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Cape Fear (1991): Robert De Niro’s Red Aloha Shirt as Max Cady

Robert De Niro as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1991)

Vitals

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

In the spirit of Aloha Friday as we get closer to summer, let’s revisit Robert De Niro’s unhinged turn as Max Cady in Martin Scorsese’s 1991 reimagining of Cape Fear. Continue reading

Justifed: Raylan’s Pilot Episode Charcoal Pinstripe Suit Jacket and Jeans

Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in the pilot episode (“Fire in the Hole”) of Justified.
(Photo by: Prashant Gupta, FX)

Vitals

Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, proudly old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal

Miami to Kentucky, March 2010

Series: Justified
Episode: “Fire in the Hole” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: March 16, 2010
Director: Michael Dinner
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree

Background

Inspired by a selection of Elmore Leonard stories like “Fire in the Hole”, Justified premiered 15 years ago this week on March 16, 2010.

The series began with a literal bang as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) demonstrated his quick trigger finger by outdrawing a “gun thug” in his assigned territory of Miami. Though he frequently insists “it was justified,” Raylan is ordered by his superiors to leave Miami, reassigned to the Lexington field office in his home turf of eastern Kentucky where he used to dig coal with now-criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins).

“We weren’t what you call buddies, but you work a deep mine with a man, you look out for each other,” Raylan reflects of his and Boyd’s initial acquaintanceship. 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”)

Vitals

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

The Fourth Protocol: Pierce Brosnan’s Black Leather Biker Gear

Pierce Brosnan in The Fourth Protocol (1987). Photo credit: Stanley Bielecki.

Vitals

Pierce Brosnan as Valeri Alekseyevich Petrofsky, cold-blooded undercover KGB operative

Suffolk, England, Spring 1987

Film: The Fourth Protocol
Release Date: March 20, 1987
Director: John Mackenzie
Costume Designer: Tiny Nicholls

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Many James Bond fans know that Pierce Brosnan was first offered the role in the 1980s, but the announcement ironically improved Remington Steele‘s ratings to the point that the series was renewed and Brosnan had to turn down the Bond role to honor his commitments to the series. Three months before the next Bond film—The Living Daylights starring Timothy Dalton—was released in June 1987, Brosnan appeared in a different espionage thriller, The Fourth Protocol.

Indeed, the plot of a British agent trying to stop a rogue Soviet mission to detonate a “false flag” nuclear device at an American airbase must have sounded awfully familiar to Bond fans who watched Roger Moore do the same thing four years earlier in Octopussy… but this time, the maverick British spy is an MI5 agent named John Preston (Michael Caine), squaring off against Brosnan as KGB Major Valeri Petrofsky. Continue reading

The Mechanic: Charles Bronson’s Deck Jacket

Charles Bronson in The Mechanic (1972)

Vitals

Charles Bronson as Arthur Bishop, disciplined but depressed contract killer

Los Angeles, Fall 1972

Film: The Mechanic
Release Date: November 17, 1972
Director: Michael Winner
Costume Designer: Lambert Marks

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Action star and Army veteran Charles Bronson was born 103 years ago today on November 3, 1921. Born and raised in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania where he mined coal before joining the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, Bronson brought his tough guy bona fides to supporting roles in 1960s war films and westerns like The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

Bronson emerged as the world’s top box-office star by the early 1970s during collaborations with director Michael Winner that included Chato’s Land (1972), The Mechanic (1972), The Stone Killer (1973), and Death Wish (1974). Their sophomore collaboration, The Mechanic, may be my favorite of this group. Conceptualized and written by Lewis John Carlino, the story centers around the skilled but anxiety-ridden assassin Arthur Bishop, whose personal and professional comfort is disrupted after hiring a hotheaded protégé.

True to Carlino’s nuanced original vision, the first sixteen minutes of The Mechanic are devoid of dialogue as we follow the solitary Arthur through the motions of one of his artistic assassinations. Continue reading

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”)

Vitals

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

Point Break: Keanu Reeves’ Plaid Shirt and Jeans

Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)

Vitals

Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, ambitious FBI agent

Los Angeles, Summer 1991

Film: Point Break
Release Date: July 12, 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Supervisors: Colby P. Bart & Louis Infante

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 60th birthday to Keanu Reeves, the Canadian actor born in Beirut on September 2, 1964. After his breakthrough performance in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Reeves continued his path to stardom as the OSU quarterback-turned-FBI agent Johnny Utah pursuing a gang of bank-robbing surfers in Point Break (1991). 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)

Vitals

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

The Sopranos: Tony’s Gray Suit and Shirt in the Pilot Episode

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 1.01)

Vitals

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, New Jersey mob chief

North Caldwell, New Jersey, Summer 1998

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “The Sopranos” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: January 10, 1999
Director: David Chase
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Sopranos premiered 25 years ago tonight, introducing HBO audiences to New Jersey Mafia chief Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), driven to therapy following stress-induced panic attacks as he attempts to balance family and The Family.

“Written and directed by [David] Chase, the pilot is a hybrid slapstick comedy, domestic sitcom, and crime thriller, with dabs of ’70s American New Wave grit,” conclude Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall in The Sopranos Sessions. “The device of putting the hero in therapy lets Chase deliver reams of information about Tony, his crew, his bosses, his family, and their overlaps, along with the points where Tony’s personal and professional distress are inseparable, all without the usual pilot-episode busy work.” Continue reading

Barbie: Ryan Gosling’s Mojo Mink Coat as Ken

I’m pleased to again present a guest post contributed by my friend Ken Stauffer, who has written several pieces for BAMF Style previously and chronicles the style of the Ocean’s film series (and beyond!) on his excellent Instagram account, @oceansographer.

Ryan Gosling as Ken in Barbie (2023)

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Ryan Gosling as Ken, whose job is just beach

Barbie Land, Summer 2023

Film: Barbie
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Director: Greta Gerwig
Costume Designer: Jacqueline Durran
Ryan Gosling’s Costumer: Mark Avery

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy birthday to Ryan Gosling, who turns 43 today! The actor/producer/director/occasional musician/former Mickey Mouse Club Member had a hell of a summer with the release of Barbie, in which he brought Ken—the world’s second most famous doll—to life.

In addition to being the highest grossing film of 2023, Barbie may also be the funniest. What had the potential to be just another blatant cash grab based on popular IP turned into a masterpiece of absurd comedy and proto-feminism thanks to the inspired direction of Greta Gerwig. By fully committing to Ken’s goofy, childlike nature, Gosling managed to steal scene after scene in a movie filled with hilarious performances. Continue reading