Tagged: Smith & Wesson Model 36
Popeye Doyle’s Peacoat and Pontiac
Gene Hackman as “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection (1971).
Vitals
Gene Hackman as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, rough but dedicated NYPD narcotics detective
Brooklyn, December 1970
Film: The French Connection
Release Date: October 9, 1971
Director: William Friedkin
Costume Designer: Joseph Fretwell III
Background
Car chases have been engrained in American cinema since the early days of the Keystone Kops. As the interest in cars grew, auto manufacturers began highlighting their most innovative products through on-screen action. The James Bond franchise innovated the use of car chases with Goldfinger‘s gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5 and a conveniently placed Ford Mustang convertible. The Mustang poked its head out again for the seminal chase in Bullitt as Steve McQueen faced off against a black ’68 Dodge Charger in his Mustang GT-390. After Bullitt, filmmakers began exploring the possibilities of cars on film. New, exciting cars were showcased like the new Dodge Challenger in Vanishing Point to the new Mustang Mach 1 in Diamonds are Forever.
For The French Connection, William Friedkin’s 1971 film based on Robin Moore’s book about intrepid NYPD cops Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, the car chase formula was injected with something new. Rather than the super-cool hero coolly chasing a villain in his super-cool car, the film places its ragged protagonist off-duty cop in an ordinary sedan commandeered from a civilian. Not only that, but this villain isn’t in a car; rather, he has hijacked an elevated train as Popeye is forced to race the train to each stop. Continue reading
Brad Pitt in Killing Them Softly
Brad Pitt as Jackie Cogan in Killing Them Softly (2012)
Vitals
Brad Pitt as Jackie Cogan, freelance mob hitman
Boston*, November 2008
* The movie – like the source novel – was indeed set in the Boston area but was filmed in New Orleans.
Background
Although it met with mixed reviews, fans of George V. Higgins appreciate the recent film version of his 1974 book Cogan’s Trade, released as Killing Them Softly based on a line from the novel’s titular protagonist, Jackie Cogan:
They cry. They plead. They beg. They piss themselves. They call for their mothers. It gets embarrassing. I like to kill ’em softly, from a distance. Not close enough for feelings. Don’t like feelings. Don’t want to think about them.
Goodfellas – Henry’s Brown Leather Blazer
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990). However, his expression kinda makes him look more like Kurt Russell here.
Vitals
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, Lucchese family Mafia associate
New York City, Summer 1964
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
Background
What could be more appropriate for this blog on the Mafia Monday after St. Patrick’s Day than our favorite Irish-Italian cinematic Mafioso?
Henry Hill’s Irish background was very prominent for a movie about such an Italian-centric tradition. Besides preventing him from being a made man, his Irish heritage also led Henry into the open arms of brutal mob associate Jimmy Conway, a man who looked past twenty years of friendship to turn on Henry after suspecting him of complicity with the police. Of course, these guys were all brutal thugs, but it’s sad to see Henry’s eyes when he realizes his former best friend is about to kill him. Especially when that best friend is De Niro. Continue reading
Goodfellas – Henry at Idlewild Airport, 1963
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, Lucchese family Mafia associate
New York City, Summer 1963
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
Background
The popularity of Nicholas Pileggi’s mob expose Wiseguy in 1985 and the subsequent film version, Goodfellas, five years later changed the pop culture view of Mafioso. For thirty years, they were a crew of fedora-wearing guys in loud suits and pinkie rings who would shove a .38 under your chin and hope the coppers weren’t onto them, get me? In 1972, The Godfather paved the way for mob films about honor and family. Great movies but still hardly closer to depicting the truth about the mob.
Finally, in 1990, a realistic depiction of the American Mafia was released in theaters. Made with the help of “advisors” such as mob associates Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke and even starring ex-mob associates such as Tony Sirico (later to become famous as Paulie on The Sopranos), people were seeing the mob for what it was: a business made up of criminally-inclined lowlifes who saw themselves as much more important than they were.
Many terrific suits (and many awful ones) are worn throughout the film. Although it takes place from 1955 to 1980, some of the most stylish attire, as one would expect, is seen during the sequences set in the early ’60s. Continue reading