Tagged: Smith & Wesson Model 28

Rolling Thunder: William Devane’s USAF Lightweight Blue Jacket

William Devane in Rolling Thunder (1977)

Vitals

William Devane as Major Charles Rane, twice-traumatized Vietnam War veteran and “one macho motherfucker”

Texas and Mexico, Summer 1973

Film: Rolling Thunder
Release Date: October 7, 1977
Director: John Flynn
Wardrobe Credit: Nancy McArdle

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

You learn to love the rope. That’s how you beat ’em. That’s how you beat people who torture you. You learn to love ’em. Then they don’t know you’re beatin’ ’em.

Today is the 85th birthday of William Devane, the talented Albany-born actor who appeared in the rare starring role in the 1977 revenge-centered action thriller Rolling Thunder.

Written by Paul Schrader and Heywood Gould as an intended expansion of the Travis Bickle Cinematic Universe that began in Schrader’s script for Taxi Driver, Rolling Thunder centers around Major Charles Rane, a United States Air Force pilot returning home to San Antonio after seven years of imprisonment and torture in a Hanoi hellhole.

“He’s unemotional, unresponsive, and stoic to the point of not being among the living,” writes Quentin Tarantino in Cinema Speculation, the volume that introduced me to Rolling Thunder. Continue reading →

Mad Max

Mel Gibson in Mad Max (1979)

Vitals

Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, taciturn Main Force Patrol officer-turned-vigilante

Victoria, Australia, “A few years from now” (early 1980s)

Film: Mad Max
Release Date: April 12, 1979
Director: George Miller
Costume Designer: Clare Griffin

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Mad Max, George Miller’s dystopian action thriller set in Australia, celebrates its 45th anniversary today. This film marked the beginning of a series that would include three sequels throughout the ’80s, revived with the highly acclaimed Mad Mad: Fury Road in 2015.

Before the sequels’ increasingly elaborate productions, the original Mad Max was a relatively straightforward road movie-meets-Western. It was made on a modest budget of A$400,000, shot guerrilla-style in the Melbourne area through the last months of 1977. Although met with mixed reviews upon its release in April 1979, Mad Max went on to shatter box office records, grossing over $100 million worldwide. Its success not only opened up the global market for Australian cinema but also catapulted the 23-year-old Mel Gibson to stardom for his portrayal of the titular Max Rockatansky. Continue reading →

The Sugarland Express: William Atherton’s Getaway Shirt and Jeans

William Atherton and Goldie Hawn in The Sugarland Express (1974)

Vitals

William Atherton as Clovis Michael Poplin, escaped fugitive and petty crook

Texas, Spring 1973

Film: The Sugarland Express
Release Date: March 30, 1974
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Robert Ellsworth & James Gilmore (uncredited)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Released 50 years ago at the end of March 1974, The Sugarland Express was Steven Spielberg’s theatrical debut after a number of well-received television productions like the ABC thriller Duel (1971) and “Murder by the Book,” the first episode of Columbo following two earlier pilots.

The Sugarland Express could be argued as fine companion viewing for fans of The Getaway (1972), Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), with Spielberg’s unique touch propelling this darkly funny piece of ’70s cinema that was also the director’s first collaboration with composer John Williams.

Following a title card that informs us “this film is based upon a real event which happened in Texas in 1969,” the fledgling director’s talent becomes evident from the start as he crafts an engaging and often funny road drama with the simple-minded Clovis Michael Poplin (William Atherton) and his Texas Gold stamp-obsessed wife Lou Jean (Goldie Hawn) representing the real-life Bobby and Ila Fae Dent. Continue reading →

Roddy Piper in They Live

Roddy Piper in They Live (1988)

Vitals

Roddy Piper as “Nada”, tough drifter and anti-alien vigilante

Los Angeles, Spring 1988

Film: They Live
Release Date: November 4, 1988
Director: John Carpenter
Costume Supervisor: Robin Michel Bush

Background

Released on this day in 1988, They Live followed the example of most of John Carpenter’s work by finding a cult following considerably after it came out, though it debuted at the top of the North American box office.

Adapted from Ray Nelson’s 1963 short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning”, They Live stars Canadian-born wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as an unnamed drifter who arrives in Los Angeles looking for work… and finds a box of sunglasses that literally open his eyes to the fact that an alien ruling class has been subliminally manipulating the public to conform, consume, and reproduce. Continue reading →