Denzel Washington as Det. Keith Frazier in Inside Man (2006).

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Denzel Washington as Keith Frazier, NYPD detective

New York City, August 2005

Film: Inside Man
Release Date: March 24, 2006
Director: Spike Lee
Costume Designer: Donna Berwick

Background

Thirty years after Al Pacino electrified audiences in Dog Day Afternoon, Spike Lee released Inside Man, another gripping film about a mid-day New York City bank robbery involving hostages, double-crosses, and character-driven comic moments biting into the suspense.

While Dog Day Afternoon focuses primarily on the criminals, Inside Man shifts focus to the other side of the law as the charismatic and somewhat cocky Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) is assigned to handle the robbery. His adversary is far more cunning than the emotional Sonny of Dog Day Afternoon, and Frazier is just the guy to match his wits. As Frazier himself bemoans:

Who ever heard of a bank robbers escaping on a plane with fifty hostages? You’ve seen Dog Day Afternoon! You’re stalling! Why? I don’t know.

Washington was originally given the choice between playing the guileful bank robber Dalton Russell or the ambitious Detective Frazier. He opted for the second, citing the role as “Brutus goes to Brooklyn” and basing it off of his earlier Broadway performance in Julius Caesar.

What’d He Wear?

Detective Frazier dresses sharply for work, showing up at the scene in a lightweight wool tan pinstripe suit that nicely contrasts the colder dark blue uniforms and suits around him.

Frazier stands out from the rest of the cops with his seasonally-appropriate wardrobe.

Frazier’s suit jacket is single-breasted with a 3-button front that is nicely spread out over Washington’s long torso. The jacket has a welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and a ventless back. The shoulders are straight with roped sleeveheads. He wears his gold NYPD police detective pin, with its blue enamel painted surface, on the left notch lapel.

A pensive Denzel.

Although it first appears to be a simple pinstripe pattern, a closer look reveals an alternating double stripe with the light tan stripe providing the most contrast and a second peach stripe blending in to provide a warmer overall appearance.

Another day so another shirt and tie. This production still offers the best view of the contrasting suit stripes, though.

The suit has a pair of matching low rise trousers with single reverse pleats, offering more comfort for a man that ends up wearing the same pants for almost 24 hours. Frazier’s suit trousers have belt loops, on-seam side pockets, and two jetted rear pockets that each close with a single button. The plain-hemmed bottoms have a full break.

Frazier’s shirt on the day of the bank robbery is light ecru cotton. It has a large, wide spread collar and a front placket. He fastens the double cuffs with gold links.

Frazier’s silk tie perfectly matches his gold-and-blue NYPD lapel pin. The tie is a series of bold right-down-to-left stripes alternating between double-ribbed navy blue and a wider mustard gold. The gold stripe is broken up by two narrow sets of triple stripes in yellow, citrus gold, and yellow again.

The next day, when Frazier and his partner go to investigate the vault, Frazier wears the same suit with a different shirt and tie. The shirt is white, but his tie is cream and orange striped – also bold but now in the opposite direction – with black stripes across the bottom half of each cream portion.

The second shirt-and-tie combo is better seen during Frazier’s meeting with Madeleine White, but – alas – he wears a solid tan suit for that meeting.

Frazier sticks to the earth tones with his dark burgundy leather belt that closes with a steel buckle. He attaches his black nylon belt holster – one of the few non-earth tone aspects of his outfit – to the right side of the belt for a right-hand draw.

Mitchell: Hey Keith, let me see your shoe.
Frazier: What?
Mitchell: Lemme see your shoe.
Frazier: Why?
Mitchell: ‘Cause I have never seen anyone put their foot that far up a guy’s ass.

A sharp-dressed guy like Frazier would be expected to follow the matching belt/shoes rule, and he does so with aplomb. He sports a pair of dark burgundy cordovan leather perforated cap toe bluchers with thick black soles. The brief glimpse of his socks under the trousers’ full break shows dark – either black or dark brown – dress socks.

The full break of Frazier’s trousers is just long enough to avoid hitting the soles on the back of his shoes.

Maitre d’: May I have your hat, please?
Frazier: No, you cannot! Get your own.

Frazier tops off his look (literally) with a short-brimmed trilby in light straw. The hat’s slim cream-edged ribbon is taupe with a black, cream, and rust brown Glen plaid overcheck.

On his right pinky, Frazier wears a gold pinky ring resembling a miniature NYPD detective’s shield, complete with the blue enamel face. He also wears a gold curb link bracelet on his right wrist.

Gold is clearly Frazier’s color of choice from his clothing to his accessories, including his Gevril Chelsea watch with its 18 karat yellow gold 40mm case and gold link bracelet. The watch has a round white dial and fastens to his left wrist via deployment clasp.

How to Get the Look

Detective Frazier doesn’t let the unpredictable nature of his work get in the way of his looking sharp on a long summer day in the city.

• Tan double-pinstripe lightweight wool suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with notch lapels, 3-button front, welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
    • Blue enamel-painted gold NYPD pin on left lapel
  • Single reverse-pleated low rise trousers with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, jetted button-through rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Light ecru cotton dress shirt with large spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Gold and navy blue boldly-striped silk necktie
• Gold cluster cuff links
• Dark burgundy cordovan leather perforated cap-toe bluchers
• Black dress socks
• Dark burgundy leather belt with squared steel single-claw buckle
• Black nylon RHD belt holster for mid-size Glock pistol
• Light straw short-brimmed trilby with multi-color Glen Plaid ribbon
• Gevril Chelsea yellow gold wristwatch with white dial and gold link deployment-clasp bracelet, worn on left wrist
• Gold curb link bracelet, worn on right wrist
• Blue enamel-painted gold NYPD detective’s shield pinky ring, worn on right hand

The Gun

True to life, all NYPD officers seen in Inside Man – including Detective Frazier – carry Glock 19 semi-automatic pistols. Surprisingly for a crime drama centered around a bank robbery, Frazier never gets to draw his, and the only action it sees is when he removes the magazine and puts it away at the end.

Frazier says goodnight to his Glock.

The Glock 19 is, in fact, one of three 9×19 mm service pistols currently offered to NYPD officers; the other two are the SIG-Sauer P226 and Smith & Wesson 5946, both with double-action only (DAO) triggers and all modified to a 12 lb. (“NY-2”) trigger pull. The NYPD transitioned to semi-automatic pistols from revolvers in 1994, but any officers carrying revolvers from before then are still permitted to use their revolver as a duty weapon.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Sorry to interrupt you, Mister Mayor, but there’s an old American saying: When there’s blood on the streets, somebody’s gotta go to jail.

Callum Keith Rennie as Lew Ashby on Californication (Episode 2.09: “La Ronde”).

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Callum Keith Rennie as Lew Ashby, maverick record producer and rock legend

Los Angeles, Spring 2008

Series: Californication
Episodes: “La Ronde” (Episode 2.09)
Air Date: November 23, 2008
Director: Adam Bernstein
Costume Designer: Peggy A. Schnitzer

Background

Californication‘s early seasons are often considered to be its best, and the show’s ability to avoid a sophomore slump should give major credit to Callum Keith Rennie’s appearance as Lew Ashby, the enigmatic, charismatic, and hedonistic record producer that shelters Hank for most of the season.

As a show that reveres both rock and literature, Californication wisely spun its second season around a Gatsby-esque plot with writer Hank Moody reasonably placed in the central Nick Carraway role as the cleverly-named Ashby became his Gatsby. Ashby built his rock empire to impress Janie Jones, who now lives with a brutish husband in a Hollywood McMansion and still reminisces – albeit, more bitterly – about her days with Lew when he was just a poor aspiring rocker with a broken-down Mustang.

In a deviation from Fitzgerald’s masterpiece plot, Ashby briefly falls for Hank’s flame – Karen – and steals her away for an impromptu kidnapping date to the Hollywood Bowl. Karen is charmed, for sure, but she’s too reasonable to fall for someone that is even more debauched than Hank.

What’d He Wear?

Suits don’t get much love in the Californication world. The show’s t-shirt-loving protagonist, Hank Moody, refers to his “one and only suit” that is worn only for weddings, funerals, and court appearances. However, Lew Ashby knows when the right duds are needed to impress a lady.

For his Hollywood Bowl date with Karen, Lew spruces himself up in a light gray suit constructed from a lightweight semi-solid wool in a pick weave.

Lew doesn’t get a mild height difference get in the way of a potential romance.

The single-breasted jacket has a two-button front and 4-button cuffs. The breast pocket is welted and the flapped hip pockets sit straight back on Lew’s waist. The wide peak lapels flare out to the roped sleeveheads. The shoulders are unpadded.

The back of Lew’s jacket has long double rear vents. His matching trousers are likely flat front with a low rise below his natural waist. They probably have side pockets, although the jetted rear pockets – which close with a button – are best seen.

Lew wears a black leather belt through the trousers’ belt loops. Apropos the outfit’s steely tones, his belt has a silver-toned buckle. The bottoms of the trousers are plain-hemmed with a full break that covers his black leather boots. Assuming they are the same boots he wears through most of the show, they have a strap across the vamp that closes with a small steel buckle.

A real gentleman always opens the door for his date and also pulls out her briefcase if he kidnapped her on her way home from work.

Perhaps knowing that Karen digs guys who wear black shirts, Lew opts for a black long-sleeve dress shirt with black buttons down the plain, placket-less front. It has a large collar, which he leaves open with the first few buttons undone.

Better luck next time, Lew.

Unlike many of the BAMFs featured on this blog, Lew Ashby isn’t afraid to bedazzle himself with plentiful accessories on a daily basis. Hank wears one silver ring, but Lew ups the ante with two – one on the third finger of each hand.

Like Hank, he also wears a simple black corded leather bracelet that appears to never be removed. Unlike Hank, he wears it on his right wrist.

Not from this episode, but a fine representation of Lew’s many accessories.

Since this is the most that Lew ever covers up his sleeves, it’s difficult to determine if he’s wearing his other accessories… but it’s likely that he is. He doubles down on his left wrist, sporting both a bracelet of silver spherical studs and a stainless watch on a black rubber strap. On a corded necklace his neck, he wears a steel pendant with what appears to be an owl’s face etched into it.

Go Big or Go Home

The Hollywood Bowl is an impressive enough date spot alone, but Ashby’s musical connections allow him to rent the place out for a private concert for just he and Karen to see Lili Haydn.

Well played, Lew.

I admittedly had never heard of Lili Haydn before the show, but Karen is duly impressed, as was I after I learned more about her. She began playing the violin at the age of eight, shortly after launching her acting career as the young daughter of Columbo. Not long after her appearance on Californication, she sustained neurological damage after being exposed to a pesticide which left her unable to write lyrics. She still, however, manages to write music and continues to compose film scores and the music for her latest EP, Lilliland, which was released last September.

I’m proud to say I’ve been to the Hollywood Bowl myself, but I’m ashamed to say that I was only eight years old; as the guest of a large family outing to the Bowl, I was unable to truly enjoyed it and spent most of the time being upset that I was split away from my parents. Spoiled brat, I was.

How to Get the Look

Callum Keith Rennie and Natascha McElhone as Lew and Karen, respectively.

Lew shows Hank that date attire doesn’t always have to be a black shirt and jeans.

• Light gray semi-solid pick lightweight wool suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with wide peak lapels, 2-button front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and long double rear vents
  • Flat front low rise trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted button-through rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black long-sleeve dress shirt with large collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Black leather belt with squared steel single-claw buckle
• Black leather buckle-strap boots
• Tarnished steel ring, worn on right ring finger
• Spiral steel ring, worn on left ring finger
• Black corded leather bracelet, worn on right wrist
• Steel spherical studded bracelet, worn on left wrist
• Stainless wristwatch with white dial on black rubber strap, worn on left wrist
• Steel “owl face” pendant on corded necklace

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the second season.

The Quote

Life is just too fucking boring not to try.

Footnotes

For any of you who may have remembered from last year, today is my birthday – I’m now 26. Woo hoo!

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (2013).

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Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, eagerly romantic millionaire and bootlegger

Long Island, NY, Summer 1922

Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: May 10, 2013
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Costume Designer: Catherine Martin

Background

Last Tuesday, BAMF Style reflected on Californication‘s tribute to The Great Gatsby with its second season character of Lew Ashby; now, let’s focus on a more literal adaptation when Baz Luhrmann directed his lavish big-screen version a few years ago.

The turning point in the story is when the two old flames Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are finally reunited in Nick’s humble cottage. Gatsby isn’t dressed for such modest surroundings, wearing – as F. Scott Fitzgerald describes:

…Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in.

This decidedly loud outfit would certainly make an impression on the woman who last saw you five years ago wearing a drab army uniform. As a romantic member of the nouveau riche, Gatsby doesn’t realize that millionaires don’t need to dress like millionaires every day, as he proves with the pink linen three-piece suit he wears for the film’s climactic scene.

What’d He Wear?

Gatsby’s iconic white suit is actually an off-white shade of ivory. Appropriately for summer, it is made from a comfortable lightweight linen blend. As we later discover, it is actually a three-piece suit but he opts for only the jacket and trousers worn with a contrasting waistcoat when reuniting with Daisy.

Gatsby oversees the day’s flower delivery.

The suit’s single-breasted jacket has a three-button front that rises midway up the torso. He tends to keep the top two buttons fastened while standing, always adopting the pose of a learned gentleman but still looking too highbrow to be natural. The jacket also has peak lapels with straight gorges and stitched edges. There is a buttonhole through the left lapel that Gatsby surprisingly wears devoid of any actual daisies.

The jacket’s shoulders are padded with roped sleeveheads that end with 4-button cuffs that match the white buttons on the jacket front. A long single rear vent ends at DiCaprio’s waist and is clearly reinforced on the left side to flap over the right.

Gatsby’s hip pockets are slanted with flaps like the traditional country hacking jacket. The welted breast pocket also slants slightly inward with a deep space for the pocket square, as seen when he comes in from the rain. Indeed, this “iceberg” effect (if you’ll excuse the Leo pun) shows us just how deep the tobacco brown paisley silk handkerchief is stuffed down the pocket.

All wet.

The suit’s flat front trousers have the era’s characteristic long rise that totally hides the waistband under the waistcoat; thus, all we know about the trousers’ closure is that it has a straight front fly. It’s likely that Gatsby wears his trousers with suspenders as he does with his pink suit.

Is that your hand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

When aiming for his “affected gentleman” pose, Gatsby often places his hand in the slanted left front pocket of the trousers, crossing the straight long right leg of the trousers over the left and showing off his footwear under the short break of the plain-hemmed bottoms.

Although the suit was manufactured with a matching waistcoat, Gatsby opts for a more casual contrasting vest in a rich tobacco brown linen with a subtle herringbone pattern. It is definitely single-breasted with about five or six brown horn buttons between the high-fastening top and the notched bottom.

The mannered Gatsby learned to unbutton his jacket when he sits.

As Gatsby rarely wears the jacket totally unbuttoned, it’s difficult to ascertain more detail about the vests.

SPOILER ALERT! During Gatsby’s funeral, he wears the exact same outfit but with the suit’s matching vest. Like the contrasting brown waistcoat, it is single-breasted with no lapels.

R.I.P. Gatsby :(

Interestingly, Gatsby wears the same shirt and tie with the white suit for his own funeral as he does for the meeting with Daisy. Perhaps this was the filmmakers’ way of signifying that Gatsby’s fate was sealed as soon as he and Daisy reunited, setting them both on a literal collision course that resulted in Myrtle’s fatal car accident and Gatsby’s death from Wilson’s murder-suicide. Perhaps.

The “silver shirt” described by Fitzgerald is reflected here with a blue-gray woven silk shirt. The large collar has long points and a moderate spread, further narrowed under the tie knot by a steel barbell-style collar pin. The shirt also has a front placket and single cuffs. His cuffs are fastened by a silver set of links that appear to match the “sunburst” pattern on his ring.

Hand to hand.

Gatsby’s tie is a more interesting variation of the simple “gold tie” mentioned in Fitzgerald’s text. DiCaprio wears a tie in bright orange silk with sets of thin double red stripes crossing from left-down-to-right.

A pensive Gatsby.

Gatsby’s suits all have short breaks, meaning that his footwear receive considerably more screen time than many other suits on film. Here, Gatsby sports a pair of two-tone spectator shoes with light tan toe caps, heel caps, and 4-eyelet tabs with gray single-piece vamps. A pair of plain light tan dress socks nicely connect the two-tone spectator shoes and white suit trousers.

Once again, we meet Gatsby’s mysterious and supposedly custom-made stainless wristwatch. Initially supposed by some to be an anachronistic Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, a Watches In Movies post indicated that the watch seen on DiCaprio’s left wrist was made just for him, but more details about the rectangular white-dialed watch remain a mystery at this time.

There’s a clock right next to him, but a dramatic flick of the wrist is a much more showy way of checking the time.

The 1920s saw a major wristwatch boom as returning soldiers from the front brought this more convenient timekeeping method to civilian life, with wristwatches outnumbering the venerable pocket watch 50-to-1 by 1930.

Brooks Brothers’ “Gatsby Collection”

As part of their “Gatsby Collection” tie-in to promote their collaboration with the production (and the original author), Brooks Brothers developed their “Fitzgerald Fit” to combine 1920s fashion fads to 2010s fits. Wisely, the company developed its own variations of the iconic white and pink suits for sale.

Unfortunately for potential buyers, the only item from this outfit still remaining for sale is the trouser.

Although many details differ from the suit seem in the movie (lapel width, number of jacket buttons, vent style, trouser height, etc.), the “Gatsby Collection” suit is a fine step in the direction of promoting better seasonal dress among the younger generations. The commercially-available version of the suit was made from “linen woven at Ireland’s Baird McNutt mill” with a “traditional herringbone pattern throughout”.

Redford vs. DiCaprio

As with the post comparing Robert Redford’s pink suit and DiCaprio’s pink suit, it’s worth comparing the white suits each gentleman wore for this scene.The costume designers for each film took a little more wiggle room with the pink suits, but we see more consistency here as both films strove to incorporate Fitzgerald’s “white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie” direction with then-contemporary styles.

The Suit – Redford and DiCaprio both wear solid white-toned linen suits with single-breasted jackets and flapped hip pockets. However, Redford’s wide notch lapels and pocket flaps are decidedly more a reflection of 1974 than 1922. DiCaprio’s suit looks trim with its high-buttoning front, slim peak lapels, and sporty silhouette. As the decade continued, the large fit, double-breasted waistcoat, and pleated trousers seen on Redford would become more popular, but DiCaprio’s slim suit and contrast vest show a more original take on the look. Advantage: DiCaprio, by a nose.

The Shirt – Both Redford and DiCaprio wear metallic blue silk shirts with a silver sheen, long collar, front placket, and cuff links. They both even wear silver collar pins! To avoid nitpicking, let’s call this a draw.

The Tie – Redford’s Gatsby wears a solid gold tie that manages to scream 1970s with both its duller tone and thickness. DiCaprio, on the other hand (or neck), wears a much brighter orange tie with an interesting stripe pattern and a slim width that one would’ve seen on a gentleman during this transitional period between the WWI era and the Roaring Twenties. Advantage: DiCaprio, even though it isn’t a literal interpretation of “gold”.

The Shoes – Redford wears plain white shoes with cream socks. DiCaprio wears two-tone spectator shoes with tan socks. Advantage: DiCaprio, for both uniqueness and period-correct style.

The Accessories – Each man keeps it lighter than usual here, with only pocket squares and cuff links showing a difference between Gatsby’s usual watch and ring. Redford’s Gatsby wears a metallic blue pocket square that evokes his shirt and a gold pocket watch in his vest. DiCaprio’s pocket square instead draws out his contrasting vest, and the custom-made wristwatch reflects both his military status and nouveau riche youth. Advantage: DiCaprio.

Which look do you prefer?

Unlike the neck-and-neck battle of the pink suits, DiCaprio’s interpretation of Gatsby’s white suit is the clear winner here, but Redford still deserves some solid points.

Go Big or Go Home

I typically hate umbrellas, but Gatsby really knows how to use his with style.

Luckily for Nick, Daisy, and the legions of umbrella-carrying butlers, the rain stopped in mid-afternoon.

How to Get the Look

Meeting up with an ex-girlfriend for an amiable coffee date? Blow her socks off with this ensemble. She might expect you to have a sprawling Long Island mansion though, so make sure you put your questionably-gained money where your mouth is when presenting yourself.

• White ivory linen blend Brooks Brothers suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with peak lapels, 3-button front, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and long single rear vent
  • Flat front high-rise trousers with slanted front pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Tobacco brown linen herringbone single-breasted vest with notched bottom
• Blue-gray “sheen” silk shirt with long collar, front placket, and single cuffs
• Orange silk necktie with sets of double red L-down-R stripes
• Steel barbell-style collar pin
• Silver “sunburst” cuff links
• Light tan & gray two-tone leather 4-eyelet spectator shoes
• Light tan dress socks
• Silver pinky ring with dark “starbust” face, worn on right pinky
• Stainless wristwatch with a rectangular white face and stainless deployable-clasp bracelet, worn on left wrist
• Tobacco brown paisley silk pocket square

If you think contrasting waistcoats are “too English” (they’re not, and that’s also not a bad thing) or you want to shake up this look for your funeral, you can opt for a matching suit vest instead.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie. You should read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original book, even if you already read it in high school.

I’m also a solid advocate of Maureen Corrigan’s book, So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures, which analyzes the book and its legacy. It should be required reading for scholars of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, literature, or the 1920s.

Bradley Cooper as Eddie Morra in Limitless (2011).

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Bradley Cooper as Eddie Morra, performance-enhanced investment broker and former struggling author

New York City, Spring 2010

Film: Limitless
Release Date: March 18, 2011
Director: Neil Burger
Costume Designer: Jenny Gering

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

It’s been a long time since I watched a truly suspenseful and entertaining thriller that combined drama, action, romance, comedy, and – of course – thrills all into one efficient package. I worried that the genre had died somewhere between the greatness of Notorious, North by Northwest and Chinatown, leaving only a few mind-numbing attempts in its wake. Then, I saw Limitless.

Limitless kicks off with a timeless fight or flight scenario: will our obvious protagonist leap to his inevitable death or turn to face his angry, violent interlopers? It’s a dangerous decision that pulsates through the rest of this fast but smart ride of a movie. After learning about Eddie’s quick, unapproved-performance-enhancing-drug-assisted leap from ragged author to hotshot investor, we find him back where our ride started… standing back on that ledge. All of our basic questions have been answered with aplomb – Who is this guy? Where is he? Why are people banging on his door and leaving him with this sole option out? The only question remains – how will he get out of it?

What’d He Wear?

“As soon as he takes NZT, he’s an assassin. He’s stealth,” is how Bradley Cooper explained his desired look for Eddie Morra to costume designer Jenny Gering. Gering explains that his look “goes from night to day” after he starts taking the drug. Director Neil Burger adds that “everything kind of gets cleaner, sharper. Suddenly, he has a really good eye for style.”

Viewers of the film have no choice but to agree. Our first look at Eddie Morra finds him on that apartment building ledge, resplendent in a navy blue Tom Ford suit. It’s hard to look bad in a Tom Ford suit, and Cooper’s enthusiasm for the costume choices would have something to do with Eddie’s special brand of cool. “He starts to dress differently when he changes is really because it allows him to get where he wants,” explained Cooper, showing fine appreciation for the role of sartorial art in cinema. “And I love to wear suits, so that was actually fantastic.”

I’d be hearing Cream in my head during a moment like this.

The dark navy Tom Ford suit in this scene is constructed from a lightweight wool and was custom-fit for Bradley Cooper. It appears to be the Regency model (or possibly a bespoke version based on the Regency) that Daniel Craig wore as James Bond in Quantum of Solace, which featured Craig’s arguably best-fitting suits of his 007 tenure to date.

The single-breasted jacket has large notch lapels that roll over the top button to the second of three, which is the only one he ever wears fastened. The pagoda shoulders sweep down to roped sleeveheads. Each sleeve ends with five functioning buttons. The outside of the jacket has a welted breast pocket and straight hip pockets with wide flaps. The ticket pocket above the right hip pocket also has a wide flap.

Eddie consults with his lawyer (left). A behind-the-scenes shot of Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro (right).

Cooper’s strong physique is emphasized with the suit’s fit. The jacket’s long double vents, flared skirt, and clean chest suppress the waist and show the audience that Eddie has physically transformed into a more athletic man after taking NZT.

In addition to the secret pockets stitched into the dark blue silk lining of his suit, this jacket has the standard inner pockets on each side of the chest. Below the inner left pocket, the familiar black “TOM FORD” label patch can be glimpsed as Eddie looks for his purloined stash.

Tom Ford’s “cameo”.

Eddie’s matching flat front suit trousers have a medium-low rise on his waist. They are likely fitted since neither belt loops nor side adjusters are seen, although the Regency trousers sported by Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace had adjusters with buckle straps. Eddie’s trousers have on-seam side pockets and double jetted rear pockets that close with a button. The bottoms are plain-hemmed.

As costume designer Gering noted in a featurette: “Most of his shirts have a blue-ish cast to them. Very crisp-looking. That helps contribute to the fact that he’s healthy and in shape…”

Eddie’s primary shirt with this suit is a pale blue Thomas Pink “Keaton Plain” Slim Fit shirt in cotton twill with diagonal ribbing. The shirt has mitred 2-button cuffs and a front placket with stitched edges and blue buttons.

Eddie puts his shirt through the ringer.

Thomas Pink is a wise choice for Eddie, who never wears ties with his suits. Pink’s site describes: “Inspired by non-tie wearers, Thomas Pink has designed a shirt that sits perfectly under a jacket. A tie performs several functions, one of which is that it handily keeps the shirt collar in place, especially when worn under the weight of a jacket. Take away the tie and the collar will collapse. Enter the Independent shirt with a collar specifically engineered to be worn independent of a tie. More robust than traditional collars, the Independent shirt collar is shaped to support itself.”

Even after a rough day, Eddie keeps a good-looking collar thanks to his Pink shirt.

Multiple sources, including Nate D. Sanders’ auction photos and The Take, have confirmed Eddie’s shirt to be the Keaton model, which is still available from Pink’s site for $180 as of August 2015. Sanders’ auction, which ended in April 2014, describes the shirt as: “blue and white diagonal stripe long-sleeved shirt buttons up the front. Pink brand shirt in a slim fit is a size 16 1/2.” The “diagonal stripe” is an effect from the diagonal ribbing.

See the diagonal ribbing? (Also check out the bloodied version of the screen-used shirt, photographed and auctioned by Nate D. Sanders.)

In an earlier scene when he goes to Van Loon’s office flanked by his bodyguards and gives a presentation, he wears a different shirt consisting of thin blue and white vertical stripes. This shirt is similarly styled with its strong collar, front placket, and button cuffs, but it appears to have a breast pocket.

Bradley Cooper is buttoned into a striped Pink shirt on the set.

Eddie’s black leather cap toe shoes are best seen when he is standing on the ledge of his apartment, in control of his own potential demise. They are clearly oxfords (or balmorals) with 5-eyelet closed lacing, although the manufacturer has been tough to track down. I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that Cooper wore mostly Cole Haan shoes in Limitless, so I checked their site even though it’s been five years since the production. Cole Haan does produce a “Cambridge” cap oxford in soft black leather that would look fine in any gentleman’s closet if he’s okay to part with $258.

Eddie on the edge.

Eddie’s dark socks appear to be blue, appropriately continuing the leg line from his trousers into his black shoes.

Eddie actually wears two solid dark blue suits; the other is easily differentiated by the slimmer jacket lapels and the trouser belt loops. It is only briefly seen when he initially hires his bodyguards and when he meets the detective in a restaurant about the murder.

Go Big or Go Home

…especially if that home is at a classic place like The Link, Eddie’s luxury high rise in Hell’s Kitchen. The address is 310 West 52nd Street, if you’re looking. The Link was developed by Elad Properties and opened in 2005 with 215 condos throughout its 44-story structure. According to Streeteasy.com, the sales price for these condos can range anywhere between $1 million and more than $5 million… so start saving.

Don’t worry, Eddie. If I’d spent a few million on a fortified apartment that a few Russian gangsters can still break into, I’d probably run out of options also.

How to Get the Look

Eddie’s simple look shows us how variations of a single color can look smart. It also speaks volumes about the power of good clothing without the need for frills like cuff links, belts, eyewear, or even a tie. All Eddie needs is a suit, a shirt, and a pair of shoes to be the best-dressed guy in the room.*

• Dark navy blue lightweight wool Tom Ford suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with notch lapels, 3-roll-2 button front, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, ticket pocket, 5-button functioning “surgeon’s cuffs”, and long double rear vents
  • Flat front trousers with fitted waistband, on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale blue diagonally-ribbed cotton twill Thomas Pink “Keaton Plain” slim fit shirt with large “independent” collar, front placket, no rear darts, and mitred 2-button cuffs
• Black leather 5-eyelet cap-toe oxford balmorals
• Dark blue dress socks

*Although we can assume he has underwear and socks on as well. Still… does he really need them?

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie and check out Alan Glynn’s 2003 novel The Dark Fields, which served as the basis for Limitless and lent its title to the book Eddie publishes by the end. I haven’t yet read the book, but I purchased Limitless on a whim based on a suggestion from one of you fine commenters, and I’m certainly glad I did!

The Quote

For a guy with a four digit IQ, I must have missed something. And I hadn’t missed much. I’d come this close to having an impact on the world. And now the only thing I’d have an impact on was the sidewalk.

Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins in Alfie (1966).

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Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins, charming part-time car service driver and full-time cad

London, Fall 1965

Film: Alfie
Release Date: March 24, 1966
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Wardrobe Supervisor: Jean Fairlie
Tailor: Douglas Hayward

Background

Poor Michael Caine is forced to learn the hard way that there’s more to life than shagging “birds” and getting sloshed in Alfie.

After nearly ten years as an actor, Caine was finally receiving his due when he got the part of Alfie Elkins. He’d had two great roles over the previous two years in Zulu and The Ipcress File, and Alfie was his time to shine. After his roommate Terence Stamp (who had played Alfie on Broadway) passed on the role, Caine was approached and swept the screen with what became his breakthrough role as the philandering playboy. Caine’s “controversial” Cockney accent solidified his authentic portrayal of a common man, and it led to his first Academy Award Best Actor nomination and his second consecutive BAFTA nomination.

What’d He Wear?

As an unrepentant ladies’ man (at least for most of the film), Alfie Elkins needs to dress to impress. This navy blue mohair blend suit is one of the most commonly seen outfits he sports on screen. Tailored by Douglas Hayward, the suit keeps Alfie looking modern and trim among the “swinging ’60s” London set with a slim fit and slim features from the jacket’s lapels and pockets to the tie and trouser legs. Alfie himself praises the suit when undressing for a medical exam:

This suit don’t weigh nothing. It’s a new Terylene and mohair. You don’t feel as though you got nothing on at all!

Of course, he may be trying to subconsciously elicit images of nudity in the nurse’s mind, but he’s absolutely right about mohair wearing cool due to its moisture wicking properties. By contrast, the luxurious fabric also insulates well during winter to keep its wearer at a desired temperature. While Alfie’s suit indeed shines under certain light, it doesn’t have the luster of pure mohair; Alfie’s description of “Terylene and mohair” (Terylene is just a brand name of polyester) is probably spot on.

Alfie shows off his finest Douglas Hayward-tailored duds.

Alfie’s suit is a fine example of how a suit can be tailored for a slim fit without looking tight and pulling at the wrong places. As Caine shows when he undresses for his exam, he is in average shape, but his suits make him look more trim thanks to Hayward’s expert hand. Jumping ahead to Skyfall in 2012, the very athletic Daniel Craig was placed in a series of ultra-slim-fitting suits in an effort to evoke the classic look of ’60s Bond, but he often looked as though he was about to burst a seam or a button.

Alfie finds himself near a children’s playground… hardly his comfort zone.

The single-breasted jacket has slim notch lapels – with a buttonhole on the left lapel – that roll over the top button to the center of the three buttons. The shoulders are padded with roped sleeveheads and each sleeve ends with a 4-button functioning “surgeon’s cuff”.

Alfie’s jacket has a breast pocket with a slim welt and hip pockets that slant gently backwards with narrow flaps. The back has a single vent.

Alfie reacts to some news in his flat.

The trousers rise considerably low for the era with narrow belt loops around the waist, through which he wears a narrow black leather belt. The extended front tab closes with a hook over the straight fly. The front pockets are slanted, and the rear pockets are jetted. Hayward keeps his fit consistent with a tapered leg down to the plain-hemmed bottoms that end with a short break.

Out of context, this is a pretty hilarious screengrab.

A fashionable fellow like Alfie knows to match his shoes to his belt, and his black leather ankle boots are no exception. His dark dress socks – probably black or possibly navy blue – are often seen due to the trousers’ short break.

Alfie wears a white cotton poplin shirt with a long button-down collar. The decision for a very British character like Alfie to wear a button-down collar is surprising given its heavily American roots, although it was in England that John E. Brooks developed what was initially called the “polo collar” due to its appearance on polo players’ uniforms.

Although I don’t think Alfie has playing polo on his mind.

Alfie’s shirt has squared single-button cuffs, a plain front, and rear side darts. As we see when he untucks the shirt, the hem is curved toward the front and back. (Alfie wears no undershirt, although untucking the shirt does reveal his white underwear briefs!)

Alfie’s tie is also dark blue, and it nicely pairs with the cool hue of the navy blue suit. However, the tie is a shade lighter than the suit color; when wearing similarly-colored suits and ties, many men prefer to wear a darker tie than their suit. The slim knit tie is knotted with a small four-in-hand and has a flat bottom just above the trouser waistband.

In his ideal world, Alfie’s tie wouldn’t spent much time in place. Nor would the rest of his clothing.

Earlier in the film, when Alfie is picking up this suit from the dry cleaner he’s shagging, he wears a sky blue shirt with a slim spread collar and a multi-colored striped tie. This is his preferred shirt and tie with the gray pick suit he wore into the dry cleaner’s; he later wears the gray suit with this shirt-and-tie combo during the pub brawl that leads to his breakup with Annie.

“There was this manageress of a dry cleaners. And I was getting a suit cleaned in the bargain. Well… you can’t turn something like that down.”

I’m sure a more experienced eye would be able to identify Alfie’s stainless wristwatch, but the visible details are a simple black dial and a steel bracelet with a deployment clasp. If I had to guess, I’d say it was an Omega Seamaster Automatic like this one based on the rice-grain bracelet.

Alfie keeps all his accessories on and around his left hand.

Alfie completes his look with a gold pinky ring on his left hand, set with a brown oval stone.

Evidently a fan of the fabric, Michael Caine would go on to sport another Hayward-tailored blue mohair suit in Get Carter five years later.

Go Big or Go Home

Alfie’s behavior leaves very little to be desired, and I think it’s fair to say that’s the point of the story. He’s a cheeky cad who refers to women as “birds”, abandons the girlfriend he knocked up, and engineered his married mistress’s abortion. He gets his comeuppance in the form of total disillusionment, although I’m sure some of the jilted ladies along the way wouldn’t have minded something a little more extreme.

How to Get the Look

Another relatively simple look where the true value is in Douglas Hayward’s expert tailoring for the times. He created a look that was perfect for a hip womanizer in swinging London that still resonates today thanks to his timeless craftsmanship.

• Navy blue mohair blend suit, tailored by Douglas Hayward, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with slim notch lapels, 3-roll-2 button front, welted breast pocket, rear-slanted flapped hip pockets, 4-button functioning cuffs, and single rear vent
  • Flat front tapered-leg trousers with slim belt loops, on-seam side pockets, jetted rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton poplin shirt with long button-down collar, plain front, and squared button cuffs
• Dark blue slim knit necktie with flat bottom
• Black narrow leather belt with small gold metal single-claw buckle
• Black leather ankle boots
• Black dress socks
• Stainless wristwatch with a black dial on steel deployable-clasp bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with a brown oval setting

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

I was wearing a navy blue lightweight suit, in a material called Tonik, made by Dormeuil, and I didn’t want it spoiling. I don’t care whether a bird uses Max Factor matte film or Outdoor Girl from Woolworth’s, if she starts purring up against your lapel, it won’t look the better for it.

Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley in Heat (1995).

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Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, professional armed robber

Los Angeles, Spring 1995

Film: Heat
Release Date: December 15, 1995
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
De Niro’s Costumer: Marsha Bozeman

Background

My last post looked at a bank robber who relied on his wits and a team of burglars to carry out a job. Neil McCauley is far more ruthless and traditional kind of cinematic bank robber; one that you would expect a no-nonsense great like Robert De Niro to portray. After months of planning and double-crosses, McCauley’s team is ready to take down a major bank in downtown L.A.

Although Heat is often considered to be Mann’s masterpiece, it wasn’t his first go at the storyline. In fact, he’d been perfecting the story in his mind for more than 15 years. Mann was well-acquainted with former Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson, who told him the story of a professional robber he was investigating in 1963. The robber’s name was Neil McCauley. As Mann describes: “one day they simply bumped into one another. [Adamson] didn’t know what to do: arrest him, shoot him or have a cup of coffee.” A failed robbery by McCauley later led to a standoff where Adamson killed him. Sound familiar?

Mann had his first screenplay drafted in 1979. He directed his first feature, Thief, in 1981 and continued reworking the script throughout the decade. When NBC commissioned him to produce a new TV series, Mann took his magnum opus, shortened it from 180 to 90 pages to make an acceptable pilot, and filmed L.A. Takedown in 19 days. The 92-minute film aired on NBC on August 27, 1989. Although it didn’t lead to a series, Mann stuck with his dream to film the entire sprawling story he had developed and, after directing The Last of the Mohicans in 1992, he finally managed to gather the massive talent and $60 million budget he needed to make Heat a reality.

The film is a perfect crime drama, weaving in each character’s personal lives and motives until archetypes are abandoned in favor of three-dimensional characters. However, the part that sticks out in the minds of most fans is the Far East Bank robbery and its fatal aftermath. After entering the bank with his two most reliable comrades, Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) and Michael Cheritto (Tom Sizemore), McCauley takes immediate command of the situation:

We want to hurt no one! We’re here for the bank’s money, not your money. Your money is insured by the federal government, you’re not gonna lose a dime! Think of your families, don’t risk your life. Don’t try and be a hero!

What’d He Wear?

It’s well-documented that Michael Mann likes to dress his professional criminals in gray suits and white shirts, giving them a look that can range from anonymous to deadly efficient as needed. Neil McCauley is no different, wearing four different gray suits throughout the film, always with a white shirt.

For the bank robbery, McCauley wears a charcoal gray wool suit with a subtle fine pinstripe. Apropos to the mid-1990s, the suit has a very large, baggy fit that – while definitely dated – also serves a practical purpose for a heavily-armed bank robber.

McCauley gets some bad news.

McCauley’s double-breasted jacket allows him to totally cover the tactical vest beneath it when closed. The front has a long 6×1 button layout, although we primarily see the suit coat worn totally open. The peak lapels have slanted gorges with a low stance at mid-chest. The welted breast pocket is even lower on the chest, implying that the jacket is at least one size too big for De Niro. Although unflattering on its own, Heat deserves credit for not glamorizing its star by placing him in a better-fitting suit when he wouldn’t practically be wearing one. Since he needs the larger jacket to fit over his tactical vest and long gun during the robbery, it makes sense that he wouldn’t waste time by changing out of it during the robbery’s hurried aftermath.

McCauley had also worn the voluminous pinstripe suit while planning the robbery.

The suit coat also has heavily padded shoulders that extend far beyond De Niro’s natural shoulders, another sign that the jacket is sized too large for De Niro. Other details include a single rear vent, flapped hip pockets that often have the flaps tucked in, and 4-button cuffs with the buttons stitched very close to the edge.

A CU shot of McCauley donning his head mask for the robbery clearly shows 3-button cuffs, a continuity error that suggests another suit jacket was used for that shot only as every other appearance seems to show the jacket with 4-button cuffs.

So this is what they mean when they say “bank takeover”…

The suit’s matching trousers also have a very generous fit, but it’s less noticeable than the jacket and likely just a result of ’90s styling rather than a practical choice since he isn’t hiding any guns in his pants… that we know of. The trousers have a low rise with single reverse pleats, and the bottoms are plain-hemmed.

In addition to the straight on-seam side pockets, McCauley’s suit pants also have jetted rear pockets that close through buttons. McCauley wears a black leather belt – with a gold squared single-claw buckle – through the trousers’ belt loops.

When in the bank, McCauley wears a lightweight mesh tactical vest with eight black velcro loops for his carbine magazines. The outer trim of the vest is also black, including the short zipper over his abdomen.

A frightening sign of a professional criminal robbing your bank is when he wears a vest with 240 additional rounds of rifle ammunition attached to it.

I’ve never seen a shooting vest that exactly resembles McCauley’s, but similar black mesh shooting vests are available from companies like Bob Allen and H2H. A very helpful follower named Justin F. emailed me a link to TGC’s replica of the “Heat Tactical Vest”, designed for airsoft shooters. TGC’s version is described as “a super light net-fabric vest with [Velcro] straps and elastic loops to accommodate up to eight M4 magazines” as well as one pistol magazine.

McCauley’s tie, also worn only during the bank robbery, is black with a slanted gray shadow grid check. Ties like these are a dime a dozen: easy to match with a simple outfit like McCauley’s and very inconspicuous.

McCauley watches Dr. Bob do his thing, slyly envying the man’s clean shirt.

After taking the wounded Shiherlis to Dr. Bob (Jeremy Piven) for treatment, McCauley loses the vest and watches over his buddy in his shirt, tie, and trousers. The shirt is a McCauley standard for the film: white cotton with a long-pointed spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs.

McCauley realizes he can’t be inconspicuous in his bloodied shirt, so he quickly flips from concerned pal to ruthless commander in a second:

McCauley: Take off your shirt.
Dr. Bob: What?
McCauley: Take off your shirt.
Dr. Bob: My… my God, my daughter gave it to me for Father’s Day-
McCauley: I don’t give a shit who gave it to you, take it off!

From at point until the end of the film, McCauley wears Dr. Bob’s similarly-styled blue striped shirt, without a tie.

In a fresh shirt, McCauley is ready to get revenge before getting away.

McCauley’s shoes are a pair of black leather plain-toe oxfords with heavy black soles, worn with black dress socks. An efficient and monochromatic thief like McCauley isn’t going to draw attention to himself with the fashionable alternative of brown footwear with a gray suit.

Also eschewing fashion standards, McCauley wears a black digital wristwatch that allows him to run his team of crooks with precision, able to measure the exact time down to the second.

There are three kinds of people in the world: those that notice McCauley’s watch first, those that notice his gun first, and BAMFs who notice both of them.

While he may not care about fashion when it comes to the rest of his clothing, McCauley does spring for a pair of snazzy sunglasses. Thanks to commenter Alex, we now know that these are Revo 1402 033 sunglasses with brushed gold etched frames and amber anti-glare lenses.

[For those who heard Armani provided the sunglasses in Heat: McCauley definitely wears a pair of gunmetal-framed Giorgio Armani 634 sunglasses in the earlier scene where he tracks down Charlene Shirherlis (Ashley Judd) to a motel, but this is clearly a different pair.]

Other robbery-specific accessories worn by McCauley are the plain black skin-tight balaclava, worn to conceal all but his eyes, and the black nylon tactical gloves that close with velcro over the elasticized wrists.

Note the 3-button cuffs… is this a different suit jacket?

Ski masks like these, often associated with armed robbery, can be easily found. I can’t identify the exact gloves worn by McCauley but these FREETOO gloves look like a good enough approximation.

DON’T Go Big or Go Home

Apparently, many aspiring crooks around the world didn’t learn the lesson from Heat that crime doesn’t pay, with copycat robbery attempts on armored cars, banks, and stores showing up everywhere from Colombia to Norway after the film’s release. The most notable copycat attempt was the famous 1997 North Hollywood shootout when Larry Phillips, Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu marched into a North Hollywood branch of the Bank of America on February 28, 1997. Much like the Heat criminals, the two had previously robbed an armored car that resulted in the death of a guard. They had some experience with bank robbery in the past few years, but they supposedly delayed their robbery three days until they could get their hands on the exact money-carrying bags used by Val Kilmer in the film.

The LAPD – not led by Al Pacino, I should mention – cornered Phillips and Mătăsăreanu as they exited the bank, engaging them with their Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolvers, 9mm Beretta pistols, and 12-gauge shotguns. Phillips and Mătăsăreanu fired back with illegally-modified, fully-automatic rifles while trying to escape in their ’87 Chevy Celebrity getaway car. Eleven police officers and seven civilians were wounded in the shootout, although the only two fatalities were Phillips and Mătăsăreanu.

There is some irony in the fact that one of the few criticisms of Heat was that people called the post-bank robbery gunfight unrealistic. When two wannabe McCauleys tried to pull off the same job, they met with just as much police resistance and fared just as poorly. What did they expect??

How to Get the Look

Stripping away the aspects of his outfit that were needed for a bank robbery (including the excessive bagginess!), McCauley actually wears a fine example of a ’90s business suit.

• Charcoal pinstripe wool suit, consisting of:
  • Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with low-gorge peak lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single rear vent
  • Single reverse-pleated low rise trousers with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton dress shirt with long-pointed spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Black and gray-shadow grid-patterned necktie
• Black leather belt with gold square single-claw buckle
• Black leather plain-toe oxfords
• Black dress socks
• Revo 1403 033 brushed gold-framed sunglasses with amber anti-glare lenses
• Black digital wristwatch

I’m hoping you won’t need a breakdown of the shooting vest, ski mask, and gloves.

The Gun

In addition to his trusty .45-caliber SIG-Sauer P220 pistol, Neil McCauley arms himself with a deadly efficient Colt Model 733 “Commando” fully-automatic carbine. This is also the long arm of choice for Chris Shiherlis, who had also carried one during the opening armored car robbery (when McCauley was armed with the similar but longer-barreled Colt Model 654, predecessor to the M4).

McCauley takes aim with his Colt Model 733.

The Colt Commando was developed from the CAR-15 family of M16-based rifles sold by Colt on the civilian market during the Vietnam War era. Since the AR-15 name originally stood for ArmaLite Rifle, the original manufacturer, the CAR-15 was Colt’s attempt to re-associate the rifle with its own brand as the “Colt Automatic Rifle-15”. Now, the CAR-15 is a more generic name for any carbine-length variants of the M16 or AR-15 developed before the M4 Carbine was introduced in 1994. While the M16 line of rifles have 20″ barrels and the M4 has a 14.5″ barrel, the Colt Commando and XM177 versions of the rifle have remained popular for their compact size with 11.5″ barrels.

In its early years, the Colt Model 733 “Commando” was literally pulled together from scraps and spare parts of both M16A1 rifles and M16A2 rifles. It fires the same 5.56×45 mm NATO round as its longer M16 and M4 variants, although the shorter barrel and lighter weight means reduced accuracy, muzzle velocity, and range.

Photo courtesy of IMFDB, uploaded to that site by MoviePropMaster2008.

The Colt Model 733 is a smart, professional choice for the urban bank robbery shown in the film due to the close-to-medium distance fighting. In addition to the compact size, the greater muzzle flash from the shorter barrel would also increase the intimidation factor when fired, and the rifle round means greater accuracy and power than a submachine gun would offer. Val Kilmer was supposedly so proficient with quickly reloading the Model 733 that American Special Forces instructors show this sequence to their trainees for educational purposes (according to IMFDB.)

For these few moments, L.A.’s city streets belong to the McCauley crew.

The actors’ proficiency with their weapons means much credit should be given to Andy McNab, the Special Forces soldier and Persian Gulf War veteran who served as a technical advisor on Heat and spent two months training the cast with firearms. McNab used a tape of L.A. Takedown to get a feel for the style of shootout that Mann desired, then extensively worked with the actors, even working with De Niro to teach him how he would carry an appropriately weighted bag full of money and a wounded Val Kilmer while still firing his automatic carbine one-handed with relative precision.

Neil McCauley knows how to watch out for a buddy!

Of course, McCauley always has his .45 handy. In this case, it’s a blued SIG-Sauer P220 pistol with an 8-round magazine of .45 ACP.

McCauley delivers some fatal news to an enemy.

Interestingly, McCauley always carries his pistol in the front of his waistband. This type of carry, known in non-PC circles as “Mexican carry”, isn’t recommended by firearms experts as it doesn’t firmly secure the weapon and it unsafely keeps it pointing in the direction of man’s most prized possession.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie. And please don’t rob a bank.

Although, you can and should listen to “Force Marker”, the Brian Eno track that underlines the McCauley gang’s efficient takeover of the Far East Bank.

The Quote

He knew the risks, he didn’t have to be there. It rains… you get wet.

Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1946).

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Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe, archetypal hard-boiled private detective

Los Angeles, Fall 1945

Film: The Big Sleep
Release Date: August 23, 1946
Director: Howard Hawks
Wardrobe Credit: Leah Rhodes

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Big Sleep is often considered the apex of American film noir. Plot becomes secondary (and often disregarded) in favor of colorful characters made of private eyes, floozy femme fatales, and pornographers spitting snappy dialogue at each other against the backdrop of both the glamorous and seamy sides of the city. The same plot and characters from Raymond Chandler’s 1939 source novel are here, with the anti-Code elements like pornography and homosexuality all but removed.

Roger Ebert’s deservedly positive 1997 review, which describes the film as “a black-and-white symphony that exactly reproduces Chandlers ability… to find a tone of voice that keeps its distance and yet is wry and humorous and cares,” includes many great anecdotes about The Big Sleep‘s production. Although the relatively faithful script was punched up by writers William Faulkner, Jules Furthman, and Leigh Brackett, the studio’s insistence on reshooting certain scenes to focus on the blossoming romance between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall even further muddied the narrative waters. Ebert states: “It is typical of this most puzzling of films that no one agrees even on why it is so puzzling. Yet that has never affected “The Big Sleep’s” enduring popularity, because the movie is about the process of a criminal investigation, not its results.”

In fact, it seems that very little attention at all was paid to the results, both in the novel and the film. Ebert shares a story about Bogart showing up on the set and asking Howard Hawks, “Who pushed Taylor off the pier?” referring to the death of unseen character Owen Taylor. As Lauren Bacall noted in her autobiography: “Everything stopped” because no one knew the answer. Hawks telegrammed Chandler to ask if Taylor’s death was a murder or a suicide, and Chandler himself was stymied, later recalling, “Dammit, I didn’t know either.”

The Bogart-Bacall focus also drastically changed the film, which had been filmed and set for release in 1945. About twenty minutes were reshot and edited back in to let fans appreciate the chemistry between the two stars. According to Chandler, the decision irked director Hawks to the point that he threatened to sue. As Chandler wrote to his publisher:

The girl who played the nymphy sister was so good she shattered Miss Bacall completely. So they cut the picture in such a way that all her best scenes were left out except one. The result made nonsense and Howard Hawks threatened to sue… After long argument, as I hear it, he went back and did a lot of re-shooting.

While I take umbrage with any criticism toward Lauren Bacall, there is no denying that Martha Vickers (the “nymphy sister”) delivered a top-notch performance in both versions as the flighty young Carmen Sternwood. Vickers still featured prominently in the 1946 recut, but the “electric” performance cited by Ebert has indeed been forcibly shaved.

For a 20-year-old relatively inexperienced actress who described herself as “scared to death” on set, Lauren Bacall did one hell of a great job.

Focusing on the film’s male lead, Ebert perfectly sums up what makes Humphrey Bogart so perfect for the Philip Marlowe role:

Bogart himself made personal style into an art form. What else did he have? He wasn’t particularly handsome, he wore a rug, he wasn’t tall (“I try to be,” he tells Vickers), and he always seemed to act within a certain range. Yet no other movie actor is more likely to be remembered a century from now.

Bogie had come a long way since he was a stock player at Warner Brothers, portraying the “sniveling bastard” as needed from Three on a Match in 1932 through The Petrified Forest up to his shared appearances with Jimmy Cagney in Angels with Dirty Faces and The Roaring Twenties. He established himself in 1941 with High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon and firmly cemented himself in cinema history with Casablanca the following year. Finally, with The Big Sleep, Bogie adapted the “sniveling bastard” into a underdog we can’t help but to cheer on. It’s a high point in Bogart’s career, acting in the role he was born to play with the love of his life.

What’d He Wear?

Philip Marlowe wears three different suits over the four days of action in The Big Sleep, evidently cycling through Marlowe’s whole wardrobe as he ends up repeating his first suit on the fourth day. Since the film is black-and-white, it’s difficult to accurately determine what colors were involved in his outfits. The book is no help either, as the first paragraph of Chandler’s 1939 novel reads:

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved, and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

… so clearly, the film didn’t use the book as a basis when dressing its protagonist in what appears to be a much more traditional combination of dark suit, light shirt, and dark tie. The attire that Marlowe describes in the book is surprisingly flashy for our cynical, straightforward private eye.

Bogart’s suit colorized in brown (by “MsgtBob”) and green (by “BunnyDojo”).

I’ve seen a few different colorizations of stills from The Big Sleep, including a very attractive green color for this suit created by “MsgtBob” for a Worth1000.com content. However, the most convincing colorization that I’ve seen colored the suit brown, the shirt tan, and the tie a dark red, created by an artist known as “BunnyDojo”.

No matter what color it is, Marlowe’s suit on film is a dark two-piece, constructed from a birdseye wool suiting best seen when Marlowe is inspecting the empty camera at Geiger’s murder scene.

The birdseye detail of Marlowe’s suit is best seen in this close-up at Geiger’s crib.

Matt Spaiser from The Suits of James Bond describes birdseye as: “a pattern of round dots on a diagonal grid… The pattern alternates two dark yarns and two light yarns in both the warp and the weft. In a larger scale the pattern looks like large circles with a dot in the centre. In smaller scales it looks like a simple pattern on dots on a diagonal grid.” Marlowe’s birdseye wool suit is an example of the smaller scale described by Spaiser, appearing solid from a distance and a grid of dots closer up.

As The Big Sleep was filmed mostly in 1945 when clothing was still mostly rationed for the war, Marlowe’s suit doesn’t feature any of the overly baggy fits or padding that were en vogue by the time of the film’s release a year later. The jacket is single-breasted with wide notch lapels. The notches themselves are large, and each lapel has a stitched buttonhole. The shoulders are lightly padded with only slight roping on the sleeveheads. The back is ventless.

Marlowe at the Sternwood residence.

Per Chandler’s description, Marlowe does wear a handkerchief in his breast pocket, but it’s a plain white linen handkerchief that he often uses to wipe his sweat in the intense heat of General Sternwood’s solarium and not the dark blue display handkerchief of the book. The breast pocket itself is welted, and the straight hip pockets are jetted with no flaps.

Marlowe’s suit jacket closes on a two-button front, but he always wears it open. There are also four buttons on each cuff.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Marlowe.

The double reverse-pleated trousers of Marlowe’s suit are less minimalist than the jacket, mostly due to the fashions of the mid-1940s. They have a long rise with belt loops around the waist, secured by a slim brown leather belt. The belt appears to have some Western influence with its decorative tooling, metal tip, and the shape of its small metal single-claw buckle. He wears his keys on a chain that connects to his right front belt loop, carrying the keys themselves in the trousers’ right side pocket.

Marlowe was wise to remove his jacket in the tropical atmosphere cultivated by General Sternwood.

Marlowe also often keeps his hands in the on-seam side pockets of his trousers. When he takes off his jacket upon meeting General Sternwood, the pants’ baggy fit is evident around his hips and across the rear where there are two jetted pockets – the left closes with a button while the right is open. The generous fit continues through the trousers’ straight legs down to the cuffed bottoms.

Marlowe wears a light-colored cotton shirt that isn’t quite light enough to be pure white. Based on the contrast, it’s probably a lighter version of whatever color the suit is; assuming the suit is brown, the shirt is probably tan or ecru. It has a long point collar and a front placket. The square cuffs close with a single button, and the gauntlets also have a button. There is no pocket.

Before the sweat accumulated…

Marlowe’s silk tie is the simplest part of the outfit. It’s dark, short, and wide at the bottom. It has none of the vibrant prints or pizzazz that were characteristic of the decade’s later ties.

Even Bogart’s footwear deviates from Chandler’s description of Marlowe in the book. Rather than brogues and clock-patterned socks, Bogart’s Marlowe wears a pair of black calf cap-toe oxfords with plain black wool socks.

Bogie gives Bacall the boot… or, rather, the balmoral.

The classic fedora is now immediately associated with film noir tough guys, specifically Bogie. The Big Sleep is no exception, as he wears a dark felt snap-brim fedora with a wide black ribbon throughout the film. The “Royal Stetson” logo is clearly seen on the inside of the crown when it’s knocked off of his head during a confrontation with Eddie Mars’ thugs.

Marlowe briefly loses his hat! Chaos ensues!

Bogart pokes fun at his own tough guy image when he poses as an effeminate antique book aficionado in the early stages of the investigation. He snaps up the front of his fedora’s brim and dons a pair of dark-framed sunglasses, affecting a foppish lisp as he grills Agnes about the “Ben-Hur, 1860… with the erratum on page 116″. Perhaps the lisp was a defense mechanism against his own natural lisp.

“Hmm?”

Although he only wears the sunglasses as part of a disguise (shades of North by Northwest!), Marlowe wears all of Bogart’s usual accessories. On the third finger of his right hand is the familiar gold ring with its ruby-diamond-ruby setting. Replicas are available at Royalty and Hollywood Jewelry in Naples, Florida as well as on Amazon.

All Bogart fans know this ring.

Bogart’s square-cased watch is clearly seen, although it’s not the same Longines Evidenza seen in Casablanca. He wears it on a brown leather strap.

Not the Longines, but still elegant.

Marlowe also wears two different topcoats with this suit. His go-to topcoat is a Glen plaid wool knee-length coat with a single-breasted, four-button front, typically worn with just the bottom button done. It has a large collar, straight welted hand pockets, plain cuffs, and – interestingly – a ventless back.

Marlowe gets to investigating.

However, he also encounters some rain over the course of his investigation and finds himself sporting a classic khaki trench coat. Just like the iconic one he wore as Rick Blaine in Casablanca, this belted raincoat is double-breasted with storm flaps, button-down epaulettes, slanted hand pockets, buckle-strap cuffs, and a long single vent in the back.

Shades of Rick Blaine!

The manufacturers’ logo of Marlowe’s trench coat is visible when Norris eases him into it before he leaves the Sternwood residence, but I haven’t yet been able to identify it. It doesn’t look like either the Aquascutum or Burberry logos, but those could have been different in the 1940s.

Norris would be far more helpful if he would tell us who manufactured Marlowe’s trench coat.

Go Big or Go Home

It’s been said (by me) that a film noir gumshoe is only as good as his daily booze and tobacco consumption. Luckily, Philip Marlowe’s got that covered in spades (pun) from the very beginning. General Sternwood enjoys brandy but is no longer allowed to imbibe for health reasons so he takes his drinks “by proxy”, and Marlowe is more than happy to indulge by taking several drams on his behalf. He learn a little more about Marlowe when he stops off at a bookstore and, after some flirtatious banter with the foxy clerk (played by a scene-stealing Dorothy Malone), mentions to her that “It just happens I got a bottle of pretty good rye in my pocket.” We see little of the bottle himself, so we’ll just have to accept Marlowe’s word regarding its quality. Still, it’s not too good that either Marlowe or the unnamed clerk are above drinking it out of her paper cups.

Marlowe offers Bernie Ohls a smoke.

Marlowe’s cigarettes of choice are Chesterfields, unfiltered of course.

How to Get the Look

Marlowe’s suit is a perfect template for dressing a hard-boiled PI from the era. Simplicity is key – both due to wartime rationing and an uncomplicated attitude. So what if we don’t know what color it is?

• Dark birdseye wool two-piece suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with large notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight on-seam side pockets, jetted rear pockets, and turn-ups/cuffed bottoms
• Light cotton dress shirt with long point collar, front placket, and squared 1-button cuffs
• Dark short silk necktie with wide bottom
• Brown decorative-tooled slim leather belt with small single-claw buckle and metal tip
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black wool dress socks
• Dark felt snap-brim Royal Stetson fedora with wide black grosgrain ribbon
• Dark plastic-framed sunglasses
• Square-cased wristwatch on brown leather strap
• Gold ring with two rubies and diamond

If it’s raining, opt for a classic khaki trench coat to combat the wetness. If it’s just a chilly night, a simple Glen plaid topcoat will add a touch of tough-guy class.

The Guns

Like most films of its era, The Big Sleep appeals to wheel-gun lovers by featuring plenty of revolvers. Marlowe himself keeps two in his car – a Colt Detective Special and a Colt Official Police.

Both the Colt Detective Special and the Colt Official Police were developed in 1927 as double-action revolvers aimed at the police market. Both were primarily chambered in .38 Special and had swing-out cylinders and exposed ejector rods. The primarily difference is the barrel length; the Official Police was developed for general police issue and offered in barrel lengths of 4″, 5″, and 6″. The Detective Special, on the other hand, was meant to serve as it was named – for plainclothes detectives. It was one of the first modern “snubnose” revolvers developed for concealment with its 2″ barrel (although rare examples made with 3″ barrels have also been uncovered).

Marlowe keeps a Colt Detective Special handy in his Plymouth.

The climax of the film finds Marlowe tied up in a house outside Rialto in San Bernardino County. He frees himself and sneaks out to his disabled car, where he flicks a switch and – PRESTO! a panel flips down with his 2″-barreled Colt Detective Special waiting for him. (Evidently, his Official Police has been misplaced.) Marlowe grabs the Detective Special and sets up a gambit for Vivian to help him corner and kill the nefarious Lash Canino.

Marlowe waits for Canino to show up.

Once Canino has been downed by Marlowe’s bullets, Marlowe has to put the last steps of his plan in motion. He arms himself with Canino’s own Colt Official Police and heads to the deceased A.G. Geiger’s house on Laverne Terrace to wait for Eddie Mars.

Marlowe holds Canino’s Colt Official Police on Eddie Mars.

It’s with this Colt Official Police that Marlowe forces Mars to get what’s coming to him in the finale. Some have cited this as a continuity error since Marlowe clearly uses the shorter-barreled Detective Special in the shootout with Canino, but it’s more than probable that he just picked up Canino’s own Official Police to ensure that he’d have a much firepower as necessary when facing off against Eddie Mars.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie as well as Raymond Chandler’s 1939 book. Who cares if you get confused by the plot? Chandler himself wasn’t sure what was going on. Just enjoy some classic hard-boiled private eye noir.

The Quote

I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners, I don’t like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. I don’t mind your ritzing me drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don’t waste your time trying to cross-examine me.

Michael Pitt pours some brandy as Jimmy Darmody on Boardwalk Empire.
(Episode 1.12: “A Return to Normalcy)

Vitals

Michael Pitt as Jimmy Darmody, Atlantic City bootlegger and gangster

Atlantic City, Spring/Summer 1921

Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episodes:
* “A Return to Normalcy”
(Episode 1.12, aired December 5, 2010, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “21”
(Episode 2.01, aired September 25, 2011, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “A Dangerous Maid”
(Episode 2.03, aired October 9, 2011, dir. Susanna White)
* “Two Boats and a Lifeguard”
(Episode 2.08, aired November 13, 2011, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “Georgia Peaches”
(Episode 2.10, aired November 27, 2011, dir. Jeremy Podeswa)
* “To the Lost”
(Episode 2.12, aired December 11, 2011, dir. Tim Van Patten)
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The ambitious yet bitter Jimmy Darmody was a fan favorite on Boardwalk Empire, certainly a testament to Michael Pitt’s appeal since most characters that would ally themselves with Al Capone and incite a violent war against the protagonist would not be so warmly regarded. However, Jimmy Darmody was a complex onion, and the writers deserve equal credit for giving the character so many layers.

Thus, by the time Nucky Thompson pulls the trigger and declaresthat he isn’t seeking forgiveness, Jimmy was firmly planted in viewers’ minds as a sympathetic hero who had overcome the trauma of World War I and a drunken sexual congress with his own mother. However, it seems that fans were rooting for Jimmy more than Jimmy himself had been, as the character resigns himself to his fate and even coaches Nucky on how he’ll be able to live with himself after committing a murder.

Rumors have floated that Jimmy was actually killed off because Michael Pitt was difficult to work with, but showrunner Terence Winter vehemently denies the rumors and confirms that it was a creative decision in a December 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly:

The idea was to try and push things to their absolute limit, even if it makes it difficult for yourself and your writing team. If you take things to their logical extreme with the situation we created, Jimmy has betrayed Nucky, he tried to have him killed. You want to be honest about the storytelling. In the pilot, Jimmy told Nucky:”You can’t be half a gangster anymore.” We wanted with the first two seasons to follow that trajectory, where he goes full season from being the guy who doesn’t want to get his hands dirty to actually pulling the trigger himself. And what’s the strongest version of that? To pull the trigger on the very guy who told him,”You can’t be half a gangster anymore.” It’s like, “Guess what? You’re right. I can’t. And here’s me now fully becoming a gangster.” Anything short of Nucky doing it himself wouldn’t feel real, it wouldn’t be real. And it would be a cheat for us to say, “We want to keep our beloved character Jimmy Darmody alive.”

One of the things I wanted to do by design in the finale is make the audience pissed off [at the start of the episode]. I wanted people to say [when it seemed like Nucky and Jimmy would reconcile], “Oh great, after all that, it’s all going to be forgotten and Jimmy is going to be back in Nucky’s good graces.” I wanted them to think right up to the very end that Nucky is going to forgive him and take him back. It was a really hard decision. You’re sort of blowing up your own show, in some ways. Now we’re back in the writers room trying to figure out where we go from here without Jimmy Darmody.

Winter certainly succeeded, although I doubt he expected the backlash from fans. I recall many at the time declaring that they would refuse to watch the show without the Jimmy Darmody character, and several even demanded that he return for the third season… although I have no idea how that would logistically happen. Personally, I applaud Boardwalk Empire for a move that managed to be both shocking and realistic, continuing the show’s momentum as a solid criminal drama and away from the trappings of a fan-pandering show like Dexter became in its later seasons.

Michael Pitt himself had requested that, if his character was to be killed, that he go out “in the worst way possible,” as The Hollywood Reporter explained. After Martin Scorsese and Winter made their decision, they tried to call Pitt to inform him but couldn’t get through, so they unfortunately had to tell him via email that his character would be shot in the face by his old mentor.

What’d He Wear?

Jimmy ups his sartorial game at the end of the first season. He began the series in a humble brown tweed Norfolk suit and cap that made him look every bit the lackey that he was. After moving to Chicago, he picked up a snappy blue check three-piece suit to begin establishing himself as more than just “half a gangster”. Upon his return to Atlantic City in “Belle Femme” (1.09), Jimmy has refined his look from the louder Nucky-worthy blue suit with a more somber gray suit. His wardrobe continues to grow with each new step in his career.

In “A Return to Normalcy” (1.12), set in November 1920, Jimmy decides to end his uneasy and unholy alliance with Nucky and sets in motion a plan to take control of Atlantic City for himself. Jimmy sits and plots with the Commodore and Eli while wearing a brown striped flannel three-piece suit. He looks relaxed yet alert, evoking the image of one of cinema’s most notorious fictional gangsters.

Don Jimmy.

The many shots of Jimmy with both arms on his chair as he is told to assert his power is almost definitely a homage to The Godfather, as Winter told EW: “I’m not ashamed to say Godfather is one of my favorite movies of all time, and any time I can steal from it, I always do.”

Jimmy’s brown striped suit lasted him through the rest of his tenure on the show, worn during confrontations with Nucky and meetings with potential confederates like Manny Horvitz and Chalky White. It was while wearing this suit in the season finale, “To the Lost” (2.12), that Jimmy received his fatal wounds from Nucky after a year-long power struggle.

Jimmy appears to have had two of the same suit, one version in brown stripe suiting (as featured here) and the other made from a charcoal and gray stripe. The latter suit appears in two episodes: “21” (2.01) and “Gimcrack & Bunkum” (2.05). I’ve considered that the charcoal suit may actually be this suit in different lighting, but the color contrast is too dramatic for me to say that it is the same suit. This particular suit was auctioned by Screenbid.com earlier this year.

Jimmy’s suit, auctioned by ScreenBid.com. Notice that the right side is shifted up; the jacket’s top button is thus hidden under the lapel.

The stripe effect on Jimmy’s suit is simply two shades of brown that alternate between a lighter and darker color. No pinstripes, no shadow stripes, just two different shades of brown repeating in an equal width.

Jimmy shares a moment with Joe Harper Tommy before heading off to his doom.

The jacket is single-breasted with notch lapels and a high three-button stance, although he almost always wears it open. The hip pockets have wide flaps and slant slightly toward the back, with the top of the pocket aligned with the jacket’s third button. A flapped ticket pocket on the right also slants slightly back, aligned with the jacket’s center button. Jimmy also has a welted breast pocket and 4-button cuffs.

If Michael Pitt didn’t have the Geto Boys in his head while filming this scene, then I don’t even know anymore…

Jimmy’s suit nicely reflects men’s fashions of the early 1920s with its half-belted back and athletic fit that makes Michael Pitt appear even taller than his natural 5’11” height. The jacket’s shoulders are straight down to roped sleeveheads, and the back of the jacket is belted above a long single vent.

The suit’s matching vest (or waistcoat) rises high on his chest, above the jacket’s top button. It has notch lapels and a 6-button single-breasted front down to the notched bottom. Jimmy wears each button fastened. The front of the vest has four welt pockets – two on each side. The back is brown patterned silk with an adjustable strap across the bottom.

Jimmy resigns himself to his fate after getting a call from Nucky in “To the Lost” (2.12).

Jimmy’s suit trousers are flat front with straight on-seam side pockets and jetted rear pockets that both close with a button. They are cut straight through the leg down to the cuffed bottoms, which have a full break over his boots. All of Jimmy’s trousers are worn with suspenders, whether they’re visible or not. These trousers are no exception, and they have the adjustable back strap on the rear waistline where he attaches them.

Jimmy begins his practice of wearing a gold collar pin toward the end of the first season rather than letting his shirt collar flop in and out of his suits. Perhaps it’s his way of affecting a more professional, intimidating look, emulating the clean-looking collars of his old boss Nucky without resorting to the detachable contrast collar that was becoming more and more an indication of an older generation.

Jimmy faces off with Nucky after learning the truth about his conception.

All of Jimmy’s shirts with this suit appear to be lightweight cotton with soft turndown point collars, front plackets, and buttoned cuffs. He tends to stick with his favorite color combinations, wearing a royal blue shirt in “A Return to Normalcy” (1.12), “A Dangerous Maid” (2.03), “Two Boats and a Lifeguard” (2.08), and “To the Lost” (2.12).

Jimmy often sports a gold tie with his blue shirt, wearing a mustard-colored knit tie in “A Return to Normalcy” and a gold printed silk tie in “A Dangerous Maid”.

For a night at Babbette’s, Jimmy wears a more formal gold silk tie rather than his preferred knit.

Jimmy wears a blue-gray shirt with a large turndown collar – still fastened by the gold collar pin – with the mustard knit tie when he meets with Nucky outside the funeral home in “21” (2.01).

Frenemies, 1921 style.

In “Two Boats and a Lifeguard” (2.08), Jimmy spends the afternoon meeting with co-conspirators before “enjoying” a day on the beach with Angela. He sports a monochromatic look, wearing the royal blue shirt and a dark blue silk tie with a blue paisley “teardrop” motif.

Jimmy lights up an Old Gold. Check out that new wedding ring… not that Angela looks too happy to be part of this union.

Two episodes later in “Georgia Peaches” (2.10), Jimmy has a clandestine and unsuccessful meeting with Chalky. Now, he opts for a totally monochromatic palette by wearing his a brown shirt with a white pinstripe, the mustard knit tie, and his brown striped suit.

Chalky ain’t having it.

The first appearance of this suit in “To the Lost” (2.12) finds Jimmy and Richard Harrow storming into Jim Neary’s office with fatal intentions. Blood was spilled, and Jimmy’s monochromatic maroon shirt and silk paisley tie may be symbolic, or it may be a coincidence.

After a day spent celebrating on the beach with his family and Richard, Jimmy gets a call to meet Nucky at the Atlantic City War Memorial. Nucky offers an excuse, but Jimmy sees right through it. He heads to the meeting in the last outfit of his life, sporting his favorite royal blue shirt, the brown striped suit, and a black tie with a series of green and tan abstract designs.

Jimmy lets Richard stay behind and goes off alone to meet his fate.

Ever the soldier, Jimmy still wears his black leather U.S. Army-issued combat boots, laced up the throat. Best featured in the first season, his Mk I Trench Knife is firmly fastened into the left boot via an ankle holster.

Jimmy’s wristwatch is also indicative of his service, since wristwatches were still only commonly worn by servicemen who had been exposed to this more convenient style of timekeeping during the war. Various characters would adopt wristwatches rather than pocket watches as the series goes on, but Jimmy wore his since the beginning. It has a steel tonneau-shaped case with an off-white dial and a brown leather strap.

Jimmy’s watch is best seen during his times of tobacco-assisted reflection in “A Dangerous Maid” (2.03).

Jimmy also continues to wear his silver military dog tags, suspended around his neck on a brown cord. He typically tucks them under his white sleeveless cotton undershirt.

Although many aspects of his attire remain the same, Jimmy gets some new outerwear for 1921. In “21” (2.01), set in winter 1921, he wears a heavy gray herringbone tweed overcoat. The double-breasted coat has a 6×2 button front, which he leaves open, and extends down past his knees. Each of the wide peak lapels has a stitched buttonhole. The two chest pockets are box-pleated with flaps, and the two flapped hip pockets sit straight on his waist. The back has a V-shaped yoke across the shoulders and five darted pleats – including an “action-back” center vent – extending down to the half-belt, and a long single vent cuts up the center of the back. The sleeves are cuffed up 2″ from the edge.

Jimmy and Nucky talks shop at a klansman’s funeral. Yes, a klansman’s funeral.

Jimmy also gets a new hat, sporting a black beaver felt fedora with a thin black grosgrain ribbon and a narrow brim. The Screenbid.com auction also included this hat with the suit, and The Custom Hatter’s logo is clearly seen on the satin inner lining.

Jimmy’s hat, auctioned by Screenbid.com and manufactured by The Custom Hatter.

The Custom Hatter himself is Gary White, a talented hat maker in Buffalo who has worked on several major film, TV, and stage productions and offers a range of hats on his site, custom made using rare vintage machines. The hat sported by Jimmy appears to be White’s “The Untouchable” model. White describes that his “fine-quality beaver felts are fine in rainy weather”, which is good for Jimmy since his final scene finds him sporting the fedora on a very rainy night in the summer of 1921.

R.I.P. James Darmody
1898-1921.

The one other new aspect of Jimmy’s attire this season is the plain gold wedding band, found on the third finger of his left hand. Evidently, things are going well with Angela… despite her preference for the fairer sex.

How to Get the Look

As Jimmy’s trek for power advances, so does his wardrobe. Although he’s no longer a soldier, he still wears a personal uniform of sorts, as opposed to his colorful opponent and ex-mentor. Like his clothing, Jimmy Darmody is simple but threatening.

Thompson vs. Darmody.

• Brown striped flannel suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets with flapped ticket pocket on right side, 4-button cuffs, half-belted back, and single rear vent
  • Single-breasted 6-button vest with notch lapels, 4 welted pockets, and adjustable rear strap on patterned silk lining
  • Flat front high-rise trousers with straight on-seam side pockets, jetted button-through rear pockets, rear suspender strap, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Royal blue lightweight cotton shirt with soft turndown collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Mustard gold knit necktie
• Gold collar pin
• Black leather combat boots with black laces
• Black dress socks
• Black leather ankle holster for 1918 Mk I trench knife
• Dark striped suspenders with brass hardware
• Black beaver felt fedora with a thin black grosgrain band
• Gray herringbone tweed double-breasted “action-back” overcoat with peak lapels, 6×2 button front, 2 flapped box-pleated chest patch pockets, 2 flapped patch hip pockets, cuffed sleeves, half-belted back, and long single vent
• White cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Off-white cotton boxer shorts
• Steel tonneau-shaped wristwatch on a brown leather strap
• Plain gold wedding band, worn on left ring finger

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Watch the entire series, but if you’re especially a fan of Jimmy Darmody, invest in the first and second seasons. This suit gets most screen time during the second.

The Quote

I died in the trench, years back. I thought you knew that.

Robert De Niro as Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987).

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Al Capone, legendary Chicago mob boss

Chicago, October 1931

Film: The Untouchables
Release Date: June 3, 1987
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
Wardrobe Consultant: Richard Bruno
Tailor: Henry Stewart

Background

Before Stephen Graham blazed into Capone’s shoes on Boardwalk Empire, Robert De Niro’s extremely method performance of Al Capone in The Untouchables was considered to be the epitome. De Niro infused his performance with the menacing charm that allowed a violent psychopath like Capone to rapidly climb his way up the ladder of the underworld. The extent of Capone’s criminal empire, culminating with the notorious St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, has lived on to define the Roaring Twenties… or more specifically, Prohibition era Chicago.

Obviously, The Untouchables‘ director Brian De Palma had always been interested in bringing Capone’s story to the big screen. The original Scarface from 1932 was a loose retelling of the real Capone’s story. De Palma initially envisioned keeping the original setting when he remade it, although it obviously became the ’80s cocaine epic we all know and love today. Four years after De Palma’s Scarface hit theaters, The Untouchables made the story of Capone’s undoing accessible to audiences with a clear-cut hero in the form of crusading Treasury Department agent Elliot Ness. Of course, Ness’ actual role in Capone’s downfall has been all but discredited, and the true credit belongs largely to U.S. Attorney George E.Q. Johnson and IRS agent Frank Wilson.

On October 17, 1931, Al Capone was finally convicted of income tax evasion after a colorful decade at the top of the organized crime racket in Chicago. 84 years later, BAMF Style is taking a look at one of the most famous portrayals of the brash, headstrong young gangster.

What’d He Wear?

For the dramatic confrontations between Ness and Capone (which were fictionalized by the filmmakers, but that’s neither here nor there), Robert De Niro wears light gray three-piece suits cut from designs by the real Al Capone’s original tailors.

De Niro takes a few sartorial nods from the real Al Capone, right down to the turnback sleeve cuffs.

Noted for his method acting, De Niro personally tracked down Capone’s tailors so he would have identical clothing for The Untouchables, all then made by New York tailor Henry Stewart. Stewart told South Florida’s Sun-Sentinel around the time of the film’s release that he was dismayed by all the publicity that Giorgio Armani was receiving for his role in the production as Armani had nothing to do with De Niro’s wardrobe:

I was sitting in the theater during the premiere of the film. De Niro had even given me the tickets. And everyone started applauding when Armani’s name came on the credits… I felt like a real dummy.

Although he passed away in 1993, BAMF Style wants to ensure that Henry Stewart continues to receive due credit for his work in bringing Capone to life on screen through De Niro’s costumes.

After a major death in the film, Ness confronts Capone on the lobby stairs of the Lexington Hotel which the gangster had made into his headquarters. Capone, his son, and his bodyguards are heading to a baseball game – as they often did – although Capone hardly looks like a man dressed for baseball in his gray silk three-piece suit.

A year later in court, Capone again wears a gray silk suit, although this is a lighter-colored and hardly one that an average man would wear for such a serious occasion.

Both suits have single-breasted jackets with wide, pointed peak lapels that sweep down to a single-button closure at the waist. The jackets have broad, padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads. The hip pockets sit straight on the waist with slim flaps, and a white linen pocket square pokes out of the welted breast pocket.

Although he played a great Al Capone, De Niro can’t help but to make a good De Niro face.

Best seen during the courtroom scenes, Capone’s suit jacket also has “turnback”-style 3-button cuffs, a natty throwback to a more Edwardian custom. Turnback cuffs were also a staple on many of Nucky Thompson’s early suit jackets on Boardwalk Empire and were also found on James Bond’s first dinner jacket in Dr. No.

Underneath both suit jackets, De Niro wears a white dress shirt with a large spread collar, front placket, and French cuffs fastened with silver links. He wears a black silk tie on the Lexington stairs and a dark navy silk tie in court. The subtle tonal pattern in the latter tie is very reminiscent of the tie worn in this photo, which Gentleman’s Gazette mentions actually features a lime green suit.

Capone’s dark navy tie is best seen as he receives the horrifying news that he’ll be receiving a fair trial.

The vest – or waistcoat – of each suit has six buttons down the single-breasted front to the notched bottom. He wears a gold pocket watch in one of the two lower welt pockets with a gold chain across his belly.

Capone’s high-waisted flat front suit trousers have straight side pockets, cuffed bottoms, and belt loops. He even wears the trousers with a belt, even though many men prefer suspenders or side-adjusted trousers when wearing a vest. His belt, best seen in the opening shave scene, is black leather with a large silver buckle.

“On a boat, it’s bootlegging. On Lake Shore Drive, it’s hospitality. I’m a businessman!”

De Niro’s Capone also wears a pair of black calf leather cap-toe balmorals with black silk socks. In fact, the socks were another item specifically mentioned in the Sun-Sentinel article by De Niro’s wardrobe consultant Richard Bruno, who reported that they “sent his silk cotton lisle socks to [Sulka] in Paris to have the special clocks sewn on them.”

In addition to the socks, De Niro had his dressing gowns and robes monogrammed following Capone’s same pattern found in the Sulka archives. De Niro’s insistence on wearing the same style of silk underwear as Capone is now well-cited as a trait of his method acting. However, costume designer Marilyn Vance testifies that this decision wasn’t as eccentric as it might seem: “De Niro knew it was there… he needed to feel the richness, the essence of the character.”

The real Al Capone would’ve been proud of De Niro’s dedication… although I’m not sure if it’s a good thing for Al Capone to be proud of you.

For the confrontation on the stairs of the Lexington Hotel, De Niro wears a luxurious knee-length camel hair overcoat with a brown velvet collar. The coat is double-breasted with six tan horn buttons and peak lapels, each with a stitched buttonhole. It has a welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, and buttons on the end of each sleeve.

A production photo appears to have caught De Niro in a moment of indigestion.

Headed out for the day, Capone also dons a white felt fedora with a wide black grosgrain ribbon. Bruno recalled a story to the Sun-Sentinel that found him driving the streets of Chicago with Capone’s former bodyguard, and the two ended up in the basement of one of Capone’s old hat shops where they discovered two white Borsalino hat bodies that bore the initials of a Capone alias. Bruno used these hat bodies to create the hats worn by De Niro in The Untouchables.

Capone’s final outerwear accessory is a pair of large tortoise-framed sunglasses with brown tinted lenses.

Are the glasses an Armani item? Or did De Niro totally eschew the brand association?

Although they may be vintage-inspired, the style of the sunglasses is more 1980s than ’30s as most sunglasses that I’ve seen from the era have had thin wire frames. Luxury eyewear firm Maison Bonnet has introduced a pair of “Al Capone” acetate-framed sunglasses that were evidently inspired by a real pair worn by the gangster in 1941 after his release from Alcatraz.

Like every flashy gangster should, Capone wears a large gold pinky ring on his left hand. The setting is a dark rectangular stone.

How to Get the Look

It’s okay to call a vicious criminal like Al Capone a BAMF when he’s played by a true BAMF like Robert De Niro. In these scenes, De Niro’s tailored attire gives him an authentic degree of coolness that, ironically enough, the real gangster likely never attained.

• Gray silk tailored suit, consisting of
  • Single-breasted 1-button jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets
  • Single-breasted 6-button vest with two lower welt pockets and notched bottom
  • Flat front high-rise trousers with belt loops, straight side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffed bottoms
• White dress shirt with large spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Dark silk necktie
• Silver cuff links
• Black leather belt with large silver buckle
• Black calf leather cap-toe balmorals
• Black silk Sulka dress socks
• Silk monogrammed underwear
• White felt Borsalino fedora with black grosgrain ribbon
• Tan camelhair double-breast overcoat with wide peak lapels, dark brown velvet collar, 6×2 button front, welted breast pocket, and flapped hip pockets
• Tortoiseshell-framed sunglasses with brown tinted lenses
• Gold pocket watch on gold chain
• Gold pinky ring with dark rectangular setting

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.

Footnote

When we first meet Capone, he is getting a shave from his personal barber at the Lexington Hotel, surrounded by reporters eager to hear every word leaving his mouth. According to IMDB, the barbershop set was filled with a number of actual products like cologne bottles and shaving brushes that had been owned by the real Al Capone.

For a great breakdown of the real Capone’s style, check out Gentleman’s Gazette. The Gentleman himself, Sven Raphael Schneider, nicely summarizes the unfortunate fact that Capone knew how to put himself together as a fashionplate of the era:

At the same time he is a good example that it takes more to be a gentleman than just nice clothes. No matter how nice a criminal dresses and how elegant he portrays himself, he will remain a criminal.

According to Schenider’s extensive research, the Capone we see in The Untouchables is outfitted very accurately to his real life counterpart.

Kirk Douglas as John “Doc” Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

Vitals

Kirk Douglas as John “Doc” Holliday, hot-tempered gambler, gunslinger, and ex-dentist

Tombstone, AZ, October 1881

Film: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Release Date: May 30, 1957
Director: John Sturges
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

Friday’s post focused on Raylan Givens, the dark-suited U.S. Marshal who would’ve been more at home in the Old West rather than the era of cell phones, electric cars, and Bieber. In fact, Raylan would have fit in perfectly 134 years ago today as Doc Holliday joined the Earps for their long walk toward the O.K. Corral and a showdown that would engrain them in western lore.

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as it became known, became a pop culture phenomenon almost instantly. Dime books, paintings, and sketches romanticized the showdown for half a century until 1934’s Frontier Marshal incorporated the events into it largely fictional showdown between fearless lawman Michael Wyatt (George O’Brien) and local crime boss Doc Warren. Half a dozen films and more than two decades later, filmmakers finally came close to getting the names and events straight with the 1957 film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, directed by John Sturges and starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, respectively.

Like most films from the Golden Age of Westerns, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral remains uncomplicated. The good guys are good, and the bad guys are bad. Thanks to Leon Uris’ script and Kirk Douglas’ performance, we get a little more depth with the characterization of the bitter, tubercular Doc Holliday, but the film is far more comfortable sticking to loose legend rather than the facts. The name itself misled many to believe that the gunfight happened at the O.K. Corral; in fact, the Earps faced off against the cowboy faction in a narrow lot on Fremont Street outside the corral’s rear entrance. The gunfight itself was transformed into a long, tactical shootout with rifles and shotguns aplenty; in fact, the 30-second long gun battle featured only revolvers, save for Doc’s borrowed double-barreled shotgun.

Although the movie’s inaccuracy is now well-known, Kirk Douglas’ interesting portrayal humanized the erudite and colorful gunslinger beyond the Western stock character that he had been for the previous twenty years. In fact, some have argued that Douglas more correctly interpreted Holliday’s irascibility more than Val Kilmer’s 1993 performance in Tombstone, often considered to be the definitive cinematic Doc Holliday.

What’d He Wear?

Kirk Douglas’ Doc Holliday wears three main outfits in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Looking closely at each outfit’s details, Douglas was clearly (and not unreasonably) attired in 1950s costuming rather than genuine reflections of 1880s style, but it is still a stylish and accessible look if you want a snazzy Halloween costume or if you’re some sort of weird riverboat gambler.

Doc’s preferred cigarettes are “Morleys”, the fictional brand that was later rebranded to resemble the classic Marlboro packaging. This is the same “branding” that would be seen smoked by William Shatner in a classic episode of The Twilight Zone.

Doc wears this charcoal wool dress suit during both his knife-flinging introduction and the final scene, the titular gunfight. Given the significance of these two scenes, Sturges evidently saw the suit’s representative value for the Doc Holliday character.

Doc’s suit jacket is a single-breasted lounge coat with peak lapels. The dark satin semi-facings on each lapel contribute to the suit’s luxury and make it slightly fancier than the gray pick suit he wears alternately.

A terse Lee Van Cleef eyes up Doc from his drinking table.

The jacket has no breast pocket and two hip pockets that sit straight on his natural waistline with large flaps.

All of the jacket’s dark gray horn buttons come in pairs; the suit has a 2-button front, two non-functioning buttons on each cuff, and two decorative back buttons above the rear vents. Although the lounge coat marked an evolution toward modern suits, Doc’s jacket still maintains many traditional styling points including the back layout.

The old-fashioned styling of Doc’s lounge coat is evident.

Doc’s matching flat front trousers rise to Kirk Douglas’ natural waist with a straight-cut down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. They have belt loops, although these did not become popular on mens’ trousers until the rise began falling in the 1920s. Doc’s belt is black leather with a squared steel single-claw buckle. He may wear it to secure the shoulder holster he conceals under his left arm, although the securing method isn’t readily apparent. The trousers have frogmouth front pockets just below the waistline and no back pockets.

Old West gambling often evokes an image of a well-mustached man sporting a brightly-colored silk brocade vest. Douglas’ Doc is no exception, always pairing his charcoal suit to a deep red paisley-printed satin brocade vest. Modern copycats should keep in mind that it’s not easy to sport a brocade vest these days without looking like you’re late for the high school prom.

Doc chose to skip prom to stay in bed and mope about having TB.

Doc’s vest has a low, V-shaped opening above the single-breasted, 3-button front. The three buttons are all covered in the same cloth as the rest of the waistcoat, and the bottom is notched. The vest also has slim shawl lapels and two welted hip pockets on the front, with Doc keeping his gold watch in the right pocket. The back of the waistcoat is dark mauve silk with an adjustable strap.

Doc’s yellow gold full hunter pocketwatch is clearly shown in his introductory scene. “A.W. Co. Waltham” is printed in black on the white dial, indicating that this is a classic Waltham railroad watch, likely manufactured around the time that American Watch Company changed its name to American Waltham Watch Company in 1885. Interested in your own Waltham pocketwatch? Check out this bad boy, starting at only $150.

Aw, Doc’s parents were very considerate.

Doc wears his Waltham watch on a gold chain through the top buttonhole of his vest where the gold bar pokes through. The white dial has black Roman numerals and a 6:00 sub-dial. It’s personalized with a photo of his loving parents placed inside the dust cover, with their inscription – “TO OUR BELOVED SON DOCTOR JOHN HOLLIDAY” – on the back.

Doc’s shirt is light gray with an attached turndown collar and pleated front bib. Both the ruffled placket and the plain, squared cuffs have mother-of-pearl buttons.

Doc prefers throwing a knife rather than the old ‘hit a pillow’ trick.

Doc wears a black satin string tie, which is just as simple as it sounds and is most familiar these days as the preferred neckwear of KFC’s Colonel Sanders (my second post in a row referencing the good colonel!) Cattle Kate offers these ties for sale for only $14 with the accurate description of “one long piece of silk to tie into a floppy bow… a favorite of gamblers and gentlemen callers everywhere.

For the lazy, pre-tied examples are available from Gentleman’s Emporium for $22 as the “Western Bow Tie” and, of course, Amazon for a cool $5.50.

He throws lots of knives, actually.

Doc appropriately wears an all-black “gambler hat”, a more urban evolution of the low-crowned telescope hat worn by Mexican cowboys in the southwest. The low, round crown prevented hot air from accumulating inside the hat. The telescope hat also featured a wide brim to protect its wearers from the piercing sun; since gamblers spent most of their time inside, the gambler hat featured a smaller, upturned brim like Doc’s.

Very fitting for a gambler, actually.

Doc wears a pair of black leather plain-toe boots with tall riding heels. A brief shot of Doc slumped in a chair, presumably uncrossing his legs after taking off his boots, shows a pair of high black socks worn underneath.

I know Doc didn’t want to die with his boots off, but this is ridiculous.

On the third finger of his left hand, Doc wears a gold ring with a large oval red coral setting. As both this movie and Tombstone show Doc Holliday as wearing a ring (although 1994’s Wyatt Earp does not), I don’t know if the real Doc was reputed to have worn a ring or if it’s just an affectation that both filmmakers believed he would have appreciated.

Although the veracity of Doc’s ring hasn’t been confirmed, I’ve read some accounts supporting the claim that the real-life Holliday favored a shoulder holster for his everyday carry. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral presents a low-slung brown leather holster rig, concealed below his left arm near the waist for a right-handed cross draw. Though we never see Doc wearing it with his jacket off, it appears to be secured with a thin strap that enters his left vest pocket, possibly fastening to his trouser belt.

Doc holsters his Remington after drawing on his buddy.

When the sun rises on October 26, 1881 (another of the film’s errors, as the real gunfight was around 3:00 PM), Doc straps on an extra gun belt to face the Clantons and McLaurys.

*Pew pew!*

The gun belt is brown leather, like his shoulder rig. It buckles in the front through a ranger-style strap, with the holster for his Single Action Army hanging low on his right thigh.

Go Big or Go Home

Doc Holliday has retained his popularity because his real-life exploits were the stuff of legends.The story of a tubercular dentist who took down his shingle and took up the life of a professional card sharp is interesting enough. Add in the fact that he was a dangerously accurate shot and became involved in one of the most infamous conflicts in Western history… well, you’ve got yourself a legend.

Cultured, educated, and violent, Doc Holliday was almost as quick with his wit as he was with his trigger finger. He was stubborn and full of Southern pride, and he refused to quit smoking, drinking, and whoring – even after he was diagnosed with consumption. Aware of the chronic cough accompanying TB, Kirk Douglas wrote in his 1988 autobiography The Ragman’s Son that he would plan exactly how many and what kind of coughs he would have in each scene. This consideration is a fine example of the professionalism, energy, and diligence that have characterized his six-decade long career.

Despite the vigor that he brought to the role, Kirk Douglas wasn’t always the first choice for the role. Producer Hal B. Wallis was reported in early 1955 as saying that he wanted Humphrey Bogart. It’s an interesting choice, as Bogart was hiding his own fatal disease at the time. Once Bogart esophageal cancer became public knowledge, he had already finished production on his last film – The Harder They Fall – and it was likely known that he wouldn’t be working anymore. Thus, Kirk Douglas was cast for the second of seven total films that he would make with Burt Lancaster.

How to Get the Look

Kirk Douglas’ Doc Holliday offers a primer on looking cool, urbane, and dangerous in the rugged atmosphere of the 1880s Southwest.

• Charcoal wool lounge suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with satin semi-faced peak lapels, straight flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and decorative 2-button back with double vents
  • Flat front high-rise trousers with belt loops, frogmouth front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Red paisley brocade vest with low V-shaped opening, single-breasted 3-button front, welted hip pockets, and adjustable rear strap
• Light gray dress shirt with turndown collar, ruffled front placket, pleated bib, and squared button cuffs
• Black satin string bow tie
• Black calf leather plain-toe boots with tall riding heels
• Black socks
• Black gambler hat with round crown and black ribbon
• Black leather belt with square steel single-claw buckle
• Brown leather custom shoulder holster, worn under left arm
• Yellow gold Waltham full hunter pocket watch with dust cover, white dial (with Roman numerals and 6:00 sub-dial), and gold chain
• Gold ring with large oval red coral setting

The Guns

Doc: Want a gun hand?
Wyatt: You? No, thanks.
Doc: I do handle them pretty well. The only trouble is, those best able to testify to my aim aren’t around for comment.

As one would expect, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral also flubs when arming Doc Holliday. The irascible dentist preferred Colt firearms all his life; his first piece was the venerable Model 1851 Navy revolver gifted to him by an uncle in 1872, and he carried the double-action Model 1878 Lightning and Thunderer models through many gun battles in his life. Instead, Gunfight at O.K. Corral arms Holliday with a nickel Remington Model 1875 with a 5.75″ barrel and pearl grips.

Don’t piss Doc off… even if you’re his only friend in the world.

The Model 1875 Single Action Army (also known as the “Improved Army” or “Frontier Army”) was Remington’s first major development for the revolver market since its Model 1858 variants during the Civil War. Remington’s new model took on Colt’s Single Action Army and Smith & Wesson’s Model 3 and quickly gained a reputation on both sides of the law as a sturdy, reliable sidearm capable of firing the powerful .45 Long Colt and .44-40 Winchester Centerfire cartridges as well as Remington’s own proprietary .44 centerfire cartridge, which was quietly phased out after 20 years of production.

Unlike the Single Action Army, which was offered in a variety of barrel lengths in addition to the standard 7.5″ “Cavalry” barrel, the Remington Model 1875 was primarily available with a 7.5″ barrel. A limited run with 5.75″ barrels were created very late in the Model 1875’s production span and likely inspired the Uberti “Frontier Model” with its 5.5″ barrel. For more information about the Remington Model 1875, Don Ware wrote a fascinating in-depth article for the Remington Society of America journal in 2004, available online.

Doc’s Remington provides a welcome break from the ubiquitous Single Action Army seen in all classic Westerns, but some irony is derived from the fact that Doc actually did use a nickel Colt SAA at the time of his adventures in Tombstone. Sturges’ film provides a Single Action Army as Doc’s “action weapon”… but in blued steel.

For an additional dose of irony, the film actually arms Wyatt and Virgil with double-barreled shotguns during the gun battle; in reality, Doc was the only person in the whole fight to handle a shotgun… a weapon which he eschewed.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie. Accuracy issues aside, it’s an entertaining gem from the Golden Age of Westerns and one of the genre’s most celebrated directors.

A decade later, Sturges directed Hour of the Gun, which starred James Garner as Wyatt and Jason Robards taking over as Doc. The movie begins with the O.K. Corral and follows the Earp vendetta ride through Doc’s death in a Colorado sanitarium in 1887, serving as a spiritual sequel to Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

The Quote

Much like Val Kilmer in Tombstone, the film gives Doc Holliday plenty of opportunities for colorful insults:

Come to think of it, he’s no gentleman at all. He’s a son of a yellow-bellied sow.

Although he also doesn’t shy away from the simpler slurs when needed.

Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly on Reilly: Ace of Spies, Episode 10: “The Trust”.

Vitals

Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, Russian-born British Secret Service agent and anti-Bolshevik

New York City to Berlin, Fall 1924

Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “The Trust” (Episode 10)
Air Date: November 2, 1983
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller

Background

Ninety years ago today, Sidney Reilly was executed in a forest outside Moscow by a Soviet firing squad overseen by OGPU officer Grigory Feduleev. Reilly had been earlier tried to death in absentia after a failed coup of the Bolshevik government in 1918. Seven years later, he was lured back into the Soviet Union by undercover OGPU agents who had formed The Trust, ostensibly a secret organization raising funds to remove the Bolsheviks from power. Reilly was arrested as soon as he had crossed the Finnish border in late September 1925. Although he would be questioned for more than a month before his execution on November 5, the Soviets almost immediately issued a statement that he had been killed during a border skirmish.

Due to his own self-promotion and tall tales, Reilly developed a legendary status in his own lifetime as one of the greatest spies of his day. Several books and the 1983 miniseries Reilly: Ace of Spies have perpetuated this myth, but the truth is that Reilly was, in fact, a shady opportunist who crossed the globe as he swindled and killed to achieve his means. He was indeed recruited by MI6 during World War I and had been sent to Russia to spy for them, but his true motives were quickly made apparent as he ignored his directive and began working to actively displace the Bolshevik government. Disowned by the British government and nearly broke from relentless attempts to finance a coup, Reilly was quite vulnerable by the time The Trust came calling.

The miniseries flashes forward six years in its tenth episode, “The Trust.” Sam Neill’s Reilly is living in New York, independently raising funds for his coup with financiers ranging from the swaggering but addiction-laden Boris Savinkov to Henry Ford. The episode also incorporates the controversial “Zinoviev Letter,” which was published in the Daily Mail on October 25, 1924 a few days before the British general election as a severe embarrassment for the British Labour Party as Anglo-Soviet treaties are demolished. Historians now believe that the letter, which called for a rise of communist activity in England, was a forgery; some historians still believe that Reilly may have been involved to some extent.

At any rate, the episode provides an introduction to Reilly’s final act. Set in the fall of 1924, Reilly is shown to be suspicious of The Trust and surrounded by betrayals, notably in the form of his new secretary Eugenie. He maintains a healthy (perhaps too healthy) relationship with his now ex-wife Nadia, and it is while traveling in Berlin during the episode’s finale that he meets his final wife, the vivacious actress Nelly “Pepita” Bobadilla.

What’d He Wear?

Andrew Cook’s 2004 biography, Ace of Spies: The True Story of Sidney Reilly, includes OGPU agent Alexander Yakushev’s first impressions of meeting Sidney Reilly when he made his final journey across the Finnish border:

[Reilly’s] dark eyes expressed something biting and cruel; his lower lip drooped deeply and was too slick—the neat black hair, the demonstratively elegant suit.

Yakushev’s mention of a “demostratively elegant suit” jibes with one of the more accurate aspects of the miniseries; Reilly was a fashionable dresser. Through most of “The Trust,” when not sporting a dinner jacket or black stroller, Sam Neill wears a sharp Glen check double-breasted, three-piece suit. The suiting is black and white Glen plaid with a muted red windowpane accent check.

The classic black and white Glen plaid check with a subtle red overcheck.

The double-breasted suit jacket has a high 6-on-2 button stance that he almost always wears closed.

Both of the sharp peak lapels have a long buttonhole stitched into them. The welted breast pocket slants slightly down toward the center of the chest, where it meets the top left button.

The breast pocket collides with the top left button of Reilly’s suit jacket!

Reilly’s suit jacket also has flapped hip pockets straight across his waist. It is ventless with slightly padded shoulders and roped sleeveheads.

Reilly and Savinkov enjoy a few celebratory glasses of Moët.

The suit has a matching vest – or waistcoat – with four welt pockets. The front is single-breasted with a six high-fastening buttons closing over a notched bottom. The back is brown silk with an adjustable strap.

Reilly suspiciously enters the bathroom of his Berlin hotel room.

Reilly’s reverse-pleated suit trousers have a long rise that is covered by the waistcoat but likely worn with suspenders. They have no back pockets, but Reilly often places his hands in the on-seam side pockets. The bottoms are cuffed with turn-ups.

Reilly wears a plain white dress shirt with a large point collar, front placket, and double cuffs – typically fastened with gold links.

In New York, Reilly wears a brown necktie with a pattern of tan diamonds with navy centers and borders. With this tie, he wears a silver collar bar secured under the tie knot.

Reilly listens to Eugenie’s story.

When he travels to Berlin at the episode’s conclusion, he wears a solid brown butterfly-shaped bow tie and no collar bar. The choice to give Reilly a bow tie may have come from a photo of the actual agent in 1924, sporting an equally large butterfly bow tie.

Neill as Reilly and the agent himself in 1924.

Including both neckwear options, Reilly wears primarily brown accessories and outerwear with this suit. His shoes are dark brown leather split-toe oxfords, worn with dark brown dress socks.

Reilly doesn’t remember ordering extra towels.

In both “The Trust” and the following episode – “The Last Journey” – Reilly wears an elegant camelhair overcoat with raglan sleeves. Like his suit jacket, it is double-breasted with a 6-on-2 button stance, although it also has a belt that fits through a loop on each side of his waist and fastens through a brass buckle in the front. Edge swelling is present throughout the coat, including on the large lapels, single-button cuff straps, and the patch hip pockets’ flaps. A single vent splits the back of the jacket halfway up to the belt.

The overcoat combines

Reilly had been wearing fedoras on the series since the second episode, set in 1904 Manchuria, but it wasn’t until this time – the early 1920s – that they truly began to become popular among gents. In this episode, he wears a light gray felt fedora with a wide, dark brown grosgrain ribbon.

Reilly gives his Berlin outerwear an extra luxurious touch with a silk paisley scarf.

Evidently the weather has gotten chillier by the time Reilly arrives in Berlin by the end of the episode; he has taken to wearing a printed paisley silk scarf in various shades of light brown with red fringe on the ends.

Perhaps as a nod to Fleming’s James Bond, Reilly wears a compact Beretta .25 semi-automatic pistol in a brown leather shoulder rig, secured in a holster under his left arm.

Ever the gentleman, Reilly takes off his shoulder holster before going to the bathroom he shares with Pepita.

How to Get the Look

Reilly was a shrewd businessman who knew could influence and manipulate people as needed. His sharp Glen plaid suit that took him from New York to Berlin in 1924 indicated the fashionable and powerful man wearing it.

• Black-and-white Glen plaid wool suit with muted red windowpane overcheck, consisting of
  • Double-breasted 6-on-2 jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single-breasted 6-button vest with four welt pockets, notched bottom, and adjustable rear strap
  • Single reverse-pleated high-rise trousers with straight side pockets and turn-ups/cuffed bottoms
• White dress shirt with large point collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Brown diamond-printed necktie
• Dark brown leather split-toe bluchers
• Dark brown dress socks
• Camelhair double-breasted belted overcoat with double-breasted 6-on-2 front, raglan sleeves with 1-button cuff straps, and single rear vent
• Light gray felt fedora with dark brown grosgrain ribbon
• Light brown printed paisley silk scarf with red fringe
• Brown leather shoulder holster

Feeling a bit daring or just retro? Swap out the brown patterned necktie for a solid brown bow tie.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the series.

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983).

Vitals

Al Pacino as Tony Montana, impulsive and hotheaded cocaine kingpin

New York City to Miami, Fall 1983

Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Tailor: Tommy Velasco

Background

Even if you’re one of the 0.5% of the population who hasn’t seen Scarface, you’ve seen this suit and you know this scene. You’ve seen it on t-shirts, dorm room posters, memes, and anywhere that pop culture will allow it. The scene has become legendary over the last three decades as one of the greatest movie gunfights in history for many reasons: an unhinged Al Pacino who may or may not have been pretending to be high, an endless mob of cartel gunmen each meeting their fate at the end of his AR-15, and – of course:

Say hello to my little friend!

What’d He Wear?

After sporting a variety of white suits, bold silks, and pastels through his rise to power over the course of the movie, Tony Montana is surprisingly subtle in a dark chalkstripe three-piece suit when he goes out the proverbial blaze of glory. Of course, he’s just returned from New York City after an aborted hit with the late Alberto (an always excellent Mark Margolis), so he was wisely outfitted in a more conservative business suit to fit in among the Gordon Gekko crowd of ’80s Manhattan.

Tony’s suit is dark navy wool with a chalkstripe that alternates between a thick double stripe and a thin single stripe. It was custom-made for Pacino by Paramount Studios tailor Tommy Velasco and was featured a few years ago on The Golden Closet.

Tony and his mountains of yeyo.

The single-breasted suit jacket has a 2-button front that Tony always wears open, as he tends to do with his single-breasted jackets. It has peak lapels with a buttonhole on the left lapel. Tony wears a white silk pocket square poking out of his welted breast pocket. The suitcoat also has jetted rear-slanting hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and double side vents.

Pulling back a bit, we get a better look at Tony’s jacket and vest. Inset photo: Pacino’s actual suit, as featured at The Golden Closet.

Tony’s suit has a matching single-breasted vest (waistcoat) that he tends to wear buttoned except while taking off his tie during a less cocaine-fueled moment in his office. It closes down the front with six buttons, with the lowest button left open over the notched bottom. The back of the vest is lined in dark silk – possibly black or midnight blue – with an adjustable strap.

Tony briefly opts for a Dillinger-esque look around the office. Inset production photo shows us the extremely long tie… I know I took issue with the short pink tie in Diamonds are Forever, but this is no healthy alternative either.

Tony’s flat front suit trousers have a medium rise with side pockets. The bottoms are cuffed with a full break. He wears a thin brown leather belt with a small gold square single-claw buckle.

Tony’s white dress shirt doesn’t stay white for long once the bullets start flying. It has a slim collar that he wears unbuttoned – even with a tie – and French cuffs fastened by a set of flat gold rectangular links.

Tony slips on a tie for business time.

It’s interesting to note – although likely just a coincidence – that Tony’s outfit consists primarily of red, white, and blue. Not only are these the colors of his adopted United States, but they also appear on the Cuban flag. In fact, one could argue that the blue and white stripes on the flag are reflected in Tony’s blue chalkstripe suit… but that’s a bit of a stretch. (The blood and the cocaine also add extra splashes of red and white to his suit, so that’s fun.)

The red in Tony’s outfit comes from his slim silk patterned tie that is quickly abandoned after he returns to his Miami headquarters. The tie is comprised of many gold spots with a navy square center, all on a red ground. The tie is worn long, with the blade extending well past the waistband.

Another garment missing for the famous final showdown is a navy wool single-breasted overcoat worn in New York. Not much of the coat is seen, but it has padded shoulders, notch lapels, and a long rear vent.

Tony sports an overcoat in New York City, but he doesn’t need it when he ventures back to the warmer Miami climate. Not sure where I found the autographed inset photo; that’d been floating around on my computer for more than ten years so I can’t properly source it.

Tony wears a pair of black leather slip-on ankle boots with raised heels that are fittingly known as “Cuban boots”, given Tony’s heritage. He wears them with a pair of black dress socks.

If anyone should be wearing Cuban boots…

Tony wears both of his handguns in holsters, removing both before the final gunfight actually begins. He wears his Beretta Cheetah 81 in an IWB at the small of his back, and he carries the Smith & Wesson Model 36 snubnose .38 Special – likely the same one that Gina picks up – under his left arm in a brown leather shoulder holster.

Unaware that he’s minutes away from a major gunfight, Tony actually removes both of his holsters.

With this more conservative suit, Tony also slims down his usually expansive array of jewelry and accessories. Around his neck, he only wears a thick gold link necklace rather than his usual two.

He still wears the gold Omega La Magique watch – with a small black dial – on his left wrist, but he now appears to be wearing no bracelet on his right wrist.

From Tony Montana’s AR-15 to James Bond’s trusty Walther, Omega has always been the watch of choice for firearm-proficient film protagonists.

For most of his “successful” career, Tony can be seen wearing two rings on his right hand. In the preceding scene meeting with Sosa and this final sequence, he is down to wearing just the large gold diamond ring on his third finger.

Tony “comforting” Gina gives us another good look at his big diamond ring and the chalkstripes of his suiting.

How to Get the Look

Tony Montana’s death suit is an interesting interpretation of what an ’80s drug kingpin would wear if plucked from his Miami Vice world and dropped somewhere between Hill Street Blues and Wall Street.

• Navy blue alternating-chalkstripe wool custom-tailored suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, rear-slanted jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and double rear vents
  • Single-breasted 6-button vest with notched bottom and lower welt pockets
  • Flat front medium-rise trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffed bottoms
• White dress shirt with slim collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Red silk spot-patterned necktie
• Gold flat rectangle cuff links
• Black leather slip-on “Cuban boot” ankle boots with raised heels
• Black dress socks
• Thin brown leather belt with square gold single-claw buckle
• Navy blue wool single-breasted overcoat with notch lapels, padded shoulders, and long single rear vent
• Omega La Magique wristwatch on left wrist with gold expanding bracelet, gold rectangular case, and round black dial
• Gold ring with diamond, worn on right ring finger
• Yellow gold link chain necklace

By the time he gets back to Miami and is introducing Sosa’s henchmen to his “little friend”, Tony’s already ditched his tie and overcoat. The white silk pocket square stays in his breast pocket, though it certainly isn’t white by the end of the battle.

The Gun

Ah, Tony’s “little friend”… the Colt AR-15 used by Al Pacino has become one of the most infamous firearms in cinematic history. He uses it to great effect during the gun battle, but alas, even when fitted with a “fake” M203 grenade launcher, it can only do so much against a team of killers and one particularly sneaky shotgun-wielding hitman.

If you haven’t seen this image before, where have you been for the last 33 years?

The AR-15 was first introduced by ArmaLite in 1959 as a battle rifle for the U.S. military. It would eventually be redesigned and adopted as various incarnations of the M16 rifle, but it was a civilian market Colt AR-15 – first marketed as a semi-automatic option in 1963 – that found its way into Tony Montana’s arsenal. According to IMFDB and The Golden Closet:

Originally an M16A1 was used with the grenade launcher and the AR-15 was substituted after cinematographer John Alonzo determined that the AR-15’s firing sequence could be timed to synchronize with the Arriflex cameras, which would result in elongating the duration of muzzle flashes seen on film.

Tony’s AR-15 would’ve likely been illegally modified to fire fully automatic with items such as a “Drop In Auto Sear” or “lightning-link”. Tony cycles through two jungle-taped STANAG magazines, each containing 30 rounds of 5.56×45 mm NATO ammunition. Of course, it’s not just rifle rounds that give Tony his edge against the assassins.

Check out those jungle-taped mags. Tony was obviously ready for something like this.

The Golden Closet currently features the “fake” 39mm smoothbore grenade launcher that was fixed to Tony’s AR-15 to resemble the standard M203 under-barrel grenade launcher used by the U.S. military. In reality, the M203 fires a single 40mm grenade. Eventually, the movie industry adopted the Cobray CM203 flare launcher as a stand-in for the M203 but for earlier ’80s action flicks like Scarface and Predator produced before the CM203 was developed, the “fake” M203 was the best option. (Fun fact: The exact same fake M203 prop that was used in Scarface would later by used by Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dutch in Predator.)

Tony slips a grenade into his fake M203 launcher.

Check out IMFDB for a photo of the actual AR-15 with jungle-taped magazines and grenade launcher that was used in Scarface!

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the deluxe DVD gift set… which also comes with a copy of the original Scarface from 1932!

The Quote

You wanna fuck with me? You fucking with the best! You wanna fuck with me? Okay. You little cockroaches… come on. You wanna play games? Okay, I play with you… come on. Okay. You wanna play rough? Okay. Say hello to my little friend!

Footnote

A photo of Pacino wearing this suit is used for the film’s now iconic poster but with the colors inverted to create the effect of a white suit and black shirt. He does wear a white three-piece suit and black shirt earlier in the film, but promo photography definitely divulge that the poster was used from photos of this dark striped finale suit.

This was my Halloween costume in 2010! Keep this in mind if you’re looking for a costume 11 months from now.

Michael Caine as Charlie Croker in The Italian Job (1969).

Vitals

Michael Caine as Charlie Croker, British career criminal and mob thief

London, Spring 1969

Film: The Italian Job
Release Date: June 2, 1969
Director: Peter Collinson
Wardrobe Supervisor: Dulcie Midwinter

Background

If you’ve seen The Italian Job, you know the moment I’m talking about. Fresh out of prison, Charlie Croker is taken to a a shady garage – run by a surprisingly posh manager – where the elevator doors swing open and he stands, impassive and perfectly-tailored, as he is presented with his shining Aston Martin DB4.

It’s the perfect moment to kick off this installment of BAMF Style’s biannual Car Week, celebrating the greatest intersections of cars, clothes, and cinema.

What’d He Wear?

Take me to my tailor.

Chris Laverty wisely makes the observation at Clothes on Film that “this is Croker’s ‘make an impression’ suit”, and it indeed leaves an impression on both his fellow characters and the audience. The first appearance of this gray suit kicks off one of the coolest combined sartorial and automotive moments in British cinema as Charlie Croker strides out from the elevator to his new DB4.

The gray semi-solid suit was tailored by Douglas Hayward, Caine’s personal tailor at the time, with a contemporary close fit that clearly differentiates it from the baggier fit of the check suit he wore when released from prison. The suit tells us that this is clearly a man keeping up with the times, just as one would expect from a Michael Caine character.

Croker finds himself the guest of honor at a very special welcome party. Luckily, he’s dressed for the occasion… even if the rest of the guests are undressed for the occasion.

Croker’s single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels – with a buttonhole through the left lapel – that roll to just above the top of the 3-button front. The jacket has a welted breast pocket and flapped pockets that sit straight on his waist. Each of the long double vents extend up to the top of the pocket flaps.

Charlie Croker checks out the Aston Martin’s 3670cc straight-six engine… but more about that later.

The close fit continues through the trousers’ slim legs, though they are a bit wide through the flat-front hips to comfortably accommodate Caine’s physique. The frogmouth-style front pockets – rather than open side pockets – help maintain the suit’s sleek lines. The trousers have a considerably low rise, rising to just below Caine’s belly where they are held up with a black leather belt.

Croker faces the business end of Mrs. Beckermann’s semi-automatic.

Croker’s dress shirt is pale blue with wide blue stripes. The shirt’s tall spread collar has long points that are most noticeable when worn without a tie.

Ain’t he cheeky?

The shirt, which Chris Laverty theorized was made by Turnbull & Asser, has a plain, placket-less front withe second button placed closely to the top. Croker wears a pair of small gold square links through the shirt’s square French cuffs.

Receiving some news.

For more formal occasions, like receiving a stunning Aston Martin convertible, Croker completes the look with a true blue satin silk tie.

Croker regards his new ride much more stoically than I would in the same situation.

A fitting accompaniment for a mod character in swinging London, Charlie Croker wears a pair of black leather slip-on Chelsea boots. A few glimpses further up the leg reveal a pair of dark socks, possibly black.

Croker redresses after a romp in the hay.

This suit also received an excellent analysis on Matt Spaiser’s blog The Suits of James Bond.

How to Get the Look

Michael Caine looks effortlessly cool as he saunters from garage to hotel in his bespoke Hayward suit, providing a silent lesson on how a close-fitting suit can work in a man’s favor.

• Gray semi-solid suit, tailored by Douglas Hayward, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long double vents
  • Flat front low-rise trousers with belt loops, frogmouth front pockets, slim legs, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale blue blue-striped dress shirt with large spread collar, plain front, squared double/French cuffs
• Blue satin silk necktie
• Gold square cuff links
• Black leather belt with small gold single-claw buckle
• Black leather Chelsea boots
• Black dress socks

The Car

Although The Italian Job and its 2003 remake would revitalize interest in the Mini Cooper, each film also prominently features an Aston Martin convertible. The recent version finds Jason Statham speeding through L.A. in a 2000 DB7 Vantage Volante, likely a tribute to the gray 1962 Aston Martin DB4 convertible that Charlie Croker gets his hands on in a London underground garage.

*Having ridden in a Mini Cooper for the first time lately, I can definitely see why people were interested!

Charlie Croker gets acquainted with his new ride.

The Aston Martin DB4 came on the heels of the DB Mark III at the time of its introduction in 1958. The DB4 shared many similarities with its predecessor, but it received a completed redesigned body and a larger and more powerful Tadek Marek straight-six engine. It became the first Aston Martin model to be built at the company’s Newport Pagnell works in Buckinghamshire. Like Croker’s suit, it was inspired by Italian design but manufactured in England.

1,210 total DB4 cars were produced during the model’s five-year run from 1958 to 1963. Only 70 of these were convertibles, a design introduced for the DB4 in 1962. The DB4 would ultimately be replaced by the DB5 in 1963, a car that would grow to legendary status thanks to James Bond and Goldfinger. (Interestingly, in the Goldfinger novel that was published in 1958, 007 drove a DB Mark III.)

1962 Aston Martin DB4 Convertible

Body Style: 2+2 drophead coupe

Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)

Engine: 223 cu. in. (3.7 L) Tadek Marek I6 with twin SU carburetor

Power: 240 hp (179 kW; 243 PS) @ 5500 rpm

Torque: 269.9 lb·ft (366 N·m) @ 5000 rpm

Transmission: 4-speed manual

Wheelbase: 98 inches (2489 mm)

Length: 177 inches (4496 mm)

Width: 66.1 inches (1676 mm)

Height: 52.5 inches (1334 mm)

A few unsubstantiated stories surround the legend of the DB4 – with registration plates 163 ELT – used in The Italian Job. One theory is that the car caught fire and/or blew up prior to filming the Turin destruction sequence so a Lancia Flaminia had to be dressed up like a DB4 and destroyed for the scene. Another theory states that the DB4 was used for the cliff destruction scene, but that Peter Collinson wasn’t satisfied with the crash and had to use the Lancia. Yet another theory is that the car wasn’t destroyed at all, and the Lancia was simply used to save the expensive Aston from destruction. Either way, at least one Lancia was used – for one reason or another, as one can tell by seeing the car’s hood opening with a hinge at the windshield end – rather than at the headlight end.

No matter what really happened on that Turin cliff in 1969, it’s nice to assume that there’s a stunning Aston Martin DB4 out there somewhere that was saved from destruction almost fifty years ago.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Typical, isn’t it? I’ve been out of jail five minutes, and already I’m in a hot car.

Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) aims John McClane’s own Beretta at him in a production still from Die Hard (1988).

Vitals

Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, shrewd German terrorist leader and self-described “excellent thief”

Los Angeles, Christmas 1988

Film: Die Hard
Release Date: July 15, 1988
Director: John McTiernan
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance

Background

Like surprisingly many others, Die Hard is my favorite Christmas movie and no holiday season – no matter how hectic or bleak – is complete without a viewing of what is arguably the greatest action movie ever made.

For the first BAMF Style holiday season in 2012, I broke down the rugged (and eventually very sparse) style of Bruce Willis’ John McClane, but it feels like the time has come to look at what the film’s fashion-driven antagonist wore as he led his European gunslingers into Nakatomi Plaza on Christmas Eve 1988.

Mr. Takagi, I could talk about industrialization and men’s fashion all day, but I’m afraid work must intrude…

What’d He Wear?

Nice suit. John Phillips, London. I have two myself. Rumor has it Arafat buys his there.

Obviously, Hans Gruber knows a thing about clothes as he takes the time to compliment the Nakatomi Corporation’s soon-to-be martyr’s suit. Whether or not the dark suit sported by Hans himself is one of his two from the prestigious (but ultimately fictional) John Phillips.

Hans Gruber’s dark charcoal suit is very contemporary to its 1980s setting, not surprising for a man so interested in fashion and image. The jacket is cut short with a double-breasted 4-on-2 button stance.

Hans meets his new buddies at the Nakatomi Corporation!

Hans’ combination of notch lapels and a double-breasted front was most popular during the decade, although it also popped up a bit during the ’60s. When he makes his first appearance on screen, Hans wears his lapels flipped up under his raincoat to create a more menacing look before he enters “businessman” mode when taking over the building. Each lapel has a buttonhole.

The jacket also has a welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, a ventless back, and padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads. All in all, very befitting for a flashy ’80s terrorist’s power suit.

Much less is seen of the trousers, especially as Hans spends so much time behind a desk once he has taken control. They have side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms with a full break. He wears them with a black leather belt with a gold single-claw buckle.

Hans wears a pale blue poplin dress shirt. The collar is slim with moderate spread, and the rounded cuffs close with a button. The front has a placket and a pointed-bottom pocket over the left breast.

Hans really wanted that new iPhone for Christmas, but Ma and Pa Gruber shafted him with a secondhand Kenwood walkie-talkie. Maybe next year…

Just because he’s killing and stealing on Christmas Eve doesn’t mean Hans Gruber isn’t one to inject some holiday fun into his attire! Hans wears a maroon silk necktie, tied in a four-in-hand knot.

Unlike his nemesis, Hans manages to keep his feet covered throughout the evening. He wears a pair of black leather cap-toe bluchers and black dress socks.

Stubbing out one of the Gauloises he bummed from McClane…

For his on-screen introduction, Hans Gruber wears the trope-worthy Badass Longcoat, here in the form of a taupe raincoat. The coat is worn open with a loose belt hooked through a loop on each side. Each lapel has a buttonhole through it, and the jacket’s cuffs close through a single button tab.

In lieu of a scarf, Hans just flips up his suit lapels. Win win.

Finally, Hans’ sole visible accessory is a gold tank watch fastened to his left wrist on a black alligator strap.

Still smarting over not getting that iPhone…

How to Get the Look

If not for his nefarious aims, Hans Gruber would have certainly looked the part of a very welcome guest at a company Christmas party in the ’80s!

• Charcoal tailored “power suit”, consisting of:
  • Double-breasted 4×2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale blue poplin dress shirt with slim collar, breast pocket, front placket, and rounded button cuffs
• Maroon silk tie
• Black leather belt with square gold single-claw buckle
• Black leather cap-toe bluchers
• Black dress socks
• Taupe belted raincoat with 1-button tab cuffs and long single rear vent
• Gold tank watch on black alligator leather strap

The Gun

For his takeover of Nakatomi Plaza, Hans Gruber’s sidearm is a Heckler & Koch P7M13 semi-automatic pistol, finished in hard chrome and chambered in 9×19 mm Parabellum. Although Hans and his gang are clearly involved in criminal activity without much regard for noise, he is seen removing a suppressor (which matches the pistol’s chrome finish) when he first draws it on Mr. Takagi. According to IMFDB, this indicates that “it’s not a P7M13SD because there is no threaded barrel to use a suppressor”

Hans blows his job interview almost immediately.

Heckler & Koch GmbH first revealed its PSP in 1976, aimed at the police market. Production began on the P7 three years later, and the weapon was soon adopted by the German Army’s special forces and the GSG 9 counter-terrorism unit. In addition to its distinguished look and innovative cocking-lever grip, the P7 series utilizes a unique gas-delayed blowback locking system which utilizes each ignited cartridge’s gas pressures.

Hans should consider finding a better place to store his weapon.

The first variant of the P7 was the P7M8 in the early 1980s, followed quickly by the P7M13 in 1982 which could carry 13-round magazines of 9 mm ammunition. With its double-stack magazine, the P7M13 was slightly larger at 30 ounces with an overall length of 6.9 inches, sharing the P7M8’s barrel length of 4.1 inches.

Supposedly Alan Rickman had trouble keeping his eyes open when exposed to the multiple instances of muzzle flash in the film, but this shows that he could keep it together when needed!

The script initially called for a Walther:

Hans slowly takes out his Walther and his silencer.

…which still found use in the film in the form of the menacing Karl’s Walther PPK. Instead, Hans was armed with the less familiar (and thus more exotic) but equally German Heckler & Koch P7M13.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Who said we were terrorists?

Footnote

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Clint Eastwood as Joe Kidd in Joe Kidd (1972).

Vitals

Clint Eastwood as Joe Kidd, laconic hunter and former bounty hunter

New Mexico, Spring 1902

Film: Joe Kidd
Release Date: July 14, 1972
Director: John Sturges

Background

Penned by Elmore Leonard, Joe Kidd is a unique revisionist Western starring Clint Eastwood as the titular ex-bounty hunter who finds himself reluctantly hired to join a posse tracking down a group of Mexican revolutionaries fighting for land reform.

Although the Joe Kidd character could be interchanged with any of Eastwood’s usual taciturn and iron-willed Western heroes (not that he’s any less entertaining for it!), the movie benefits from its interesting and oft-ignored setting and context as well as the usual Elmore Leonard touch of an array of unique characters populating the film’s world.

At the outset, Joe is locked up in the small town of Sinola, New Mexico as he awaits his trial for poaching. When he is asked if he knew it was illegal to hunt on reservation land, Joe responds:

Well the deer didn’t know where he was, and I wasn’t sure either.

What’d He Wear?

Audiences had become well-acquainted with the sight of Clint Eastwood’s familiar “Man With No Name” guise in Westerns, so it must have caught many audiences off-guard when Joe Kidd is first introduced in a suit – albeit, a raggedly worn one after his night in the slammer.

Joe makes up for lost time after an entire two (2) days away from being with a woman.

Joe’s three-piece suit is a muted brown plaid tweed. His single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that roll to the top of a 4-button front, which he leaves open (as he does with his vest beneath it). The jacket also has a welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, roped sleeveheads, 3-button cuffs, and a ventless back.

Upon learning that bad guys are coming to the bar, Clint gets his priorities straight by checking the bar’s shotgun then pouring himself a cold one.

The aforementioned vest has seven buttons, always left open. Were he to button the vest, it would have a notched bottom.

Joe’s flat front suit trousers have belt loops, through which he wears a wide black leather belt. The trousers have frogmouth front pockets and a straight fit through the leg to a slight flare at the bottom over his boots.

Brown tweed is the new black.

Although he wears a belt, the brown leather straps from a pair of suspenders are also seen attached to his trousers.

Joe’s shirt is striped in various widths in tan, white, and pale blue. He wears it with a white detachable collar that fastens in the front and back with gold studs.

Joe meets with Frank Harlan and his cronies.

His wide and short tie is a series of large red ornate dots on a navy ground.

With no one to impress in jail, Joe lets his tie and collar fly free.

Joe wears a pair of plain black leather riding boots with raised heels.

A behind the scenes look of Clint getting a look at the scenes.

Despite his boots, Joe isn’t yet ready to ride so he wears his “city hat”, a black felt derby with a black grosgrain ribbon.

Go Big or Go Home

Joe Kidd sets a new standard for manliness.

Joe misinterprets the meaning of “shotgunning a beer”, but no one has the courage to tell him. Actually, I take that back… this is what the meaning is now.

How to Get the Look

Not the traditional look associated with a Clint Eastwood Western role, Joe Kidd’s suit is worn with just as much contempt as you’d expect from such a character.

• Brown plaid tweed suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 4-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single-breasted 7-button vest with notched bottom
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, frogmouth front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Salmon, white, and pale blue striped button-up dress shirt with white detachable collar and single cuffs
• Navy necktie with large red ornate dots
• Suspenders with brown leather button-hooks
• Black leather belt with large square steel single-claw buckle
• Black leather riding boots
• Black felt derby hat with black grosgrain ribbon

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Uh… he’s goin’ on a huntin’ trip. I’ll be back.

Lee Marvin as Charlie Strom in The Killers (1964).

Vitals

Lee Marvin as Charlie Strom, professional mob hitman

Miami, Fall 1963

Film: The Killers
Release Date: July 7, 1964
Director: Don Siegel
Costume Designer: Helen Colvig

Background

Tomorrow would have been the birthday of Lee Marvin, who was born in New York on February 19, 1924. After his WWII service with the Marine Corps, Marvin spent a few decades acting before lighting up the screen as introspective assassin Charlie Strom in Don Siegel’s adaptation of The Killers. In addition to his first top-billed film role, The Killers also led to Marvin winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor (in addition to his role in Cat Ballou).

The story originated as an Ernest Hemingway short story in 1927 and was first filmed in 1946 with Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, and William “Fatman McCabe” Conrad in his first credited role. In a rare instance of an author appreciating the cinematic adaptation of his work, Hemingway was reportedly quite pleased with this now-classic film noir that borrowed his words for the opening act before taking audiences through the totally original story co-penned by Richard Brooks, Anthony Veiller, and John Huston.

In 1964, Don Siegel directed this remake which appropriately brought the two titular assassins – played here by Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager – to the forefront. Siegel and screenwriter Gene L. Coon avoided the issues that plague most remakes by totally revamping the story and characters while maintaining the opening premise and violent tone that hooked readers and viewers for the last four decades. The blog Immortal Ephemera pays tribute to both adaptations and draws out the strength of this newer version:

For me it took the 1964 Don Siegel movie version of The Killers to realize the true genius of Hemingway’s story. That movie is a further step removed from the text, more a movie remake than straight adaptation of the Hemingway story. The Siegel film retains the killers, removes the Nick Adams character, but leaves Lee Marvin’s hitman character to obsess over all that had first puzzled Nick when the story was first published in Scribner’s in 1927.

The Killers begins with its two laconic hitmen, Charlie (Marvin) and Lee (Gulager) striding into a school for the blind, searching for a teacher named Johnny North (John Cassavetes). North receives a warning call, but he calmly waits at his desk as Charlie and Lee swiftly gun him down. The psychotic Lee is satisfied by the large payout coming their way, but Charlie is bothered by North’s acceptance of his fate and determines that there is more to the story.

What’d He Wear?

Charlie Strom’s light gray semi-solid silk two-piece suit immediately differentiates him as an outsider in the bucolic school for the blind in the opening act. In fact, Johnny North probably chose a place like this to hide since any professional killer in a silk suit would draw attention immediately.

Charlie’s silk suit is more fitting when he goes to Miami, but even then his mechanic shop surroundings provide a clear contrast to his urban gangster ensemble.

The single-breasted suit jacket has slim notch lapels that roll down to the two-button front, which Charlie alternates between wearing with either only the top button closed (for sartorial correctness) or only the bottom button closed (to keep his jacket closed while allowing him easier access to his large revolver holstered underneath it.)

Charlie’s jacket has a welted breast pocket and straight hip pockets with slim flaps. The shoulders are padded, and the sleeveheads are roped with two buttons at the end on each cuff. The back has short double side vents.

Since he keeps his jacket closed throughout this brief opening scene, the only confirmed detail about Charlie’s flat front trousers are the cuffed bottoms with their tall turn-ups. At 6’2″, Lee Marvin can get away with taller cuffs on his trousers without sacrificing the appearance of his own height.

Each of Charlie’s suits in the film is differently styled, but the trousers seem to be consistent with on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets with button loops, and belt loops, through which he wears a black belt when wearing black shoes. I think we can reasonably assume that Charlie’s trousers are similar to his others when it comes to some of these details.

Charlie wears a white dress shirt with a spread collar and single-button squared cuffs. When relaxing on the train, he takes off his jacket and tie to reveal a front placket and pointed-bottom breast pocket.

Charlie’s tie typically matches his suit, and his slim silver silk necktie with this outfit is no exception. The tie has a short length, and the pointed tip falls out of his jacket when he leans over with only the bottom button fastened.

Charlie’s way with women could use some work.

Charlie struts down the school hall in black calf leather 2-eyelet derby shoes with cap toes. Rather than matching his socks to his trousers, he wears a pair of black dress socks, likely made of thin silk.

Although Lee has swagger, Charlie is clearly the leader of the two hitmen.

To show his cool indifference for his surroundings, Charlie keeps on both his hat and sunglasses while inside the school.

Even Charlie’s hat indicates his preference for sticking to shades of gray. Both the felt fedora and its wide grosgrain ribbon are darker gray, with a small red feather pinned into the bow on the ribbon’s left side. The fedora’s short brim is snapped down in the front.

Charlie’s sunglasses have thick brown plastic frames with dark green lenses.

Either he’s blatantly indifferent to the school’s sense of decorum or Charlie Strom is nursing one hell of a hangover.

Although not very clearly seen here, Charlie appears to be wearing a stainless non-date Rolex Submariner 5513 with a black dial and black bezel on a stainless link bracelet. It is best seen when wearing his Glen plaid suit to lock Norman Fell into a sweatbox or when wearing his blue suit and firing his suppressed .357 during the gunfight finale.

How to Get the Look

Unlike other professional killers, Charlie Strom doesn’t care that his sharp clothing draws attention. In fact, he seems to relish looking every bit the intimidating gangster.

• Light gray semi-solid silk suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slim-flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and short double rear vents
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffed bottoms
• White dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button cuffs
• Silver silk necktie
• Black leather 2-eyelet cap-toe derby shoes
• Black thin dress socks
• Gray felt short-brimmed fedora with wide dark gray grosgrain ribbon
• Brown plastic-framed sunglasses with dark green lenses
• Rolex Submariner 5513 with stainless case, black dial, and black bezel on stainless link bracelet

The Gun

Charlie’s weapon of choice for the opening hit is the same blued Smith & Wesson Model 27 that he would use during the finale.

Interestingly, the revolver is fitted with a somewhat silly-looking “soup can” suppressor; while movies, TV, and books always like to outfit its professional hitmen with intimidating-looking “silencers”, it’s not often realized that the gas escaping through the cylinder makes a suppressor on a revolver practically useless. (Plus, Strom kills most of his victims in broad daylight with plenty of witnesses… what good would it do to silence the sound?)

Despite the relatively useless suppressor, Charlie’s weapon of choice is far from useless itself. Smith & Wesson first introduced the venerable .357 Magnum cartridge in 1935 for its Registered Magnum model. The .357 Magnum quickly gained a reputation as a powerful and reliable self-defense round, and shooters also appreciated that .38 Special rounds could be fired from a .357 revolver. When Smith & Wesson began numbering its models in the mid-1950s, the large carbon-steel N-frame .357 Magnum was officially designated the Model 27.

The movie’s titular killers, doing what they do best.

Charlie Strom is clearly a fiercely independent, unique brand of assassin. He’s confident striding into a hit, wearing a flashy suit and blowing away his victim in a room full of witnesses, then he takes the time afterward to actually think about what he’s just done. It makes sense that he would carry distinctive weapons like the Model 27 and, as a backup, a Single Action Army holstered to his belt (as we’ll see later). While revolvers and semi-automatic pistols each offer their own relative pros and cons, one major benefit of a revolver to a hitman like Charlie would be the lack of ejected shells (and thus evidence) left on the scene.

For his next violent revenge-crime flick, Point Blank, Lee Marvin would “upgrade” to the large-framed Smith & Wesson Model 29 in .44 Magnum.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie. The Criterion Collection offers a dual-pack with the original 1946 version starring Burt Lancaster as well as this 1964 update.

The Quote

I gotta find out what makes a man decide not to run… why, all of a sudden, he’d rather die.

Dean Martin as Sam Harmon in Ocean’s Eleven (1960).

Vitals

Dean Martin as Sam Harmon, lounge singer, war veteran, and casino heister

Beverly Hills to Las Vegas, December 1959 through January 1960

Film: Ocean’s Eleven
Release Date: August 10, 1960
Director: Lewis Milestone
Costume Designer: Howard Shoup
Tailor: Sy Devore

Background

The height of the Rat Pack’s heyday was 1960. Frank’s buddy Jack was elected into the White House, Marilyn was still alive, and the whole gang was living it up in Vegas while filming Ocean’s Eleven. The movie began after Peter Lawford heard the story from Gilbert Kay, who had heard it from a gas station attendant. Once Frank Sinatra was on board, there was no doubt that his famous pals Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. would fill out the rest of the top billing.

It was while filming the movie’s finale, an irony-laden funereal march in front of The Sands, that one of the most iconic of Rat Pack images was captured: the five main performers – Sinatra, Dino, Sammy, Lawford, and Joey Bishop – in front of their names on the Sands’ marquee. Suited up by the legendary Sy Devore, the five men look like they could run the world. And in Las Vegas, they did.

What’d He Wear?

Sam Harmon makes his first appearance in Ocean’s Eleven when he steps off a plane in Beverly Hills wearing a medium gray semi-solid wool suit, tailored especially for him by Sy Devore, the “tailor to the stars” who kept the Rat Pak sharkskin-sharp.

Ah, the glorious air travel of a bygone era…

Martin was a regular customer of Devore’s, and a Los Angeles Times article written in the wake of the Ocean’s Eleven remake in 2001 and posted on SyDevore.com states that “Dino’s collar is slightly higher on the neck,” as he preferred.

The men of the Rat Pack, suited by Sy Devore.

Given Devore’s expensive-at-the-time price of $285 for a custom-made suit (or $200 for a sport coat and $85 for slacks), it makes sense to see Sam Harmon dressing efficiently throughout the movie, wearing only one suit (this one), two sport jackets, and – since he’s Dean Martin – a sharp dark tuxedo. Dino himself had a very economic sense of style, wearing the same clothes over the course of several years as opposed to his comedic partner Jerry Lewis. Despite Martin’s more debonair reputation, it was Lewis who was referred to in the article as “the biggest Devore clotheshorse in town” due to his sartorial habits of giving away suits at the first sign of soiling and never wearing a pair of socks more than once.

Martin’s gray suitcoat in Ocean’s Eleven is styled and tailored very similarly to his brown and blue striped sport jackets. The single-breasted jacket has a low two-button front and wide, padded shoulders that nicely reflect the relaxed, swinging demeanor of both the character and the actor. It also 3-button cuffs and the short double side vents that were fashionable throughout the early ’60s.

The suit jacket’s two hip pockets and the breast pocket are square patch pockets as seen on his other jackets. A dark red printed silk handkerchief cheekily pokes out from the breast pocket.

Sam’s jaunty, playful swagger would be reasonably snuffed out after the death of a brother-in-arms.

Martin’s flat front suit trousers have slanted side pockets – often for his hands – and plain-hemmed bottoms. He never unbuttons his jacket so additional details remain unseen, but they’re likely styled like his other trousers with belt loops and a jetted right rear pocket that closes with a button.

Dean Martin wears his usual white cotton shirts with button-down collars with every outfit in Ocean’s Eleven without exception, even when clad in his tux. The shirts, which Devore would create for $25 each, also had a front placket and button cuffs. Martin would request the button-down collars on his shirts to rise high on the neck, creating a substantially large collar that would dwarf the tight tie knots.

Both of Sam Harmon’s ties with this outfit are slim patterned silk ties. When first seen at the Beverly Hills airport, Sam wears a gray silk tie printed with repeating clusters of four silver dots connected in the center by a smaller black dot.

Sam establishes his look of slim ties and a big collar.

For the funeral finale in Vegas, Sam wears a more somber tie with wide right-down-to-left stripes that alternate between navy and burgundy. (A continuity error results in a different tie – the burgundy, dark navy, and forest green striped one previously seen swapped in with the brown striped jacket – worn while actually leaving the funeral during the credits. It’s this tie that shows up on the iconic poster seen above.)

Sam’s shoes are black leather plain-toe bluchers, worn with a pair of black silk dress socks.

Both of Dino’s accessories are sported on his left hand: a silver pinky ring and a steel chain-link bracelet.

What to Imbibe

As the very eloquent Teeritz once stated in a post on his blog, “Much has always been made of Frank Sinatra, his voice, and his legacy and I agree with most of it, but for me, Dino seemed like the one that I would rather have a smoke and a drink with. Even though the hard partying image that he portrayed on stage was a myth. His glass was usually filled with apple juice, not Scotch.”

Although Dean does look here like he just found out that even the prop bottle is only full of apple juice.

Although Sam Harmon grabs a bottle of J&B at Spyros’ house, it’s quite likely that the actual contents consumed were his usual apple juice. J&B Rare is a blend of 42 Scotch whiskies that was developed for the American market and exploded in popularity after the repeal of Prohibition. In addition to being a real-life favorite of Dean Martin’s, J&B was known to be the preferred spirit for Truman Capote, who would order it only by its full name “Justerini and Brooks”, named for the Bologna-born distiller Giacomo Justerini and the company’s eventual buyer Alfred Brooks. It does make sense that Dean Martin’s favorite Scotch would still have such a strong Italian influence…

How to Get the Look

Dean Martin’s Sam Harmon wears his sharp tailored suit in a variety of situations, from being the coolest guy to step off a plane to looking slick even during a funeral march.

• Gray semi-solid wool tailored suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with slim notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and short double side vents
  • Flat front trousers with cuffed bottoms/turn-ups
• White cotton shirt with large button-down collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Slim printed silk necktie
• Black leather plain-toe bluchers
• Thin black silk dress socks
• Burgundy printed silk handkerchief, worn “puffed” in breast pocket
• Silver pinky ring (on left pinky)
• Silver chain bracelet (on left wrist)

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone as the new Mr. and Mrs. Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino (1995).

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, Vegas casino executive and mob associate

Las Vegas, Spring 1974

Film: Casino
Release Date: November 22, 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: John A. Dunn & Rita Ryack

Background

Many Americans are rocking green today for St. Patrick’s Day, so BAMF Style is taking a look at an all-green outfit sported by Robert De Niro in Casino, one of his 70 costume changes and part of the movie’s staggering $1 million costume budget.

In the context of the film timeline, De Niro’s “Ace” Rothstein isn’t buying shots of Jameson in a cheaply decorated bar or vomiting in an alleyway while a parade of leprechauns walks by; he’s taking his new wife Ginger (Sharon Stone) to their first new home after their marriage.

What’d He Wear?

Rita Ryack, one of Casino‘s costume designers, stated that the costumes were meant to reflect the chaos in the story, with more chaotic colors appearing as the events on screen unfold. This scene contains one of Ace’s most tranquil moments, so his monochromatic color scheme – while loud – indicates his rare inner peace. De Niro has said elsewhere on screen that “geniuses pick green”; while Ace is indeed a gambling genius, green is also an earthy color that symbolizes balance, stability, and rebirth. The workaholic Ace has found a life balance with his new life partner, and his trust in this beautiful young woman leads to a short-lived period of renewed energy and happiness.

A tale of two Aces: De Niro nails the vanity of a guy like Sam Rothstein who would constantly be checking to see that he looked his best during important moments of his life.

Though constructed from a different suiting, Ace’s light green Western-styled suit shares much of its styling and tailoring points with the ivory polyester suit he would later wear when confronting Ginger and Lester in the diner. The material is shiny, indicating the possibility of mohair or a mohair blend.

The single-breasted jacket has pointed Western-style yokes over each shoulder down onto the chest. The presence of the yokes means no breast pocket; the two flapped hip pockets sit straight on the waist. Both the yokes and the pocket flaps shine as a slightly more vivid shade of green under certain light.

The two buttons on the front of the jacket and the two buttons on the end of each cuff are steel. Edge swelling is present on the notch lapels, yokes, and pocket flaps. The shoulders are padded, and the sleeveheads are roped. Although the suit doesn’t receive much screen time, it appears to have the same “pinch-back” jacket as the ivory suit with a single pleat, half-belt, and single vent in the back.

Ace proudly presents Ginger with millions of dollars of jewelry… then tells her she has to keep it locked in a bank vault out of their home.

Ace’s matching suit trousers are flat front with an extended waistband tab that closes on the right with a concealed hook. They have straight on-seam side pockets and flared, plain-hemmed bottoms.

The happy couple.

Ace flips to the other end of the green spectrum with his dark green silk shirt and matching tie. The very distinctive shirt has a large point collar, epaulettes (or “shoulder straps”) that button on the outside of the shoulder rather than against the collar, and two chest pockets that button closed through a mitred-edge flap. The left chest pocket flap is monogrammed with “S.R.” stitched in dark green on the pocket’s left edge.

Ginger tries to talk Ace into keeping at least one of her new jewelry pieces at home, but it would disrupt the nature of their business relationship marriage.

Ace’s shirt also incorporates the familiar “Lapidus cuff”, the unique cuff seen throughout the 1970s that close with a single button on a tab. In addition to many of Robert De Niro’s shirts in Casino, the Lapidus cuff made its way onto several of the Frank Foster shirts worn by Roger Moore during his tenure as James Bond.

The name’s Rothstein. Ace Rothstein.

Barely seen on screen, Ace wears a pair of olive alligator leather tassel loafers. Although the shoes follow Ace’s green theme for his outfit, he curiously breaks it up with his socks, a pair of thin brown silk dress socks with dark brown stripes.

Scorsese directs De Niro and Stone on set.

Ace opts for all silver jewelry and accessories, wearing a flat all-steel watch with a square silver dial on his right wrist and a silver ring on his right pinky. This is the very scene where Ginger is gifted with millions of dollars worth of Bvlgari jewelry from Ace, but there’s still no confirmation if they were behind any of Ace’s bling.

Worth mentioning in any sartorial post about Casino is artist Ibraheem Youssef’s impressive tribute to all of De Niro’s various suits in Casino, found here.

Go Big or Go Home

Dinah Washington’s “Unforgettable” played during their otherwise forgettable marriage proposal, and now – at the end of their engagement – the title track of Dinah’s 1959 album What a Diff’rence a Day Makes! plays as Ace pulls up to their new home in his (anachronistic!) orange 1977 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz coupe.

Although the song was originally published in 1934 as “What a Diff’rence a Day Made“, Dinah’s rendition brings the action to the present tense. Her voice is full of hope and, backed by the inspiring orchestra conducted by arranger Belford Hendricks, the song surely reflects Ace at his happiest.

Of course with an abode like that, Ace’s palpable excitement is understandable. The house, located off the edge of the Las Vegas National Golf Course, belonged to hip hop mogul Suge Knight at the time of filming. A terrific post by David Latta explores the house – located at 3515 Cochise Lane – and some of its history. The 4,862 square-foot house is also listed on Zillow, citing that it was built in 1964 and boasts four bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. The real Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and his wife dwelled in a slightly smaller but equally luxurious house only a few miles away, within the private Las Vegas Country Club.

The real Lefty’s home at 972 Vegas Valley Drive is currently for sale*, listed at $750,000 on Zillow. Lefty had the house built new for him and Geri (the real-life Ginger) in 1970, a year after they were married. The 3,266 square-foot home has three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and swank throughout from the bathroom to the pool. The house was evidently re-listed in January 2015.

* as of March 2016

How to Get the Look

Rarely can you gift someone a chinchilla coat and still be the loudest-dressed person in the room, but Ace Rothstein pulls it off with considerable aplomb. If you want to wear all green for St. Patrick’s Day, be wary that this isn’t a suit you’ll want to try to wash vomit out of.

• Light green mohair Western-styled suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted pinch-back jacket with edge-stitched notch lapels, 2-button front (steel buttons), flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs (steel buttons), and pleated half-belt back with single rear vent
  • Flat front trousers with extended waistband tab, straight on-seam side pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark green silk dress shirt with large point collar, button-down epaulettes, and 1-button tab “Lapidus cuffs”
• Dark green silk necktie
• Olive alligator leather tassel loafers
• Brown thin silk dress socks with dark stripes
• Steel wristwatch with square silver dial and flat bracelet
• Silver pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

All this stuff doesn’t mean anything… without trust. I have to be able to trust you with my life.

Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins in Alfie (1966).

Vitals

Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins, caddish Cockney car service driver

London, Spring 1962

Film: Alfie
Release Date: March 24, 1966
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Wardrobe Supervisor: Jean Fairlie
Tailor: Douglas Hayward

Background

April showers in the spring are a fine reason to invest in a new raincoat, and – for all his faults – Alfie Elkins shows off a stylish example as he heads over to Emilio Scala Maternity Hospital to greet the product of his association with Gilda. Alfie is none too pleased with her choice of names:

Malcolm bleeding Alfred? He’ll never forgive you if you give him a name like that!

…but given his lack of involvement in either the child’s life or hers, I wouldn’t exactly believe that he deserves a say in the matter.

What’d He Wear?

Although it’s not raining when Alfie goes to visit his newborn son, it’s certainly a rainy day in the life of a previously unattached bachelor so he struts down Tite Street to the hospital in a distinctive khaki raincoat with brown leather accents.

Michael Caine walks down the street between a red phone booth and a Mini Cooper. Quite possibly one of the most British iamges ever.

Alfie wears the bottom two buttons of his waterproof cotton raincoat fastened, leaving the top button undone. The buttonhole through the left lapel indicates that there may possibly be a fourth button at the top under the collar. The coat has two patch pockets, each with a square-ended flap to close. Each pocket has a smaller square patch pocket overlaid with two brass grommets.

Alfie pays a visit to Gilda and the newly-dubbed Malcolm Alfred.

A pleat runs down the center of the back from the leather yoke down to the half-belted back, where the coat’s long single vent splits. Edge-stitching is present throughout the jacket with reinforced stitching around the bottom hem and on the pockets.

This is about as attentive as Alfie gets as a father.

The beaver-brown leather accents include a long rectangular yoke that runs across the back of both shoulders and round elbow patches on each sleeve.

Underneath, Alfie appears to be wearing the same navy blue mohair blend suit that he had previously bragged about (“a new Terylene and mohair”), tailored for Caine by Douglas Hayward. The single-breasted jacket has slim notch lapels that roll over the top button for a 3-roll-2 effect. The flat front trousers taper through the leg down to the plain-hemmed bottoms.

Alfie wears a pale pink poplin shirt and dark blue slim knit necktie. The long point collar buttons down on the shirt, and the squared cuffs close with a button. A product of the “swinging sixties”, Alfie wears black leather ankle boots that match his slim leather belt.

Fifty years before Frank Underwood was fighting for the Democratic nomination, Alfie Elkins was perfecting the art of breaking the fourth wall.

Alfie’s accessories include a gold pinky ring with a brown oval stone and a stainless watch on his left wrist with a black dial and steel rice-grain bracelet. (I previously guessed the watch to be an Omega Seamaster Automatic.)

How to Get the Look

Evidently, the coat belonged to Michael Caine in real life if this image from a photo shoot circa 1964-1965 is any indication.

Already got Alfie’s beloved blue mohair suit? Protect it from the elements with a leather-accented raincoat and you’ve got Michael Caine’s hip, swinging, Cockney style down!

• Khaki waterproof cotton single-breasted 3-button raincoat with brown leather shoulder/elbow accents, flapped patch pockets, half-belted back, and long single vent
• Navy blue mohair blend suit, tailored by Douglas Hayward, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with slim notch lapels, 3-roll-2 button front, welted breast pocket, rear-slanted flapped hip pockets, 4-button functioning cuffs, and single rear vent
  • Flat front tapered-leg trousers with slim belt loops, on-seam side pockets, jetted rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale pink cotton poplin shirt with long button-down collar, plain front, and squared button cuffs
• Dark blue slim knit necktie with flat bottom
• Black narrow leather belt with small gold metal single-claw buckle
• Black leather ankle boots
• Black dress socks
• Stainless wristwatch with a black dial on steel deployable-clasp bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with a brown oval setting

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Mind you, she came over quite beautified for a time, especially in the early months. I told her, I says, “Blimey, girl, you ain’t as ugly as I thought.”

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987).

Vitals

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko, unscrupulously successful Wall Street businessman

New York City, Spring 1985

Film: Wall Street
Release Date: December 11, 1987
Director: Oliver Stone
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Tailor: Alan Flusser

Background

BAMF Style is back to business on this Monday morning, taking a suggestion from commentors Jose, Andrey, and Ryan to heed the style – if not the business ethos – of Gordon Gekko, the corporate business raider of Wall Street who managed the task of making Charlie Sheen look like not such a bad guy.

“Greed…is good,” is how Wall Street is often best remembered, paraphrasing the famous speech given by Gekko while also summarizing his drive. Although frequently included in lists of “The 100 Greatest Movie Lines” (#57 by AFI and #70 by Premiere), it’s perhaps even more unnerving to know that it was inspired by the real words of stock trader Ivan Boesky. In 1986, the year before Wall Street was made, Boesky told the graduating class at the University of California:

Greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.

Of course, Boesky became infamous for paying $100 million that year to the SEC to settle insider trading charges, but the damage was done and the dangerous “greed is good” mentality led to a generation redefining capitalism with unrestrained avarice. Two decades later, everyone from Australian PM Kevin Rudd to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone cited the “greed is good” ideology as a direct cause of the 2007 financial crisis. “It is perhaps time now to admit that we did not learn the full lessons of the greed-is-good ideology,” realized Rudd in a 2008 speech. “We are still cleaning up the mess of the 21st-century children of Gordon Gekko.”

What’d He Wear?

Gray suits have been a businesswear staple for men since the first office was ever built, so it makes sense that the quintessential American business icon, Gordon Gekko, would have several lined up in his stable. An ardent follower of fashion, Gekko would know the impact of his clothes, so he dresses for power when he needs to look it the most. For a meeting at the 21 Club and later during the infamous “greed…is good” speech, Gekko wears the darkest of his gray suits, an intimidating charcoal wool double-breasted suit.

Gekko controls the room during the Teldar Papers shareholder meeting.

With its short fit and 4-on-1 buttoning double-breasted front, Gekko’s ventless suit jacket incorporates elements from the ’80s “power suit” although the shoulders – while padded – aren’t quite as boxy as the most prototypical examples. There is a buttonhole stitched through each of the jacket’s sweeping, wide peak lapels.

During his lunch at 21, an ornately printed silk kerchief in red, blue, and yellow pops from his welted breast pocket.

Gekko always keeps his double-breasted jacket closed, hiding most of the trouser details other than the straight cut through the legs down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. Based on most of his other trousers, it can be deduced that they likely have double forward pleats, and buckle-strap side adjusters either in lieu or in addition to suspenders.

Designed by Ellen Mirojnick for the film and tailored by the legendary Alan Flusser, the solemnity of Gekko’s charcoal suit allows him to explore more interesting shirt and tie patterns without looking too sartorially brash.

During the space-invading lunch with Bud at the 21 Club, Gekko wears one of his horizontally-striped shirts that received attention from the New York Times in this style section article from August 1988:

According to Alex Kabbaz, the vice president of Custom Shirts by Denhof, which made the horizontally striped shirts that Michael Douglas wore in ”Wall Street,” that film, plus the resurgence of double-breasted suits, has brought an increase in demand. But because they appeal to a small, sophisticated market and because they are difficult to construct, horizontally striped shirts are generally custom-made.

The article cites the history of the horizontally-striped shirt and its flattering pairing with double-breasted suits, indicating that Gekko would know more than the average man about fashion when putting his outfit together. (Although, once again, credit is due to Ellen Mirojnick!) The article further informs readers that Kabbaz made his first horizontally-striped dress shirt in 1983 for novelist Tom Wolfe, already known for his distinctive sartorial preferences.

Gekko gives Bud Fox some business lessons.

Gekko’s shirt is white with charcoal stripes in contrasting directions; the collar striping is vertical while the rest of the shirt is horizontally-striped. The shirt has a front placket, double cuffs, and a slim collar with a wide spread. His silk tie has a black ground with bold yellow dots, secured by a tie bar.

Gekko’s charcoal suit is next seen at the Teldar Papers shareholder meeting, where he eventually delivers his “greed…is good” message. Though confident as a businessman, Gekko knows that flash won’t impress the old money types in the room, so he dresses more conservatively with a plain white dress shirt and a dark navy silk tie with white pin dots, held in place with a rakishly-angled gold tie bar that matches his rectangular gold cuff links. Like all of his shirts, this shirt has a spread collar, front placket, and double cuffs.

Gordon Gekko breaks workplace decorum by actually cracking a smile during a meeting.

Gekko wears black leather oxfords and dark – probably black – socks, saving the flash for the parts of his outfit that more people see.

Gold is most associated with opulence, so it’s no surprise to see it all over Gekko’s hands… perhaps as a subliminal message to investors that everything he touches turns to gold.

Though not clearly seen in these scenes, Gekko’s luxury watch is an 18-karat yellow gold Cartier Santos de Cartier Galbée with a white square dial on a gold bracelet. On his right wrist, he often wears a thin gold chain-link bracelet. Also on his right hand, he wears a large gold signet ring on his pinky.

Go Big or Go Home

Gordon Gekko’s Machiavellian personality leaves little to be desired, but it was Michael Douglas’s preparation for his role as the ruthless capitalist outlaw that deserves the most attention and accolades. Impressed by the script – and particularly the length of his monologues – Douglas buried himself in research of corporate raiders like T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn. Icahn is supposedly one of many men who Oliver Stone used as a composite for the role, others including art collector Asher Edelman, agent Michael Ovitz, scandalized Wall Street hotshots David Brown, Ivan Boesky, Dennis Levine, and Owen Morrisey, and even Stone himself.

To encourage the greatest performance out of Douglas, Stone took personal measures to enhance the actor’s repressed anger, even to the point of asking Douglas if he was doing drugs because “you look like you haven’t acted before”. According to IMDB, “all of this hard work culminated with the ‘Greed is good’ speech.”

Not only did Douglas’ performance strike an immediate chord with audiences who were either tired or inspired(!) by the insider trading scandals marring Wall Street at the time, but he also won his first acting Academy Award for the role and established himself as a cultural icon in his own right.

How to Get the Look

If you want to look like a successful – if not particularly friendly – ’80s power broker, then Gekko’s got the look for you. Don’t forget to slick back that hair, too.

• Charcoal wool suit, tailored by Alan Flusser, consisting of:
  • Double-breasted 4-on-1 buttoned jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, and ventless back
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with straight leg fit and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White solid or dark-horizontally-striped dress shirt with slim spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Dark silk polka-dotted tie
• Gold tie clip, angled down toward edge of tie
• Gold rectangular cuff links
• Black leather oxfords
• Black dress socks
• Large gold signet ring
• Cartier Santos de Cartier Galbée gold wristwatch
• Gold chain-link bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.