Tagged: Summer
The Rockford Files: Jim’s Navy-and-Beige Houndstooth Jacket for “The Kirkoff Case”
James Garner in The Rockford Files (Episode 1.01: “The Kirkoff Case”)
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James Garner as Jim Rockford, wisecracking private detective and ex-convict
Los Angeles, Summer 1974
Series: The Rockford Files
Episode: “The Kirkoff Case” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 13, 1974
Director: Lou Antonio
Creator: Roy Huggins & Stephen J. Cannell
Costume Designer: Charles Waldo
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This is Jim Rockford. At the tone, leave your name and number. I’ll get back to you…
Following the TV movie “Backlash of the Hunter” that served as the pilot when it aired six months earlier, The Rockford Files officially premiered 50 years ago tonight when NBC aired the first canonical episode “The Kirkoff Case” at 9 p.m. on Friday, September 13, 1974. Continue reading
Q’s Tropical Style in Thunderball
Desmond Llewelyn as “Q” in Thunderball (1965)
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Desmond Llewelyn as “Q”, MI6’s trusted quartermaster and gadgeteer
Nassau, Summer 1965
Film: Thunderball
Release Date: December 29, 1965
Director: Terence Young
Wardrobe Designer: Anthony Mendleson
Background
Welsh actor Desmond Llewelyn, best known for his portrayal of the steadfast “Q” in 17 James Bond films over 36 years, was born 110 years ago today on September 12, 1914. Llewelyn may have been destined to be indelibly intertwined with James Bond’s world of gadgetry, as his father purchased the first production Bentley in 1921, decades before Ian Fleming assigned agent 007 a Bentley 4½ Litre in his early novels.
After serving in the Royal Welch Fusiliers during World War II, Llewelyn resumed his acting career, which consisted largely of uncredited bit parts in films such as Hamlet (1948) and A Night to Remember (1958). His big break came when director Terence Young invited him to audition for the role of MI6’s equipment officer in the second Bond film, From Russia With Love (1963). Both Young and Fleming envisioned the character of Major Boothroyd—named after firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd—with a Welsh accent, although Llewelyn believed the character should speak with the upper-class accent that he ultimately adopted for the role. Although the name Boothroyd was occasionally referenced (most notably in The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977), the character became widely known as “Q,” a nod to his title as quartermaster and head of MI6’s “Q branch.”
Llewelyn returned for Goldfinger (1964), where he and Sean Connery established Bond and Q’s signature relationship, marked by affectionately antagonistic banter during the now-iconic scenes where Q introduces Bond to his latest innovative gadgets—often destined for considerable abuse. This playful dynamic continued in Thunderball (1965), during a memorable scene where a tropically dressed Q arrives in the Bahamas to equip his most troublesome agent with a selection of pocket-sized gadgets… provided Bond has a convenient pocket, of course. Continue reading
Trevor Howard’s Swiss Holiday Sportswear in The Passionate Friends
Trevor Howard in The Passionate Friends (1949)
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Trevor Howard as Steven Stratton, romantic biology professor
Switzerland, Summer 1948
Film: The Passionate Friends
Release Date: January 26, 1949
Director: David Lean
Costume Designer: Margaret Furse
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Based on H.G. Wells’ 1913 novel of the same name, The Passionate Friends was director David Lean’s second film in four years to star Trevor Howard as a dignified and dashing gentleman who sweeps a bored housewife off her feet. In this case, the woman in question is Mary Justin (Ann Todd), pleasantly—if dispassionately—married to respected financial advisor Howard Justin (Claude Rains).
The Passionate Friends begins with Mary’s arrival in Switzerland for a long overdue holiday, traveling with her husband’s dutiful secretary Miss Layton (Betty Ann Davies) with Howard himself to follow later. (Though set in Switzerland, these sequences were actually filmed just across the French border at Lac d’Annecy in Haute-Savoie.)
As Mary drifts to sleep in her luxurious suite at the Hotel Splendide, she recalls her previous romances with biology professor Steven Stratton (Trevor Howard), whom she last saw nine years earlier in London when their reunion resulted in an extramarital affair that nearly destroyed her marriage to Howard. Little does she know, coincidence—or fate—has brought Steven not only to the same lakeside luxury hotel but indeed the adjoining room. Continue reading
Rolling Thunder: William Devane’s USAF Lightweight Blue Jacket
William Devane in Rolling Thunder (1977)
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William Devane as Major Charles Rane, twice-traumatized Vietnam War veteran and “one macho motherfucker”
Texas and Mexico, Summer 1973
Film: Rolling Thunder
Release Date: October 7, 1977
Director: John Flynn
Wardrobe Credit: Nancy McArdle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
You learn to love the rope. That’s how you beat ’em. That’s how you beat people who torture you. You learn to love ’em. Then they don’t know you’re beatin’ ’em.
Today is the 85th birthday of William Devane, the talented Albany-born actor who appeared in the rare starring role in the 1977 revenge-centered action thriller Rolling Thunder.
Written by Paul Schrader and Heywood Gould as an intended expansion of the Travis Bickle Cinematic Universe that began in Schrader’s script for Taxi Driver, Rolling Thunder centers around Major Charles Rane, a United States Air Force pilot returning home to San Antonio after seven years of imprisonment and torture in a Hanoi hellhole.
“He’s unemotional, unresponsive, and stoic to the point of not being among the living,” writes Quentin Tarantino in Cinema Speculation, the volume that introduced me to Rolling Thunder. Continue reading
Breathless: Richard Gere’s Rockabilly Shirt and Plaid Trousers
Richard Gere in Breathless (1983)
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Richard Gere as Jesse Lujack, swaggering drifter
Los Angeles, Summer 1982
Film: Breathless
Release Date: May 13, 1983
Director: Jim McBride
Costume Designer: J. Allen Highfill
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 75th birthday to Richard Gere! To celebrate this prolific actor’s August 31, 1949, today’s post looks at one of my unexpectedly favorite performances from the prolific actor.
Jim McBride’s 1983 remake of Breathless flips the nationalities of the French crook and his American girlfriend in the 1960 French New Wave classic, starring Gere as the cocky ne’er-do-well Jesse Lujack who shacks up with Monica Poiccard (Valérie Kaprisky), a French UCLA student he had met once during a weekend trip to Las Vegas. Continue reading
And Then There Were None (2015): Anthony Marston’s Pink Terry Shirt
Douglas Booth as Anthony Marston in And Then There Were None (2015)
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Douglas Booth as Anthony Marston, irresponsible socialite
Devon, England, August 1939
Series Title: And Then There Were None
Air Date: December 26-28, 2015
Director: Craig Viveiros
Costume Designer: Lindsay Pugh
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
A recent rewatch of the 2015 BBC One series And Then There Were None brought to mind the exquisite parade of interesting menswear designed by Lindsay Pugh for the half-dozen gents summoned to the mysterious Soldier Island off the coast of Devon. The series is set during a late summer weekend in August 1939 on the brink of World War II, a specter that hauntingly looms over the darkly faithful series which is the first English-language adaptation to restore Agatha Christie’s original ending.
The story centers around ten strangers—eight guests and a married couple to serve as their staff—invited to the island by the enigmatic U.N. Owen, whom it is quickly established none of the ten have ever met… nor will they meet him, as their unknown host only makes his presence known by a recording accusing each of the ten of murder. All but two of the attendees respond with horrified denials, with the roguish adventurer Philip Lombard (Aidan Turner) and brash socialite Anthony Marston (Douglas Booth) being the only two to instantly own up to their past crimes. Continue reading
Diamonds are Forever: Sean Connery’s Bond Returns… in a Terrycloth Shirt
Sean Connery and Denise Perrier in Diamonds are Forever (1971)
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Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent
French Riviera, Spring 1971
Film: Diamonds are Forever
Release Date: December 17, 1971
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Master: Ray Beck
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
Born 94 years ago today on August 25, 1930, Sir Sean Connery rose to stardom as the first actor to play James Bond in the official EON Productions series, from Dr. No (1962) through Diamonds are Forever (1971).
Connery first retired from the role after You Only Live Twice (1967), resulting in Australian actor George Lazenby’s sole shot in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). After Lazenby too hung up 007’s shoulder holster, Connery was persuaded back for one last official performance as Ian Fleming’s iconic secret agent, commanding a record-setting $1.25 million salary to return as Commander Bond… which he then donated in its entirety to the Scottish International Education Trust.
Despite the somber ending of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that set Bond out for revenge, Diamonds are Forever began a lighter era for the series as the stories diverged from Fleming’s source material with an increased emphasis on comedic elements and spectacle.
After a few faceless vignettes in exotic locales like Cai-Cai-Cairo, Connery’s Bond makes his long-anticipated on-screen reappearance during the pre-credits sequence of Diamonds are Forever, striding down onto the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc’s stunning beach in Cap d’Antibes, where he makes his iconic introduction (“Bond, James Bond”) to Marie, an even more stunning bikini-clad brunette portrayed by Denise Perrier, the French-born Miss World 1953.
Marie: Is there something I can do for you?
Bond: Yes, as a matter of fact, there is… there is something I’d like you to get off your chest.
Under the Silver Lake: Andrew Garfield’s Jungle King T-Shirt
Andrew Garfield in Under the Silver Lake (2018)
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Andrew Garfield as Sam, sensitive stoner and conspiracy theorist
Los Angeles, Late Summer 2011
Film: Under the Silver Lake
Release Date: April 19, 2019
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Costume Designer: Caroline Eselin
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 41st birthday to Golden Globe-winning screen and stage actor Andrew Garfield. Born in Los Angeles on August 20, 1993 but raised in England, Garfield rose to prominence through his role in The Social Network (2011), his portrayal of Spider-Man in three movies, and his Oscar-nominated performances in Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021). However, my favorite of Garfield’s movies to date is Under the Silver Lake, the surreal neo-noir pastiche in the spirit of The Big Lebowski (1998) and Inherent Vice (2014).
Written, produced, and directed by David Robert Mitchell, Under the Silver Lake premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was released in France that August before it was finally released by A24 in the United States in April 2019. Continue reading
La Piscine: Alain Delon’s Herringbone Suit for a Funeral
Alain Delon in La Piscine (1969)
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Alain Delon as Jean-Paul Leroy, moody ad agency writer
French Riviera, Summer 1968
Film: The Swimming Pool
(French title: La Piscine)
Release Date: January 31, 1969
Director: Jacques Deray
Costume Designer: André Courrèges
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
French screen icon Alain Delon died yesterday on August 18, 2024. Today’s post pays tribute to the actor’s cinematic legacy by returning to La Piscine, Jacques Deray’s stylish psychological thriller set at a Saint-Tropez villa where a couple spends an increasingly uncomfortable summer holiday.
La Piscine reunited former real-life lovers Alain Delon and Romy Schneider as the vacationing writer Jean-Paul and his girlfriend Marianne, who welcome Marianne’s past paramour Harry (Maurice Ronet) and his 18-year-old daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin). As is wont to happen among a group so attractive, dissatisfied, and French, flirtatious dynamics emerge among the quartet as Marianne drifts back to the hard-drinking Harry while Jean-Paul focuses his attention on the young Penelope. Continue reading
Cape Fear (1991): Robert De Niro’s White Terrycloth Shirt as Max Cady
Robert De Niro as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1991)
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Robert De Niro as Max Cady, psychopathic parolee
New Essex, North Carolina, Summer 1991
Film: Cape Fear
Release Date: November 15, 1991
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Rita Ryack
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy birthday to Robert De Niro, born August 17, 1943. One of the prolific actor’s less-discussed but still acclaimed performances is his Academy Award-nominated characterization of the dangerously psychotic Max Cady in Cape Fear, Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake of the 1962 thriller and the 7th of ten collaborations to date between De Niro and Scorsese. Continue reading
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