Tagged: Striped Shirt
Rock Hudson’s Corduroy Jacket on McMillan & Wife (“Murder by the Barrel”)
Rock Hudson on McMillan and Wife (Episode 1.01: “Murder by the Barrel”)
Vitals
Rock Hudson as Stuart “Mac” McMillan, San Francisco police commissioner and former defense attorney
San Francisco, Fall 1971
Series: McMillan & Wife
Episode: “Murder by the Barrel” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 29, 1971
Director: John Astin
Creator: Leonard B. Stern
Costumes: Burton Miller
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Screen icon Rock Hudson was born 100 years ago today on November 17, 1925. After launching his career as a romantic leading man through the 1950s and ’60s, Hudson redefined the second phase of his career with a dramatic role in John Frankenheimer’s excellent experimental drama Seconds (1966) and the espionage thriller Ice Station Zebra (1968)—the latter a favorite of both Hudson himself and eccentric superfan Howard Hughes. Unsatisfied with the screen roles he was being offered, even after creating his own production companies, Hudson turned to television with the mystery series McMillan & Wife.
Hudson starred as San Francisco police commissioner Stuart “Mac” McMillan with Susan Saint James as his titular wife, Sally. The series may be the closest spiritual successor to The Thin Man films, as Mac and Sally’s witty banter and affectionate, equal-footed partnership recall the dynamic charm of William Powell and Myrna Loy’s Nick and Nora Charles. What sets McMillan & Wife apart from contemporaries, however, is that Mac isn’t a typical TV detective but a high-ranking commissioner, whose background as a criminal defense attorney gives him a greater familiarity with the city’s crooks and their cohorts.
Like the other NBC Mystery Movie pilots that debuted during the 1971-1972 season (specifically Columbo and McCloud), McMillan & Wife became a hit and the first canonical episode, “Murder by the Barrel”, aired less than two weeks later after its feature-length debut. Continue reading
In the Mood for Love: Tony Leung’s Gray Silk Suit
Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung in In the Mood for Love (2000)
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Tony Leung as Chow Mo-wan, sensitive journalist
Hong Kong, Spring 1962
Film: In the Mood for Love
(Chinese title: 花樣年華)
Release Date: September 29, 2000
Director: Wong Kar-wai
Costume Designer: William Chang
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Valentine’s Day feels like the appropriate time to discuss In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai’s lush and compelling exploration of loneliness, loss, and love set in Hong Kong’s Shanghainese community in 1962. Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung), live with their respective spouses in neighboring apartments but each often find themselves alone in their rooms, venturing out only for noodles from a street stall where they occasionally make contact. As the two connect over their oft-absent spouses, Chow and Su slowly come to the realization that his wife and her husband are engaged in an affair. Continue reading
Save the Tiger: Jack Lemmon’s Italian Silk Suit
Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973)
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Jack Lemmon as Harry Stoner, cynical businessman and World War II veteran
Los Angeles, Spring 1972
Film: Save the Tiger
Release Date: February 14, 1973
Director: John G. Avildsen
Wardrobe Credit: John A. Anderson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One of my favorite actors, Jack Lemmon was born 100 years ago today on February 8, 1925 in Newton, Massachusetts.
After serving in the U.S. Navy as communications officer aboard an aircraft carrier during World ar II, Lemmon rose to fame playing comedic roles in the 1950s, such as his back-to-back pairings with Judy Holliday in the early 1950s and his performance as the wily Ensign Pulver in Mister Roberts (1955) that earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Lemmon’s successful streak continued when he teamed with director Billy Wilder in the classic comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960), followed by five more movies together over the next quarter-century.
Lemmon’s talent in serious roles was widely demonstrated in Blake Edwards’ 1962 drama Days of Wine and Roses, though it wasn’t until a decade later when the middle-aged actor returned to drama as the disillusioned veteran Harry Stoner in Save the Tiger (1973), a film he was so dedicated to bringing to the screen that he waived his usual salary to work at union scale—which was $165 per week—and a percentage of the gross. Lemmon ultimately received his second Oscar—this time the Academy Award for Best Actor—for his poignant portrayal of a man trapped by his past and the hollow promises of the so-called American Dream, perfectly playing the weariness of a lifetime of war-torn cynicism battling that characteristic twinkle in his eye. Continue reading
The Great Gatsby: Sam Waterston’s Tan Shawl-collar Cardigan
Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (1974)
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Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway, impressionable bachelor and bond salesman
Long Island, New York, Summer 1925
Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren
Background
Born on this day in 1896, F. Scott Fitzgerald left an indelible mark on American literature with his classic novel The Great Gatsby, which has been adapted for the screen at least a half dozen items—including Jack Clayton’s iconic 1974 film.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, this lush adaptation stars Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, and Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway, the narrator and ostensibly a surrogate for Fitzgerald himself—though the author also reflected elements of himself in the romantic hero Jay Gatsby.
A knitwear-clad F. Scott Fitzgerald in the third-floor bedroom of his parents’ residence at 599 Summit Avenue in St. Paul, where he wrote This Side of Paradise. (Source: Twin Cities Pioneer Press)
After hosting the reunion between his married cousin Daisy and her old flame, Nick’s wealthy neighbor Gatsby, Nick spends the rest of the summer observing the couple retreat into furtive seclusion, dodging not only Daisy’s prideful husband but also the gossip of Gatsby’s now-dismissed household staff and newspaper reporters showing up at Nick’s door.
When curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest, the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night.
Harry Dean Stanton’s Cream Suit in Cockfighter
Harry Dean Stanton in Cockfighter (1974)
Vitals
Harry Dean Stanton as Jack Burke, country cockfighter
Georgia, Spring 1973
Film: Cockfighter
Release Date: July 30, 1974
Director: Monte Hellman
Wardrobe Credit: Carol Hammond & Patty Shaw
Background
The great character actor Harry Dean Stanton was born 98 years ago tomorrow on July 14, 1926. A familiar face among the supporting cast of classic movies for a career spanning more than a half-century, Stanton also shined in his rare leading roles in Paris, Texas (1984), Repo Man (1984), and Lucky (2017).
One of the lesser-known entries in Stanton’s filmography is Cockfighter, reuniting him with Two-Lane Blacktop director Monte Hellman and his friend and frequent co-star Warren Oates. Released 50 years ago this month, Cockfighter was controversial upon its release for its uncompromising portrayal of the titular bloodsport. Continue reading
Mr. Majestyk: Charles Bronson’s Lee Jacket and Ford Truck
Charles Bronson in Mr. Majestyk (1974)
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Charles Bronson as Vincent “Vince” Majestyk, principled melon farmer, ex-convict, and Vietnam veteran
Rural Colorado, Fall 1973
Film: Mr. Majestyk
Release Date: July 12, 1974
Director: Richard Fleischer
Men’s Costumes: James Linn
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
We’ll conclude this summer’s Car Week with Mr. Majestyk, a Charles Bronson action flick released 50 years ago tomorrow on July 12, 1974. (At least according to Wikipedia; IMDB states July 17th, but it doesn’t seem worth splitting hairs.) Just weeks later, Bronson would cement his place in action cinema lore with the release of the revenge-themed Death Wish, though I prefer the fun of Mr. Majestyk, which delivers the characteristic color that could be expected from Elmore Leonard’s original screenplay.
Bronson stars as Vince Majestyk, a decorated Vietnam veteran operating a melon farm in rural Colorado, proudly manned by experienced migrant workers like the passionate union leader Nancy Chavez (Linda Cristal). When local hotshot hoodlum Bobby Kopas (Paul Koslo) tries to force Majestyk to replace his crew with Kopas’ own unskilled winos, Majestyk attacks him with his own shotgun and sends him back up the road.
Following his arrest for assaulting Kopas, the police discover Majestyk’s past conviction for assault and keep him in jail, where he also runs afoul of menacing mob hitman Frank Renda (Al Lettieri). The two men’s tenuous acquaintanceship further sours after Majestyk sabotages an escape attempt engineered by Renda’s henchmen, instead kidnapping Renda himself and intending to trade the contract killer to the authorities in exchange for his own freedom.
After Majestyk loses Renda, the hitman forces Kopas to drop the assault charges so that Renda would be free to exact his own violent revenge on Majestyk—despite the advice from his loyal right-hand man Gene Lundy (Taylor Lacher).
Majestyk himself doesn’t seem overly considered with the treat, more focused on finding labor to help him harvest his melon crop after Kopas effectively intimidates most of the town into refusing to work with him. Indeed, the crop would have struggled during his stay behind bars if not for Nancy, with whom he develops a relationship built on mutual respect after they met when he defended her fellow migrant workers’ right to use a public restroom.
Nancy: If you want to go to bed with me, why don’t you say it?
Majestyk: I don’t want to say it, I want to do it. Come on.
Aware that the police hope to use him as bait to entrap Renda, who confronts Majestyk during a barroom date. “Seems like there’s no use trying to get on your good side,” Majestyk declares before slugging him and leaving with Nancy, who proves to be deft at more than just picking melons when she handles the wheel of Vince’s Ford pickup truck during a chase with Renda’s hired guns. Continue reading
Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin
Colin Farrell as Pádraic Súilleabháin in The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
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Colin Farrell as Pádraic Súilleabháin, simple-minded pub regular
Ireland, Spring 1923
Film: The Banshees of Inisherin
Release Date: October 21, 2022
Director: Martin McDonagh
Costume Designer: Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One hundred years ago today on April Fool’s Day 1923, aging musician Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) abruptly stopped talking to his erstwhile best friend Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell), like some fool of a moody schoolchild. Despite the timing and the fact that they weren’t rowing (though it does seem like they were rowing), this ignites a tragicomic personal drama of donkeys and amputated fingers that—at least for the sparse residents of the fictional isle of Inisherin—outweighs the bloody conflict across the sea on the Irish mainland.
Either a “happy lad” or “limited man” depending on who you ask, Pádraic is happy to eke out his simple life with his more intelligent sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon), his donkey Jenny, and drinking buddies like Colm and Dominic (Barry Keoghan), with little more characterizing his life than the occasional two-hour chat describing what was in his little donkey’s pony’s shite… until Colm strangely decides he wants more from his remaining years.
“More fool me?” Pádraic is in for a rude awakening after he briefly allows himself to consider Colm’s disavowal of their friendship to be a mere April Fool’s Day prank.
The White Lotus: F. Murray Abraham’s Beige Safari Jacket
F. Murray Abraham as Bert Di Grasso on The White Lotus (Episode 2.06: “Abductions”)
Vitals
F. Murray Abraham as Bert Di Grasso, libertine grandfather
Sicily, Summer 2022
Series: The White Lotus
Episodes:
– “Bull Elephants” (Episode 2.03, aired 11/13/2022)
– “Abductions” (Episode 2.06, aired 12/4/2022)
Director: Mike White
Creator: Mike White
Costume Designer: Alex Bovaird
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
During the 29th annual SAG Awards on Sunday night, the acclaimed second season of The White Lotus was awarded Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Speaking on behalf of the cast while accepting the award, F. Murray Abraham said that “this was the best job I ever had,” not unsubstantial praise from the prolific actor whose six-decade career included his Oscar-winning performance in Amadeus (1984).
The first season had premiered as a limited series, produced in Hawaii during the final months of 2020, its limited location and characters making it ideal to be produced under COVID-19 guidelines. Following the show’s success, a second season was green-lit, filmed at the Four Seasons San Domenico Hotel in Taormina, Sicily.
The second season followed a similar structure as the first, with the opening scene suggesting a mysterious death and only providing a handful of characters whom we knew would be still alive by the season’s end. We then cut to a week earlier as the guests begin arriving, greeted at the dock by their pink-suited hotel manager. The oldest of the guests is Bert Di Grasso (F. Murray Abraham), traveling with his wealthy son Domenic (Michael Imperioli) and grandson—and ostensible namesake—Albie (Adam DiMarco), all intent on tracing their family’s heritage. Continue reading
Steve Martin in Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Steve Martin as Neal Page in Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
Vitals
Steve Martin as Neal Page, advertising executive and family man
New York City to Chicago… via Kansas and Missouri, Fall 1987
Film: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Release Date: November 25, 1987
Director: John Hughes
Costume Designer: April Ferry
Steve Martin’s Costumer: Dennis Schoonderwoerd
Background
It’s two days to Thanksgiving! If you’re an ad man in New York for a creative presentation with an indecisive client, that should give you just enough time to unsuccessfully race Kevin Bacon for a taxi and join up with a talkative shower curtain ring salesman—excuse me, shower curtain ring sales director—for a series of transportation-related hijinks to make it home to Chicago just as that stuffed bird is ready to come out of the oven on Thursday.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles remains one of the few bona fide classic Thanksgiving comedies, released 35 years ago this week as commemorated today with an all-new 4K home video release that includes more than an hour of deleted and extended footage. The movie arguably succeeds best thanks to the comedic chemistry between Steve Martin and John Candy, balancing humor and heart as both the banal Neal and garrulous Del are humanized beyond initial stereotypes in what both actors described as a career-favorite film. Continue reading
After Hours: Paul’s Day-to-Night Beige Suit
Griffin Dunne as Paul Hackett in After Hours (1985)
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Griffin Dunne as Paul Hackett, mild-mannered data processor
New York City, Spring 1985
Film: After Hours
Release Date: September 13, 1985
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Rita Ryack
Background
Friday the 13th is traditionally a day for bad luck, so it’s appropriate that Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, centered around one New Yorker’s evening of arguably bad luck, was released on Friday the 13th in September 1985.
A surreal black comedy with elements of neo-noir, After Hours begins just before 5:00 for Paul Hackett, a data processor ostensibly living the yuppie dream with his secure job and Manhattan apartment… but the job sucks, his apartment’s cramped despite no one to share it with, and he has no social life outside of training new employees. In search of any human connectivity into his life, Paul takes his dog-eared copy of Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer to an all-night diner. Continue reading
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