Tagged: The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons: Alan Alda’s Sky-Blue Summer Shirt and White Trousers
Alan Alda in The Four Seasons (1981)
Vitals
Alan Alda as Jack Burroughs, married lawyer
Saint Thomas, Summer 1980
Film: The Four Seasons
Release Date: May 22, 1981
Director: Alan Alda
Costume Designer: Jane Greenwood
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Six months ago, I observed Alan Alda’s 90th birthday with my first post of his seasonal wardrobe in The Four Seasons, his 1981 comedy following four pairs of couples vacationing together throughout a tumultuous year in their lives, scored by Vivaldi’s concerti of the same name. (The film was recently adapted as a Netflix series co-created by and starring Tina Fey with Alda’s endorsement, as the actor also appears as Fey’s father.)
The second segment of The Four Seasons is set during the summer when the group sails their rented boat Sandavore through the U.S. Virgin Islands. The dynamic has shifted since the salesman Nick (Len Cariou) left his wife and has brought his much younger girlfriend Ginny (Bess Armstrong) on the trip, distracting the rest with loud sex at night and nude swimming in the morning. Alda’s moralistic lawyer Jack tries to openly explore how this has affected the group, but denies to his wife Kate (Carol Burnett) that he harbors any fantasties of his own around Ginny or a woman like her, instead venting his frustrations about Nick and Ginny treating the group expedition like a private holiday:
They’re not even on this trip! They walk around mooning all the time, making goo-goo eyes. My God, if one of them farts, the other one thinks it’s Guy Lombardo!
The Four Seasons: Alan Alda’s Après-ski Sweater in Winter
Alan Alda in The Four Seasons (1981)
Vitals
Alan Alda as Jack Burroughs, married lawyer
Stowe, Vermont, Winter 1980
Film: The Four Seasons
Release Date: May 22, 1981
Director: Alan Alda
Costume Designer: Jane Greenwood
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 90th birthday to Alan Alda, the movie and TV icon born January 28, 1936. Alda rose to prominence through the 1970s playing Army surgeon “Hawkeye” Pierce in the TV adaptation of M*A*S*H—an early style inspiration for yours truly, as I was particularly obsessed with Hawkeye’s rakish pairing of aloha shirts with his G.I.-issue OG-107 fatigue trousers.
In addition to being the only cast member to appear in all 256 episodes, Alda also ignited his talents behind the camera, ultimately writing 17 and directing 32 episodes during the series’ eleven-season run. Even before M*A*S*H ended, Alda penned his screenwriting debut, The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), starring as the eponymous fictional senator. As Alda’s own grandson Jake would summarize in his Letterboxd review: “My grandpa has an affair with a young Meryl Streep… what more can I ask for?”
Two years later, Alda released his directorial debut, The Four Seasons (1981), which he also wrote and—of course—starred in. Alda portrays New York lawyer Jack Burroughs who, along with his wife Kate (Carol Burnett), join two other middle-aged couples for quarterly getaways: one for each of the titular four seasons, and thus framed by Vivaldi’s violin concerti of the same name. Continue reading
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