reading
The Gambler: James Caan’s Camel Jacket and Mustang
James Caan as Axel Freed in The Gambler (1974)
Vitals
James Caan as Axel Freed, gambling-addicted English professor
New York City, Fall 1973
Film: The Gambler
Release Date: October 2, 1974
Director: Karel Reisz
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
Background
Screen icon James Caan died one year ago today on July 6, 2022. Among a varied filmography from The Godfather (1972) and Thief (1981) to Misery (1990) and Elf (2003), the Bronx-born Caan specialized in roles that called for a “tough insouciance” as summarized in Ronald Bergan’s obituary for The Guardian.
The Gambler (1974) remains one of Caan’s most celebrated films, written by James Toback as a semi-autobiographical meditation on self-destruction, inspired by the gambling addiction that plagued him while he lectured at City College of New York. Fresh from his success as Sonny Corleone, Caan was drawn to the challenge of what would become one of his favorite of his own movies as “it’s not easy to make people care about a guy who steals from his mother to pay gambling debts.” Continue reading
Austin Butler as Elvis: Black Suit for a 4th of July Concert
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis (2022)
Vitals
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley, country rock guitarist and singer
Memphis, Tennessee, July 4, 1956
Film: Elvis
Release Date: June 23, 2022
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Costume Designer: Catherine Martin
Tailor: Gloria Bava
Background
It doesn’t get much more American than Elvis.
Austin Butler went all out in his performance as the King of Rock and Roll in Baz Lurhmann’s characteristically flamboyant biopic, released last summer. Butler’s performance received particular praise—including endorsements from the Presley family—and Elvis would be nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Costume Design.
Elvis follows Presley’s brief life from boyhood through the various levels of stardom, particularly through the lens of his complicated relationship with his domineering manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). In the early years of his fame, Presley’s hip-swinging celebration of Black music is shown to so enrage the bigoted establishment that he’s being threatened with legal trouble.
The film presents his July 4, 1956 concert in Memphis as an opportunity for Presley to maintain the cleaned-up “New Elvis” image he had introduced three days early while performing “Hound Dog” on The Steve Allen Show three days earlier, stuffed into a white tie and tails as he crooned to an actual basset hound. Instead, having rediscovered the meaning behind his music among the blues joints on Beale Street, Elvis delivers a sweltering performance of “Trouble”—and lands himself right in it, arrested by the Memphis vice squad when he soundly disobeys being told to not “so much as wiggle a finger.” To avoid prosecution, Colonel Tom devises a plan for Elvis to swap out his blue suede shoes for spit-shined service derbies: “It’s either the Army or jail.”
Except that isn’t quite what really happened. Continue reading
The Little Drummer Girl: Gadi’s Blue Beach Shirt
Alexander Skarsgård as Gadi Becker in The Little Drummer Girl (2018)
Vitals
Alexander Skarsgård as Gadi Becker, aka “Peter”, mysterious Mossad agent
Naxos, Greece, Spring 1979
Series: The Little Drummer Girl (Episode 1)
Air Date: October 28, 2018
Director: Park Chan-wook
Costume Design: Sheena Napier & Steven Noble
Background
Between his breakthrough role on True Blood and his recent excellent turn as obnoxious tech entrepreneur Lukas Mattson on the last two seasons of Succession, Alexander Skarsgård’s credits included a starring role as Israeli agent Gadi Becker in Park Chan-wook’s six-episode BBC adaptation of John le Carré’s 1983 espionage novel The Little Drummer Girl.
Gadi has been re-recruited by spymaster chief Martin Kurtz (Michael Shannon) to follow an amateur acting troupe from England during their spring vacation through the Greek islands, specifically to make contact with the charismatic and flight wannabe radical Charmian “Charlie” Ross (Florence Pugh). 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
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