Tagged: Spring
The Departed: Leo’s Leather Belstaff Jacket as Billy Costigan
Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan in The Departed (2006)
Vitals
Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan, undercover Massachusetts State Police trooper
Boston, Fall 2006 to Spring 2007
Film: The Departed
Release Date: October 6, 2006
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Departed was widely released 20 years ago today on October 6, 2006, days after its September 26th premiere at the Ziegfield Theater. William Monahan adapted the material from the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, also taking inspiration from real-life Boston crime figures like Winter Hill Gang leader Whitey Bulger and his crooked FBI handler, John Connolly. After six nominations, the prolific Martin Scorsese finally won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed—which was also honored with Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay to Monahan, and Best Film Editing to Scorsese’s regular collaborator, Thelma Schoonmaker.
This was also Scorsese’s third consecutive collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, who stars as the working-class Massachusetts State Police (MSP) recruit Billy Costigan tapped by Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) to infiltrate a ruthless Boston mob run by Francis “Frank” Costello (Jack Nicholson). Continue reading
East of Eden: James Dean’s Tan Sweater and Sport Shirt
James Dean in East of Eden (1955)
Vitals
James Dean as Caleb “Cal” Trask, angsty and entrepreneurial farmer’s son
Monterey to Salinas, California, Spring 1917
Film: East of Eden
Release Date: March 9, 1955
Director: Elia Kazan
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone
Background
Despite his profoundly lasting cultural impact as a 1950s screen and style icon, James Dean only starred in three credited films before his death 71 years ago today on September 30, 1955. Of these, Elia Kazan’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s epic novel East of Eden was the only to actually be released during his lifetime.
Steinbeck took inspiration from the biblical story of Cain and Abel, graphed onto the moody Cal Trask (Dean) and his brother Aron (Richard Davalos), who both vie to impress their devout father Adam (Raymond Massey) as well as Aron’s girlfriend Abra (Julie Harris).
The novel follows the Trask family settling in California’s Salinas Valley during the 1860s through Cal and Aron’s drama through the end of World War I. The 1955 film was entirely set during these later years, though the new 2026 miniseries (releasing on Netflix tomorrow!) likely follows the family saga across Steinbeck’s full timeline.
What’d He Wear?
Costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone dressed James Dean primarily in layered neutrals as Cal Trask, perhaps signaling his impartial vulnerability while also allowing him to be both literally and mentally stripped down over the course of his emotional journey. His open-neck shirts and sweaters may seem surprisingly contemporary to modern viewers—and Johnstone surely wanted younger audiences to relate to Cal by not making him look inaccessibly old-fashioned—but historical photography and catalogs depict younger men increasingly embracing casual sportswear throughout the 1910s. Continue reading
Blue Velvet: Dennis Hopper’s Black Leather Jacket and Bolo Tie as Frank Booth
Dennis Hopper on the set of Blue Velvet (1986). Photo credit: Jim Bridges.
Vitals
Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth, sadistic drug dealer
Lumberton, North Carolina, Spring 1985
Film: Blue Velvet
Release Date: September 19, 1986
Director: David Lynch
Costumer: Ronald Leamon
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After his early low-budget debut Eraserhead (1977) and adaptations The Elephant Man (1980) and Dune (1984), David Lynch finally unleashed many of his cinematic signatures when the neo-noir thriller Blue Velvet premiered forty years ago today during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), one week before its wider release.
Blue Velvet‘s themes of disturbing violence and surreal absurdism among a neo-nostalgic Americana backdrop became Lynchian trademarks, as well as his cast of frequent collaborators like Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan, Jack Nance, and Isabella Rossellini. The movie also revitalized Dennis Hopper’s stalled career through his explosive, Golden Globe-winning performance as the chilling criminal Frank Booth—a psychopathic, amyl nitrate-addicted Roy Orbison fan with serious mommy issues. Continue reading
Terence Stamp’s Layered Neutrals in Teorema
Terence Stamp in Teorema (1968)
Vitals
Terence Stamp as “The Visitor”, enigmatic young seducer
Milan, Italy, Spring 1968
Film: Teorema
(English title: Theorem)
Release Date: September 7, 1968
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Costume Designer: Roberto Capucci (credited for Silvana Mangano’s clothes)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After Terence Stamp’s death last year, I realized how little of the actor’s filmography I had seen, particularly from early in his career when he and his then-roommate Michael Caine were the toasts of swinging London. Naturally, the first place I turned was the Criterion Channel, which included Teorema—a surrealist psychological drama that was director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s first film to feature primarily professional actors.
Stamp stars as a mysterious man known only as “the visitor”, whose seduction of every member of a bourgeois household forces the family to confront difficult truths about themselves—and whose eventual departure leaves an existential void in each person’s soul.
Translated to “Theorem”, as it was known in some English-speaking countries, Teorema premiered 58 years ago yesterday on September 4, 1968 during the 29th Venice International Film Festival, where it received a special award from the International Catholic Film Office—only for the award to be swiftly withdrawn after the Vatican criticized the film’s sexual content. It was widely released three days later. Continue reading
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
Kill Me Again: Val Kilmer’s White Shirt and White Cadillac
Val Kilmer in Kill Me Again (1989)
Vitals
Val Kilmer as Jack Andrews, cynical private investigator
Nevada, Spring 1989
Film: Kill Me Again
Release Date: October 27, 1989
Director: John Dahl
Costume Designer: Terry Dresbach
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This summer’s Car Week wraps with Kill Me Again, John Dahl’s little-known (at least to me, before last year) 1989 neo-noir thriller starring the late Val Kilmer and Michael Madsen opposite Kilmer’s then-wife Joanne Whalley as a dangerous femme fatale.
I’ll admit I was drawn to this as a subject this week due to some stylistic similarities with one of my favorite “car movies”, Vanishing Point (1971), which also features a man in a white shirt and jeans desperately racing a white two-door hardtop V8 through the desert until the car meets a fiery end. In this case, it’s not the nihilistic Kowalski in a Dodge Challenger but our widowed gambler P.I. in his quarter-century-old Cadillac, racing through the sand for a bundle of stolen cash. Continue reading
Mel Brooks’ Bird-Attracting Charcoal Flannel Suit in High Anxiety
Mel Brooks in High Anxiety (1977)
Vitals
Mel Brooks as Dr. Richard Harpo Thorndyke, anxious psychologist
Los Angeles to San Francisco, Spring 1977
Film: High Anxiety
Release Date: December 25, 1977
Director: Mel Brooks
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The 2,000-Year-Old Man turns 100! Born Melvin James Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, prolific writer, director, producer, actor, and comedian Mel Brooks is one of less than two dozen entertainers to date to have attained EGOT status over a career that delivered iconic stage and screen comedies like The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), and Spaceballs (1987).
One of his most prominent (and stylish) on-screen performances was in High Anxiety, Brooks’ affectionate satire of Alfred Hitchcock’s films—crafted with the Master of Suspense’s own endorsement. (Following a private screening, Hitchcock’s only criticism was that Brooks used three too many shower rings in a parody of Psycho‘s famous “shower scene”; the director later sent a congratulatory case of wine to Brooks, noting that the movie itself was “splendid!”)
Nicolas Cage’s Red Aloha Shirt in Raising Arizona
Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona (1987)
Vitals
Nicolas Cage as H.I. McDunnough, small-time crook and new dad
Tempe, Arizona, Spring 1986
Film: Raising Arizona
Release Date: March 13, 1987
Director: Joel & Ethan Coen
Costume Designer: Richard Hornung
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
In addition to tomorrow being the official start of summer, it’s also my first Father’s Day since becoming a dad last year! So the stars feel aligned for me to write about Nicolas Cage’s Hawaiian shirt-centric style as another new dad: ex-con Herbert I. McDunnough in the Coen brothers’ sophomore film, Raising Arizona (1987).
My name is H.I. McDunnough. Call me “Hi”.
Casino: Joe Pesci’s Gray Birdseye Blazer
Joe Pesci in Casino (1995)
Vitals
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
Passenger 57: Wesley Snipes’ Biker Jacket with Layered Shirts and Jeans
Wesley Snipes as John Cutter in Passenger 57 (1992)
Vitals
Wesley Snipes as John Cutter, airline security chief and ex-Secret Service agent
In flight from Miami to Los Angeles, Spring 1992
Film: Passenger 57
Release Date: November 6, 1992
Director: Kevin Hooks
Costume Designer: Brad R. Loman
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, sometimes there’s nothing more necessary than to sit back and turn off your brain to watch a pleasantly absurd ’90s action movie. Luckily for us, Kevin Hooks directed the 1992 action thriller Passenger 57—its title literally inspired after writer Stewart Raffill spied a bottle of Heinz ketchup.
Wesley Snipes stars as John Cutter, a former* Secret Service agent whose stalwart reputation has followed him into his latest career as an airline security consultant, training flight attendants like Marti Slayton (Alex Datcher) how to handle hijacking scenarios. After his pal Sly Delvecchio (Tom Sizemore) helps Cutter secure an executive position as the vice president of security for the fictional Atlantic International Airlines, Cutter boards Atlantic Flight 163… the same flight on which FBI agents are escorting the dangerous international criminal Charles Rane (Bruce Payne)—who is not insane—back to California to face trial.
With his history of commercial airline bombings that makes us—and Delvecchio—wonder why the feds would choose this particular method of transportation, “the Rane of terror” has more explosive ideas for securing his freedom, which becomes an unfortunate situation for his fellow passengers—all except passenger #57, who happens to be the nation’s foremost expert in combating air terrorism. Continue reading
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