Harvey Keitel’s Tan Plaid Sport Suit in Mean Streets

Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets (1973)

Vitals

Harvey Keitel as Charlie Cappa, conflicted Mafia associate

New York, Fall 1972

Film: Mean Streets
Release Date: October 14, 1973
Director: Martin Scorsese
Wardrobe Credit: Norman Salling

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

To celebrate the prolific Harvey Keitel’s 85th birthday, today’s #MafiaMonday post flashes back to the New York-born actor’s first prominent starring performance as the conflicted and connected Charlie Cappa in Martin Scorsese’s breakout feature, Mean Streets. Continue reading →

Barry Newman in Fear Is the Key

Barry Newman in Fear is the Key (1972)

Vitals

Barry Newman as John Talbot, “truculent, insolent, and a man of violence”

Louisiana, Spring 1972

Film: Fear Is the Key
Release Date: December 26, 1972
Director: Michael Tuchner
Wardrobe Credit: Mike Jarvis

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

I had never heard of Fear Is the Key before I had the pleasure of catching it streaming on the Criterion Channel last November, so I feel comfortable describing it as underrated—the kind of raw ’70s-style adventure intended for pure entertainment with a thrilling momentum, great score, and a fine cast led by Barry Newman that also included Suzy Kendall, John Vernon, Dolph Sweet, and a “young”—well… middle-aged—Ben Kingsley. Perhaps best known for his performances in Vanishing Point and the TV series Petrocelli, the Boston-born Newman died one year ago today on May 11, 2023 at the age of 92.

Based on Alistair MacLean’s 1961 novel centered around one man’s mission for revenge against a criminal organization that killed his family, the movie blends classic adventure, ’70s grit, and international intrigue into a package adjacent to contemporary “hick flicks”. Maybe you’d describe it as Smokey and the Bandit meets Crank—or James Bond meets The Dukes of Hazzard—all with a twist of Three Days of the Condor. Continue reading →

Two for the Road: Albert Finney’s Cream Trucker Jacket and Jeans

Albert Finney in Two for the Road (1967)

Vitals

Albert Finney as Mark Wallace, young architect and amateur photographer

Northern France, Spring 1954

Film: Two for the Road
Release Date: April 27, 1967
Director: Stanley Donen
Wardrobe Coordinator: Sophie Issartel-Richas
Albert Finney’s Clothes: Hardy Amies

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Born 88 years ago today on May 9, 1936, the late, great Albert Finney’s prolific stage and screen career spanned six decades from his 1956 stage debut in Henry V to his final screen appearance as the grizzled Scottish groundskeeper Kincade in Daniel Craig’s 2012 James Bond adventure Skyfall.

The 1967 romantic road comedy Two for the Road presented one of Finney’s most stylish performances—appropriate for starring as the romantic lead opposite Audrey Hepburn. The story chronicles the 12-year relationship between the English couple Mark and Joanna Wallace through a series of trips taken together through northern France, including the first trip when they meet on the ferry from England to Dieppe. Continue reading →

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Bullet Train

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Bullet Train (2022). Photo credit: Scott Garfield.

Vitals

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as “Tangerine”, snarky contract killer

Tokyo to Kyoto, Japan, Spring 2021

Film: Bullet Train
Release Date: August 5, 2022
Director: David Leitch
Costume Designer: Sarah Evelyn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Rumors continue swirling around who will be cast to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond. Henry Cavill, Richard Madden, Regé-Jean Page, and Aidan Turner have all been named as serious contenders, though English actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson often emerges as a current favorite for the likely choice. Thus, today’s 00-7th of the month post will focus not on a previous Mr. Bond but a possible future characterization of the sophisticated agent…by playing an contractor taking his codename from a “sophisticated” fruit. Continue reading →

Mystery Train: Masatoshi Nagase’s Rockabilly Style as Jun

Masatoshi Nagase as Jun in Mystery Train (1989)

Vitals

Masatoshi Nagase as Jun, taciturn tourist and rockabilly fan

Memphis, Tennessee, Summer 1988

Film: Mystery Train
Release Date: November 17, 1989
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Costume Designer: Carol Wood

Background

Jim Jarmusch’s triptych anthology Mystery Train debuted 35 years ago this month during the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.

Taking its title from the Junior Parker song later covered by Elvis Presley, Mystery Train follows three narratives that overlap over a long night at a rundown Memphis motel overseen by a night clerk played by blues legend Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and all incorporate elements related to Elvis, whether it’s his music (specifically his early recording of “Blue Moon”), his name, or even his ghostly apparition to one of the Arcade Hotel’s guests.

The first segment, “Far from Yokohama”, centers around a young Japanese couple whose pilgrimage to the city includes a breakneck tour of Sun Studios and plans to visit Graceland. The charming Mitsuko (Youki Kudoh) is devoted to Elvis and even maintains a scrapbook chronicling her fandom for the singer she refers to as “still the King” while the more aloof Jun (Masatoshi Nagase) declares a broader appreciation for rockabilly—preferring Carl Perkins to Presley.

Masatoshi Nagase and Youki Kudoh in Mystery Train (1989)

“King…”

Continue reading →

Jaws: Robert Shaw’s CPO Shirt and Sweater as Quint

Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws (1975)

Vitals

Robert Shaw as Quint, grizzled and tough shark hunter and U.S. Navy veteran

Amity Island, July 1974

Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose

Background

After early directorial efforts like Duel and The Sugarland Express, Steven Spielberg forever changed the cinematic landscape with Jaws, considered the first true blockbuster when it was released in the summer of 1975. Filming had commenced a year earlier, 50 years ago this week, on May 2, 1974.

Adapted from Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name, Jaws centered around a fictional shark terrorizing the swimmers off the idyllic New England community of Amity Island… though it had a very real impact on frightened beach-goers for years to follow.

Police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) and oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) team up with the hardened shark-hunter known only as Quint (Robert Shaw) to accompany them out into the water to bring an end to “Bruce” the shark’s reign of terror. Though local fishermen are eager to be the ones to stop the shark, Brody and Hooper are well aware of Quint’s qualifications that make him worth every cent of his requested $10,000 fee:

Y’all know me. Know how I earn a livin’. I’ll catch this bird for you, but it ain’t gonna be easy.

Continue reading →

The Wicker Man: Christopher Lee’s Checked Jacket and Turtleneck on May Day

Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973)

Vitals

Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle, charismatic pagan cult leader

The Hebrides, Scotland, Spring 1973

Film: The Wicker Man
Release Date: December 6, 1973
Director: Robin Hardy
Costume Designer: Sue Yelland

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Hail the queen of the May!

The folk horror classic The Wicker Man is set on the fictional Hebridean island of Summerisle, where the well-meaning blockhead police sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) investigates a missing teenager’s likely death amidst the island’s annual May Day celebrations led by its magnetic leader, Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee). Continue reading →

Kramer’s Cabana Shirts on Seinfeld

Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld (Episode 7.05: “The Hot Tub”)

Vitals

Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer, eccentric “hipster doofus”

New York City to the Hamptons, Spring 1994

Series: Seinfeld (Seasons 5-9)
Created by: Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld
Costume Designer: Charmaine Nash Simmons
Costumer: Stephanie Kennedy

Background

As we begin planning summer getaways, it’s time to start getting your vacation clothes out of storage… and making sure your son didn’t sell them!

Puffy shirts, Gore-Tex, and “morning mist” had already established the comedic significance of costumes woven into Seinfeld‘s humor by the time the fifth-season episode “The Raincoats” aired 30 years ago today on April 28, 1994. In addition to the eponymous beltless trench coats referenced by the episode’s title, this two-parter directed by Tom Cherones also introduced a new wardrobe staple for the series: Kramer’s terry-lined cabana shirts. Continue reading →

Al Pacino’s Pea Coat as Serpico

Al Pacino in Serpico (1973)

Vitals

Al Pacino as Frank Serpico, plainclothes New York Police Department office

New York, Winter 1967

Film: Serpico
Release Date: December 5, 1973
Director: Sidney Lumet
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

My eyes see… 84 birthday candles for Al Pacino, born April 25, 1940! Sandwiched between his acclaimed performances as Michael Corleone in the first two installments of The Godfather, the New York-born actor returned to the scrappy persona that signified many of his early screen roles as an easygoing drifter in Scarecrow and the police drama Serpico. Continue reading →

Oppenheimer: Cillian Murphy’s Charcoal-Blue 1950s Suit

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer (2023).
Photo credit: Melinda Sue Gordon.

Vitals

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist and “father of the atomic bomb”

Washington, D.C., Spring 1954

Film: Oppenheimer
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Director: Christopher Nolan
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Among its seven Oscar wins including Best Picture (as seen by Al Pacino’s eyes), last year’s blockbuster Oppenheimer received the Academy Award for Best Actor for Cillian Murphy’s spectacular performance as the eponymous J. Robert Oppenheimer, born 120 years ago today on April 22, 1904.

The latter portions of Oppenheimer‘s chronography are set across his security clearance hearings throughout the spring 1954. Between April 12th and May 6th, the United States Atomic Energy Commission investigated 24 allegations questioning Oppie’s allegiance, loyalty, and Communist affiliations, as well as his opposition to the hydrogen bomb despite his influential development in nuclear weaponry that resulted in his nickname as the “father of the atomic bomb.” Continue reading →