Tagged: Sport Coat & Slacks
Taxi Driver: De Niro’s Date-ready Maroon Corduroy Jacket as Travis Bickle
Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, disturbed taxi driver and Vietnam War veteran
New York City, Spring 1976
Film: Taxi Driver
Release Date: February 9, 1976
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Ruth Morley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Ahead of Robert De Niro’s birthday tomorrow, let’s celebrate Taxi Driver‘s 50th anniversary this year by seeing how well Travis Bickle cleans himself up for a date. Paul Schrader’s screenplay indicates the importance of Travis making a good impression on the more sophisticated campaign volunteer Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) by describing his approach:
TRAVIS, dressed to the teeth, walks brightly down the sidewalk. His face is freshly shaved, his hair combed, his tie straightened.
Of course, while Travis may know enough to look the part, he hasn’t quite grasped the concept of taking his first date literally anywhere but a porn palace. Continue reading
This Property Is Condemned: Robert Redford’s Depression-era Cap and Corduroy
Robert Redford and Natalie Wood in This Property Is Condemned (1966)
Vitals
Robert Redford as Owen Legate, railroad representative
Mississippi, Summer 1931
Film: This Property Is Condemned
Release Date: August 3, 1966
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Robert Redford was on the verge of stardom when he was cast as the romantic lead opposite Natalie Wood in This Property is Condemned, released sixty years ago this week on August 3, 1966 and marking the late actor’s first of seven collaborations with director Sydney Pollack.
Set in the fictional Mississippi town of Dodson (but actually filmed in the Gulf Coast city of Bay St. Louis) during the Great Depression, Redford stars as Owen Legate—a representative of the railroad that provides much of Dodson’s economic base. He literally drops into Dodson by the night train, dusting off his trousers and striding up to a raucous boarding house where the owner’s daughter, Willie Starr (Mary Badham), introduces him to rent a room from her mother, Hazel (Kate Reid), during Hazel’s 43rd birthday party. She comments “a buck is a buck” when he pays for a week’s worth in advance, prompting him to quip back “if you’re lucky” to her delight.
His room and board secured, Owen lingers around the periphery of the party, eating fried chicken and eventually meeting Willie’s older sister Alva (Natalie Wood). The popular Miss Alva sets her flirtatious sights on Owen, until he insults her by implying that “if you come with the room, if you’re included with the two meals, then let’s get on with it.” Continue reading
Casino: Joe Pesci’s Gray Birdseye Blazer
Joe Pesci in Casino (1995)
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Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro, sadistic mobster
Las Vegas, Spring 1973 to Fall 1980
Film: Casino
Release Date: November 22, 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: Rita Ryack & John A. Dunn
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After multiple requests to expand my sartorial focus on Casino from Robert De Niro’s colorful tailoring as Ace Rothstein to Joe Pesci’s mobbed-up fits, today’s post finally zeroes in on Pesci’s style as the volatile Nicky Santoro. Continue reading
Sterling Hayden’s Four-Pocket Sport Jackets in The Killing
Sterling Hayden in The Killing (1956)
Vitals
Sterling Hayden as Johnny Clay, professional armed robber and ex-convict
Los Angeles, Fall 1955
Film: The Killing
Release Date: May 19, 1956
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Wardrobe Credit: Jack Masters
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Stanley Kubrick’s third directorial feature The Killing arrived in select theaters 70 years ago today on May 19, 1956. The limited release hurt its box office, though it was well-received by critics and even received a BAFTA nomination for Best Film. In addition to establishing Kubrick as a more mainstream talent, it remains a quintessential example of heist film noir, influencing filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino who described his own debut Reservoir Dogs as his own take on The Killing.
Kubrick collaborated with pulp novelist Jim Thompson on the hard-boiled screenplay, adapted from Lionel White’s novel Clean Break. The action centers around recently paroled Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), who is already planning his next heist: the two-million-dollar robbery of a thoroughbred racetrack. Johnny’s scrappy gang includes two track employees, a crooked cop, a self-destructive former associate, and a sharpshooter whose job will be to shoot the favored horse and create chaos that distracts from the robbery. Continue reading
Mean Streets: De Niro’s Plaid Jacket and Dobbs Hat as Johnny Boy
Robert De Niro in Mean Streets (1973)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy Civello, irresponsible mob associate
New York, Fall 1972
Film: Mean Streets
Release Date: October 14, 1973
Director: Martin Scorsese
Wardrobe Credit: Norman Salling
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“You’ve blogged about this movie, right?” my wife asked me during her first-ever viewing of Mean Streets this weekend. When I responded that of course I have, she nodded and pointed to Robert De Niro swinging a broken pool cue in a bar full of angry mooks, adding “I can tell. This outfit is very you.” And that’s when I realized I needed to quickly rectify my BAMF Style blind spot that had so far overlooked Robert De Niro’s style as the reckless Johnny Boy in director Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough feature.
Heeding his pal John Cassavetes’ advice to make something more personal than his last film (Boxcar Bertha), Scorsese crafted Mean Streets as his own spin on I Vitelloni (1953), drawing on experiences and characters he knew growing up in New York’s Little Italy. He shot the film over 27 days in spring 1973, including seven days on location in New York City—often without permits.
Harvey Keitel led the billing as mob associate Charlie Cappa, whose internal conflict swirls around intense Catholic guilt, his ambitions within his uncle’s organized crime family, and his self-imposed responsibility for the self-destructive Johnny Boy—whose brash attitude doesn’t endear him to the mob loan sharks who are chasing him over his increasing debts to them. Continue reading
The Godfather: Moe Greene’s Golden Las Vegas Tailoring
Alex Rocco as Moe Greene in The Godfather (1972)
Vitals
Alex Rocco as Moe Greene, brash mob-connected casino operator
Las Vegas, Summer 1954
Film: The Godfather
Release Date: March 14, 1972
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Do you know who I am? I’m Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!
Despite his inflated opinion of himself and his importance to the city, Moe Greene actually had little to do with Las Vegas being founded 121 years ago tomorrow on May 15, 1905.
Portrayed by Alex Rocco in The Godfather, the fictional character Moe Greene was inspired by the real-life gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, who was born nine months later on the last day of February 1906. Something of a celebrity gangster, Siegel’s profligate control over the fledgling Flamingo casino during its first months of operation convinced his Mafia Commission partners that he was likely responsible for skimming millions from the mob, resulting in Bugsy’s assassination.
Siegel was sitting in his girlfriend Virginia Hill’s Beverly Hills living room when he was peppered with .30-caliber rounds from an M1 Carbine, including one that launched his left eye several feet from his socket. This would be reflected in The Godfather when an anonymous hitman corners Greene during a massage and fatally shoots him through the eye—an execution method immortalized as “the Moe Greene special” during the first season of The Sopranos. Continue reading
Gary Cooper’s Patterned Sport Jacket and White Bucks in Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife
Gary Cooper photographed by William Richard Walling Jr. in 1937, dressed in the same costume he would wear in Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938).
Vitals
Gary Cooper as Michael Brandon, millionaire industrialist
French Riviera, Summer 1937
Film: Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife
Release Date: March 23, 1938
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Costume Designer: Travis Banton
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 125 years ago today on May 7, 1901, Gary Cooper established a screen legacy through Oscar-winning performances in Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952) in addition to being a well-regarded style icon throughout his career. The modern #menswear community frequently looks to Coop for inspiration, including the frequently shared portraits taken by William Richard Walling Jr., in 1937, dressed in the same uniquely patterned sport jacket, deco swirl tie, and rakish belt holding up pleated trousers that he wore as a costume in Ernst Lubitsch’s 1938 screwball comedy Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife. Continue reading
Sweet Bird of Youth: Paul Newman’s Cream Silk Sport Jacket
Paul Newman as Chance Wayne in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
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Paul Newman as Chance Wayne, charismatic gigolo
Mississippi, Easter Weekend 1962
Film: Sweet Bird of Youth
Release Date: March 21, 1962
Director: Richard Brooks
Costume Designer: Orry-Kelly
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy Easter! Early in his screen career, Paul Newman reprised his stage role as Chance Wayne from Tennessee Williams’ play Sweet Bird of Youth, set across Holy Saturday into Easter Sunday in Chance’s fictional hometown of St. Cloud, Mississippi. Continue reading
Blow: A Colorful New Year’s Eve Sport Jacket
Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow (2001)
Vitals
Johnny Depp as George Jung, successful cocaine smuggler
Miami, New Year’s Eve 1979
Film: Blow
Release Date: April 6, 2001
Director: Ted Demme
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges
Background
I’ll be the first to admit my hypocritical cowardice. I’ve written many posts celebrating turtlenecks, but it wasn’t until this year that I truly started embracing them in my personal style, the result of a New Year’s resolution to myself. “What kind of resolution is that?” you might ask. “Didn’t you become a father this year? Why are you worried about turtlenecks?” you may also ask. And I’ll ignore all those questions.
I always had a soft spot for Blow, Ted Demme’s Scorsese-inspired movie following the rise and fall of the late drug dealer “Boston George” Jung, played to trichological perfection by Johnny Depp. Even at the height of George’s success, Depp convincingly sells George as the kind of himbo whose right connections at the right place at the right time converged for him to make millions smuggling cocaine for the Medellín Cartel through the 1970s and ’80s.
During a New Year’s Eve party (scored by KC and the Sunshine Band’s disco hit “Keep It Comin’, Love”), George learns from one of his partners that his old partner Diego Delgado—a thinly veiled stand-in for the real-life Carlos Lehder—has double-crossed him, cutting George out to conduct his own smuggling operations from Norman’s Cay… though it takes George a few beats to comprehend that “Norman Cay” isn’t a person but a place. Continue reading
The Silent Partner: Elliott Gould’s Navy Blazer at Christmas
Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen in The Silent Partner (1978)
Vitals
Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen, mild-mannered bank teller
Toronto, Christmas 1977 to Summer 1978
Film: The Silent Partner
Release Date: September 7, 1978
Director: Daryl Duke
Wardrobe Credit: Debi Weldon
Background
Daryl Duke’s often darkly comic thriller The Silent Partner was just mentioned by Letterboxd among its list of twenty underseen holiday favorites, and you’ll know right from the description if it’s the sort of thing that would interest you: Elliott Gould plays a bank teller (alongside a young John Candy) who foils the robbery plans of a sadistic mall Santa played by Christopher Plummer, pocketing several thousand for himself, only for “Santa” to swear his violent revenge. Continue reading
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