Tagged: T-shirt
Cape Fear (1962): Robert Mitchum’s Straw Hat and Striped Tee as Max Cady
Robert Mitchum as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962)
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Robert Mitchum as Max Cady, psychopathic ex-convict
Southeast Georgia, Summer 1962
Film: Cape Fear
Release Date: June 15, 1962
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Costume Designer: Mary Wills
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
With the latest adaptation of Cape Fear earning strong reviews on Apple TV+, let’s look back to the release of the original film sixty-four years ago today on June 15, 1962. Adapted from John D. MacDonald’s suspense novel The Executioners, the first Cape Fear stars Gregory Peck as Southern attorney Sam Bowden and Robert Mitchum in a chilling performance as Max Cady, a psychotic ex-convict who, upon his release after serving eight years for sexual assault, sets out to exact revenge on the man he believes responsible for his incarceration. Continue reading
Dazed and Confused: Matthew McConaughey’s Ted Nugent T-Shirt and Peach 1970s Levi’s
Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused (1993)
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Matthew McConaughey as David “Woods” Wooderson, Texas stoner
Central Texas, Spring 1976
Film: Dazed and Confused
Release Date: September 24, 1993
Director: Richard Linklater
Costume Designer: Katherine Dover
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Alright, alright, alright…
Richard Linklater’s nostalgic coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused was set fifty years ago today on May 28, 1976, during the last day of school for Lee High School, outside Austin, Texas. Linklater drew from his own experiences growing up in Huntsville, even lending actual names of classmates to the characters—eventually resulting in a lawsuit that would be swiftly dismissed. Many of the ensemble cast were then little-known actors who rose to considerable stardom, including Ben Affleck, Adam Goldberg, Cole Hauser, Milla Jovovich, Nicky Katt, Jason London, Parker Posey, and Renée Zellweger, but it’s perhaps Matthew McConaughey that emerged most memorably in his breakthrough role as David “Woods” Wooderson. Continue reading
Eddie Albert’s Casual Attire in Roman Holiday
Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday (1953)
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Eddie Albert as Irving Radovich, expatriate newspaper photographer
Rome, Summer 1952
Film: Roman Holiday
Release Date: August 27, 1953
Director: William Wyler
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It’s not easy to command attention when sharing the screen with icons like Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, but Eddie Albert shined so brightly alongside them in Roman Holiday that the actor’s supporting performance received one of the film’s ten Academy Award nominations! Continue reading
The Last of Sheila: Ian McShane’s Hockney Shirt
Ian McShane as Anthony Wood in The Last of Sheila (1973)
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Ian McShane as Anthony Wood, controlling Hollywood husband and ex-convict
French Riviera, Late summer 1972
Film: The Last of Sheila
Release Date: June 14, 1973
Director: Herbert Ross
Costume Designer: Joel Schumacher
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As Ian McShane celebrates his 83rd trip around the sun today, I want to return to one of his earlier roles among the stylish 1973 murder mystery The Last of Sheila‘s ensemble cast.
Only thirty when the film was released, McShane co-stars as Anthony Wood, the charming but controlling manager for his actress wife Alice (Raquel Welch). The couple are included among the frenemies invited by eccentric producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) to spend a week stationed on his yacht, Sheila, named for the late wife who died exactly one year earlier in a mysterious hit-and-run. Clinton reveals a plan to be more than just hosting seven days frolicking in the Ligurian Sea, unveiling a dark—and ultimately deadly—mystery game centered around gossip and murder. Continue reading
Pierrot le Fou: Belmondo’s Navy Ribbed Seaside Shirt and Jeep Cap
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon in Pierrot le Fou (1965)
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Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon, runaway husband and itinerant yacht-hand
French Riviera, Summer 1965
Film: Pierrot le Fou
Release Date: November 5, 1965
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Jean-Luc Godard’s tenth feature, Pierrot le Fou, premiered 60 years ago this week during at the 26th Venice International Film Festival, more than two months before its wider release in November 1965.
The film stars Godard’s frequent collaborators, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina (who was also the director’s wife), as the doomed Ferdinand and Marianne fleeing OAS gangsters from Paris to the Mediterranean. Continue reading
Under the Silver Lake: Andrew Garfield’s Wood Badge 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
David Robert Mitchell’s surrealist neo-noir Under the Silver Lake premiered seven years ago today during the 71st Cannes Film Festival, nearly a year before it was finally released theatrically by A24 in April 2019.
Andrew Garfield stars as Sam, a stoner in his early 30s whose interests of comics, classic movies, and conspiracy theories combine when he begins investigating the disappearance of his attractive neighbor Sarah (Riley Keough), the day after they met at the pool in his apartment complex. The two spend the evening getting high and watching How to Marry a Millionaire, only to be interrupted when her roommates return to the apartment. Sam returns the next morning to find that Sam and her roommates have swiftly moved out with no indication regarding what happened—aside from a mysterious symbol pointed on the wall. Continue reading
The Panic in Needle Park: Al Pacino’s Deck Jacket and Layers
Al Pacino and Kitty Winn in The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
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Al Pacino as Bobby, desperate drug addict
New York City, Fall 1970
Film: The Panic in Needle Park
Release Date: July 13, 1971
Director: Jerry Schatzberg
Costume Designer: Jo Ynocencio
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On Al Pacino’s 85th birthday, let’s look back at the Manhattan-born actor’s first leading screen role that launched his prolific career.
Born April 25, 1940, Pacino studied acting through the ’60s at the HB Studio and Actors Studio, which led to a handful of acclaimed stage roles. His manager, Martin Bregman, then helped him land what would become his breakout film performance as hustler and heroin addict Bobby in The Panic in Needle Park, directed by Bregman’s fellow client Jerry Schatzberg, a photographer who had just completed his directorial debut Puzzle of a Downfall Child.
“I had made my theater bones playing these types of street characters, so I was grateful to have that choice for a first film,” Pacino later recalled in his 2024 memoir Sonny Boy. “The Panic in Needle Park turned out to be a showcase for me. It’s still lauded today, and Jerry Schatzberg did such a magnificent job.”
Written by John Didion and John Gregory Dunne, The Panic in Needle Park centers around Bobby and his girlfriend Helen (Kitty Winn), navigating their worsening heroin addictions among a network of fellow junkies whose presence in a section of New York’s Upper West Side resulted in the titular “Needle Park” nickname. Continue reading
Johnny Depp as Cry-Baby
Johnny Depp in Cry-Baby (1990)
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Johnny Depp as Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker, rebellious high school hellcat and rockabilly singer
Baltimore, Spring 1954
Film: Cry-Baby
Release Date: April 6, 1990
Director: John Waters
Wardrobe & Makeup Designer: Van Smith
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Just over three weeks after its premiere in John Waters’ native Baltimore where the film—among so many of his others—is set, Cry-Baby was more widely released 35 years ago tomorrow on April 5, 1990 in more than 1,200 theaters across North America—an unprecedented opening for the offbeat director.
This wider release indicated the film’s more mainstream appeal, lacking the more scatological elements of Waters’ prior works like Pink Flamingos (1972) while retaining enough of the director’s signatures to make it an effective introduction to his work. Despite this increased accessibility and some critical acclaim, Waters’ camped-up tribute to ’50s teen romances (think Grease for weirdos) still failed to find a solid audience at the outset. It wasn’t until years after its initial release that Cry-Baby developed a cult following among much of Waters’ other movies. Continue reading
The White Lotus: Ethan’s Cream Jacket and Navy Cap in Sicily
Will Sharpe as Ethan Spiller on The White Lotus (Episode 2.01: “Ciao”)
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Will Sharpe as Ethan Spiller, prosperous tech entrepreneur
Sicily, Summer 2022
Series: The White Lotus
Episode: “Ciao” (Episode 2.01)
Air Date: October 30, 2022
Director: Mike White
Creator: Mike White
Costume Designer: Alex Bovaird
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The White Lotus returns tonight with the premiere of its third season, set in Thailand. Each season of Mike White’s darkly comic anthological series is loosely connected, following different casts of characters across exotically located resorts under the fictional White Lotus hospitality chain. The first season was set in Hawaii, chosen as its seclusion provided ideal conditions for filming under safety protocols informed by the then-new COVID-19 restrictions. Following the success of the premiere season, the sophomore season took the action to Sicily, retaining the themes of illicit drugs, romantic intrigue, and unexpected violence.
The appropriately named second-season premiere “Ciao” welcomed the guests arriving at the White Lotus resort in Taormina for the week, including the newly wealthy but emotionally unfulfilled Ethan Spiller (Will Sharpe) and his wife Harper (Aubrey Plaza), a haughty lawyer initially repulsed by his gauche college pal Cameron Sullivan (Theo James). A gregarious finance-bro to Ethan’s sullen tech-bro, Cam and his trophy wife Daphne (Meghann Fahy) approach life with more outward enthusiasm, though Harper initially pushes through to discover the imperfect cracks of the Sullivans’ surprisingly complex union. Continue reading
Miami Vice: Sonny Crockett’s Peach Linen Jacket in the Pilot Episode
Don Johnson as Detective Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice (Episode 1.01: “Brother’s Keeper”)
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Don Johnson as James “Sonny” Crockett, smooth Miami-Dade vice detective
Miami, Spring 1984
Series: Miami Vice
Episode: “Brother’s Keeper” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 16, 1984
Director: Thomas Carter
Creator: Anthony Yerkovich
Costume Designer: Jodie Lynn Tillen
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Miami Vice premiered 40 years ago tonight on Sunday, September 16, 1984 when NBC aired the feature-length pilot “Brother’s Keeper” at 9:00 p.m., introducing audiences to stylish Metro-Dade Police Department detectives Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). The two-part episode established the show’s signature pop-scored blend of fashion and fast action, set against the sun-bleached days and neon nights of Magic City. Continue reading
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