Tagged: Spring
The Godfather, Part II: Fredo Corleone’s Pink in Havana
John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)
Vitals
John Cazale as Fredo Corleone, insecure mob family sibling
Havana, Cuba, December 1958
Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
John Cazale was born 90 years ago today on August 12, 1935 in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Though his career was heartbreakingly brief, John Cazale—born 90 years ago today on August 12, 1935 in Suffolk County, Massachusetts—remains considered as one of the finest actors of his generation. Incredibly, all five feature films he appeared in during the 1970s were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Among these unforgettable roles, his most enduring may be Fredo Corleone—the insecure, overmatched middle brother of the Corleone crime family. Cazale first played Fredo in The Godfather (1972), but it was The Godfather Part II (1974) that gave him the tragic spotlight as Fredo, desperate for power and recognition, betrays his younger and more successful brother Michael (Al Pacino), setting off a slow-burning familial powder keg that mirrors the revolutionary unrest simmering around them in the streets of Havana. Continue reading
Alec Guinness’ Tropical Khaki Drill Uniform in The Bridge on the River Kwai
Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Vitals
Alec Guinness as Lt. Col. L. Nicholson, duty-bound British Army officer and POW
Between Burma and Thailand, Spring 1943
Film: The Bridge on the River Kwai
Release Date: October 2, 1957
Director: David Lean
Wardrobe Credit: John Wilson-Apperson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of the most acclaimed war epics of all time, The Bridge on the River Kwai was directed by David Lean and adapted from the 1952 novel by French author Pierre Boulle, a former POW who infused the story with a mix of firsthand insight and satirical commentary. The film became the highest-grossing release of 1957 and won six of its seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Alec Guinness, who died 25 years ago tomorrow on August 5, 2000.
In this fictionalized account of the construction of a railway bridge along the Burma-Siam route during World War II, Guinness portrayed dignified career officer Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson of the British Army, whom we meet as he leads his whistling troops into a Japanese prison camp deep in the arid Thai jungle. Continue reading
Daniel Craig’s Cream Linen Suit in Queer
Daniel Craig as William Lee in Queer (2024)
Vitals
Daniel Craig as William Lee, dissolute American expatriate
Mexico City, Spring 1951 and 1953
Film: Queer
Release Date: November 27, 2024
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Costume Designer: Jonathan Anderson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Following the success of Challengers earlier in the year, director Luca Guadagnino kept his 2024 momentum going with Queer, adapted from the 1985 novella by Beat Generation icon William S. Burroughs—who died 28 years ago today, on August 2, 1997. Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, a clear stand-in for Burroughs, complete with the author’s distinctive wardrobe, substance issues, and ever-present handgun—albeit with some of the rougher edges sanded down for the screen. Continue reading
Dillinger (1973): Geoffrey Lewis’ Striped Suit as Harry Pierpont
Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont in Dillinger (1973)
Vitals
Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont, even-tempered bank robber
Across the Midwest, Fall 1933 to Spring 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Today would have been the 90th birthday of character actor Geoffrey Lewis, born July 31, 1935. A familiar face across decades of movies and television, Lewis had one of his earliest prominent screen roles among the supporting cast of John Milius’ bullet-riddled 1973 directorial debut Dillinger, chronicling the life and crimes of the titular Depression-era bank robber.
Lewis co-starred as Harry Pierpont, a real-life associate of Dillinger’s known for his loyalty, cool head, and quiet leadership within the gang. Born in Muncie in 1902, the real “Pete” Pierpont first made a name for himself with Indiana law enforcement during the early 1920s through a spree of escalating crimes and bank heists. He was eventually captured and sentenced to both the Indiana State Reformatory and Indiana State Prison, where he crossed paths with a younger inmate named John Dillinger, then serving a 10–20 year stretch for mugging a grocer. Pierpont took the eager Dillinger under his wing, teaching him the tricks of the trade. Continue reading
Sam Shepard’s Denim Western-wear in Fool for Love
Sam Shepard in Fool for Love (1985)
Vitals
Sam Shepard as Eddie, rodeo stunt rider
Mojave Desert, Spring 1985
Film: Fool for Love
Release Date: December 6, 1985
Director: Robert Altman
Wardrobe Credit: Kristine Flones
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks eight years since the death of 10-time Obie Award-winning actor, director, and writer Sam Shepard, who died July 17, 2017 at the age of 73.
As someone who loves movies set in motels and thinks that Shepard and Harry Dean Stanton were two of the coolest guys to have walked on this planet, I had long been intrigued by Robert Altman’s 1985 adaptation of Shepard’s own play Fool for Love, starring Shepard and Stanton opposite Kim Basinger. Continue reading
Walton Goggins on The White Lotus: Storytelling Through Pattern Play
The White Lotus just earned 23 Emmy nominations for its third season, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Contemporary Costumes, and seven acting nods—among them Walton Goggins, recognized for his turn as Rick Hatchett.
While I’m on vacation this week, it feels like the perfect time to share this guest article focused on the style of a man on vacation—Goggins’ very own Rick—written by Katherine Manweiler, founder of Montage, the storefront for media and culture that turns on-screen style into personalized fashion discovery.
The White Lotus: Storytelling Through Pattern Play
What memory do floral patterned shirts conjure? Tom Selleck on Magnum P.I.? Your dad at a Sandals all-inclusive? How about the breakout style icon of summer 2025?
Walton Goggins as Rick Hatchett on The White Lotus (Episode 3.04: “Hide or Seek”)
At Montage, we’re curating a shoppable collection of styles from beloved television shows and films. From activity on our Instagram page to a global user base on our shopping app, we had a front row seat to the commentary, crazes, and clicks driven by costume designer Alex Bovaird’s eclectic wardrobing of The White Lotus‘ third season. Continue reading
The White Lotus: Walton Goggins Arrives in Thailand in a Mexico-Print Shirt
Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood on The White Lotus, Episode 3.01: “Same Spirits, New Forms”. Photo by Fabio Lovino.
Vitals
Walton Goggins as Rick Hatchett, grouchy “victim of [his] own decisions”
Koh Samui, Thailand, Spring 2024
Series: The White Lotus
Episode: “Same Spirits, New Forms” (Episode 3.01)
Air Date: February 16, 2025
Director: Mike White
Creator: Mike White
Costume Designer: Alex Bovaird
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Now that we’re more than a week into summer, I’m revisiting one of my new favorite sources of warm-weather style inspiration: Walton Goggins as the sardonic Rick Hatchett in the latest season of The White Lotus.
We meet Rick alongside his much-younger girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) as they arrive by boat to the Koh Samui resort, where he quickly earns the ire of the Ratliff family by defiantly refusing to put out his cigarette. In tow: a suitcase full of loud shirts, plenty of emotional baggage, and a simmering grudge tied to resort owner Sritala Hollinger (Lek Patravadi) and her husband Jim (Scott Glenn).
Though Rick’s true motives grow more dangerously apparent as the season unfolds, our early impressions are limited to Chelsea’s casual comments: he doesn’t work much, he’s not quite balding enough to qualify as an “LBH” (loser back home) like her new friend’s all-too-familiar paramour, and her genuine desire that he take better care of himself. But as we quickly learn, Rick is often his own worst enemy. Continue reading
Robert Ryan in The Wild Bunch
Robert Ryan as Deke Thornton in The Wild Bunch (1969)
Vitals
Robert Ryan as Deke Thornton, conflicted bounty hunter and ex-bandit
Texas to Mexico, Spring 1913
Film: The Wild Bunch
Release Date: June 18, 1969
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Costume Designer: James R. Silke
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Released today in 1969, The Wild Bunch reimagined the American frontier on screen. The New Hollywood movement ushered in a new level of brutality with films like Bonnie and Clyde (1967), which—along with his frustration over the Vietnam War and the lack of realism in earlier depictions of the Old West—inspired director Sam Peckinpah to return behind the lens.
Based on a screenplay co-written by Peckinpah, Walon Green, and Roy N. Sickner, The Wild Bunch follows an aging gang led by the grizzled Pike Bishop (William Holden), pursued into Mexico by a posse of ragtag bounty hunters led by Pike’s former partner, Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), against the backdrop of the nation’s decade-long revolution. Continue reading
George C. Scott’s Funky Brown Shirt and Tan Blazer in Hardcore
George C. Scott in Hardcore (1979)
Vitals
George C. Scott as Jake Van Dorn, serious Midwestern family man
San Francisco, Spring 1978
Film: Hardcore
Release Date: February 9, 1979
Director: Paul Schrader
Men’s Wardrobe Supervisor: G. Tony Scarano
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Oh my God, that’s my daughter.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads who read BAMF Style… and to this soon-to-be first-time dad who writes BAMF Style, as my wife is expecting our first this October!
Of course, since I’m the same insane person who writes about Psycho and The Grifters for Mother’s Day, today’s Father’s Day post centers around George C. Scott’s style in Paul Schrader’s 1979 neo-noir Hardcore as Jake Van Dorn, a Michigan rivet manufacturing executive who goes deep undercover in the California porn industry to try to save his daughter Kristen (Ilah Davis) after he learns from private detective Andy Mast (Peter Boyle) that she’s been appearing in stag films. Continue reading
Ben Johnson’s Cream Suit in The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Ben Johnson in The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
Vitals
Ben Johnson as J.D. Morales, Texas Rangers company captain
Texarkana, Arkansas, Spring 1946
Film: The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Release Date: December 24, 1976
Director: Charles B. Pierce
Wardrobe Credit: Karen Jones & Bonnie Langriff
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 107 years ago on June 13, 1918, Ben Johnson was an Academy Award-winning actor and—like his father, Ben Sr.—a bona fide cowboy and rodeo champion.
Johnson’s screen career appropriately began as a stuntman in Howard Hughes’ controversial 1943 film The Outlaw, establishing the start of a half-century career that began with Westerns like 3 Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Shane (1953), Hang ‘Em High (1968), and The Wild Bunch (1969). After a more dramatic performance in The Last Picture Show (1971) resulted in Johnson’s sole Oscar win, the middle-aged actor diversified his filmography with major roles in non-Westerns like The Getaway (1972), Dillinger (1973), Red Dawn (1984), and Angels in the Outfield (1994).
Since today’s commemoration of Johnson’s birthday also falls on Friday the 13th, it feels appropriate to focus on one of the actor’s first of few forays into horror. The Town That Dreaded Sundown was loosely based on the real-life Texarkana Moonlight Murders when a still-unknown “Phantom Killer” attacked eight people—killing five—through the spring of 1946. Filmed on location in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas through the hot summer of 1976, The Town That Dreaded Sundown erroneously centered most of the action around Texarkana, Arkansas, which initially resulted in the city threatening director Charles B. Pierce… but has since become an annual Halloween tradition during Texarkana’s “Movies in the Park” series.
Johnson’s cowboy background and persona suited his performance as Captain J.D. Morales, based on the case’s actual lead investigator: Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas. Continue reading
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