Tagged: Spring
Gene Hackman’s Tweed Suit as Buck Barrow
Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons as Buck and Blanche Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Vitals
Gene Hackman as “Buck” Barrow, bank robber, ex-convict, and family man
Texas, May 1933
Film: Bonnie & Clyde
Release Date: August 13, 1967
Director: Arthur Penn
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
Background
Happy birthday to Gene Hackman, who turns 86 years old today!
Bonnie and Clyde marked the first major role for Hackman, who had spent much of the ’60s as a struggling actor who shared rooms with fellow struggling actors Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall. 1967 turned out to be a banner year for the friends and roommates, earning Hackman and Hoffman their first Academy Award nominations.
Hackman brings an easygoing charm to the role of the more famous Clyde’s older brother Buck, and the film gets many of the “on paper” details right about Buck. As Clyde’s older brother, he had more experience tangling with the law and spent the first few months of Clyde’s criminal career in the Texas state prison. He had escaped once, but—as Hackman tells Warren Beatty’s Clyde—it was his new wife Blanche that talked him into returning to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence, and he would be pardoned 15 months later. Buck and Blanche journeyed to visit Bonnie and Clyde, ostensibly for a reunion and possibly for Buck to try and talk Clyde into following his good example. Of course, the murder of two Joplin policemen during this reunion meant Buck would be wanted again as well, and the brothers led the motley “Barrow Gang” in a string of small-town stickups and kidnappings over the next three months. Continue reading
Bond’s Dark Gray Flannel 3-Piece Suit in Thunderball
Sean Connery as James Bond in Thunderball (1965).
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent
France, Winter 1965
Film: Thunderball
Release Date: December 29, 1965
Director: Terence Young
Wardrobe Designer: Anthony Mendleson
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
After an unseasonably warm Christmas, I’m one of the few Pittsburghers happy to report that the weather is finally chilling down to a winter-friendly 30°F and it’s time to roll out the flannel suits and overcoats.
At the outset of Thunderball, Sean Connery’s fourth outing as James Bond, we find the agent lurking in the background of a funeral in the French countryside. His warm suit and outerwear hints that we’re finding him in one of the chillier months, so it seemed like a more than appropriate scene to break down for this 00-7th of January. Continue reading
Sidney Reilly’s Hunting Jacket
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in “Dreadnaughts and Crosses”, Episode 5 of Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983).
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, Russian-born adventurer and British secret agent
Russia, Spring 1910
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “Dreadnoughts and Crosses” (Episode 5)
Air Date: September 28, 1983
Director: Jim Goddard
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
St. Petersburg is a hotbed of intrigue in the years leading up to World War I and the Russian Revolution. The English and the Germans are among those vying for inevitably valuable warship contracts from the Russian Ministry of Marine.
Ever the shrewd opportunist, Sidney Reilly finds himself in the right place at the right time and decides to forego the usual channels of submitting battleship plans. Instead, he slyly gambles against a brutish shipping executive who finds himself indebted to Reilly, thus handing a controlling stake in his firm to our hero. At the same time, Reilly has busied himself in a romance with the Minister of Marine’s lovely wife Nadia (Celia Gregory).
The events of the spring culminate in a pig hunting trip where Reilly joins the Minister, Nadia, and his cheeky pal Sasha Gramaticoff for an afternoon of angry swine and loaded revolvers. Continue reading
Commander Bond’s Service Dress Uniform in The Spy Who Loved Me
Roger Moore as Commander James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) (Photo sourced from thunderballs.org)
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, sophisticated British MI6 agent
HMS Neptune, Faslane Naval Base, Scotland, July 1977
Film: The Spy Who Loved Me
Release Date: July 7, 1977
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Wardrobe Supervisor: Rosemary Burrows
Background
For this chilly 00-7th of December, BAMF Style is taking a look at Bond’s post-credits briefing at Faslane Naval Base, designated on HMS Neptune and stationed on Gare Loch as the headquarters of the Royal Navy in Scotland. The submarine-focused briefing Bond receives is especially appropriate for this nautical setting, which serves as home to the United Kingdom’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent and was adapted to house Polaris missiles ten years prior to the movie.
Of the 24 Bond films yet produced, The Spy Who Loved Me most prominently features James Bond’s naval service and finds him sporting Royal Navy elements twice: once, as featured in this post, and during the finale when he sports battle dress against Stromberg’s henchmen. Continue reading
Rebel Without a Cause – Jim’s Fleck Jacket and 1949 Mercury
James Dean as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
Vitals
James Dean as Jim Stark, confused suburban high school student and loner
Los Angeles, Spring 1956
Film: Rebel Without a Cause
Release Date: October 27, 1955
Director: Nicholas Ray
Costume Designer: Moss Mabry
Background
Car Week concludes with a look at one of the most iconic drivers to ever speed across the silver screen: James Dean.
In Rebel Without a Cause, the second of Dean’s three credited films as an actor, Dean played the archetypical angsty teen Jim Stark. After a drunkenly difficult Easter Sunday that landed him in some hot water with the local fuzz, Jim begins his first day at Dawson High School and finds himself also at odds with most of his fellow students – particularly a bully who is, of course, named Buzz.
During a field trip that day to the Griffith Observatory overlooking the city, Jim further antagonizes his new enemies by… uh… existing? Buzz isn’t a very understanding sort of person.
After slashing the tires of Jim’s ’49 Mercury coupe and trying to get a knife fight going, Buzz challenges him to a “chickie run” at Millertown Bluff, setting the stage for the film’s climactic stolen car race. Continue reading
The Last Run: Harry’s Leather Jacket and BMW 503
George C. Scott as Harry Garmes, next to a BMW 503 convertible in The Last Run (1971).
Vitals
George C. Scott as Harry Garmes, washed-up expatriate getaway driver
Portugal, Spring 1971
Film: The Last Run
Release Date: July 7, 1971
Director: Richard Fleischer
Wardrobe Supervisor: Annalisa Nasalli-Rocca
Background
Car Week continues today with a recommendation from Craig, a great BAMF Style commenter who also was kind enough to send a DVD copy my way this year!
The Last Run finds George C. Scott, freshly awarded for his Oscar-winning performance as General George S. Patton, playing an aging ex-mob driver living in seclusion in Portugal. He is tapped for “one last job” – as so many retired movie criminals are – to drive a fugitive and his young girlfriend into France. What follows is an underrated action piece that was accurately tagged “In the spirit of Hemingway and Bogart”. Continue reading
Skyfall: Bond’s Barbour Jacket in Scotland
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Skyfall (2012)
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, rogue British government agent
Scotland, Spring 2012
Film: Skyfall
Release Date: November 9, 2012
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Jany Temime
Background
After a relentless cross-continental game of cat and mouse (or, more accurately, rat and rat), James Bond and Raoul Silva finally come to a head at Bond’s childhood home of Skyfall Manor in the Scottish Highlands. The stakes have been raised by the appearance of M, a rare sight in a Bond action scene and here a gun-toting queen in Bond and Silva’s chess game.
Bond, M, and the estate’s old gamekeeper Kincaide (Albert Finney) prepare for the inevitable assault with a charmingly dark twist on Kevin McCallister’s booby-trapping exploits, with an armor-plated Aston Martin DB5 replacing a train-hopping Michael Jordan cutout. With the stage set, all the three armed stalwarts can do is wait. Continue reading
Tony Montana’s Chalkstripe Showdown Suit in Scarface
Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983).
Vitals
Al Pacino as Tony Montana, impulsive and hotheaded cocaine kingpin
New York City to Miami, Spring 1983
Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Tailor: Tommy Velasco
Background
Even if you’re one of the 0.5% of the population who hasn’t seen Scarface, you’ve seen this suit and you know this scene. You’ve seen it on T-shirts, dorm room posters, memes, and anywhere that pop culture will allow it. The scene has become legendary over the last three decades as one of the greatest movie gunfights in history for many reasons: an unhinged Al Pacino who may or may not have been pretending to be high, an endless mob of cartel gunmen each meeting their fate at the end of his AR-15, and—of course:
Say hello to my little friend!
From Russia With Love – Impostor Bond’s Tuxedo
Sean Connery as James Bond (or is he?) in From Russia With Love (1963).
Vitals
Sean Connery as an impostor James Bond
SPECTRE Island, Spring 1963
(“SPECTRE Island” is actually Heatherden Hall at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.)
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
Dressing up as James Bond for Halloween this year or just celebrating the new release of Spectre? You’re certainly not the first to don a 007 costume; even within the series itself, an anonymous SPECTRE bait henchman sported a classic midnight blue tuxedo for his unnecessarily detailed Bond guise during the pre-credits sequence of From Russia With Love.
This sequence provides some interesting cultural context; formalwear was nowhere nearly as prominent in Ian Fleming’s literary Bond adventures as it would become in the films, yet the opening scene of the second film seems to recognize and lampshade the fact that the audience will know this is James Bond because we’re seeing Sean Connery in a dinner suit. Continue reading
Justified – Raylan’s Black 1-Button Suit
Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 1.03, “Fixer”).
Vitals
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old school Deputy U.S. Marshal
Harlan County, Kentucky, Spring 2010
Series: Justified
Episodes:
– “Fixer” (Episode 1.03, Director: Fred Keller, Air Date: March 30, 2010)
– “The Hammer” (Episode 1.10, Director: John Dahl, Air Date: May 18, 2010)
– “The Moonshine War” (Episode 2.01, Director: Adam Arkin, Air Date: February 9, 2011)
– “Cottonmouth” (Episode 2.05, Director: Michael Watkins, Air Date: March 9, 2011)
– “The Spoil” (Episode 2.08, Director: Michael Watkins, Air Date: March 30, 2011)
– “Reckoning” (Episode 2.12, Director: Adam Arkin, Air Date: April 27, 2011)
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designers: Ane Crabtree (Season 1) & Patia Prouty (Season 2)
Background
A laconic, black-suited lawman with a troubled personal life and deadly accuracy with a firearm. The first name that would come to mind for most people is Wyatt Earp. It’s no coincidence that Justified‘s showrunners also ensured that the description would fit Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens to a T.
You are every inch the goddamn gunslinger I’ve heard.
…is Judge Mike Reardon’s praise for Raylan in “The Hammer”, and it is a very apt description given the lawman’s throwback tendencies to an era when gunslingers roamed the dusty streets of the old west. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.