Sean Connery as Jim Malone in The Untouchables (1987)

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Sean Connery as Jim Malone, tough and honest Chicago beat cop

Chicago, September 1930

Film: The Untouchables
Release Date: June 3, 1987
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Untouchables is a highly entertaining – yet highly fictionalized – saga of the successful legal campaign to bring down Al Capone’s criminal enterprise that terrorized Chicago through the 1920s with an all-star cast including Robert De Niro as Capone himself.

Eliot Ness had made a name for himself in the final years of Chicago’s beer wars as a relentless Prohibition agent, and he would use his fame decades later to pen The Untouchables, a memoir in which he credits himself with practically single-handedly sending Capone to prison. In real life, Ness’ raids were indeed disruptive, but it was the work of modest investigators U.S. Attorney George E.Q. Johnson and IRS agent Frank Wilson that eventually led to the charges that successfully convicted Capone.

Yet, Ness’s legend lives on thanks to his book that was quickly turned into an ABC television series starring Robert Stack as the no-nonsense gangbuster with his team of “untouchable” agents. The series was initially aired in 1959 as a two-part TV film called The Scarface Mob, showcasing Neville Brand as Al “Dr. Evil” Capone, but the popularity led to four additional seasons of Ness and his crack team taking down a different gangster each week, including Ma Barker’s gang… despite the fact that Ness had absolutely nothing to do with the Barker-Karpis gang and was just beginning his controversial role as Cleveland’s director of public safety when Ma Barker was slain next to her criminal son Fred in a Florida bungalow in 1935. But I digress…

In 1987, Brian De Palma helmed The Untouchables, reinvigorating interest in Ness’ self-promoted campaign against Capone. Essentially a reboot of the spirit of the TV show rather than a straight retelling of the actual facts, the film starred Kevin Costner as the bright-eyed and earnest Eliot Ness, hapless in the face of Chicago’s corrupt legal system that allows – if not encourages – Capone to succeed. Ness encounters tired old Irish beat cop Jim Malone (Sean Connery), who thoroughly impresses him as the last uncorruptible figure in the city’s law enforcement structure. Malone binds Ness into a “blood oath” to bring down Capone – it was Connery’s idea to film this scene in a church – and the two form the nexus of the four-person Untouchables that are unbribable and unstoppable as they bust Capone’s illegal liquor industry and build their case with plenty of bullets and blood along the way.

What’d He Wear?

As a cynical old-timer, Malone sports a scrappier look than the sharp Armani suits worn by Kevin Costner’s ambitious Eliot Ness. In fact, costuming informs plenty about the characters of The Untouchables. Ruthless mob enforcer and death-dealer Frank Nitti wears a white suit that recalls the “pale horse” of Revelations as hell follows him through Chicago; treasury agents Ness and Wallace wears gray business suits as they go about their jobs while honest cops Stone and Malone are grounded in earth tones.

The Untouchables: George Stone (Andy Garcia), Jim Malone (Sean Connery), Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), and Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith).

Malone’s base outfit is a thin-waled corduroy jacket, pale shirt buttoned to the neck, odd vest, brown wool trousers, ankle boots, and tweed newsboy cap, all in various earth tones that evoke his ruggedness.

The Norfolk-inspired sport jacket is constructed of pale brown corduroy cotton. The soft, uneven texture of the jacket leads many to speculate that it is tweed, but close-ups, production stills, and auction photos verify that it is indeed corduroy, albeit a very fine needlecord.

Malone isn’t above injecting some racism into his job interviews to see how applicants respond to ethnic slurs. It’s effective but not recommended.

The jacket’s notch lapels roll just over the top button of the closely-spaced three-button front stance. All of the jacket’s buttons – the three on the front, the three smaller ones on each cuff, and each pocket flap button – are brown woven leather. The shoulders are softly padded with minimal roping at the sleeveheads; the position of the sleeveheads just off the shoulder indicates that the jacket is slightly oversized.

About to give the Capone organization its first black eye in quite some time,..

The three outer pockets are patch-style pockets with an open-top, rounded-bottom breast pocket and pointed flaps that button to close each of the large hip pockets.

While lacking details like the front box pleats and full belt, Malone’s jacket takes some inspiration from traditional Norfolk jackets and hunting coats, appropriate for an old-school cop who certainly knows his way around a mahaska. The back shoulder yoke comes to a point in the center, just above an inverted box pleat that adds a few extra inches to Malone’s range of motion. The ventless back is half-belted, with the center pleat traveling the entire length between the pointed yoke and the belt.

Stone’s recruitment doesn’t go quite as Ness would have expected, but as long as Malone is happy, that’s all that really matters.

Malone’s light brown tick-checked wool vest is single-breasted with long low-gorge notch lapels and six closely-spaced buttons down to the notched bottom, which ends high on his waist to accentuate Connery’s leg length without lengthening or drawing attention to his torso. There are two welted pockets at the hips, and he wears his silver chain with his call-box key and his medallion of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, clipped to the left pocket. The tan sateen back has an adjustable strap.

Malone in repose.

Malone’s usual shirt is a pale green cotton shirt from R&O Hawick (not “Harwick” as misspelled in an auction listing) with a large semi-spread collar and rounded cuffs with clear plastic buttons that match those down the wide edge-stitched front placket. When not wearing a tie, Malone typically wears his shirt buttoned up to the neck.

A moment of trepidation before the raid… followed by exuberance and celebration after its success.

The only time he does wear a tie is his celebratory dinner with Ness, Wallace, and Stone after their first successful raid, when he sports an olive-and-tan large-scale plaid tie with tonal overchecking, tied in a small four-in-hand knot with the wide, ’30s-style blade hanging free.

Note the suspenders and belt… apparently Malone’s trousers need a good deal of help staying up!

During this dinner and several other early scenes in The Untouchables, Malone wears a brick red Aran knit wool sleeveless cardigan sweater with five dark corozo buttons, a notched bottom, and two welted pockets at the hips, wearing his silver chain similarly clipped to the left pocket.

Shotgun in hand, Malone leads his raiders.

For his final day on screen, Malone appears to be wearing a pale blue shirt, similarly styled to the pale green shirt with its large semi-spread collar, but with double (French) cuffs where he wears a set of plain gold square links.

Malone’s final moments with fellow Untouchables.

Malone wears a pair of double reverse-pleated brown herringbone wool trousers that rise high under his waistcoat. They have a button fly and straight pockets along the side seams but no back pockets. The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

A rough night for Malone…

Evidently, Malone requires both a belt and suspenders to hold up his trousers. His belt is plain black leather with a simple steel single-prong buckle. Malone often opts for varieties of blue and gray striped braces, but his best-seen (and final) suspenders consist of two gray stripes on a duller blue cloth, with each gray stripe bisected by a thin scarlet red stripe. The suspenders button to the inside of his trouser waistband with black leather double-ears.

A “boots on the ground” man of action like Malone naturally wears a pair of ankle boots consistent with his ruggedly urban outfit. The dark brown leather cap-toe boots have derby-style open lacing with one lace from each boot tied around the throat to keep them secured over his ankles, further signifying that Malone is an old-timer who knows (and does) what works for him specifically. Malone wears black socks with his boots.

It takes more than the entire fifty-round drum of a Thompson submachine gun to keep Malone down… at least in the short term.

The auctioned boots were described as having an “Aventura Label”, but I haven’t been able to find any information about Aventura beyond certain stores selling boots in the area of Aventura, Florida. Some brands specifically make boots to be “back-laced” like this, such as these John Varvatos Brixton Welder boots. (It’s worth noting that Malone would surely scoff at paying $700 for footwear, however.)

Malone tops off his modest attire with that most earthy of 1930s headgear, a wool newsboy cap. The mixed dark brown tweed cap reflects the earth tones of the rest of his outfit, and it is differentiated as a newsboy cap (rather than a standard flat cap) with the eight panels connected under a tweed-covered top button. The auctioned cap is listed as an “AKERI Sportsman Extra Quality” snap cap, but – like the boots – I haven’t been able to learn more information about this manufacturer.

Malone meets “the next chief of police.”

As I’ve mentioned throughout this post, most of Malone’s costume was auctioned in December 2005 by Profiles in History, as found here. Evidently, the clothing had traveled through several auctions, including an original Paramount auction in 1990 by Christie’s East.

The auction listing describes the clothing:

This civilian ensemble consists of a light brown textured corduroy jacket with woven leather buttons and two front pockets;a pair of brown textured wool trousers with button front closure, handwritten in the waistband “Malone-A”; a pale green cotton shirt with R&O Harwick [sic] label; a textured brown wool vest; tweed wool snap cap marked “AKERI Sportsman Extra Quality” and a pair of brown leather ankle boots with perforated detailing and Aventura Label.

Originally offered at the 1990 Christie’s East sale of Hollywood memorabilia featuring items from Paramount Pictures.

An image of the auctioned outfit, sourced from PropArchives.com, can be seen on the right.

It’s been suggested that Sean Connery eschewed the Armani clothing sported by other characters in the film, instead opting for his personal tailor to create much of the clothing he wears in The Untouchables. As no labels are described in any of the tailored items that were auctioned – jacket, waistcoat, and trousers – it’s more than likely that these were indeed custom-made for Connery.

How to Get the Look

Early in the film, Malone bemoans to Ness that he is “just a poor beat cop,” and he certainly dresses the part with a functional mishmash of earth tones in rugged fabrics like corduroy, tweed, and textured wool.

Sean Connery and Kevin Costner on set filming The Untouchables (1987)

• Pale brown pinwale corduroy cotton single-breasted 3-roll-2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, button-down flapped hip patch pockets, 3-button cuffs, and half-belted ventless back with inverted box pleat center
• Pale green cotton shirt with large semi-spread collar, wide front placket, and rounded button cuffs
• Light brown tick-checked wool single-breasted 6-button vest with low notch lapels, notched bottom, two lower welted pockets, and tan sateen back with adjustable strap
• Brown herringbone wool double reverse-pleated high-rise trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Blue-and-gray striped cloth suspenders with black leather ears
• Black leather belt with steel single-prong buckle
• Dark brown leather shortwing cap-toe derby-laced ankle boots
• Black socks
• Dark brown tweed newsboy cap

For fancy occasions, maybe a dinner out with fellow gun-toting liquor raiders, Malone wears a brick red sleeveless cardigan sweater with a plaid tie.

The Gun

You carry a badge? Carry a gun.

It’s no surprise that Malone is so eager to thrust a gun into Oscar Wallace’s inexperienced hands as Malone is certainly an expert when it comes to firearms and using them as an effective tool in law enforcement.

Malone’s preferred sidearm is a Smith & Wesson Model 10 – then known simply as a Smith & Wesson “Military & Police” revolver – in .38 Special. The Model 10, renamed in the late 1950s when Smith & Wesson standardized its numbered model system, was the police revolver throughout the 20th century. He carries a standard blued model with a four-inch barrel and walnut grips, usually tucked into the left side of his waistband.

The fact that the Chicago Police Department issued a Colt Police Positive during this era and Malone’s questionable use of the weapon – both to shoot a dead gangster in the mouth and to threaten his own captain – suggest the possibility that the Smith & Wesson is Malone’s personal handgun.

Malone finds plenty of opportunities to draw his service revolver… even on his own corrupt captain.

When a raid is in order, Malone doesn’t hestitate before reaching into Ness’ office weapons cabinet to issue Winchester Model 1897 riot shotguns to the team. Introduced in 1897 (as you may have guessed), the Winchester Model 1897 was the first successful pump-action shotgun, designed by John Browning as a tougher improvement on his earlier Winchester Model 1893 as well as the Spencer pump shotgun developed in the 1880s. The trench model, essentially a riot-length Model 1897 with a bayonet leg, found success in the hands of American troops during World War I, where its devastating impact and six-shot capacity led to an unsuccessful attempt by the Germans to have it outlawed in combat.

A distinctive feature of the Winchester Model 1897 that differentiates it from the later Winchester Model 1912 is the Model 1897’s external hammer system and lack of a trigger disconnector, which allows a user to hold the trigger down while cycling the shotgun to fire the shotgun each time the action is returned to battery… similar to fanning the hammer of a single-action revolver.

Available in 12-gauge and 16-gauge, the Model 1897 was continually produced for sixty years until hammerless shotguns like the Model 1912 and Remington Model 870 superseded its popularity.

Malone delivers a 12-gauge message to the Capone organization.

Malone also made an impression on screen with the brutal-looking lupara kept in his phonograph cabinet for home defense. Thanks to IMFDB, we know that this short-barreled 12-gauge double-barreled shotgun was a Rossi Overland and had been built for Ellis Mercantile by the late gunsmith Branko Wohlfahrt. Ellis Mercantile supplied weaponry for The Untouchables and thus Malone found himself frequently armed with this sawed-off shotgun.

In a twist of irony, Malone makes a disparaging remark about the Italian assassin ostensibly “bringing a knife to a gunfight” while himself armed with a lupara. The lupara was traditionally associated with the “old world” Cosa Nostra for its frequent use in Sicilian vendettas, gaining particular attention in the United States after the 1890 murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy was widely reported at the time to have been committed by shotgun-wielding mafioso and led to intense anti-Italian sentiment and the largest reported mass lynching in American history.

Malone knows that a gun is the only appropriate weapon for a gunfight.

The Rossi Overland wasn’t manufactured until 1978, but it is cosmetically similar enough to shotguns of the late 19th century that this would hardly define it as an anachronism and it has also found use in period productions like Mobsters and Deadwood.

No Prohibition-era gangland epic set in The Windy City would be complete without extended use of the Thompson submachine gun, the .45-caliber weapon that gained a reputation as “the gun that made the twenties roar.” Of the Untouchables, only Malone and Stone make use of the “Chicago typewriter” which, despite its nickname, is most frequently handled by the men during their mission on the Canadian border.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way!

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in The World is Not Enough (1999)

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Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, sophisticated British secret agent

London, November 1999

Film: The World is Not Enough
Release Date: November 8, 1999
Director: Michael Apted
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming

Background

February 27 is National Cigar Day according to some, and – while it may not be recognized universally – it’s always nice to have an extra reason to relax with your favorite cigar.

Like Roger Moore before him, Pierce Brosnan eschewed the cigarettes favored by the literary (and, at one point, cinematic) James Bond in favor of cigars. Both actors preferred cigars in real life as well, and it’s been recorded that Moore frequently received several thousand pounds worth of Montecristo cigars during his outings as 007.

In The World is Not Enough, Brosnan’s Bond returns from his action-packed trip to Bilbao for what should be a quiet day at the office that begins, as usual, by casually flirting with Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond).

Moneypenny: James! Have you brought me a souvenir from your trip? Chocolates? An engagement ring?
Bond: I thought you might enjoy one of these…

Bond hands Moneypenny a Romeo y Julieta Churchill tube, one of the ones he picked up from the aptly nicknamed “Cigar Girl” in Bilbao. Even the screenplay describes it as “a large phallic TUBE.”

Moneypenny: How romantic. I know exactly where to put that. (tosses it in the trash)
Bond: Oh Moneypenny, the story of our relationship; close, but no cigar.

Gliding into M’s office on his cheeky wit, Bond’s day takes an unexpected turn when a glass of Scotch tips him to eminent danger in the building. The danger comes to fruition in the form of an explosion that leads to 007 “borrowing” Q’s latest contraption – a state-of-the-art “fishing boat” with a full weapons system and dive capabilities – as he faces off against “Cigar Girl” herself, in actuality an assassin named Giulietta da Vinci (Maria Grazia Cucinotta, who had a memorable role on The Sopranos that same year.)

The exciting action sequence to follow concluded the longest pre-title sequence in the Bond series to date, wrapping up after nearly 14 whopping action-packed minutes that found Bond in two continents (and two sharp charcoal Brioni suits!)

What’d He Wear?

The opening scene featured Brosnan’s Bond moving through the streets and skies of Bilbao in a solid charcoal two-piece suit with a rich blue shirt and patterned tie. 007 arrives at MI6 headquarters in the following scene wearing a different charcoal suit, this one a three-piece with a subtle gray pinstripe and unique details like the jacket’s single-button closure and the countrified waistcoat with lapels and pocket flaps.

Constructed from worsted wool, this Brioni suit features the strongly structured Roman shoulder that was a hallmark of Brosnan’s Brioni suits, although the suit shoulders in The World is Not Enough are not quite as wide as they had been in GoldenEye, four years earlier.

The suit jacket’s notch lapels elegantly roll to the single button, located at Brosnan’s waist and in line with the bottom of the ticket pocket flap and the fifth button of his waistcoat. The flapped pockets on the hips sit slightly angled toward the back. The jacket has long double vents and “kissing” four-button cuffs at the end of each sleeve.

Bond finds time for both business and leisure at the office.

Bond’s gray silk display kerchief, worn puffed into his jacket’s breast pocket here, nicely calls out the gray pinstripe of his suiting while also drawing out the gray in his tie. This is the last appearance of a pocket square for Brosnan’s Bond, and 007 wouldn’t wear another one until Daniel Craig revived it in Quantum of Solace when also wearing a dark charcoal suit in London’s MI6 office.

The distinctive touches of Bond’s matching waistcoat can easily fly under the radar as the drape of his jacket keeps it covered through most of his non-action scenes, but his adventures that find him landing on the roof of the Millennium Dome reveal its interesting details: notch lapels and flapped pockets. The six-button vest properly has the lowest button over the notched bottom.

Despite a variety of colors and fabrics, Bond’s suits are styled with relative consistency throughout The World is Not Enough with one exception: some suits have pleated trousers while some are flat-fronted but shaped with darts. This suit is the latter, with belt loops, slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and cuffed bottoms.

Bond’s black leather belt, which would normally be covered by his waistcoat, makes a prominent cameo as he slides down the roof of the Millennium Dome as the rectangular steel single-prong buckle pokes out under the waistcoat’s notched bottom. It is for this unsightly reason that three-piece suit wearers often abstain from belts in favor of suspenders or trousers fitted with side adjusters. The belt also has two metal loops positioned directly left of the buckle to further secure it in place.

After a landing like that, I’m sure 007 is in no mood to hear about his frequent sartorial faux pas of wearing a belt with a three-piece suit.

Turnbull & Asser provided the shirts and ties for Pierce Brosnan in his latter three Bond films, including The World is Not Enough. His white poplin shirt in this scene has a spread collar and front placket. The squared double (French) cuffs are fastened by a set of distinctive Dunhill cuff links that he wears with all of his business suits in The World is Not Enough, resembling two white gold rings connected by a short yellow gold bar.

More information about the Dunhill cuff links can be found at James Bond Lifestyle.

Dangling over the Thames is no place for expensive cufflinks… let alone a made-to-measure Italian suit!

The geometric-patterned Turnbull & Asser tie contributed to The World is Not Enough‘s definitive “crowning moment of badass” when he uses his brief submersion in Q’s “fishing boat” to adjust his tie knot, supposedly a moment suggested by Brosnan himself.

The pattern consists of intersecting red, silver, and gold double-lined squares on a dark gray ground. Turnbull & Asser advertises that the tie is approximately 57″ long with a 3.75″ blade, all constructed from its “high-density 350-end woven jacquard silk” with a wool mix inner lining. In its excellent post about the tie, James Bond Lifestyle goes on to describe: “This silk has more warp and weft yarns per square inch than is customary, making the fabric denser and more substantial in both weight and feel.”

Bond deploys his powers of seduction…which fail miserably.

“The World is Not Enough Silk Tie”, $190, Turnbull & Asser

Turnbull & Asser wisely still offers the tie for sale, and interested buyers can use product code MTIE001-Z05501 or check out this link to purchase for yourself. As of February 2017, the price is $190.

If $190 is a bit steep for you, Magnoli Clothiers has produced a beautifully similar replica of Brosnan’s Turnbull & Asser tie, appropriately named the “Thames Tie”, highly recommended by several reviewers and available for $60 from their site and on Amazon.

Bond wears a fair amount of monk shoes from Church’s in black and brown leather all throughout The World is Not Enough, but he sports a more traditional pair of black wingtip brogues for his return to the office and subsequent dive into the Thames. The shoes are likely also from Church’s, possibly the same Church’s Diplomat half brogues worn in GoldenEye, and are worn with black socks.

The laces are the first hint that Bond isn’t wearing the monk shoes that serve him so well elsewhere in The World is Not Enough.

Pierce Brosnan’s tenure as James Bond came with the added responsibility of being a brand ambassador for Omega, 007’s watch of choice from GoldenEye onward. In his last three Bond outings, including The World is Not Enough, Brosnan wore an Omega Seamaster Professional 2531.80.00 chronometer with a blue dial, blue rotating bezel, and stainless bracelet. The watch has an automatic movement – rather than the quartz movement of his 2541.80.00 worn in GoldenEye – and a power reserve of 44 hours. More information can be found at James Bond Lifestyle.

Luckily for Bond, his stainless steel dive watch is water-resistant to 300 meters…although that depth would have certainly tested the limits of Q’s modest watercraft.

The presence of Bond’s trusty Walther P99 semi-automatic pistol signifies that he is likely wearing his equally trusty Galco Executive shoulder holster, positioned under his left arm with a fully lined Italian calf leather harness designed to fit a number of full-size and compact handguns.

For more information about this suit and to read other excellent posts about 007’s sartorial style, check out Matt Spaiser’s definitive blog The Suits of James Bond.

What to Imbibe

It’s hard to beat Scotch and a cigar… especially when you can work it into your work day.

Bond’s aborted attempt at innuendo involved a Romeo y Julieta Churchill cigar, obtained during his travels in Bilbao. If only Moneypenny had accepted the gift, she would have enjoyed a smooth, flavorful, and ultimately luxurious smoke.

As James Bond Lifestyle points out, The World is Not Enough wasn’t the first association of Romeo y Julieta cigars in the Bond universe; Sean Connery’s 007 had previously been given just the cigar’s aluminum cigar tube to store his underwater breather in “a convenient pocket.”

007 makes his way into M’s office where she is enjoying a libation with Sir Robert King. Following Sir Robert’s departure, M offers Bond a glass of 10-year-old single malt Scotch, namely Talisker. Talisker is a significantly peaty, seaweedy whisky from the Talisker distillery, which was founded in 1830 and to this day the only distillery on the Isle of Skye.

Bond wisely accepts a dram of M’s Talisker.

Bond drinks his Talisker on the rocks (come on, James…), and the chemical reaction of his skin to the ice cubes tips him off that disaster is about to strike the absent Sir Robert…

How to Get the Look

When in London, Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond dresses like the Romans do with a sharply tailored Brioni suit, but his English identity is well reflected through the suit’s details and the heritage of his shirt, tie, and shoes.

• Charcoal gray-pinstripe worsted wool tailored Brioni suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 1-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slightly slanted flapped hip pockets, flapped ticket pocket, 4-button cuffs, and double vents
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat with notch lapels, flapped pockets, and notched bottom
  • Darted-front trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton poplin Turnbull & Asser dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, and squared double/French cuffs
  • Gold double-ring Dunhill cuff links
• Jacquard woven dark gray silk Turnbull & Asser tie with an intersecting red, silver, and gold geometric square pattern
• Black leather belt with rectangular steel single-prong buckle
• Black leather Church’s half brogues
• Black dress socks
• Galco Executive black leather right-hand-draw shoulder holster, for Walther P99 semi-automatic pistol
• Omega Seamaster Professional 2531.80.00 stainless steel wristwatch with blue dial, blue bezel, and stainless bracelet

007 nicely calls out the suit’s gray striping and the dual gray tones in the tie by wearing a gray silk display kerchief in his breast pocket.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Footnote

Need something to pep you up during your morning commute? The techno-flavored variation of the James Bond Theme, “Come in 007, Your Time is Up,” will make your Camry on the Parkway feel like a spy boat on the Thames.

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, armed with an AKS-74U, in GoldenEye (1995)

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Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, sophisticated British secret agent

St. Petersburg, Russia, April 1995

Film: GoldenEye
Release Date: November 13, 1995
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming

Background

I’ve been featuring a number of looks from the James Bond series lately, but I would hate to let that get in the way of the 00-7th of March! Since we’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this month, it seems obvious to me that we should also be celebrating the Irish actor who delivered his own brand of debonair charm to the role of 007.

In his inaugural outing, GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan’s Bond is relaxing in the pool of his St. Petersburg hotel when he is cornered by the alluring assassin Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen). Bond gets the upper hand – among other parts – and convinces Xenia to introduce him to the mysterious syndicate behind the disappearance of a missing satellite. Of course, the syndicate’s leader is Bond’s old chum Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean), formerly agent 006 of the British secret service.

The erstwhile 006 has always been two steps ahead of 007 and entraps our hero to meet a deadly fate alongside the missing satellite’s programmer, Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco). Luckily, Bond and Natalya prove to be a skillful escape team, evading Trevelyan’s many traps with the help of a luxury watch, a belt, and a Russian T-55 tank.

What’d He Wear?

Pierce Brosnan wearing the navy birdseye Brioni three-piece suit, flanked by co-stars Famke Janssen and Izabella Scorupco. Note the addition of the waistcoat and gold cufflinks, neither of which showed up on screen.

Pierce Brosnan looks as though he was born wearing a three-piece suit, and his take on James Bond was one of the most suit-heavy tenures in the 007 franchise. In addition to some of the film’s most prominent and memorable action sequences, this navy worsted Brioni suit also featured in much of GoldenEye‘s promotional artwork.

Though it appears solid navy from a distance, the suiting is actually a small-scaled blue-on-navy birdseye weave. Esquire‘s supremely entertaining The Handbook of Style mentions the birdseye weave as one of the nine suiting patterns that men should know, describing it as optimal for “cocktail suits that women always seem to notice.” If these promotional photos of Pierce Brosnan are any indication, they’re right on the money.

Under the auspices of costume designer Lindy Hemming, this Brioni suit blends elements of classic Italian and English tailoring and style to create a suit perfect for Brosnan’s stylish 007. The cut is full and flattering with straight, padded Italian shoulders joining British details like the functional “surgeon’s cuffs”, double vents, and gently tapered waist.

Brosnan wears the single-breasted suit jacket unbuttoned throughout these scenes, often revealing Brioni’s typical Bemberg rayon lining on the inside. The jacket has notch lapels that roll to a low and close three-button front.

Bond stands among the ruins of Russia’s Soviet past…perhaps an indication of many audience’s concerns about the franchise itself.

The jacket has slightly flapped hip pockets and a ticket pocket – yet another traditional British element.

In the jacket’s welted breast pocket, Brosnan wears the blue silk puffed pocket square that adorned all three of his business suits in GoldenEye, although it contrasted more against his Glen plaid suit and his charcoal windowpane suit. The color is an interesting choice as blue-on-blue may get lost among the suiting, but it adds a subtle touch of luxury that also calls out the blue in the suit and the deep navy tie.

“Trust me.”

The navy birdseye suit is one of three wool business suits that Lindy Hemming had commissioned for Brosnan to wear in GoldenEye. All were three-piece suits with matching waistcoats, but only the charcoal windowpane suit made use of the waistcoat on screen. However, the navy suit’s waistcoat didn’t go totally to waste (or waist, ha), as much of the film’s promotional artwork features the full suit. Brosnan was also photographed with the cast and crew while wearing the same suit, complete with the six-button waistcoat, during the GoldenEye launch press conference in London in January 1995.

Pierce Brosnan and Sean Bean smiling for reporters in January 1995. Note that, despite the different tie and plain white shirt, Brosnan wears the same blue silk puffed display kerchief that he would wear on screen as Bond.

When one of the many navy suits created for the film was put up for auction by Bonhams in March 2007, the waistcoat was included:

A blue Brioni three-piece suit, of blue wool, jacket labelled inside “Brioni, Roma” and “Angels & Bermans, The Costumiers to the Entertainment Industry” and inscribed in an unknown hand “1995 GOLDENEYE PIERCE BROSNAN” with silk effect Brioni logo lining, the waistcoat with Brioni logo back and the trousers with and inscription as before

As seen in the presser photos and the auction listing, the vest appears to have two welted lower pockets and a notched bottom as well as the Bamberg “silk effect” rayon lining across the back.

The suit includes matching trousers with a medium rise that perfectly meets the blade of Brosnan’s tie at his natural waist. They are double reverse-pleated with side pockets and slightly tapered legs down to the bottoms, which are finished with cuffs.

That train explosion might have really damaged Bond’s suit! Luckily, he and Natalya escape without a scratch…and without even loosening Bond’s tie.

“A typical leather belt… male, size 34 buckle, notch,” is Q’s description for the black leather belt that Bond wears with his suit. The belt has a gold-toned brass single-prong buckle, but that’s hardly its most compelling feature as it also includes a piton device that helps him out of a jam when Russian troops corner him in the archives room of a St. Petersburg military facility. Of course.

The maker of the belt is currently unknown, but there is some speculation that it is a Dunhill belt as Dunhill provided belts for Brosnan to wear in The World is Not Enough and possibly Tomorrow Never Dies.

While the belt maker may be a mystery, there’s no doubt that all of Brosnan’s dress shirts in GoldenEye were made by Sulka, the venerated shirt-maker that closed its final shop in 2002. Anne-Marie Shiro wrote in the New York Times in 1985 that “Nothing from Sulka ever goes out of style,” and Brosnan’s shirts here are no exception. With this navy birdseye suit, he wears a pale cream poplin shirt with a classic semi-spread collar, front placket, and squared double (French) cuffs, secured by textured gunmetal links with rounded corners.

This Uber ride would surely warrant less than 5 stars.

“The fabric was so heavy it made your neck hurt,” wrote Ralph Gardner Jr.when describing his Sulka tie loyalty for the Observer in 2002, “and the ties somehow managed to be both classic and eccentric at the same time.”

Ah, the divisive ties of the Brosnan Bond era. While some fans welcome the complexity of Brosnan’s patterned ties, others yearn for the understated simplicity of Connery’s grenadine ties.

The woven silk Sulka tie that Brosnan wore during this sequence appears to be a geometric pattern of old gold diamonds on a dark navy grid with smaller yellow gold squares at each corner. A closer look reveals that each old gold diamond consists of 36-dot squares, turned 90°, and that each smaller yellow square is a 9-dot square.

Turnbull & Asser continues to market some of the popular ties they created for Brosnan to wear in Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough, but Sulka closing its operations in 2002 means that fans seeking their fair share of GoldenEye cravats are sent in search of replicas. Luckily, Magnoli has you covered with its aptly-named “Goldeneye Tie”, currently available for $60 on its site and on Amazon, described as: “This elegant tie features silver squares and golden triangles atop a tone-on-tone black field. A unique blend of 70% silk and 30% wool gives this tie body and sheen.”

Bond seems to spend most of his time in GoldenEye next to frustrated women.

The Church’s association with James Bond began with GoldenEye, with Pierce Brosnan stepping around in a pair of brown leather Chetwynd brogues and, as seen here, a pair of black calf Diplomat semi-brogue oxfords that was auctioned by Christie’s for $1,932 in December 2007.

More than two decades later, the Church’s Diplomat semi-brogues are still available from the Church’s site for €620, albeit with five lace eyelets rather than the six-eyelet models as worn by Brosnan in 1995. To learn more about the Church’s Diplomat and its appearances in the Bond franchise, check out James Bond Lifestyle.

Bond wears a pair of groundbreaking Church’s Diplomat semi-brogues. (Do you get it please?)

Brosnan wears a pair of navy blue ribbed dress socks, just a shade lighter than his suit.

Probably not the same footwear as the original tank driver wore…

GoldenEye provided the lone appearance of Bond’s Omega Seamaster Professional 2541.80.00, but it certainly makes good use of the timepiece, which has evidently been modified by Q Branch with Live and Let Die-style laser cutting technology. Although they may not have lasers, a Bond-like Omega can be yours for just shy of $2,000, thanks to eBay.

Bond’s Omega has a stainless steel 41mm case, blue dial, and blue rotating bezel. It is powered by Omega’s 1538 Quartz precision movement and is the only quartz-powered Omega that 007 wears before Brosnan switched to the 2531 chronometer with an automatic movement for his duration in the series. More details can be found at James Bond Lifestyle.

As of March 2017, neither iPhone nor Android have a comparable app to Bond’s laser-cutter. Omega for the win.

More information about this outfit and a nice illustration and description of the birdseye weave can be found at The Suits of James Bond.

Pierce Brosnan wears the Brioni suit with the Sulka shirt and tie in a promotional photo, armed with Bond’s trademark Walther PPK and silencer. Though he wears flat gold cuff links here, he would wear a dark gunmetal pair on screen.

How to Get the Look

Bond’s navy birdseye suit ensemble in Russia is one of my favorite outfits in the series and was well-featured during some of the most iconic action sequences of the modern 007 era.

• Navy blue birdseye worsted wool Brioni suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with a low 3-button front, welted breast pocket, flapped slanted hip pockets, flapped ticket pocket, functioning 4-button cuffs, and double vents
  • Double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale cream poplin long-sleeve Sulka dress shirt with moderate spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Textured gunmetal cuff links with silver backs
• Gold square-on-dark navy grid woven silk geometric-patterned Sulka tie
• Black leather belt with brass buckle
• Black calf leather Church’s Diplomat semi-brogues
• Navy blue ribbed dress socks
• Black leather shoulder holster (RHD) for Walther PPK
• Omega Seamaster Professional Diver 2541.80.00 wristwatch with blue dial and stainless bracelet/case
• Blue silk puffed pocket square, worn in the jacket’s breast pocket

The Gun

The cinematic landscape had changed plenty during the six-year gap of Bond films from 1989 to 1995. Action movies had evolved into exposition for major gunfights featuring the latest automatic weapons.

In GoldenEye, James Bond is back with his trusty Walther PPK, but it’s an AKS-74U that he wields to deadliest effect during this series of action sequences. Sure, the

Sure, it’s part of the exaggerated violence that saturated ’90s action cinema, but it’s fun as hell to watch.

From the opening sequence in the Arkangel weapons facility to the Cuban-set finale, the first 007 for the FPS generation minds himself making greater use of weapons picked up from downed enemies; in this case, those weapons are almost exclusively AKS-74U assault carbines.

The origins of the AKS-74U can be traced all the way back to the later months of World War II as Soviet Russia was developing the first modern assault rifle, inspired by the Sturmgewehr 44 that was wielded by Hitler’s troops fighting on the Eastern front. Weapons designer Mikhail Kalashnikov built his prototypes around the new 7.62x39mm M43 cartridge, and the AK-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova) was quickly adopted for Soviet service and production began in 1949.

“AK-47” has incorrectly become a colloquial catch-all for any similar weapon based on or incorporating Kalashnikov’s original design, including – but not limited to – the AKM variant, the Chinese Norinco Type 56, Egyptian Maadi ARM copies, the Romanian AIM/AIMS, and Yugoslavian Zastova rifles.

As the design continued to evolve through the decades, Kalashnikov oversaw development of the AK-74, adapting his original rifle for the high velocity 5.45x39mm cartridge. As its nomenclature indicates, production began in 1974 with the first real military action later that decade for Soviet conflicts in Afghanistan.

The AKS-74U was the result of a design competition for a fully automatic carbine to be easily stored and carried as personal defense weapons. Introduced in 1979, the AKS-74U incorporated the side-folding stock from the AKS-74 with a shortened “U” (for Ukorochenniy) barrel, creating a compact and deadly selective-fire carbine for close quarters.

Note the short barrel with its muzzle flash suppressor and the side-folding stock, making this a very portable weapon for Bond to easily transfer in and out of a tank.

Weighing in at six pounds with an 8.3-inch barrel, the AKS-74U offers portability in addition to a high capacity for its accurate 5.45x39mm cartridge, fed from a standard 30-round box magazine with expanded feeding capabilities up to a 100-round drum, making it a practical choice for the close-quarters combat that Bond finds himself in throughout GoldenEye. The folding stock reduces the overall length from 28.9 inches to 19.3 inches when folded.

As the AKS-74U remains in the service of the Russian Federation’s armed forces, as well as many other Eastern European countries and those of the former Soviet Bloc, it makes sense that Bond would pick his up from the hands of Russian soldiers.

In GoldenEye 007, the N64 game that revolutionized FPS in the late ’90s, the many AKS-74 rifles (or modified Norinco Type 56-1 rifles) seen on screen are given the “KF7 Soviet” nomenclature. You can read more at IMFDB about the weaponry used in GoldenEye and GoldenEye 007.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

That’s the trouble with the world today; no one takes the time to do a really sinister interrogation anymore. It’s a lost art.

Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins in Alfie (1966)

Vitals

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

London, Summer 1965

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

Background

Make a married woman laugh and you’re halfway there with her.

Right off the bat, we learn that the titular Alfie Elkins is no gentleman.

Although he had already featured in several major British films through the ’60s, it was his Academy Award-nominated breakthrough role in Alfie that led Michael Caine to global stardom.

The actor, who is celebrating his 84th birthday today, was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite on March 14, 1933 in London. He took up acting at the age of 20, initially performing under the name Michael Scott(!) before he was inspired to take his better-known stage name from a marquee promoting The Caine Mutiny at the Odeon Cinema.

A decade later, Michael Caine had completed work as Len Deighton’s anti-Bond spy in The Ipcress File when he took over the role of Alfie from his friend and roommate Terence Stamp, who had originated the role on Broadway but declined to reprise it on screen.

The film was written by Bill Naughton, adapting his screenplay from his own 1963 play, and directed by Lewis Glibert, who also celebrated his birthday recently (March 6, 1920 – happy belated 97th, Lewis!) Gilbert would go on to direct his first of three Bond films, You Only Live Twice, the following year.

What’d He Wear?

In ABC of Men’s Fashion, published in 1964, Hardy Amies advises that “the navy blue [blazer] without club badge on pocket and very often double-breasted is now very popular for wearing in circumstances where a sports jacket in tweed or jersey would be too informal and an ordinary dark suit too formal.”

Two years after Amies’ seminal work was published, Michael Caine’s Alfie began and ended his lonely story in the same outfit: a navy serge double-breasted blazer, surprisingly emblazoned with RAF detailing and a RAF striped tie. The surprisingly traditional elements in this hip, caddish character are offset by the contemporary styling of Caine’s personal tailor, Douglas Hayward.

Ah, the old take-a-baby-to-the-park trick. Alfie, you card, you…

The worsted serge blazer has four chrome shank buttons with one to button (4×1), a double-breasted style that would later briefly enjoy popularity in the late 1980s, with a single shank button on the end of each cuff as well.

Based on Alfie’s badge and tie, I would imagine that these are the silver-finished chrome buttons engraved with the symbol of the Royal Air Force (RAF), available from Benson & Cregg, which confirms the diameter of his four large front buttons at 2.4cm with the smaller cuff buttons sized at 1.5cm.

Caine’s blazer incorporates elements of traditional British tailoring, including the well-padded shoulders and double vents, although the close, short fit and higher gorges also wink at Italian-influenced mod style.

Alfie’s last date with Ruby (Shelley Winters) doesn’t quite go as planned…

Alfie’s blazer has patch pockets – one on each hip and one on the left breast, emblazoned with the badge of the Royal Air Force, a bit of stolen valor on Alfie’s part… not surprising, given his tendency for stealing virtue as well.

The RAF’s motto “Per ardua ad astra” (“Through adversity to the stars”) dates back to 1912 when it was used by the newly formed Royal Flying Corps, six years before it was merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to create the RAF. The badge consists of the motto inscribed in gold on a navy circle, itself bordered by gold with an Imperial crown on top. A gold volant eagle flies out of the light blue center of the circle.

I’ve never served in the RAF – partially due to my American citizenship and also my total inability to fly a plane – but I would feel very distinguished in a blazer sporting its attractive badge on the breast. Benson & Clegg offers the hand-stitched badge for £30.

From his blazer badge and buttons to the stripes of his tie, Alfie has totally appropriated the Royal Air Force for his about-town attire.

Alfie wears a pale cream poplin shirt with a plain front and squared double (French) cuffs that Alfie wears with etched gold oval links. The shirt’s narrow English spread collar is rounded on the corners, similar to the classic club collar.

The etching on Alfie’s gold-toned cuff links is difficult to ascertain in the finished film, but a set of gilt RAF-engraved cuff links – like this pair currently available on Benson & Clegg – would certainly follow the theme of his attire.

Alfie’s striped silk repp tie is fittingly slim to coordinate with his narrow shirt collar. Naturally, he wears an RAF-striped tie, consisting of three repeating stripes in thick navy, thick burgundy, and thin pale blue, all crossing from the right shoulder down to the left hip.

Benson & Clegg offers a variety of RAF ties, but none at the super-slim width of Alfie’s tie; the standard silk RAF tie available from their site is described as 9.5cm wide (available here for £55.)

Alfie’s tie remains firmly in place, even after an assignation with Millicent, but he lets it hang free after arriving in the relative comfort of Gilda’s flat.

Alfie’s gray flannel trousers have a contemporary low rise, but the tapered leg works with Michael Caine’s tall, 6’0″ frame to make his legs look long and lithe… at least until he takes off his blazer and tie for a night of slumming at Gilda’s flat. The trousers have straight side pockets, jetted back pockets, and cuffed bottoms.

The trousers also have belt loops, through which Alfie wears a slim black leather belt that is nearly concealed by his billowing shirt after he gets to Gilda’s. The belt has a gold-tone single-prong square buckle.

ALFIE

In the aforementioned ABC of Men’s Fashion, Hardy Amies observed that “when Chelsea boots first appeared in the late 1950s it quickly became certain that they were the most appropriate form of footwear to wear with narrow trousers,” illustrated by Michael Caine in Alfie as he wears his black leather ankle boots with black elastic side gussets and pull tabs.

Alfie could’ve gone full RAF with this natty pair of regimental striped socks available from Benson & Clegg, but he went with plain black socks instead. Pity.

Esquire’s The Handbook of Style describes Chelsea boots as “a Mod staple in 1960s London,” making them the perfect choice for our caddish mod anti-hero.

“Watch your ring with my stockings!” warns Alfie’s first on-screen paramour, Siddie (Millicent Martin), referring to the gold ring he wears on his left pinky, set with a brown oval stone. It’s surprising that Alfie wears something that could get in the way of his favorite activity.

Alfie also wears an elegant stainless watch, possibly an Omega, with a black dial and a steel bracelet with a deployable clasp.

Alfie Elkins, the self-described master of seduction.

Benson & Clegg, the London menswear house mentioned throughout this post, was granted a Royal Warrant from The Prince of Wales in 1992 to supply official buttons, badges, and military neckwear. It is for this reason that I so frequently hyperlinked to the Benson & Clegg site.

How to Get the Look

Alfie appropriates the Royal Air Force for his snappy but Mod-influenced navy blazer ensemble worn for the film’s prologue and conclusion, delivering a very British look for a character who indeed became emblematic of swinging ’60s London.

• Navy worsted serge double-breasted blazer with peak lapels, 4×1 chrome RAF shank buttons, patch breast pocket with RAF badge, patch hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, and double vents
• Pale cream poplin dress shirt with narrow spread club collar, plain front, and squared double/French cuffs
• Slim silk RAF-striped repp tie in navy, burgundy, and pale blue
• Gray flannel low-rise trousers with belt loops, extended front waist tab, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, tapered leg, turn-ups/cuffs
• Slim black leather belt with small gold-toned single-prong buckle
• Black leather Chelsea boots with black elastic side gussets and pull tabs
• 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

You know what? When I look back on my little life and the birds I’ve known, and think of all the things they’ve done for me and the little I’ve done for them, you’d think I’ve had the best of it along the line. But what have I got out of it? I’ve got a bob or two, some decent clothes, a car, I’ve got me health back and I ain’t attached. But I ain’t got me peace of mind, and if you ain’t got that, you ain’t got nothing. I dunno. It seems to me if they ain’t got you one way they’ve got you another. So what’s the answer? That’s what I keep asking myself: what’s it all about? Know what I mean?

Footnote

Michael Caine shares more than just his original stage name with Steve Carell’s character from The Office; Carell’s Michael Scott mentions that his birthday is March 15th, the day after Michael Caine. Weird!

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino (1995)

Vitals

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

Las Vegas, Fall 1980

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

Background

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, a feast day that finds many people celebrating with Jameson and green clothing whether they have any Irish heritage or not.

Robert De Niro’s father was half Irish, so that’s all the excuse BAMF Style needs to explore one of his loud green outfits as the impressively attired Las Vegas executive Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino.

What’d He Wear?

The 1980s sequences mark a shift in Ace’s wardrobe. Prior to his gaming license hearing, Ace’s tailored attire consisted primarily of two-piece suits, supported by the occasional odd jacket in more casual situations such as a poolside meeting, opening a bank account, and dressing down an inept casino employee.

For his gaming license hearing and most scenes to follow, Ace begins a pattern of wearing primarily odd jackets with the only actual suit being the blue-and-green plaid suit that he wears when reconnecting with Ginger in the scene following this one.

Ace thus wears a variety of bold jackets with an added sense of chaos deriving from the mismatched (albeit well-coordinated) jackets and trousers. That boldness means a grand total of three green odd jackets: a bright kelly green sport coat with peak lapels, a mint green jacket worn for a meeting with his divorce lawyer (in the scene preceding this one), and – finally – this mint green flecked silk blazer that he evidently intends to wear for an airing of Aces High! until the news of his daughter’s kidnapping pulls him away.

We’ve all experienced tense phone calls with James Woods.

Since a jacket like this would be rarely found out in the wild, there seems to be no clear standard on its preferred nomenclature. It’s certainly an odd jacket (in both a sartorial sense and a more literal reference to its eccentricity) and certainly not a traditional blazer, but I would argue that it’s bold color, ornamental metal buttons, and more formal structure would place it closer to the blazer camp than that of a sports jacket.

Ace’s jacket is so unique that I think any aspiring Sam Rothstein sartorialists would be hard pressed to get something similar without a lucky find or a cheap alternative like this poly/cotton blend from ASOS that may have the green fleck detail and peak lapels, but you’ll be getting what you pay for with the $34 price tag and doubtless concession to the “skinny” slim fit fad that’s bastardized menswear the last years.

Like his other jackets, the shoulders are wide and well-padded with roped sleeveheads and tailored to perfectly fit De Niro’s frame. In addition to its flattering cut and fit, the details of Ace’s jacket set it apart from imitators as one of the most distinctive garments in a film that’s full of them.

Both the two buttons on the front and the single decorative button on each cuff are silver-toned shank buttons. It is single-breasted with sharp peak lapels, a throwback to a popular style in the 1920s and 1930s that was briefly revived – and frequently exaggerated – during the late 1970s.

Ace’s blazer has slanted flapped hip pockets and a welted breast pocket where he wears a black silk display kerchief, one of the few times his pocket square doesn’t match his tie. The black display kerchief in Ace’s jacket breast pocket grounds the outfit while also coordinating with his black trousers and footwear. The jacket has long double vents, likely 12″.

Ace feels equally at home hobnobbing with scantily-clad showgirls and slick-suited mobsters.

Ace keeps his top half monochromatic, wearing all mint green above the waist line. His shirt, custom made for the production by Anto Beverly Hills, is made from the dull side as the same charmeuse silk as his tie. Every detail of the shirt is authentic to the 1970s and the actual shirts worn by Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal during the era, himself an Anto customer in real life.

The shirt has the long “1977 point collar” found on most of De Niro’s shirts throughout Casino with edge-stitched epaulettes – or shoulder straps – that extend out fully out to the end of the shoulder and are buttoned at the neck on the pointed end of the strap. The shirt has a plain front, a monogrammed breast pocket with a pointed yoke over the left chest, and the very distinctive “Lapidus” single-button tab cuffs.

A slightly dressed down Ace wears his mint green silk Anto shirt when confronting Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) with the news of his listing in the infamous NGC Black Book. (In real life, Tony Spilotro had been admitted to the Black Book in December 1978.)

While Anto used the duller side of the silk to create Ace’s shirt, the mint green tie was crafted from the shinier satin side. He only wears the tie while being prepped for his TV show in the dressing room, sporting the elusive triple threat of mint green-on-mint green-on-mint green.

The perfect knot with its expert dimple goes wasted as Ace is never seen wearing his tie without his makeup bib getting in the way.

Ace likely wears the same black high-rise trousers that feature in many of his odd jacket ensembles during the latter portion of Casino. They are designed with minimalism in mind so as not to distract from the boldness of his colorful top half, with a flat front shaped by darts and a fitted waistband with no belt loops or adjusters. Set in 1980, Ace’s trousers have the frogmouth front pockets and slightly flared plain hem bottoms that would have been fashionable.

His shoes are also the same black leather apron-toe loafers worn with black dress socks.

This is the only look we get of Ace’s trousers during the sequence, and – unfortunately – the window glare casts a cyanic tone that compromises the black to appear bluer through the glass.

This would’ve been a nice outfit to showcase some emerald jewelry, but Ace opts for a pinky ring in 14-carat white gold with a blue synthetic stone set in a geometric polished shank.

He also forgoes his usual habit of matching his ring and watch, wearing a vintage steel wristwatch with a red square face. Perhaps this incongruity is a reflection of Ace’s distracted mental state during the chaotic trauma of his unstable ex-wife and her former pimp kidnapping his daughter.

Mint green jackets and pay phones…relics of a bygone era.

Check out the bottom row of Ibraheem Youssef’s impressive poster illustrating all of De Niro’s tailored clothing in Casino and you’ll see all three of his green odd jackets.

How to Get the Look

Mint green is a sadly under-utilized color in men’s wear, but “Ace” Rothstein does his best to compensate for that with his silk fleck jacket and matching shirt and tie combination.

• Mint green fleck silk single-breasted 2-button blazer with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, double vents, 1-button cuffs
• Mint green dull silk dress shirt with long point collar, epaulettes, breast pocket, and 1-button “Lapidus” tab cuffs
• Mint green satin silk tie
• Black darted-front trousers with fitted waistband, frogmouth front pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather apron-toe slip-on loafers with high vamps and raised heels
• Black dress socks
• Steel vintage wristwatch with red square dial on expanding bracelet
• White gold 14-carat pinky ring with synthetic blue emerald-cut stone set in geometric polished shank
• Black silk display kercheif

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Robert Redford as Jack Weil in Havana (1990)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Jack Weil, smooth, cynical gambler and U.S. Navy veteran

Havana, December 1958

Film: Havana
Release Date: December 14, 1990
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Bernie Pollack

Background

Blue is one of my favorite colors to wear for spring, and Robert Redford wore a bold turquoise blue suit for a memorable sequence in Havana shortly after Redford’s character Jack Weil arrives in the titular city.

The time is December 1958, and anyone with any clue about Cuban history could tell you that that is a hell of a time to find yourself in Havana. Of course, our smooth hero doesn’t have a care in the world. He came down for a high-stakes poker game and the hopes of getting laid…hopes that were dashed after his traveling companion Roberta (Lena Olin) rejected his indecent proposal (see what I did there?) by mentioning her husband.

Instead, Jack finds himself in the company of two vivacious American tourists, Diane (Betsy Brantley) and Patty (Lise Cutter), who are more than happy to follow his lead into some of the city’s nooks and crannies. Of course, the Casablanca-esque plot thickens when Jack again encounters Roberta and meets her husband, revolutionary leader Dr. Arturo Duran (Raúl Juliá).

What’d He Wear?

Jack Weil wears a sporty and bold turquoise blue flannel suit for a night out in Havana, custom made for Robert Redofrd and provided by Western Costume Company of Hollywood.

The single-breasted suit jacket nicely fits Redford with its era-appropriate full cut and padded, roped shoulders that also seem to be a personal preference for Redford’s on-screen tailoring. The narrow notch lapels roll down to the low two-button stance, so low that the tie often flops over the buttoned jacket.

Both the buttons on the front and the two smaller buttons on each cuff are black urea. The ventless jacket has patch pockets on the hips and left breast.

Merry Christmas?

The trousers have belt loops, placed about a half-inch down from the top of the waist, where Weil wears a slim black leather belt with a small gold box-frame buckle.

The single reverse pleats are placed at the first belt loop out from each side of the fly. The trousers have side pockets, jetted back pockets, and are finished with cuffed bottoms.

Jack Weil’s walk of pride as he escorts Diane and Patty through the streets of Havana before finding their way back to the cozy confines of his hotel room.

Redford’s pale pink cotton long-sleeve dress shirt was created by Anto Beverly Hills (with a “Nat Wise of London” label) with a large and distinctively shaped spread collar. The shirt has a front placket, breast pocket, and single-button barrel cuffs.

LiveAuctioneers featured one of the shirts worn by Redford on screen, sold for $300 in June 2013.

Redford’s proved many times that real men wear pink…and his romp with Patty and Diane later that evening should certainly prove that the boldness of wearing a traditionally “non-masculine” color will go a long way toward impressing women.

Weil’s burgundy silk tie is painted with a large yellow-and-blue gray leaf motif, repeating four times between the knot and the wide blade.

The tie may be the most dated element of Jack’s ensemble.

Weil dresses for his night out by wearing the snappy black-and-white leather spectator shoes that introduced his character in the opening scene. The two-tone oxford brogues have a black perforated wingtip toe cap, black outside counter on the heel, black eyelet tabs, and black laces with a white vamp and quarter. As he did with their first appearance, Weil appears to wear his black-and-white shoes with black socks.

Spectator shoes add a nice pop that make an outfit more interesting and, in this case, dial down the formality to keep Jack Weil looking snappy for an evening out on the town.

Redford swaps out his usual silver ring for an ornate gold signet ring, worn on his right pinky. The pinky ring better fits Weil’s gambler persona and likely would have clashed with Redford’s silver ring, received as a gift from Hopi Indians in 1966 and worn in most of his films since then.

Weil wears an all-yellow gold watch, strapped to his right wrist on a flat gold bracelet.

Jack lights up with his new friends.

This entire screen-worn outfit – from the suit and shirt to the tie and shoes – is offered at The Golden Closet for $2,500, as of March 2017.

What to Imbibe

Jack Weil and his reporter pal Julio Ramos (Tony Plana) begin the evening at “Hemingway’s favorite bar,” according to Julio, and appropriately commemorate the occasion with one of Papa’s preferred cocktails: a classic daiquiri.

After making the acquaintance of Diane and Patty, Jack asks the two young women if they “want to try anything” (oh, geez) before picking up a round of mojitos for the group.

I’d also avoid eye contact with any bartender after ordering a mojito.

Jack is wise to suggest this cocktail for the group, particularly in their “when in Havana…” mindset. The mojito was also reportedly a favorite drink of Ernest Hemingway, particularly when imbibing at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, and Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond would also enjoy one while kicking back on a warm Cuban afternoon in Die Another Day.

Mojitos have a reputation for being the drink of choice for people looking to torture their bartender, so learn what goes into making one yourself before putting some poor barkeep through the works. According to the IBA, you’ll need:

• 4 parts Cuban white rum
• 3 parts fresh lime juice
• 6 sprigs of mint
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• soda water

Start by muddling the mint with the lime juice and sugar in a Collins glass, then add a splash of soda water and fill the glass with crushed or cracked ice. Pour in the rum – preferably Cuban rum, of course – and top off the whole concoction with soda water and a final mint sprig for garnish. For an extra taste of Havana, cut the sweetness with a dash or two of Angostura bitters and enjoy on a warm summer evening.

Beware… Jeffrey Morgenthaler wisely warns against downing ten mojitos in one sitting, as tempting as it may sound. For more mojito-drinking tips, check out Morgenthaler’s The Dos and Don’ts of Mojitos.

How to Get the Look

Redford’s suit from Havana, as featured at The Golden Closet.

Jack Weil’s costumes in Havana perfectly illustrate an eye for costume…this is exactly the outfit I would expect to see a confident gambler wearing for a tropical night of bar-hopping in the late 1950s.

• Turquoise blue flannel suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with narrow notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale pink cotton dress shirt with large shaped spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button cuffs
• Burgundy silk tie with painted leaf motif
• Black leather belt with gold rectangular closed buckle
• Black & white leather 5-eyelet wingtip oxford spectator brogues
• Black dress socks
• Gold wristwatch with round gold dial on flat bracelet
• Gold signet pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

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John Wayne as Det.-Lt. Lon “McQ” McHugh in McQ (1974)

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John Wayne as Lon “McQ” McHugh, taciturn Seattle PD lieutenant

Seattle, Fall 1973

Film: McQ
Release Date: February 6, 1974
Director: John Sturges
Wardrobe Credit: Luster Bayless

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

What do you get when you mix Dirty Harry’s attitude with Bullitt’s cinematic style and a twist of neo-noir influence? Why, you get McQ, the 1974 crime drama that marked one of Wayne’s few non-Western and non-war movies in his storied career.

John Wayne was just shy of 67 years old when McQ was released in theaters. He vocally regretted not accepting the lead role in Dirty Harry that would cement Clint Eastwood’s superstardom. In the three years since, Eastwood had already starred in two films as Harry Callahan with another soon to follow.

The McQ creative team, with veteran director John Sturges at the helm, revived the original Seattle setting of Dirty Harry and also capitalized on the success of films like Bullitt by connecting action set pieces with impressive car chases; in fact, the “McQ” moniker may have been an attempt at signaling Steve McQueen’s name and success in that role.

Wayne plays Lon “McQ” McHugh, a tough detective-lieutenant with the Seattle Police Department frequently disgusted by politics interfering with his ability to lawfully exact justice. He’s hounded by assassins, drug peddlers, and hoodlums through the film, culminating in the tragic destruction of his “brewster green” 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am… a brand-new American sports car in hunter green. Hm.

After a much-needed hospital visit, McQ is back in action, this time with his deceased partner’s widow Lois (Diana Muldaur), who may know more about their gun-toting pursuers than she lets on.

The chase leads McQ and Lois to a beach, where stunt coordinator Ronnie Rondell and stuntmen Hal Needham and Gary McLarty executed an impressive rollover stunt with the blue Cadillac sedan pursuing Lois’ 1969 Pontiac Belvedere. For an entertaining read about the stunt process (and its nearly fatal execution), check out this 2014 Road & Track article by Alex Nunez.

McQ hits the beach in Lois’ Belvedere.

Thank you to Craig, a great BAMF Style reader and Patreon supporter, who sent me a copy of the McQ DVD, allowing me to respond to the several requests I’ve received to write about John Wayne’s wardrobe in the film.

What’d He Wear?

McQ wears a heavy birdseye tweed jacket and striped tie for an evening of highballs with Lois that eventually becomes his outfit for the rest of the film. Tweed is a fine choice, as its durability is key for the amount of car stunts, gunfights, and beatings to which McQ is subjected during the movie’s latter scenes. Whether intentional or not, it also nods to Wayne’s significant Scots-Irish heritage.

McQ gets taken for a ride.

McQ’s gray single-breasted sport jacket is large-scaled birdseye tweed with taupe striping. The three-button stance nicely balances John Wayne’s 6’4″ height, and he often wears the top two buttons fastened, correctly leaving the bottom button undone. The two smaller buttons on the cuff are, like those on the front, sew-through buttons with two holes.

Tweed’s rough durability makes it a staple of British country clothing, and tweed jackets often incorporate sporty details such as the swelled edges and patch pockets seen on McQ’s jacket.

John Wayne’s already imposing physique is emphasized with padded, roped shoulders. Though cut and detailed similarly to his other jackets, this is the only one with double vents – and long ones fashionable to the ’70s, at that – rather than the single vent of his navy blazer and charcoal flannel suit jacket.

McQ wears a sky blue poplin shirt with a edge-stitched details, including the fashionably large semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and rounded barrel cuffs with two buttons to close.

If it’s that hard to fit your 6’4″ frame inside a Trans Am, maybe you needed a different car, anyway…

Of course an all-American like John Wayne would wear a red, white, and blue tie. His crimson repp tie has thin sets of stripes in dark navy, beige, and dark navy… naturally following the American stripe direction pointing up to the right shoulder.

Even John Wayne can get his ass kicked from time to time… he’s in the hospital for a full two minutes before he even considers going back out to take on corrupt police officers and drug dealers.

McQ wears a pair of taupe wool flat front slacks that may be a shade too similar to his sport jacket as deeper contrast is always preferred when pairing trousers with an odd jacket. These trousers have side pockets, jetted back pockets, that close with a button, and plain-hemmed bottoms.

The wide belt loops accommodate a thick black leather belt with a large brass single-prong buckle. McQ wears his new Browning Hi-Power secured to the left side of his belt for a cross-hand draw from a tan leather holster.

McQ keeps his Browning Hi-Power holstered in a cross-draw rig on the left side of his belt. It’s ill-concealed on a windy day and bulges under his jacket, but if you see John Wayne coming your way, it’s safe to assume he’s got a gun on him anyway.

McQ wears black leather slip-on loafers with black socks.

McQ’s footwear is best seen in the promotional shot featured in this German lobby card. Any German-speaking BAMFs out there able to translate “schlägt zu” in this context?

For his nocturnal escapades in the impound lot, McQ adds an extra layer with a khaki raincoat. The coat has set-in sleeves, a 5-button covered fly front, single-button cuffs, and handwarmer side pockets.

Who says it needs to rain for you to wear a raincoat? Covert nocturnal activity is always a fine occasion to whip out the khaki mack.

On his right wrist, John Wayne wears a simple brass Montagnard bracelet that gifted to him by the indiginous Montagnard people of Vietnam during the filming of The Green Berets in 1968. Modern Forces Living History Group reports that many American servicemen returned from Vietnam with these bracelets from the tribe, signifying friendship or respect.

Manready Mercantile offers a striking replica of the “Montagnard Bracelet” in brass, copper, or steel (link), where they explain that “not only did Duke don the bracelet on his wrist until the day he passed, it’s said he lays with it to this day.”

John Wayne wore the Montagnard bracelet on his right wrist in all of his films from The Green Berets on.

McQ’s watch doesn’t get much dedicated screen time, but it’s worn in the same manner that John Wayne would typically wear his timepieces with the face on the inside of his wrist. It appears to be a gold chronograph, surprisingly small in diameter for a man of Wayne’s size, with a silver dial (with three sub-dials), worn on a drab vinyl strap that closes with a buckle.

McQ’s practice of wearing his watch on the inside of his wrist (a trait shared with John Wayne himself) may nod to possible military background, which would also explain his expert handling of firearms beyond his police-issued .38.

John Wayne’s real life preference for Rolex watches has been well documented, but I can’t say conclusively whether this is a Rolex or not. The closest model would likely be a Rolex Daytona with a slate dial and a custom band, such as this model 116523 currently offered for $10,995.

A Rolex Magazine article from November 2016 has a great pictoral history of Wayne’s Rolex history, including some great images of The Duke sporting his DateJust while vacationing at his Acapulco resort.

How to Get the Look

John Wayne’s rugged and classic tweed-centered ensemble serves him ably as he battles the bad guys in the final act of McQ.

• Gray taupe-striped birdseye tweed single-breasted 3-button sportcoat with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, double vents
• Sky blue poplin shirt with large semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 2-button rounded barrel cuffs
• Crimson red repp tie with thin navy/beige/navy R-down-L stripes
• Taupe wool flat front trousers with wide belt loops, side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt with brass single-prong buckle
• Tan leather belt holster for full-size semi-automatic pistol
• Black leather slip-on loafers
• Black socks
• Khaki raincoat with 5-button covered fly front, set-in sleeves with 1-button cuffs, handwarmer pockets, and single back vent
• Plain brass “Montagnard Bracelet”
• Yellow gold chronograph wristwatch with silver dial (with three sub-dials) and olive vinyl buckle-strap

The Guns

John Wayne might’ve gotten famous firing six-shooters on horseback, but McQ reinvented the actor’s image as he fired fully automatic rounds from a MAC-10 out the side window of a Plymouth sedan after using up all the rounds from his “wonder nine” Browning Hi-Power.

As a veteran cop in the ’70s, Lieutenant McHugh begins the film with a standard .38 Special revolver, but – once both are taken away from him following his resignation from the force – he’s force to load up on his own. A trip to Warshal’s Sporting Goods in Seattle yielded both the high-capacity pistol he was seeking in the form of a Browning Hi-Power as well as the chance to covertly “borrow” a MAC-10.

McQ’s choice of a Browning Hi-Power for his personal sidearm may have been influenced by Frank Serpico, the maverick NYPD cop who was portrayed by Al Pacino in the previous year’s Serpico. The fictional McHugh finds himself in a similar situation as both the real and cinematic Serpico, constantly in danger as he tirelessly works to uncover a conspiracy that lead up the police department’s chain of command.

Only John Wayne could make a Browning Hi-Power look so small in someone’s hands.

Once the battle heats up, McQ literally brings out the big guns when he digs out the Ingram MAC-10 submachine gun that he wisely removed from his car trunk following its destruction.

McQ is often credited with introducing the MAC-10 to the general public, developing wider consciousness of the weapon and greater demand for it. It had been developed a decade earlier by George B. Ingram, but it wasn’t introduced until 1970 for three years of production by Military Armament Corporation (MAC). The “MAC-10” nomenclature is an unofficial one as it is officially abbreviated as the “M-10” or “M10”.

Designed purely for functionality, the MAC-10 is an ugly weapon, built from steel stampings and feeding from a box magazine in the grip that either carries 32 rounds of 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition or 30 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition; McQ’s particular MAC-10 is the latter .45-caliber model.

The lawman steadily fires his .45 while riding against a gang of outlaws… a more modern take on the usual John Wayne narrative.

If the MAC-10 with its big two-stage suppressor looks familiar to you, it may be from seeing a similar weapon handled by Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction, featured in last week’s post.

According to Jack Lewis’s Assault Weapons, the MAC-10 gained a quick – and deserved – reputation for inaccuracy with IACP weapons researcher David Steele describing the weapon as “fit only for combat in a phone booth.” This frequent criticism of the MAC-10 was rectified with the development of a two-stage suppressor by Sionics, designed by Mitchell Werbell III.

Nearly a foot long, this two-stage suppressor also served two purposes; it greatly reduced the sound of the weapon firing, muting almost all but the bolt cycling, and also served as a foregrip to steady the weapon when used with a Nomex cover as suggested by the U.S. Army. A second hand would certainly come in handy with a weapon firing .45 ACP rounds at a rate of 1,090 rounds per minute.

Ever the cowboy, John Wayne even fires his MAC-10 one-handed and from the hip.

For more info about the guns of McQ as well as photos of the film’s actual weapons, supplied by Long Mountain Outfitters, check out the IMFDB page.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

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The Quote

I’m up to my butt in gas!

Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant in From Russia With Love (1963)

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Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant, lethal SPECTRE assassin

Istanbul, Spring 1963

Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards

Background

Robert Shaw set the Bond franchise standard as the dangerous Donald “Red” Grant in From Russia With Love, one of the most memorable antagonists in the series.

Grant is arguably the archetype for subsequent villains that followed his laconic, icy blond example like Vargas in Thunderball, Necros in The Living Daylights, and Stamper in Tomorrow Never Dies, though none could ever match Robert Shaw’s truly menacing presence on screen.

From Russia With Love is notable in the Bond canon for also being a helluva good espionage film on its own. Much credit for this comes from the film’s paranoid atmosphere, a true product of the Cold War and no doubt enhanced by Grant’s constant presence as he lurks in the dark shadows of the narrative. We don’t know Grant’s exact mission at the outset, and his unpredictability is all the more unsettling as he efficiently dispatches with nearly everyone that comes into contact with Bond… and it’s only a matter of time until he has 007 himself in his crosshairs.

What’d He Wear?

From the time that James Bond alights at the Istanbul airport through the gypsy camp gunfight up to the confrontation at the Hagia Sophia mosque, Grant wears the same gray check suit, pale blue shirt with double cuffs, and royal blue satin tie. It’s as though Grant took a page out of Bond’s book, dressing subtly enough to effortlessly blend into the background while still stylish enough to satiate his pride.

Grant’s full-cut wool suit is actually a small-scale gun club check in black, maroon, and navy on a gray ground. Gun club check is a pattern more frequently associated with country clothing, such as the sport jacket that Timothy Dalton would wear as 007 himself in The Living Daylights, but a smaller scaled check like Grant’s is very suitable for the frequently shifting locales of Grant’s mission in Istanbul.

What’s a good assassin without a pair of dangerous-looking black leather gloves? Grant’s gloves have basket-woven thumbs.

The boxier, buttoned-up look of Grant’s three-button suit jackets give him a lethal appearance with a businesslike approach to killing, amplified by the padded shoulders. Like his other suit, this jacket is single-breasted with narrow notch lapels and single back vent. The hip pockets are flapped, and Grant wears a white pocket square in the welted breast pocket.

In fact, most of the details are consistent between Grant’s suits save for the cuffs; this suit has 3-button cuffs while his later suit has only a single button at the end of each sleeve.

The double forward-pleated trousers are finished at the bottom with cuffs.

Grant coolly leaves the scene of a crime.

Grant’s shirt and tie plays with his parallels to Bond’s From Russia With Love “uniform”, as Sean Connery also wears almost exclusively blue silk ties with pale blue poplin shirts. While James Bond prefers navy grenadine ties, though, Grant sports a louder royal blue tie in shiny satin silk.

Grant’s pale blue poplin shirt has a spread collar and double (French) cuffs, likely worn with the same round blue enamel gold disc cuff links that he would later wear when battling Bond on the Orient Express. (A costume-related continuity error actually gives Grant two different sets of cufflinks with the Orient Express suit.)

Yikes, Rosa!

The black leather plain-toe slip-ons that Grant wears appear to also be the same that he would wear on the Orient Express. With short black elastic side gussets, these loafers best resemble a Chelsea boot that’s been cut off at the ankle. Connery would wear similar footwear the following year in Goldfinger with both formal and casual outfits.

For an extra bit of trivia, the teal taxi in which Grant joins Rosa Klebb is a 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook. At 12 years old, the car would be ineligible for Uber… although I imagine potential riders would also be put off by the intense rust on the fender.

Though it gets little action here, Grant wears the same garotte-customized Milan wristwatch that he demonstrated to great effect during the pre-credits scene. The heavy steel watch, replicated at YourProps.com, has a white dial with gold case markers at each quarter hour and black numeral markings at all but 3:00, where the number is cut out for a date window. The brown leather strap is debossed through the center.

How to Get the Look

Red Grant looks both predatory and dapper as he stalks Bond through the nooks and crannies of Istanbul.

• Gray gun club check wool suit, consisting of
  • Single-breasted 3-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and back vent
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale blue poplin shirt with spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold disc cuff links filled with blue enamel
• Royal blue satin silk tie
• Black leather plain-toe side-gusset loafers
• Black dress socks
• Milan wristwatch with heavy steel case, white dial (with 3:00 date window), brown leather strap, and garotte wire
• Black leather gloves with basket-woven thumbs

Though he mocks the mannerisms of a gentleman, Grant does wear a gentlemanly white pocket square in his breast pocket.

The Gun

Every movie assassin needs a stylish handgun, and Grant takes inspiration from 007 by borrowing a different weapon from the German military’s early 20th century arsenal, arming himself with the distinctive Mauser C96.

Streets of Istanbul by day, sneaking behind a gypsy wagon at night… Red Grant will be the first to tell you there’s no such thing as “a typical day” working for SPECTRE.

The Mauser C96 is easily recognizable with its long barrel and the unique round wooden grip that earned the weapon its “Broomhandle” nickname. It could be fitted with a shoulder stock that ostensibly converted it to a carbine rifle. The standard model used the proprietary 7.63x25mm Mauser ammunition, fed by a 10-round stripper clip into an internal magazine in front of the trigger.

Though not practical for concealed carry, the Mauser is a sensible option for Grant in this context. He isn’t sure where his mission will take him, but he will almost certainly need to exercise his skills as an assassin and he may need to do so from a distance. A rifle would be both impractical and conspicuous, but the range and accuracy offered by the Mauser C96’s long 5.5-inch barrel and its high-velocity 7.63x25mm cartridge makes it a suitable carbine substitute in a pinch.

Bond would also be grateful for the accuracy of Grant’s Mauser C96…although he doesn’t know it yet.

As its name implies, the Mauser C96 was introduced in 1896, beginning more than four decades of continuous production and countless variants until 1937. The classic configuration was Grant’s 5.5″-barreled model in 7.63x25mm Mauser, but contracts around the world meant different needs for different militaries; the Chinese developed approximately 8,500 “Shanxi Type 17” pistols chambered for the powerful .45 ACP cartridge, the Bolshevik Russian government purchased large numbers of the short-barreled M1921 Mauser that was thus nicknamed the “Bolo” Mauser, and the Imperial German Army contracted 150,000 Mauser pistols to be chambered for its standard 9x19mm cartridge during World War I. This latter variant gained its “Red 9” moniker from the large number 9 that was burned and painted onto the grips to warn users from incorrectly loading them with 7.63mm ammunition.

One of the most famous developments of the C96 was the select-fire “Schnellfeuer”, produced by Mauser from 1932 to 1936 after the Spanish firms Beistegui Hermanos S.A and Astra-Unceta y Cía S.A. developed their own select-fire C96-type machine pistols in the late 1920s.

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Robert Redford as Harry “the Sundance Kid” Longbaugh in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

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Robert Redford as Harry Longbaugh, aka “The Sundance Kid”, American outlaw

New York City to Bolivia, Spring 1901

Film: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Release Date: October 24, 1969
Director: George Roy Hill
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

For Western Wednesday, BAMF Style is taking a look at one of the most classic and unique films in the genre, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The film is loosely based on the true story of the turn-of-the-century outlaws who fled to South America after their gang, the Wild Bunch, was broken up by the long arm of the law. William Goldman’s witty, engaging screenplay became a hot commodity in Hollywood once studio execs warmed up to the idea of its Old West heroes fleeing. A veritable “who’s who” of the era’s most popular actors were considered for the titular leading roles before Paul Newman and Robert Redford were cast, cementing their place in film history as one of the most dynamic buddy duos to hit the screen.

Redford’s Sundance Kid provides a steady presence that balances the idealistic Butch as played by Newman. Like many traditional cinematic gunslingers, Sundance is laconic and suspicious with a laidback sense of humor as opposed to the charming and clever Butch who is always looking for the next laugh. Each brings a sense of balance to their bickering partnership that strengthens it as a brotherhood rather than a friendship or professional association. Tension rises and falls throughout Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but at no point is there even any threat that one will turn on the other, even as both seem to share the affections of Sundance’s romantic partner, Etta Place (Katharine Ross).

William Goldman said he was drawn to the story of Butch and Sundance as it countered F. Scott Fitzgerald’s theory of “no second acts in American lives,” with the duo faced with determining their second act in the face of the changing state of the American frontier. Given the choice of adapt or die, they choose a third option: fleeing to Bolivia, by way of New York City.

The changing state of the American frontier catches up to horseback bandits Butch and Sundance, and the duo is given the choice: adapt or die. Instead, they choose a third option: fleeing to Bolivia, by way of New York City.

What’d He Wear?

Sundance’s “day dress” outfit of charcoal jacket and waistcoat with striped trousers is his most formal look in the film. When situations call for a suit, he typically sports a gray tweed three-piece suit more fitting his usual image of an outdoorsy gunslinger, but he rises to the occasion for a formal portrait in New York with this turn-of-the-century take on a Masonic suit that was also preferred by some real-life Wild Bunch bandits at the time…but more on that later.

Although its purpose is mostly ceremonial in New York for a day of portraits and jewelry shopping, Sundance’s formal day dress serves a greater purpose when it lulls a Bolivian bank president into a false sense of security; the president willingly leads this prosperous prospect through his bank, grinning ear-to-ear until Etta hands Sundance his .45 and the ruse is up.

(Left) Butch didn’t realize we weren’t smiling for that one.
(Right) A Bolivian bank president, distracted by Sundance’s fine formal attire, mindlessly leads him down into the vault.

Sundance would have been the height of 1901 fashion in his sack jacket, with Brooks Brothers introducing its iconic “Number One Sack” that year and redefining American menswear for the better part of the 20th century.

Redford’s screen-worn jacket, auctioned in 2011. The piping along the edge seems to have been added after the production.

Redford’s charcoal worsted wool jacket in the film was custom made for him by Western Costume with his usual padded shoulders and heavily roped sleeveheads, although the wide shoulders are not as noticeable given the cut’s traditional shapelessness. It follows the sack cut, unshaped by darts and short-fitting with a rounded cutaway bottom, although the four black plastic buttons are one more than Brooks Brothers’ seminal sack coat’s 3-roll-2 stance.

The ventless jacket has notch lapels, a welted breast pocket, and straight flapped hip pockets that line up directly with the lowest buton. There are two decorative buttons at the end of each sleeve.

The jacket was auctioned in June 2011, fetching $8,500, although some modifications had evidently been made since Redford wore it as the Sundance Kid. His name and measurements (40 chest and 17½ sleeve) are still printed on the tag, but dark taping has been added to the edges.

Sundance wears a charcoal waistcoat that matches his jacket. It fastens high on the chest with short notch lapels that roll to the top of the six-button front.

The waistcoat has four thinly-welted pockets, and Sundance keeps his unseen gold pocket watch in the lower left pocket, allowing easy access for the left-handed gunslinger. The watch has a thick gold “single Albert” chain through the fourth buttonhole with a dropped fob that hangs down to just above the vest’s straight-cut bottom.

Dammit, Butch! Get it together.

Sundance wears cashmere stripe trousers, another fashion from the era typically associated with morning dress. “Cashmere stripe” refers to the stripe itself rather than the material, which was traditionally worsted, and has been used to describe a variety of similar patterns of black stripes on a gray ground. In Sundance’s case, the stripes appear to alternate in thickness between hairline and a slightly thicker stripe.

True cashmere striped trousers would have more likely followed the baggier “sponge bag” style, but this adherence to the era’s fashion wouldn’t translate as well in 1969. In fact, Redford’s flat front trousers are very much a product of 1969 with the slim, tapered leg and low rise that reveals the bottom of the trousers’ belt loops peeking out from his waistcoat.

Redford’s trousers also have a straight fly with no extended waist tabs and frogmouth front pockets; he slips his left hand into this pocket during the many takes of the trio’s photo session.

Cashmere striped trousers have essentially gone the way of morning dress with your best bet being buying a costume or going vintage if you want a pair of your own, such as these pleated trousers with side adjusters available at Savvy Row.

Butch opts for a more “city dude”-friendly pair of Chelsea boots for their photo session, but Sundance evidently wears the same tall black leather plain-toe riding boots that he wore with his gray tweed suit, a surprising yield given the rest of the outfit’s formality.

Redford on set in Mexico with his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen.

Sundance wears a white cotton dress shirt with a front placket and single-button rounded barrel cuffs. Detachable collars were de rigeur for even semi-formal attire at the time, so he wears a stiff rounded club collar.

For the New York photo session, Sundance’s silk tie is multi-striped in gradient shades of blue and gray. For one of the gang’s bank robberies and celebratory post-heist dinner in Bolivia, he wears a dark navy silk tie with a foulard pattern of lavender squares, each with a small purple dot in the center.

Redford gets a head start on Operation Dinner Out.

Three years earlier, Robert Redford had received a silver ring as a gift from a Hopi tribe that he began wearing on the third finger of his right hand in nearly all of his films to follow.

The gang toasts after their latest criminal venture.

Like the rest of his outfit, Sundance’s homburg was the cutting edge of turn-of-the-century fashion, having been popularized in the English-speaking world in the 1890s after Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, returned from Germany wearing one. Sundance sports a gray felt homburg with a wide black grosgrain band and gray grosgrain trim along the edge of the hat’s signature stiff, kettle-curled brim.

Although he wisely doesn’t wear it during the actual photo session shown in the film, promotional images of the trio’s New York photo shoot feature Sundance’s wide black leather gun belt with a large steel single-claw Ranger-style buckle and a holster for his Single Action Army revolver hanging down against his left thigh.

It would be highly irregular that Sundance, traveling incognito, would draw such attention to himself by posing with his holster revolver for a New York City photographer. (He doesn’t wear his gun rig in the actual film.)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid‘s formal portrait session of Butch, Sundance, and Etta pays homage to two famous photos of Sundance, taken months apart and more indicative of successful businessmen of the era than the rugged bandits who persistently raided the express trains of Mr. E.H. Harriman.

Okay…What Did He Really Wear?

(Left) Redford as Sundance.
(Center and right) Sundance himself, as seen around the time the film was set.

In The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Thom Hatch describes the gang’s infamous photo session in Fort Worth in the fall of 1900, coming off of a successful bank robbery months earlier in Winnemucca, Nevada:

A few blocks from the Maddox Hotel, at 705 Main Street, stood the Swartz View Company, the studio of photographer John Swartz. Inside the second-floor studio was taken the most notable and ill-conceived photograph of the Old West era. On November 21, Butch Cassidy, Harry Alonzo Longbaugh, Harvey Logan, Ben Kilpatrick, and Will Carver – dressed in their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothing – sat together for a portrait.

Butch’s derby was tilted jauntily to the left, Carver’s to the right. Logan pushed his hat back to expose his forehead and wore a nosegay in his buttonhole. Ben Kilpatrick’s lanky frame dominated the center of the photo. Sundance appeared uncomfortable, uncertain about whether or not to smile. All the men wore white shirts with crisp, stiff collars and long ties, and exhibited shiny watch fobs. The well-dressed gentlemen in the photo might have been mistaken for a group of bankers or merchants.

The notion to record their visit to Fort Wroth with a lasting souvenir such as a group photograph has been credited over time to both Butch and Sundance. It would be in keeping with Butch’s personality to find amusement in joking around, perhaps even mocking – in a cowboy way – the well-to-do folks who wore such dude clothing every day. On the other hand, Sundance was known to have a propensity for dressing up in nice clothing and showing off whenever the occasion arose. Whatever the reason, the photograph would prove to be a foolhardy idea.

The Wild Bunch in Fort Worth, November 1900.
Top row (left to right): Will Carver and Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan.
Bottom row (left to right): Harry “the Sundance Kid” Longbaugh, Ben “the Tall Texan” Kilpatrick, and Butch Cassidy.

The outfit sported by Redford as Sundance looks like an amalgamation of looks from across the gang. Redford borrows the club collar shirt and dark sack jacket and waistcoat from Ben Kilpatrick (front and center) while also jauntily wearing his hat back on his head like the bushy-mustached Harvey Logan (top right) did for the real life photo. The collared waistcoat and single Albert watch chain with a dropped fob look most like the ones sported by the real life Butch Cassidy… while the real life Sundance Kid with his dark patterned three-piece suit and wide-knotted tie looks most like Paul Newman’s Butch Cassidy!

The newly married (perhaps) Harry Longbaugh and Etta Place in New York City, February 1901, en route South America.

Months later, Butch and Sundance were on the run, determining to leave the dangers of the United States behind them to bask in the warm freedom that South America has to offer. As portrayed in the film, the duo decided to live it up before leaving for good with a jaunt through the Big Apple before sailing for Buenos Aires, their first port of call.

Sundance preceded Butch to New York City, arriving with his fiancee, the mysterious and alluring Etta Place, on February 1, 1901. They immediately took residence in a second-floor luxury suite at a West 12th Street boarding house, living as Mr. and Mrs. Harry Place. They would be shortly joined by “James Ryan,” Etta’s brother, portrayed by Butch Cassidy.

Two days after their arrival in the city, Sundance and Etta had their formal portrait taken at the DeYoung Photography Studio on Broadway. You’d never guess that Sundance was a train-hopping, fast-shooting bandit to see how at home he looks in his staid formal attire of a high-fastening double-breasted frock coat, silk top hat, bow tie, and well-shined cap-toe oxfords.

“…from New York City, with a picture of him and his wife, saying he had married a Texas lady he had known previously,” read the notation made by David Gillepsie after Sundance personally mailed him a print. Before they reached New York City, Sundance took Etta to meet his family, where he had introduced her as his wife despite no actual evidence that the two had gotten married.

Butch, Sundance, and Etta boarded the freighter SS Herminius on February 20 after nearly three weeks and a spectacular blizzard that had sent massive ice floes down the East River.

Go Big or Go Home

Thom Hatch describes the enthusiasm that must have flowed through Butch, Sundance, and Etta as they toured New York for three weeks before their eventual departure to South America:

They were flush with money and the prospects of adventure and a new life. But first they were anxious to see all the wondrous sights this vibrant city of nearly three and a half million people had to offer.

Indeed, the lively ragtime-influenced track that plays over the montage of the trio’s adventure in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid even captures the spirit with its title: “The Old Fun City”.

“Accustomed to saloons, snow-capped mountains, and desolate open places,” Hatch continued, “the three Westerners must have marveled at the skyscrapers, automobiles, and bright streetlights that welcomed them.”

Hatch describes a trip to the famous Tiffany & Co. store, located in 1901 at the corner of 15th Street at Union Square, where Butch purchased a $40 gold watch for himself while Sundance picked up a diamond stickpin for himself and spent $150 on a gold lapel watch for Etta.

How to Get the Look

Sundance dudes up for the gang’s tour of New York, presenting himself as a fashionable, dapper gentleman of means.

• Charcoal worsted wool single-breasted 4-button sack coat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, decorative 2-button cuffs, ventless back
• Charcoal worsted wool single-breasted 6-button waistcoat with short notch lapels, slim-welted pockets, and straight-cut bottom
• Gray-and-black “cashmere stripe” wool flat front trousers with belt loops, straight fly, frogmouth front pocekts, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton dress shirt with white detachable club collar, front placket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Blue patterned silk tie
• Black leather calf-high riding boots with raised heels
• Gray felt homburg with black grosgrain band
• Black leather gun belt with steel Ranger-style single-prong buckle and left-hand-draw thigh holster
• Gold pocket watch on gold “single Albert” chain with dropped fob, worn in left vest pocket
• Silver Hopi ring with black imprint, worn on right ring finger

Elements of Sundance’s take on formal day dress are more 1969 than 1901, but perhaps Sundance has adopted some of Butch’s forward-thinking attitude: “I got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals.”

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

To learn more about the real Butch and Sundance, check out Thom Hatch’s The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a terrifically entertaining and informative read that I quoted liberally in this post. You can find the book on Amazon.

Footnote

What was initially planned to be a movie montage of Butch, Sundance, and Etta enjoying the sights and amusements of New York City became a challenge when director George Roy Hill was refused permission to film on the period set of Hello, Dolly! in the neighboring soundstage. To work around this, Hill reformatted the sequence as an energetic series of still photographs, taken of Newman, Redford, and Ross on the Hello, Dolly! set then sliced and merged into a series of hundreds of actual period photos.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Quantum of Solace (2008)

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Daniel Craig as James Bond, rogue British government agent

La Paz, Bolivia, August 2008

Film: Quantum of Solace
Release Date: October 31, 2008
Director: Marc Forster
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley

Background

The last post found us sailing down to Bolivia with the Sundance Kid, so let’s hang around and see what kind of trouble James Bond gets into in the same country for the 00-7th of April.

Exactly 100 years after Butch and Sundance met their fate in San Vicente, Daniel Craig’s rogue James Bond arrived in the country with his former MI6 handler Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), where they are immediately interrupted by the efficient Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton, who recently expressed that she wouldn’t take the role if offered it today).

What’d He Wear?

Bond evidently picked up some fresh Tom Ford suits after his visit to Mathis’ Italian villa, sporting the first as his traveling suit as they fly across the Atlantic. 007 looks sharp as he alights in the La Paz airport, wearing his new Tom Ford suit in cool dark brown mohair tonic.

Distinctive for its shiny iridescence created by its two-colored warp and weft, mohair tonic enjoyed the greatest popularity during the 1960s mod scene, making it an appropriate suiting for Daniel Craig’s heritage-focused interpretation of James Bond.

Teachers on sabbatical, eh?

The details of the suit jacket are consistent with the other Tom Ford “Regency” cut jackets that Craig wears in Quantum of Solace; the front is single-breasted with medium-width notch lapels that roll over the top of the jacket’s three-button front. This 3-roll-2 button stance is perfectly situated with the middle button over the waist, but the lower trouser rise and the long tie create the undesired effect of the tie substantially poking out under the buttoned jacket.

Somehow, Bond looks better after a transatlantic six-martini flight than most people do after leaving their house for work in the morning. (Mathis, on the other hand, looks much more relatable.)

Bond’s pick-stitched jacket has a chest chest and suppressed waist with a trim cut that flatters better Craig than the much slimmer fit of his later Tom Ford suits in Skyfall. The natural “pagoda” shoulders with roped sleeveheads emphasize Craig’s concave shoulder lines. He wears a white linen pocket square neatly folded in the jacket’s curved “barchetta” breast pocket, and the hip pockets are straight and flapped with a ticket pocket on the right side adding an extra dash of British detail. The double back vents rise high, approximately 10″.

All of Bond’s Tom Ford suits in Quantum of Solace have functioning 5-button cuffs with the buttonhole closest to the wrist cut longer and always left undone, a rakish way for Bond to signal his bespoke tailoring to those who would notice.

The flat front trousers have a fashionably low rise with side adjusters revived from the era of Sean Connery and early Roger Moore, although Craig’s adjusters are slide-buckle tabs rather than buttoned “Daks top” adjusters. The waistband is extended across the front with a concealed hook closure on a squared tab.

The side pockets follow the slightly curved side seams, and the jetted back pockets close with a button. The straight-leg trousers fit closely to Craig and are finished at the bottom with cuffs (turn-ups).

Images grabbed of Daniel Craig on set show more details of his trousers and highlight the shiny aspects of the mohair fabric. This film also marked the return of side adjusters on Bond’s trousers, a Connery-era detail that had been replaced by belts during Roger Moore’s tenure.

Other than his first appearance in the pinstripe suit (meant to evoke the three-piece suit from the Casino Royale finale), Bond wears exclusively white poplin dress shirts throughout Quantum of Solace, all from Tom Ford, and styled with a large semi-spread collar, front placket, and two back darts. The double (French) cuffs in this scene are worn with gold cluster cuff links that nicely mirror the earth-toned iridescence of both his suit and tie.

Also from Tom Ford, Bond’s silk tie is a micro-grid of dark brown and light tan squares that look solidly taupe from a distance and is tied in a Windsor knot… ostensibly with apologies to Ian Fleming.

Bond knocks back his sixth in-flight martini.

Bargain Bonds may find solace of their own with this “houndstooth” silk tie from Vincenzo Boretti that offers a similar effect for only $17.

Brown shoes are traditionally a safe bet when sporting a brown suit, but Bond eschews this comfortable choice in favor of the same black calf full leather Church’s Philip oxfords that he wears with all of his suits in Quantum of Solace. These six-eyelet oxfords have a perforated cap-toe, comfortable suede lining, and oak bark soles. You can find more information about the Church’s Philip at James Bond Lifestyle.

(Left) Daniel Craig on set.
(Center) Church’s Philip oxfords, as worn by Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace.
(Right) Bond and Fields are escorted to their room.

The sun hits Bond’s face as he emerges from the La Paz airport, but he’s thoughtfully prepared for the situation with a pair of matte rhodium-framed Tom Ford FT108 aviator sunglasses, the same shades he rocked with a dressed-down cardigan and desert boots at Mathis’ villa in the previous scene.

More information about these Italian-made sunglasses can be found at James Bond Lifestyle or on the Christie’s auction page when Craig’s actual screen-worn sunglasses were sold for £23,750 in 2012.

Fields should have rethought her cover story when Bond arrived wearing Tom Ford sunglasses and an Omega watch…not to mention the suit itself.

Bond’s wristwatch is the same Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m Co-Axial Chronometer 2201.50.00 that he wears throughout Quantum of Solace with a stainless steel 42mm case and deployment-clasp link bracelet. The round dial is black with a 3:00 date window and luminous hour markers and hands. The specific number of Bond’s watch, which was auctioned by Christie’s in 2012 for £34,850, is #81087613. Given that he spends most of his time in Quantum of Solace gone rogue, it makes sense that he would wear this watch exclusively without Q Branch outfitting him with alternatives.

For a great analysis and breakdown of Craig’s suit in this scene, visit Matt Spaiser’s blog The Suits of James Bond.

How to Get the Look

James Bond revives a bold vintage fad with his mohair tonic suit in muted brown, setting the gold standard for travel attire and easing his own path for post-flight stationary-and-Bollinger seductions.

• Dark brown mohair tonic Tom Ford “Regency” suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-roll-2 button jacket with notch lapels, curved “barchetta” breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets with ticket pocket, functional 5-button cuffs, and long double vents
  • Flat front low-rise trousers with buckle side-adjusters, curved-seam side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White poplin Tom Ford dress shirt with large semi-spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold cluster cuff links
• Brown two-tone mini-grid silk Tom Ford tie
• Black calf leather Church’s Philip six-eyelet perforated cap-toe oxfords/balmorals
• Black dress socks
• Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m Co-Axial Chronometer stainless steel wristwatch with steel bracelet, black face, and black bezel
• Tom Ford FT108 aviator sunglasses with semi matte rhodium frame, black temple tips, and smoke blue 19V lenses

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Hello. We’re teachers on sabbatical and we’ve just won the lottery.

Footnote

Mohair tonic is a very difficult suiting to track down these days. This three-ply “Tonic Ginger” suit from Jump the Gun incorporates the color and basic style of Bond’s Bolivia suit in Quantum of Solace with mod-influenced details like covered buttons and a high-buttoning short jacket.

Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson on Boardwalk Empire (Episode 3.03: “Bone for Tuna”)

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Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, political boss and bootlegger

Atlantic City, January 1923

Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episode: “Bone for Tuna” (Episode 3.03)
Air Date: September 30, 2012
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Creator: Terence Winter
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

I’m taking the blogger’s imperative and dedicating this whole week to Boardwalk Empire and its celebrated throwback style.

During its five-season run, Boardwalk Empire highlighted the spectrum of Prohibition-era men’s fashion from Jimmy Darmody’s street tweeds (link) and Mickey Doyle’s comic bowler-topped sack suits to Chalky White’s natty plaid suits accented by bold bow ties and Nucky Thompson’s distinctive take on white tie (link).

As a decidedly unconservative dresser, it thus becomes very meaningful when the typically bold-suited Nucky Thompson dons traditional morning dress for a morning in church. After all, this is a man far more comfortable in a smoky, champagne-soaked nightclub behind the bold distractions of a pastel-checked suit.

The dramatic second season ended with Margaret Schroeder saving Nucky from the clutches of the law by marrying him… and immediately regretting it upon deducing Nucky’s role in the death of his former protegé Jimmy Darmody. To punish her newlywed husband, Margaret deeds Nucky’s land to Saint Finbar’s Church.

The third season begins a year and a half later as Nucky is made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Pius XI and is invited to accept his commendation at Saint Finbar’s. The episode of Nucky’s acceptance addresses the murkily ungrateful world that women faced in the early 1920s, as Margaret is forced to stand by her murderous husband as he receives an award for her good deed. A nosy neighbor jokes to Margaret that Nucky’s new knighthood means that his armor will need to be polished.

The empowered Margaret uses the knighthood reception to seek an audience with the bishop to open a women’s health clinic in the Catholic-run hospital despite the bishop’s spineless objection that “there are some delicate topics which would have to be avoided.” Nevertheless, Margaret persists.

What’d He Wear?

Receiving his award from the church is the perfect occasion for Nucky to dust off his morning dress in “Bone for Tuna” (Episode 3.03).

Nucky: You have no idea how uncomfortable this is.
Margaret: You’ve made your discontent abundantly clear.
Nucky: I meant the suit. It shrunk or something.
Margaret: You look fine.
Nucky: Do you know the last time I was even in a church? On our wedding day.
Margaret: Nervous?
Nucky: Tired. Barely slept again.
Margaret: Well, what do they say on Broadway? The show must go on.

Nucky’s morning coat is a heavy black wool tailcoat with the elegant touch of 1/4″ black silk ribbon braiding piped along the edges, including the softly notched lapels and the welted breast pocket.

The breast pocket is typically the only external pocket on a morning coat, giving gentlemen a place for their pocket squares without disrupting the coat’s fitted silhouette with additional pockets (and their bulging contents!) Nucky commits the faux pas of neglecting to fold a pocket square into his breast pocket… perhaps he forgot standard conventions in the years since he had last worn it.

The day is permeated by bitterness from all parties.

Morning Dress Guide, the definitive online source for daytime dress, offers a comprehensive history of morning dress and detailed descriptions of every element to offer readers a guiding hand for perfectly executing morning dress. I would recommend reading that for the ultimate expertise when exploring morning dress.

Morning coats widely varied in terms of details and styling, particularly at the height of their popularity in the early decades of the 20th century, but a feature present on nearly all morning coats are the distinctive open cutaway shape of the front skirt. Nucky’s coat, on the other hand, has straight front quarters that only cut away toward the back at the very bottom.

The height of morning coat popularity in the 1900s and 1910s also meant a variety of different styles with button options ranging from the standard one to up to four and a mix of peak, notch, and even shawl lapels. The decline of morning dress in the mid-1930s led to the current standardization of the morning coat to reflect only the most formal details: peak lapels and a single-button closure.

“The morning coat, still a semi-formal garment, was often cut with notched lapels until the 1920s,” explains Morning Dress Guide. “In the early 1900s to the 1920s, morning coat buttons were usually covered in intricately patterned damask silk. With a damask weave, the pattern is created by weaving the warp and weft in a special way rather than printing the pattern on the silk.” Nucky’s jacket appears to have this same damask silk-covered single button closure.

Nucky finds himself quite literally “sweating like a sinner in church,” as the expression goes.

The four-button cuffs are likely also covered in the same damask woven silk as are the two decorative back buttons that preside over the pleated back tails, located where the horizontal dart and the two side darts meet.

Contrasting waistcoats, particularly in dove gray or off-white “buff”, are a popular option for morning dress, but the most classic and formal option is to match the waistcoat to the morning coat. Nucky ups his outfit’s formality quotient by sporting a waistcoat made from the same heavy black wool as his coat.

The waistcoat reflects the styling of the morning coat with the same decorative black silk ribbon braiding along the edges and on each of the vest’s four welted pockets, six buttons all covered in the same damask woven silk, and the soft corners of the gently notched bottom.

Nucky holds court at his Ritz suite after the ceremony.

Nucky wears his gold pocket watch in the lower right pocket of his waistcoat, connected by a yellow gold bar-link chain worn “double Albert” style through the fourth buttonhole to a dropped fob on the left side.

Nucky casually refers to his outfit as a “suit” when complaining to Margaret, but his contrasting trousers more correctly define his attire as “morning dress” than the matching three-piece morning suit. His black-on-gray cashmere stripe trousers in worsted wool are perfectly on point for morning dress. The double reverse-pleated trousers rise high with the waist line properly concealed under the waistcoat.

Nucky tries to make nice in church.

Nucky correctly wears his trousers with suspenders, in this instance a pair of wide light gray paisley-patterned braces that peek out through the armholes of his waistcoat after he removes his jacket.

Nucky wears a white twill dress shirt with a detachable wing collar and double (French) cuffs fastened by dark enamel-filled round links. His neckwear is a gray striped silk tie that consists of light-and-gray horizontal stripes overlaid by thin dark navy stripes, each shadowed by a light gray stripe above it, crossing in the direction of the left shoulder down to the right hip.

The combination of a wing collar and a long tie dates Nucky’s outfit, as the morning dress standard since World War II has been long ties and turndown collars or Ascots with wing collars.

He looks reasonably concerned, but a guy like Nucky should be sweating a lot more inside a church.

Nucky wisely wears black leather oxfords, likely with the traditionally preferred cap-toe, as the ecclesiastical ceremony would call for the most formal footwear. He wears them with gray silk socks visible below the short break of the trousers’ plain-hemmed bottoms.

Nucky steps up to the altar to receive his Order of Knighthood.

Not that he necessarily deserves it, but Nucky is awarded his vestment as a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory, an eight-pointed cross with a representation of St. Gregory on the obverse and, presumably, the “Pro Deo et Principe” (“For God and Ruler”) motto on the reverse, suspended from a gold-red-gold striped ribbon around his neck. As a civilian recipient, Nucky’s cross hangs from a green crown of laurel; military recipients would wear the cross hanging from a trophy of arms.

That’s Sir Nucky to you.

The pontifical order of St. Gregory the great acknowledges not only the material generosity that our honoree exhibits daily, but his generosity of spirit as well… Enoch Malachi Thompson, for having answered the gospel summons to brotherly love and illustrating by your actions the ideals of the church, for having enriched the heritage of humanity and providing an example for others to serve, by order of Pope Pius XI, I now bestow upon you the title of Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory.

The Order of St. Gregory the Great was established on September 1, 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI.

Did You Know? Nucky shares his Order of St. Gregory the Great knighthood with G.K. Chesterton, Bob Hope, Rupert Murdoch, and Ricardo Montalbán.

How to Get the Look

Nucky Thompson seems to take his reluctant knighthood seriously, dressing for the occasion in period-specific morning dress with subtle touches of elegance throughout.

• Black wool single-button morning tailcoat with black silk ribbon edging, notch lapels, welted breast pocket, covered 4-button cuffs, and two decorative back buttons
• White twill dress shirt with detachable wing collar and double/French cuffs
  • Dark enamel-filled round cuff links
• Gray horizontal-striped silk tie with thin dark navy L-down-R overlay stripes
• Black wool single-breasted waistcoat with black silk ribbon edging, six damask silk-covered buttons, and four welted pockets
• Black-on-gray “cashmere stripe” worsted double reverse-pleated trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Light gray paisley suspenders/braces
• Black leather cap-toe oxfords/balmorals
• Gray silk socks
• Gold pocket watch, worn on “double Albert” chain through the vest’s 4th buttonhole and kept in the lower right pocket
• Gold wedding band, worn on the 3rd finger of the left hand

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series, but Nucky’s shining moment featured in this post can be found in the third season.

Vincent Piazza as Charlie “Lucky” Luciano on Boardwalk Empire (Episode 5.02: “The Good Listener”)

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Vincent Piazza as Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Sicilian-American mobster

New York City, April 1931

Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episodes:
* “Golden Days for Boys and Girls” (Episode 5.01, aired September 7, 2014, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “The Good Listener” (Episode 5.02, aired September 14, 2014, dir. Allen Coulter)
* “Eldorado” (Episode 5.08, aired October 26, 2014, dir. Tim Van Patten)
Creator: Terence Winter
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

86 years ago tomorrow “Lucky” Luciano brought an end to the Castellammarese War – as mob historians refer to the bloody gangland conflict that divided New York City – by engineering the death of Sicilian-American mob chieftain Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria.

Masseria’s demise is one of the many colorful episodes that has, for better or worse, iconicized the history of the American Mafia… and it makes for a compelling and dramatic re-introduction to Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza) for the final season of Boardwalk Empire.

Vincent Piazza may be the best Lucky Luciano ever portrayed on screen, having convincingly grown from the swaggering young mob lieutenant bitching about his VD to a cool, calculating, and shrewd gangland boss who earns then swiftly betrays the trust of the old school “Mustache Petes” in his orbit.

A tale of two Luckies: The real Luciano’s February 1931 mugshot (left) and Piazza as Luciano in a scene set several months later (right).
Note the drooping left eye, the result of a scar left by Salvatore Maranzano’s faction many months prior after Lucky was “taken for a one-way ride”…and lived to tell about it. (Hence his nickname.)

As The New York Times would report the following day (link), “it took ten years and a lot of shooting to kill Giuseppe Masseria,” but Joe the Boss finally met his fate on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 15, 1931, when meeting Luciano for lunch, ostensibly to discuss the fate of their shared rival, Salvatore Maranzano. “It took him about three hours to finish that meal,” Luciano would later tell authors Martin A. Gosch and Richard Hammer for their definitive biography The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano. Following Masseria’s antipasto, spaghetti with red clam sauce, lobster fra diavolo, and a quart of chianti, Luciano noticed the nearly empty restaurant and suggested playing the Russian-Hungarian card game of Klob.

Boardwalk Empire reflected the known events of the afternoon closely, and as soon as Piazza’s Luciano excuses himself to go to the bathroom, blaming his five espressos, scholars of mob history know what’s coming. Luciano’s confederates, led by Bugsy Siegel, burst through the front door and emptied their handguns at Masseria. “I was in the can takin’ a leak,” Luciano reportedly told the police who arrived on the scene. “I always take a long leak.”

Joe Masseria (Ivo Nandi) meets his fate in the first episode of Boardwalk Empire’s final season. A playing card within reach of his hand may have been inspired by the actual photo taken at the scene of the real Masseria’s murder in 1931 (inset).

(If the incorporation of a restaurant bathroom into a Mafia assassination plot sounds familiar to you, you should know that Mario Puzo was supposedly inspired by this murder when he scripted Michael Corleone’s monumental murder of Sollozzo and McCluskey in The Godfather, blowing their brains all over his “nice Ivy League suit.”)

What’d He Wear?

Blue suits have been a consistent favorite for Lucky Luciano on Boardwalk Empire, so it’s fitting that he wears this rich navy flannel three-piece suit for many significant scenes in the show’s final season.

When you’ve got the world at your fingertips, Lucky believe it’s important to keep said fingertips well-manicured.

Single-breasted jackets with peak lapels tend to be in vogue during eras of excess such as the Prohibition era of the ’20s and ’30s and its brief revival during the 1970s “disco era”. Some sartorialists, like Simon Crompton of Permanent Style, argue that the peak lapel only looks best with its long, sweeping elegance showcased by a double-breasted jacket or a low-stance single-breasted jacket. While I like these “stubby” peak lapels created by a higher button stance, I also think that a suit jacket styled in this manner should also follow the classic drape cut of larger shoulders and a suppressed waist to create a strong, flattering effect.

This short, wide peak lapel with a long, straight gorge is very evocative of 1930s menswear. Gentleman’s Gazette posted a very comprehensive analysis of the elegant “short peaked lapel” on suits of that era with delightful illustrations, diagrams, and screenshots from the 1932 George Raft and Mae West film Night After Night. Gentleman’s Gazette describes most short peak lapels of the era extending to nearly 4″ wide, considerably wider than today’s trends and very complementary with Luciano’s broad-shouldered jacket.

Power drag.

Luciano’s suit jacket is a fine example with its short, peak lapels that roll just over the top of his three-button jacket, effectively creating a 3-roll-2 button front. His shoulders are wide and padded with roped sleeveheads, and the jacket elegantly tapers to the suppressed waist, although Luciano’s habit of wearing his jacket open reduces the elegant effect.

Luciano’s suit jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and four-button cuffs. Interestingly, the jacket appears to also have double vents although ventless jackets were the most common and fashionable with men’s suit jackets in the early ’30s.

Luciano’s suit has a matching single-breasted six-button vest with no lapels and a notched bottom. He never removes his jacket during these scenes, but this vest (or waistcoat, if you will) likely has four welt pockets – two on each side – like the similarly styled darker blue striped suit he also wears during the fifth season.

The full cut trousers have single forward pleats, side pockets, and are finished with cuffs (turn-ups) on the bottoms. The trousers have belt loops, through which Lucky wears a slim dark leather belt with a flat gold buckle. Sartorial purists often eschew belts with three-piece suits as they can bulge through a waistcoat or, as in Lucky Luciano’s case, pop out just beneath it for an inconsistent flash of the belt’s buckle. However, gangsters of the era like Al Capone and “Diamond Jim” Colosimo were known for the flashy diamond belt buckles worn with their suits, turning a sartorial no-no into a status symbol…albeit a rather ostentatious one.

After filming wrapped on Boardwalk Empire, many props and costumes from the show were auctioned, including a chestnut brown leather belt that Vincent Piazza supposedly wore in the seventh episode of this season. The brass belt buckle is studded with faux diamonds and monogrammed with the letter “L” for Luciano. It’s certainly possible that Piazza wore this belt all through the season, including with this outfit.

Luciano holds court in “The Good Listener” (Episode 5.02).

In The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, the real-life Luciano described to the authors the process of his creating his image under the tutelage of Arnold Rothstein in the early 1920s:

Arnold gimme a dozen French ties made by some guy by the name of Charvet; they was supposed to be the best and Arnold bought a hundred ties whenever he went to Paris. He also used to buy the silk for his shirts by the bolt at a place in France called Sulka, and he always would give me some as a present; that’s how I get the rep for wearin’ silk shirts and underwear and pajamas.

Lucky wears a pale blue-gray dress shirt with this suit with a luxurious finish added by its barely discernible hairline-width self-stripes. The shirt has a front placket, double (French) cuffs and a point collar that he wears with a looped spiral-ended gold collar bar that slides onto each collar leaf, behind the tie knot. Vintage collar bars like this are a dime a dozen online, but The Tie Bar offers vintage-inspired spiral-ended collar bars for only $15.

Lucky wears four different ties with this suit throughout the season, primarily ties in shades of light gray with minimal contrast against his shirt.

In “Golden Days for Boys and Girls” (Episode 5.01), Lucky dresses for his lunch with Joe Masseria with a pale gray silk tie with a burgundy pattern. The pattern consists of small burgundy squares – alternating between the square on its own (rotated 45° to a diamond square) and the square encased in an ornate burgundy octagon.

Lucky may not have physically pulled a trigger to end Masseria’s life, but his tie’s burgundy splashes against the pale ground of his shirt and tie evoke the image of Masseria’s blood spatter… the very blood that Luciano needed to spill to ascend to his ultimate position of power in one of the few outright violent sequences of his fifth season appearances.

In the following episode, “The Good Listener” (Episode 5.02), Lucky wears much more “peaceful” ties that evoke elegance rather than violence. His first tie, worn when meeting Nucky Thompson and Maranzano, is powder blue silk with a subtle gray box pattern.

A few scenes later, Lucky wears a silver silk tie with a small navy block pattern, with these micro-blocks spaced about an inch apart and bordered in white. He would later wear this tie with a gray sharkskin three-piece suit during his final appearance in the final episode.

“The Good Listener” (Episode 5.02)

In the series finale, “Eldorado” (Episode 5.08), Lucky wears a gray-and-cream patterned silk tie that I affectionately call his “Tetris tie” due to the sets of notched patterns against the tie’s dark gray woven pincheck ground, forming the appearance of broken stripes from the right shoulder-down-to-left hip.

A closer look at these “notched patterns” that resemble an incomplete crossword puzzle or Tetris game reveals eight boxes, each alternating in cream and gray silk.

Promotional photo of Vincent Piazza as “Lucky” Luciano in “Eldorado” (Episode 5.08)

“Eldorado” also gives us a look at Lucky’s footwear, which appear to be a pair of dark brown calf leather plain-toe chukka boots with two eyelets, worn with striped burgundy silk socks.

Chukka boots had only recently come into fashion during the Boardwalk Empire era, following the Prince of Wales sporting a pair of chukkas on his feet during a 1924 visit to the United States.

Lansky, Lucky, and Bugsy shoot the shit in a whorehouse parlor.

Since most of these scenes are indoors, Luciano’s hat makes its sole appearance in his inductory scene in “Golden Days for Boys and Girls” (Episode 5.01) when waiting for Masseria in the Nuova Villa Tammaro restaurant. He wears a gray felt wide-brimmed fedora with dark gray grosgrain trim on the edges of the brim and a wide black grosgrain ribbon around the base of the pinched crown.

According to Gosch and Hammer’s book, April 15, 1931 was “a beautiful warm and sunny day,” but there’s no denying the atmospheric qualities of the rain on the windows as Luciano waits for his doomed lunch date.

Gentleman gangster that he is, Lucky Luciano sports a sizable gold pinky ring with a large flush-set diamond on his right hand. This ring was also included in the auction, where it was described as “a fantastic, opulent piece of costume jewelry from company EDCO,” which evidently made several other pieces of jewelry worn by Boardwalk Empire characters during the show’s run.

The ring worn on Lucky’s right pinky most resembles this gold-finished ring with a large cubic zirconia sparkler.

Real gangsters match their gold rings to their collar bars.

As one of the more youthful characters on Boardwalk Empire, Luciano always wore a wristwatch rather than the more traditional pocket watch. The same auction where his belt and ring were sold included his wristwatch, described as a non-functioning 17-jewel Rensie watch. It has a flat, rectangular yellow gold case and is strapped around his left wrist on a black alligator band.

Some internet researchers have done some digging to discover the origins of this company, the Rensie Watch Company, which its German-American founder Paul V. Eisner christened by spelling his name backward. Eisner established his import company in New York and registered the Rensie brand in January 1943. Although it would be anachronistic for Lucky Luciano to be wearing a Rensie watch in 1931, the slim, square-cased watch certainly reflects the fashionable timepieces sported by men in the early ’30s.

Go Big or Go Home

A shrewd, hardworking professional, Charlie “Lucky” Luciano offers a fresh take on the concept of a productive “working lunch,” although Roger Sterling would have likely turned up his nose at the idea of replacing his three martinis with Lucky’s five espressos… not to mention the fact that Lucky’s business lunch ends with the grisly murder of his boss.

Lunch with Lucky isn’t always good for your health, as Masseria is soon to learn…

Assassination aside, Luciano’s lunch provides a fine template for recreating the art of the weekday lunch, topping it off with anisette-laced coffee, a round of cards, and pleasant background music.

The latter is a particular passion of mine, as I’ve always had a soft spot for music of the ’20s. Johnny Green and Edward Heyman’s standard “Out of Nowhere” – also a Woody Allen – serves as the motif for Luciano’s ascension with artist Marshall Crenshaw crooning along with Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks Orchestra for a Bing Crosby-soundalike version that plays over their lunch.

Gene Austin’s subtle and wistful recording of “My Blue Heaven” plays during the assassination itself. The bittersweet peace of the song, which Austin popularized with his 1927 recording, nicely juxtaposes the brusque violence of the scene.

A few scenes later in the same episode, “Out of Nowhere” again kicks onto the soundtrack as Maranzano orders his gangsters to follow Luciano’s lead in slicing their hands to show their loyalty.

If you prefer instrumental background music, “Eldorado” (Episode 5.08) features “The Nightmare”, recorded in 1931 by Clyde McCoy and his Orchestra.

How to Get the Look

Lucky Luciano’s vivid navy blue suit provides a snapshot of that era’s elegant gangland fashions.

Shades of Michael Corleone?

• Blue serge three-piece drape cut suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-roll-2 jacket with short/wide peak lapels, padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, long double vents
  • Single-breasted 6-button vest with notched bottom
  • Single forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale blue-gray hairline-striped dress shirt with point collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold looped spiral-ended collar bar
  • Round silver-trimmed cuff links
• Light gray patterned silk tie
• Chestnut brown leather belt with monogrammed brass buckle
• Dark brown calf leather two-eyelet plain-toe chukka boots
• Burgundy striped silk socks
• Gray felt wide-brimmed fedora with black grosgrain band
• Gold pinky ring with square flush diamond
• Rensie 17-jewel gold wristwatch with white square face and black alligator strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series.

I’d love to see a movie accurately portray Lucky Luciano’s rise, the Castellammarese War, and the founding of the Mafia Commission. There’ve been a few sporadic attempts, most notably the Young Guns-does-Prohibition 1991 flick Mobsters, but the fifth season of Boardwalk Empire comes the closest to delivering the most accurate sense of what it would’ve been like to watch Lucky masterfully play both sides against each other in the Yojimbo-style gambit that led to his fast and furious half-decade at the top of the American mob.

The Quote

Anybody ain’t on board, and I mean anybody…they fuckin’ go.

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 1.05, “The Lord of War and Thunder”)

Vitals

Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old school Deputy U.S. Marshal

Harlan County, Kentucky, Fall 2010

Series: Justified
Episodes:
– “The Lord of War and Thunder” (Episode 1.05, Director: Jon Avnet, Air Date: April 13, 2010)
– “Hatless ” (Episode 1.09, Director: Peter Werner, Air Date: May 11, 2010)
– “Cottonmouth” (Episode 2.05, Director: Michael Watkins, Air Date: March 9, 2011)
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designers: Ane Crabtree (Season 1) & Patia Prouty (Season 2)

Background

Justified took some time to find its footing at the beginning, developing the style of its characters as well as the show’s own format: would this be an episodic “case-of-the-week” procedural or more serial?

Luckily, the show found its place at the perfect intersection of these two as its lead character, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, often had to handle a quick new case with eccentric, one-off criminals all developed against the longer arcs of his feud with the Crowder clan, his romantic entanglements in Harlan County, the consequences of his quick trigger finger, and frustrations with his own family, particularly his father Arlo (Raymond J. Barry) whom we meet in “The Lord of War and Thunder” (Episode 1.05).

What’d He Wear?

One of Raylan’s boldest unorthodox fashion statements is his frequent habit of wearing a jacket and tie with jeans. Often, the outer layer consists of his black suit jacket, but three episodes from early in the show’s run feature an interesting dark wool sport jacket in muted navy and brown plaid with a subtle red overcheck.

The jacket’s subtle, muted plaid emerges in the warm sunlight of southern California eastern Kentucky.

Raylan’s plaid jacket was made by British fashion designer Paul Smith, who celebrates his creations as “classics with a twist.” This sportcoat certainly fits that description, incorporating traditional hacking jacket elements like the slanted flapped pockets, ticket pocket, and long single vent with the unique plaid pick-stitched lightweight wool suiting. The equestrian associations of the hacking jacket work in favor of Raylan’s “cowboy” image.

The single-breasted two-button sport jacket has slim notch lapels, four-button cuffs, and a welted breast pocket in addition to the unorthodox welted, rather than flapped, ticket pocket cut just above the slanted and flapped hip pocket on the right side.

Note the distinctive ticket pocket: welted with no flap.

All three of the plaid sport jacket’s appearances follow a general formula for Raylan’s shirts and ties. All three shirts are primarily brown and all three vintage ties are dark, slim, and subtle.

In “The Lord of War and Thunder” (Episode 1.05), Raylan wears a plaid cotton shirt that channels the chromatic tones of his jacket but in a bolder brown and taupe with thin blue and gold windowpane overcheck grids. The shirt has a front placket, no pocket, and a seam down the back from the center of the horizontal yoke. His skinny tie is solid dark brown.

Raylan at work and at play in “The Lord of War and Thunder” (Episode 1.05).

Four episodes later, in “Hatless” (Episode 1.09), a beaten Raylan arrives at Wynn Duffy’s office in a subtler ensemble of dark brown cotton shirt and slim black tie. Raylan never removes the jacket, concealing some shirt details, but it has button cuffs, a front placket, and a slim spread collar with 1/4″ edge stitching.

Raylan’s not looking his best when he goes to meet with the enigmatic, neurotic, and idiosyncratic Wynn Duty (Jere Burns) in “Hatless” (Episode 1.09) after a barroom brawl leaves him in the titular predicament.

This plaid sportcoat makes its third and final appearance in “Cottonmouth” (Episode 2.05), worn with a brown custom-made shirt with a slim point collar, front placket, button cuffs, and a subtle tonal pattern of mini-swirls that cover the entire shirt.

Raylan wears a vintage black knit silk tie with sets of three staggered light pink embroidered vertical lines. This Knickerbocker Limited Hollywood tie makes several appearances with several different jackets and ties throughout Justified, most often worn with a black suit jacket and black shirt.

“Cottonmouth” (Episode 2.05)

“He wears Levi 501 jeans, never anything else,” explained Justified‘s costume designer Patia Prouty in a 2012 interview. Prouty’s statement is consistent with the blue jeans that were auctioned with this outfit on ScreenBid.com, a pair of size 31×32 Levi’s 501 straight-leg jeans, advertised by Levi’s as “The Original Button Fly Jean”. In addition to the Levi’s site, you can pick up a pair of classic 501s from online retailers like Amazon.

Classic all-American jeans for an all-American lawman.

In the name of brand consistency, Raylan’s tooled leather belt is also from Levi’s. Described in the auction listing as “a size 34, Levi’s branded belt (brown with a black embossed design),” this belt is edge-stitched along the top and bottom and closes with a steel single-prong buckle.

Raylan’s holster in these early episodes has been confirmed as a Bianchi Model 59 Special Agent®, a thumb break paddle holster that he wears on the right side of his belt for a smooth right-handed draw. It is likely the model #19128 as it fits Raylan’s full-size Glock 17 sidearm.

For details about the difference between Raylan’s Bianchi holster and his later holster, custom made for the show by Alfonso’s of Hollywood by request from Graham Yost, check out this comprehensive YouTube segment.

Based on the wedge in front of the trigger guard, it appears to be the Bianchi holster that Raylan blasts a hole through during a struggle in “Cottonmouth” (Episode 2.05).

Raylan coordinates his brown leather belt to his “cigar”-colored Lucchese ostrich leg boots, even calling out the tooling of the belt with the boots’ decorative stitching on the shafts and vamps.

Raylan’s boots get in the way of Wynn Duffy’s murderous motives in “Hatless” (Episode 1.09).

Raylan’s trademark hat is a “sahara” tan cattleman’s hat made from 200XXX Beaver, custom made by Baron Hats of Hollywood for their long-time customer and fan Timothy Olyphant to wear on the show. The crown is 4.25″ with a 3.25″ “Prairie Wave” brim and a 3/8″ hand-tooled leather band that has a steel Ranger-style buckle on the left, further evoking the image of an Old West lawman.

“We crafted the crown in the ‘Cattleman’s’ shaping, to express solid-as-a-rock values with a ‘no nonsense’ strength”, explains Mark Mejia of Baron Hats on their site. “This was enhanced with a classic yet simple leather hatband. Nothing fancy, no frills. And a brim that also shows smooth lines, with a raw edge to go with his raw courage and resolve. A hat of its time, and like the character, functional, real and true.”

If you’re looking for the real thing, Baron Hats currently offers The RG, based on the exact hat they created for Olyphant.

Although he’s a century removed from the days of marshals on horseback, Raylan evokes that bygone era with a silver horseshoe ring on the third finger of his right hand.

Raylan displays excellent trigger discipline – and a nice view of his ring! – when handling a crook’s Beretta in “Hatless” (Episode 1.09).

Raylan’s wristwatch throughout Justified is a TAG Heuer Series 6000 Chronometer on a brushed steel case with a white dial. He alternates between a black debossed leather strap (as seen in “The Lord of War and Thunder”) and a brown alligator strap (as seen in “Hatless” and “Cottonmouth”).

Same watch, different bands.

This jacket was auctioned on ScreenBid.com after the show ended, selling for $975 along with other elements of the outfit as it was worn in “Cottonmouth” (Episode 2.05).

Raylan’s muted plaid jacket and “Cottonmouth” (Episode 2.05) outfit, as auctioned by ScreenBid.com.

How to Get the Look

A sport jacket, tie, and jeans isn’t an orthodox look, but it perfectly fits Raylan’s image as a rugged yet professional lawman who needs to be comfortable – and quick on the draw – in both his office or the back woods of Harlan County, Kentucky.

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 2.05, “Cottonmouth”)

• Dark navy and brown muted plaid pick-stitched wool single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets with welted ticket pocket, 4-button cuffs, and long single vent
• Dark brown (solid or patterned) shirt with slim spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Dark (solid or subtly-patterned) vintage “skinny” tie
• Medium-dark blue wash denim Levi’s 501 straight-leg button-fly jeans
• Brown tooled leather belt with squared steel single-prong buckle
• Tan full-grain leather Bianchi Model 59 Special Agent® paddle holster for a full-size Glock pistol
• Lucchese cigar-colored brown ostrich leg Western-style boots with decorative stitched calf leather shafts
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt/A-shirt
• Baron Hats “The RG” sahara tan 200XXX beaver cattleman’s hat with a thin tooled leather band
• TAG Heuer Series 6000 Chronometer wristwatch with brushed steel case, white dial, and brown alligator strap
• Sterling silver horseshoe ring with braided side detail

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the entire series. The screenshots featured here are from the first and second seasons.

The Quote

You’re gonna bob and weave out of the path of a bullet? That I’d like to see.

Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker in a colorized photo from Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Vitals

Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker, powerful and domineering newspaper columnist

New York City, Fall 1956

Film: Sweet Smell of Success
Release Date: June 27, 1957
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Costume Designer: Mary Grant

Background

One of my favorite movies is Sweet Smell of Success, the atmospheric film noir starring Burt Lancaster as a Walter Winchell-like columnist and Tony Curtis as the opportunistic young PR flack desperate to get in good with him.

Ernest Lehman, who contributed to the screenplay based on his own novelette, declined to direct the film due to his fear of Lancaster, but the actor’s aggressive and volatile temperament paid off to create the needed aura of his intimidating character, the sort of man who could and would destroy an enemy’s career on a whim.

“Burt was really scary,” recalls Elmer Bernstein, who composed the film’s jazzy score, memorably performed by the Chico Hamilton Quintet. “He was a dangerous guy. He had a short fuse.”

Despite the fear that Lancaster imposed on the film’s cast and crew, director Alexander Mackendrick worked with cinematography master James Wong Howe to create a dazzling tribute to 1950s New York, Weegie’s dog-eat-dog world of hot jazz, seductive shadows, and poison-loaded pens, delivering a sense of isolation in even the most crowded scenes.

The snappy screenplay by Lehman, Mackendrick, and playwright Clifford Odets has been immortalized by lines like J.J.’s comment to Falco: “I’d hate to take a bite outta you. You’re a cookie full or arsenic,” voted the 99th greatest movie line by Premiere magazine in 2007.

What’d He Wear?

J.J. Hunsecker wears two different suits over the course of the film, both double-breasted to create a sense of enveloping him in the trappings of his power while also projecting an intimidating image to the world.

For the taping of his ironically named radio broadcast It’s a Wonderful World, J.J. wears a medium-dark flannel suit with a ’50s full cut that gives the 6’2″ Lancaster an additionally hulking presence as he “greets” his sister and her beau.

J.J. makes quite an impression on his sister’s new suitor.

J.J.’s double-breasted suit has a four-on-one button “Kent”-style front that he leaves open, ignoring the convention of always wearing a double-breasted jacket closed. The second row of buttons is placed a few inches below the waist, indicative of the gradually falling button stance during the 1950s that would fall out of fashion in the following decade. The lower button stance also helps balance Lancaster’s height. The upper buttons are only slightly further outside the functioning lower buttons, creating a boxy look that emphasizes J.J.’s relentless machine-like personality.

The wide, padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads add an intimidating touch to this ensemble. There are four buttons on each cuff.

The pick-stitched peak lapels are wide but sleek with minimal belly as they roll to the waist line. Each lapel has a sloped gorge and, following conventions for a double-breasted jacket, a buttonhole.

Also per the usual for double-breasted jackets, the back is ventless and the hip pockets are jetted without visible flaps. J.J. wears a light-colored silk display kerchief in his welted breast pocket that likely matches his silk tie.

Press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) is never far away if J.J. needs anything, be it reassurance or a match for his cigarette.

Although J.J. always wears his suit jacket open, the overlap of the double-breasted jacket is enough to mostly conceal (or shadow) his trousers. Still, it can be ascertained that his trousers have a high rise, rising above the lower row of buttons on his jacket to the hollow of his lapel at the natural waist line.

The flat front suit trousers have slim belt loops, where he wears a thin dark leather belt with a small square single-prong buckle. The trousers are fully cut through the leg to the bottoms, which are finished with cuffs (turn-ups).

J.J.’s dress shirt is light-colored, not white, and possibly the same pale blue-gray as it often appears in colorized photos. It has a large semi-spread collar, front placket, and double (French) cuffs worn with square diamond links.

“Some men just want to watch the world burn,” warned Michael Caine’s Alfred in The Dark Knight.

The Windsor knot was famously derided by Ian Fleming in 1957’s From Russia With Love, writing that “Bond mistrusted anyone who tied his tie with a Windsor knot. It showed too much vanity. It was often the mark of a cad.”

J.J. Hunsecker hit the screen that same year wearing a Windsor knot, and it’s fitting that this almost proudly untrustworthy character would knot his tie in a manner that makes even James Bond suspicious. J.J.’s light silk tie is so finely woven that the finished effect is shiny like satin. The tie, often colored to look silver, has only a slight contrast against his light-colored shirt. The blade perfectly meets the trouser waistband at the natural waist.

J.J.’s feet almost never appear on screen, but the shoes that he wears with this same outfit in the promotional artwork for It’s a Wonderful World appear to be brown leather cap-toe oxfords.

A lobby card with a promotional photo from this scene reveals a pair of light-colored socks, probably light gray, that would have otherwise been hidden under the full break of the trouser bottoms.

Steve Dallas (Martin Milner) and Frank D’Angelo (Sam Levene) can’t escape the powerful presence of J.J. Hunsecker, even before entering his studio.

J.J. wears a yellow gold dress watch, possibly Lancaster’s own. The watch has a rectangular case with a square white dial on a black leather strap.

J.J. prepares for a broadcast.

First manufactured by Shuron Ltd. under the “Ronsir” brand in 1947, browline glasses had been in fashion for nearly a decade by the time famously Lancaster donned his black-framed pair in Sweet Smell of Success. Mackendrick had requested that Lancaster wear his own browline glasses, giving him the presence of “a scholarly brute” and enhancing the effect by supposedly spearing a thin layer of Vaseline over the lenses to prevent Lancaster from focusing his eyes as he judges his world with a perpetually blank gaze, as described in James Naremore’s Sweet Smell of Success: A BFI Film Classic.

Like the watchful eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in The Great Gatsby, J.J.’s eyes are forever judging the characters in his orbit through his spectacles.

The bold upper frames of Lancaster’s browline glasses also gave Mackendrick the opportunity to shape the character, filming an overhead-lit Lancaster from a low angle with a wide lens, causing the frames to cast shadows over his eyes.

Go Big or Go Home

Fresh from duly intimidating his sister’s unworthy suitor, J.J. heads to 21 Club with Sidney Falco reliably in tow. Named for its address, 21 West 52nd Street, the 21 Club dates back to its speakeasy origins during the early days of Prohibition in the 1920s. The eatery quickly gained prominence as the favored hot spot for luminaries ranging from Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Marilyn Monroe to Ernest Hemingway, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Aristotle Onassis. Every U.S. president since FDR (except for W.) has dined at 21, and John F. Kennedy was such a frequent visitor that he had a private wine collection stored there.

.. in short, it’s the sort of place that’s perfect for a see-and-be-seen columnist like J.J. Hunsecker to hold court.

J.J. enjoys his usual 21 Club lunch of Gibson martinis and raw oysters.

J.J.’s preferred cigarette brand, English Ovals, dates back to 1854 as the first brand manufactured by London tobacconist Philip Morris.

More than a century later, the brand had been popularized as the cigarette-of-choice for Frank Costello, “the Prime Minister of the Underworld,” himself a regular patron of the 21 Club as Gay Talese recalls: “Even in jail, Costello baffled the law. He continued to smoke English Ovals, although nobody knew how he smuggled them in. He ate steak – ebony on the outside, claret on the inside – just as he’d ordered it at 21…”

How to Get the Look

J.J. Hunsecker unashamedly dresses to look powerful and intimidating, unafraid to appear untrustworthy and taking full advantage of using the contemporary fashions of the ’50s to flatter his strong physique.

• Medium-dark gray flannel full-cut suit:
  • Double-breasted 4-on-1-button jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Flat front high-rise trousers with slim belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale blue-gray dress shirt with large semi-spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Large square diamond cuff links
• Silver silk tie
• Slim brown leather belt with small square single-prong buckle
• Brown leather cap-toe oxfords/balmoral shoes
• Light gray socks
• Black plastic-framed “browline” eyeglasses
• Gold dress watch with square white dial and black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

I’d hate to take a bite outta you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic.

Jack Nicholson as Francis “Frank” Costello in The Departed (2006)

Vitals

Jack Nicholson as Francis “Frank” Costello, sadistic Irish-American mob boss

Boston, Summer 2006

Film: The Departed
Release Date: October 6, 2006
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell

Background

To celebrate Jack Nicholson’s 80th birthday today, April 22, BAMF Style is looking at an iconic role from his latter career as crime boss Francis “Frank” Costello in The Departed. Nicholson reportedly wanted “a little something more” for his character*, and elements of real-life Boston mobster Whitey Bulger were incorporated into Jack’s eccentric and erratic character.

This brief but memorable scene, featuring Nicholson in some timely springtime pastels, was filmed June 28, 2005 at the Long Wharf in Boston. Two of Massachusetts’ finest, Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), are monitoring Costello’s movements and decide to show their face.

What’d He Wear?

This outfit is one of the more conservative of Costello’s increasingly chaotic wardrobe choices, which include a seersucker blazer with a purple polo shirt, a leopard-print tie  with a Glen plaid jacket, and a leopard-print robe (in case he didn’t drive home his animal print fervor strongly enough.)

Nicholson’s desire for his character to jump from the screen extended to his wardrobe as well, as costume designer Sandy Powell explained*: “Basically everybody else is in ordinary street clothes in neutral tones of black, brown, gray, and beige. Originally, we were just going to make Nicholson’s Frank Costello blend in, but after meeting Jack, it was obvious he wanted to take the look a little more to the extreme in terms of color and design. Costello is a guy who has so much power, he can wear whatever he wants and no one would dare question it. So we definitely had more leeway with his character’s wardrobe.”

A hallmark of Costello’s appearance is that his outfit would be congruous if not for one bold item that launches it into chaos; with his Glen plaid jacket, it’s the leopard-print tie, and with his seersucker blazer, it’s the bright fuchsia polo. As he strolls along the Long Wharf, Costello’s relatively traditional outfit of a white shirt, navy striped silk tie, and khakis is thrown off by a lavender jacket. A navy blazer or matching khaki suit jacket would have been the obvious outer layer, but Francis Costello is never one to take the obvious route.

Costello is unnerved – albeit briefly – when confronted by Queenan and Dignam.

Costello’s lavender linen sportcoat is single-breasted with notch lapels that roll down to the two smoked mother-of-pearl front buttons. The jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, single rear vent, and four buttons on each cuff that match the two on the front.

Beyond the jacket, Costello’s attire consists mostly of conventional menswear staples. His white cotton poplin dress shirt has a semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs with a second button to close the gauntlets.

Costello’s tie consists of a repeating pattern of three thin beige, white, and beige stripes running left-down-to-right over a navy jacquard silk ground.

Costello wears khaki gabardine trousers with a full cut that appear to be aided by darts to comfortably curve over Nicholson’s hips. Nicholson wears the trousers low, below his waist line and stomach. They have curved on-seam side pockets and jetted back pockets. His espresso brown leather belt has a curved gold single-prong buckle.

A production photo of Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, and Jack Nicholson shooting the shit on set.

Costello’s dark brown cow leather moc-toe penny loafers coordinate with his belt, worn with dark taupe dress socks.

(Left) Costello makes his date with the angels.
(Right) A contemplative Nicholson sits on location at the Long Wharf.

Costello’s all-brown sunglasses appear to be the Revo “Transport” model with brown alloy frames and “terra” brown polarized lenses. They’ve been discontinued in the years since The Departed but can still be found from online retailers like Amazon or Sierra Trading Post.

Throughout The Departed, Frank Costello wears two distinctive rings on his left hand, a white gold twist ring on the third finger and a yellow gold twisted knot ring on his pinky.

Sunnies and cell phone in hand, Costello shares some insight for Colin about the future prospects of “Little Miss Freud’s ass.”

Costello also wears a distinctive digital watch that has been identified by Glenn Moller* as a Nike Big Al “D-Line” WC0001-001. The digital display is flush with the aluminum links, looking more like a bracelet than a traditional wristwatch. The expanding aluminum links are elasticized on a black urethane band. Costello wears the digital model, but an analog version is currently still available on Amazon (as of April 2017) for $150. You might also have some luck on eBay.

How to Get the Look

Jack being Jack. On set in Boston, 2005.
Note that the photographed jacket looks pinker than the lavender garment of the finished film.

In The Departed, Jack Nicholson’s clothing illustrates how just one item – say, a bold pastel sport coat – can totally change the look of an otherwise traditional and conservative outfit into something much bolder.

• Lavender linen single-breasted 2-button sportcoat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, long single vent, and smoked mother-of-pearl buttons
• White cotton poplin dress shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, button cuffs
• Navy jacquard silk over-striped tie
• Khaki gabardine flat front trousers with belt loops, curved on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather belt with curved gold single-prong buckle
• Dark brown cow leather moc-toe penny loafers
• Taupe dress socks
• Revo “Transport” brown alloy-framed sunglasses with terra brown polarized lenses
• White gold twist ring
• Yellow gold twisted knot ring
• Nike Big Al “D-Line” WC0001-001 aluminum digital sport watch on expanding link bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Excuse me, I’ve got a date with some angels.

Footnote

This outfit, and Nicholson’s unapologetic on-set presence, were beautifully chronicled by James Devaney for Getty Images. These images can be found in the below gallery and also offer some additional insight and details into this idiosyncratic outfit.

Al Pacino as Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Vitals

Al Pacino as Ricky Roma, ace real estate closer

New York (or maybe Chicago…), September 1992

Film: Glengarry Glen Ross
Release Date: October 2, 1992
Director: James Foley
Costume Designer: Jane Greenwood

Background

This is a big week for iconic actor birthdays! Today is the 77th birthday of Al Pacino, born April 25, 1940 in New York.

After a dormant post-Scarface career through most of the ’80s, Pacino shot back onto the screen in the following decade, returning to the part that made him famous as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III and taking on the role of confident and cut-throat real estate salesman Richard Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross from a screenplay adapted by David Mamet of his own Pulitzer- and Tony-winning 1984 play.

The ultimate closer, Roma has no need to be in the office while the rest of his colleagues are being berated by the gold Rolex-wearing “motivational speaker” sent by their corporate office. Roma has his own style, balancing a temperament that can range from smooth to explosive as he manages to close a large sale to a drunken bar mate (Jonathan Pryce) over drinks.

Pacino’s portrayal of the ruthless but loyal Ricky Roma led to a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at that year’s Academy Awards, the same year that he won Best Actor for Scent of a Woman.

What’d He Wear?

Ricky Roma stands out from his fellow neutral-toned salesmen in a flashy take on a “summer power suit” for a long night at the local bar closing deals over Cutty Sark. Roma is clearly a fashionable guy, as his suit suffers from putting trendy before timeless, but his outfit can serve as inspiration for  reinterpretation 25 years later in the form of an ensemble like this.

You’d think a guy doing as well as Ricky Roma would drink something higher shelf than Cutty Sark, but hey, the guy likes what he likes.

Roma’s suit is cream silk with a subtle white pinstripe. You need look no further than the vast suit jacket if you’re looking for examples of the worst in ’90s sartorial excess: everything about this large and loose jacket is elongated, from the length itself to the long lapels down to the low buttoning point where Roma’s suit jacket closes on only one of the six buttons.

The jacket otherwise maintains the usual style points of a double-breasted suit jacket with sharp peak lapels, a welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and a ventless back. There are four buttons on each cuff. The trousers are pleated and worn with a slim dark leather belt that has a small gold-toned single-prong buckle.

Ricky Roma: a man made for his era.

Roma wears a navy silk shirt with a front placket and squared button cuffs. It’s miraculous that Roma doesn’t remove his jacket, because you know that shirt is unflatteringly billowing out over the waistline.

The burgundy tonal-grid silk tie coordinates nicely with the red color scheme of the China Bowl restaurant where the salesmen drown their sorrows. It is tied long with a small four-in-hand knot buried under the leaves of the shirt’s slim point collar.

Two of my all-time favorite actors, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon, sharing the screen as The Closer and The Loser.

On his right pinky, Roma flashes a yellow gold ring with a triple stone set up of a diamond, ruby, and diamond.

If that’s not enough to signal that this guy is a closer, his left wrist is adorned by a gold Rolex DateJust wristwatch with a white dial and a two-tone Jubilee bracelet.

His clothes are all silk, his jewelry is all diamonds and gold, and he has to go flashing a wad like that at the bar? We get it, Ricky Roma, you’re doing well for yourself.

Rolex watches are clearly a big deal in the Glengarry Glen Ross universe as the aggressively arrogant Blake (Alec Baldwin) proudly flashed his yellow gold Day-Date as an indicator of his status.

How to Get the Look

A hot shot closer like Ricky Roma puts fashion and luxury before function and legacy, sporting a contemporary summer suit with stylish potential that is undone by its deference to early ’90s trends.

• Cream silk pinstripe suit:
  • Double-breasted 6-on-1-button jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Pleated trousers with belt loops
• Navy blue silk shirt with slim point collar, front placket, and squared button cuffs
• Burgundy tonal-grid silk tie
• Slim dark leather belt with small gold-toned square single-prong buckle
• Yellow gold pinky ring with two diamonds and a ruby
• Rolex DateJust gold wristwatch with white dial on a two-tone Jubilee bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

You ever take a dump made you feel like you’d just slept for twelve hours?

Footnote

Following The Departed on Saturday, this is the second BAMF Style post in a row to feature a film where Alec Baldwin offers a brief but memorable appearance.

Michael Douglas as Nick Curran in Basic Instinct (1992)

Vitals

Michael Douglas as Nick Curran, suspended homicide detective

San Francisco, April 1991

Film: Basic Instinct
Release Date: March 20, 1992
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick

Background

Nick Curran’s investigation gets increasingly personal the deeper he looks, taking him all over hte Bay Area from Cloverdale and Berkeley to Salinas and back to San Francisco as he researches details about the elusive “Lisa Hoberman”‘s history with seductive murder suspect Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone).

Due to his suspension, Curran is working off-the-clock, dressing down from his professional daywear to provide a perfect example of a stylish cop’s attire for Casual Friday.

What’d He Wear?

This casual off-duty outfit is similar to a look that would be popularized more than a decade later by David Duchovny on Californication and very appropriately so as the sex-obsessed Hank Moody shares plenty in common with the depraved Nick Curran.

Both his on- and off-duty outfits are anchored by a dark olive suede single-breasted sportcoat, likely also a Cerruti 1881 piece like his suits. This jacket blends traditional sporty details like the patch pockets on the breast and hips with very contemporary early ’90s styling like the wide padded shoulders and widely-notched lapels that sharply taper down to the low two-button stance. There are three buttons on each cuff and the back is ventless.

A suede sport jacket is a good investment that balances work wear and weekend wear.

Curran’s charcoal off-duty shirt is darker than his dress shirts but made by Douglas’s preferred shirtmaker Anto Beverly Hills using the same end-on-end cotton cloth with a light and luxuriously silky finish from the alternating light and dark warp and weft threads. It has a point collar, worn open with the top two white plastic buttons undone down the shirt’s plain front.

Curran wears the same medium-light blue wash jeans as he did with his black nylon bomber jacket, with the familiar red tag on the back pocket and the straight leg indicating that these may be the Levi’s 505™ Regular Fit jeans in “medium stonewash”.

The 505 is still available from the Levi’s site, which describes them as “The original zip fly jeans. First created in 1967, the 505™ Regular Fit Jeans are one of our most popular straight fits, and work for all body types.” You can also find the Levi’s 505 on Amazon.

As the film was made in the early ’90s, Curran spends much of his type hopping in and out of some of Detroit’s most boxy automotive offerings, from his Fox-platform Mustang to Gus’s “bustle-back” Cadillac.

Curran’s brown leather belt coordinates with his shoes, a pair of chestnut brown suede desert boots worn with black socks. These desert boots are evidently his off-duty footwear, also worn with his black nylon bomber jacket.

This jacket also makes a brief appearance the previous day at the office, a situation calling for the more professional dress code of a tie and trousers. Curran breaks his blue dress shirt pattern by sporting a taupe cotton shirt with a point collar, front placket, and button cuffs. His tie is the same navy silk tie with the tan micro-foulard pattern that he previously wore with his taupe silk suit.

While looking restrained under questioning (left), Michael Douglas appears to be offering a forceful aria during a day at the office (right).

Curran’s work trousers are dark brown, likely styled with double reverse pleats and plain-hemmed bottoms and worn with what appears to be the same brown leather belt.

His work day is sunnier than the following day, so he accessorizes with his usual big black-framed aviator sunglasses with wide brown lenses and thin frames.

Promotional photo of Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct.

Nick Curran’s plain stainless watch has a white dial and a steel expanding bracelet, strapped to his left wrist.

Yikes!

How to Get the Look

Nick Curran provides an effective primer how to combine casual and professional wardrobe elements for a cool, dressed-down weekend outfit.

• Dark olive suede single-breasted 2-button sportcoat with wide notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs and ventless back
• Charcoal lightweight cotton shirt with open point collar, plain front with white buttons, and button cuffs
• Medium blue stonewash Levi’s 505 Regular Fit straight-leg denim jeans
• Dark brown leather belt with single-prong buckle
• Chestnut brown suede desert boots
• Black socks
• Stainless steel wristwatch with round white dial on steel expanding bracelet
• Black thin-framed oversized aviator sunglasses with brown lenses

The Gun

Forced to give up his own when suspended, Curran arms himself with his partner Gus’s Glock 17 for a confrontation toward the end.

Curran aims Gus’s Glock 17 during a stressful encounter.

Interestingly, the San Francisco Police Department was still armed with 4″-barreled Smith & Wesson Model 28-2 Highway Patrol revolvers chambered in .357 Magnum in 1992. Two years later, officers would switch to the department’s first semi-automatic pistol, the Beretta 96G in .40 S&W. To the best of my knowledge, Glock pistols have never been issued by SFPD.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas (1990)

Vitals

Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito, volatile and violent Mafia associate

New York, Spring 1979

Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

We always called each other “good fellas.” Like you said to somebody, “You’re gonna like this guy. He’s all right. He’s a good fella. He’s one of us.” You understand? We were good fellas. Wiseguys.

The line may have been an afterthought to explain the new Goodfellas title after Scorsese was unable to use the book’s original Wiseguy title, but it provides the perfect context and framework for Tommy DeVito prepping for his “made man” ceremony, especially against the optimistic driving piano exit of Derek and the Dominoes’ “Layla”.

Of course, little does Tommy know that he’s in for the ultimate case of the [Mafia] Mondays…

What’d He Wear?

This isn’t the first Mafia “made man” ceremony covered in BAMF Style, so we know from Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos that this is a time for an ambitious mafioso to look his best…and shoot his cuffs.

Tommy DeVito has a closet full of sharp silk suits and jackets that we’ve seen throughout Goodfellas, but this is the most prominent appearance of this sportcoat in black and white Glen Urquhart plaid silk with a blue overcheck.

The details of the jacket are proportional for Joe Pesci’s 5’4″ height such as the single-button closure and the short double vents, a more flattering style for a shorter guy than the exaggeratedly long vents that were characteristic of late ’70s jackets. Esquire’s The Handbook of Style suggests single-button jackets for “the short guy” as it lengthens the silhouette and “the deep V will give length to your torso,” although Pesci doesn’t take full advantage of that since he wears his jacket open.

The single-breasted jacket has wide-notched lapels and a single blue-gray button that fastens at his waist line, but Tommy wears his jacket unbuttoned and open. The jacket has sporty slanted flap pockets over the hips and a welted breast pocket for his black satin display kerchief. At the end of each sleeve is the same distinctive 1″ turnback cuff that differentiates most, if not all, of Tommy’s jackets in the film, accented by two non-functioning buttons.

Tommy preps for his big day.

Tommy’s white shirt has thin white satin stripes for a touch of contrast. It has a front placket, a box-pleated breast pocket with Tommy’s monogram, and double (French) cuffs that he fastens with a set of gold ball cuff links.

This shirt features the same long point collar distinctive to Mafioso in Scorsese’s films. This collar, marketed alternatively as a “Goodfella collar” or “Tony collar” by some retailers, has an almost non-existent spread with a consistently narrow tie space between the long collar leaves. His wide black silk tie thus appears to explode out from the collar as the knot is almost completely hidden by the collar.

Speaking of exploding… the black and white tones of his outfit make Tommy’s blood all the more jarring as the stark red splashes all over his clothing.

Tommy wears black silk flat front trousers with a high rise that perfectly meets his jacket’s fastening button and his tie blade at his waist. The trousers have a fitted waistband, worn sans belt. The trousers’ plain-hemmed bottoms are worn over the decoratively stitched shafts of his black leather cowboy boots, a fitting choice for Tommy in terms of both form (evocative of his wild “cowboy” reputation) and function (adding an inch or two of height).

Crime doesn’t pay!

Tommy wears all of his gold jewelry on his left hand, a square-cased wristwatch and a diamond pinky ring.

The Dressed-Down Polo

This jacket makes a brief appearance earlier in the film when Tommy meets Henry and Jimmy at the Department of Probation to discuss their burgeoning cocaine business. (Odd choice of venue, no?)

Tommy dresses down his jacket, wearing a black knit long-sleeve polo shirt with a large collar. All other elements, including his black trousers and cowboy boots, remain the same.

Henry got pretty dolled up for his probation officer, didn’t he?

How to Get the Look

The Goodfellas gangsters are frequently colorful dressers, but Tommy dresses for the solemnity of the occasion in subdued but stylish black and white… unknowingly giving his murderers a stark visual palate for his violent murder.

• Black-and-white Glen Urquhart check silk single-breasted single-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 2-button “turnback” cuffs, and short double vents
• White-on-white satin-striped dress shirt with long “Goodfella” point collar, front placket, monogrammed box-pleated breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold ball cuff links
• Black silk tie
• Black silk flat front high-rise trousers with fitted waistband and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather cowboy boots
• Gold square-cased wristwatch
• Gold diamond pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Footnote

Fans of Goodfellas know that Joe Pesci’s character, Tommy DeVito, was primarily based on real life mobster Thomas “Two-Gun Tommy” DeSimone, a burly associate of the Lucchese crew who shared Pesci’s on-screen temperament if not his physical characteristics.

The real DeSimone was killed in the months following the December 1978 Lufthansa heist in relatively similar circumstances as his on-screen death in Goodfellas. “It was revenge for Billy Batts, and a lot of other things,” explains Henry’s on-screen narration, although Hill himself didn’t explain the “lot of other things” until his 1994 book Gangsters and Goodfellas.

Already unpopular among mob leadership for his violent volatility, DeSimone sealed his fate by attempting to rape Karen Hill, not only the wife of then-imprisoned associate Henry Hill but also the mistress of capo Paul Vario. Vario went to the Gambino crew, explaining that Tommy had killed two of its members without permission and developing the plan to lure DeSimone to his death under the pretense that he will be formally inducted as a “made man”.

Hill accompanied Jimmy Burke to Florida in the last week of 1978 with DeSimone remaining in New York for his supposed ceremony. Burke called from Florida to ask about the ceremony and, as seen in Goodfellas, reacted to the news of Tommy’s murder with overwhelming sadness, slamming the phone down and crying. Hill posits that the notorious John Gotti, who had been a personal friend to one of Tommy’s victims, was the actual triggerman.

Henry’s narration in Goodfellas explains that “they even shot Tommy in the face so his mother couldn’t give him an open coffin at the funeral,” but the actual corpse was never discovered. Tommy’s wife Cookie reported him missing on January 14, 1979, a few weeks after the last time she had seen him. By that time, Burke had already started his wave of post-Lufthansa killings that would lead to a dozen violent deaths of mob associates and their girlfriends, including DeSimone’s mistress Theresa Ferrara, a former fashion model found dismembered in Barnegat Inlet the following month.

The Quote

Oh, n-

Frank Sinatra as Mike Connor in High Society (1956)

Vitals

Frank Sinatra as Macauley “Mike” Connor, swaggering tabloid reporter

Newport, Rhode Island, Summer 1956

Film: High Society
Release Date: July 17, 1956
Director: Charles Walters
Costume Designer: Helen Rose

Background

BAMF Style is fulfilling a timely request from Ryan to explore the puppytooth jacket, pink shirt, and tie worn by Frank Sinatra for his early scenes in High Society, the 1956 remake of The Philadelphia Story that found Sinatra acting with his idol, Bing Crosby. The film lives up to its title with an abundance of luxury cars, opulent homes, and plenty of champagne.

Though set in summer, Sinatra’s ensemble is a nice bold springtime look as the April showers turn to May flowers.

What’d He Wear?

In 1964’s ABC of Men’s Fashion, Hardy Amies describes dogtooth check as “a small zig-zaggy broken check, most effective in plain, contrasting colors such as black and white.” Also known as houndstooth or “pied-de-poule,” this duotone tessellated textile pattern traces its origins in the Scottish highlands.

In High Society, Frank Sinatra wears a jacket in a smaller-scaled houndstooth check often referred to as “puppytooth.” The subtlety of puppytooth check can make it a less flashy alternative to traditional houndstooth and can even appear solid gray from a distance, the perfect choice for Mike’s summer weekend at Newport where he has to look casual yet luxurious while making a good enough impression on the Lord clan to get his story.

Mike shares a moment with Tracy.

The full cut of the 1950s could threaten to overwhelm a skinny man like Sinatra, but the jacket is well-tailored – likely by Sy Devore, his preferred tailor at the time – to flatter his physique rather than swamp him like the overly baggy jackets of the late 1980s. The darted jacket has wide, padded shoulders, high armholes, and a single back vent.

The single-breasted jacket has widely-notched lapels that roll to two gray plastic front buttons. The jacket’s closed quarters were characteristic of the ’50s, thought they’re more flattering for a slim man like Sinatra as he doesn’t look as bottom-heavy as a more corpulent gent would. The straight hip pockets are positioned below his waist, lined up with the lower of the two buttons, and closed with wide flaps. He wears a white linen kerchief in his welted breast pocket.

Liz Imbrie (Celeste Holm) leads Mike in song.

Sinatra’s light pink oxford cloth shirt injects a nice touch of bold yet subtle color to break up the monotony of his grayscale outfit. Like Cary Grant’s distinctive shirts in Notorious, this shirt has the seemingly incongruous combination of a button-down collar and double (French) cuffs.

The large button-down collar, very American with its Brooks Brothers origins, signals informality while the double cuffs – albeit soft ones – indicate a more formal approach to dressing. The incongruity fits with the setting: casual yet classy and definitively American.

Sinatra fastens his double cuffs with a set of dark onyx square links with rounded corners.

Spy Magazine‘s finest.

The thick black knit tie fills the collar space with a large Windsor knot.

Always a prankster…

The wider blade of the tie perfectly meets the fastening button of his jacket and the trouser waistband at Sinatra’s natural waist. He wears the menswear staple of dark gray flannel trousers, here with belt loops, side pockets, and the contemporary fashion details of reverse pleats and wide cuffs.

Mike experiences differing levels and types of discomfort at the Lord estate.

Mike coordinates his black leather belt to his shoes, a pair of black leather tassel loafers, a relatively new entry to the menswear arena after actor Paul Lukas commissioned his first pair from Alden in 1948. Sinatra’s loafers are likely also from Alden as no other manufacturers made the shoe until Brooks Brothers introduced its own tasseled slip-on in 1957. He wears his with black dress socks.

Mike makes the rounds.

This being Sinatra, the outfit isn’t complete without a hat for the outdoor scenes. He wears a black pork pie made from Milan straw with a wide white pleated puggaree ribbon. A few years later, Frank would be illustrated wearing a very similar hat for the cover of his masterful 1958 concept album Come Fly with Me.

In a 2001 forum, Nancy Sinatra herself weighed in to confirm that this is almost definitely from Cavanagh, the hatmaker mentioned to be Frank’s favorite in Bill Zehme’s seminal The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Living.

One of Sinatra’s iconic straw porkpie hats, seen on-screen and fooling around for Grace Kelly’s camera behind the scenes.

Mike’s gold tank watch can be spied under his left shirt cuff, strapped to his wrist on a black leather bracelet.

Go Big or Go Home

Sinatra may be the first name that pops into your head when you think of iconic drinkers, but I wouldn’t recommend his tactic of singing to bartenders. In addition to the decreased chance of better service, there’s also a far increased chance of being removed from whatever drinking establishment you’re patronizing at the time.

I always liked that Scotch decanter behind the bar…

How to Get the Look

Mike Connor attempts to make up for his boorish attitude with a colorful and classy outfit, perfect for a spring or summer weekend spent hobnobbing among the rich and famous.

• Black-and-white puppytooth check single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single back vent
• Light pink oxford shirt with large button-down collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Dark onyx rounded-corner square cuff links
• Thick black knit tie
• Dark gray flannel reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Slim black leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Black leather tassel loafers
• Black dress socks
• Gold tank-style dress watch on black leather strap
• Black Milan straw porkpie hat with wide white pleated puggaree band

For a stylish finishing touch, Mike wears a classic white linen pocket square.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Inbreeding always produces idiots.

Sean Connery as James Bond in You Only Live Twice (1967)

Vitals

Sean Connery as James Bond, sophisticated British MI6 agent

Miyazaki, Japan, Summer 1966

Film: You Only Live Twice
Release Date: June 13, 1967
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Wardrobe Master: Eileen Sullivan
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair

Background

Sean Connery’s wardrobe as James Bond is remembered for its timeless elegance, developed for his first appearance as the character in Dr. No. The elements of Connery’s Bond style generally differed from Ian Fleming’s literary vision, with Connery often sporting gray suits rather than blue, long-sleeve shirts rather than short-sleeved, and derby shoes rather than non-laced casuals.

However, there are a few occasions where Connery’s 007 sartorially overlapped with Fleming’s vision. His dark blue suit when visiting Osato’s Tokyo office in You Only Live Twice thus serves as an appropriate post for the 00-7th of May, Ian Fleming’s birth month.

This is some of the closest that Connery’s Bond ever came to Fleming’s sartorial vision for 007, even down to the “thick comma” of hair above his eyebrow.

What’d He Wear?

Ian Fleming’s Bond was a very practical dresser, a minimalist who would have hardly approved of the designer wardrobes from Brioni and Tom Ford that line the expansive closets of Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig’s interpretations of the character. (For more on the literary James Bond’s clothing, check out my May 2014 post.)

007’s daily business suit was stipulated by Fleming to be “dark blue tropical worsted,” mentioned specifically in Diamonds are Forever and Dr. No. This description is very telling as the nine novels and stories that describe this suit refer it only as “dark blue” and rather than “navy” (other than a reference to the “dark blue trousers of navy serge” in Moonraker, which refers to the naval-oriented material rather than the color.)

For his meeting with Osato in You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery wears a lightweight wool suit in dark blue, not quite navy, that comes the closest of all of the Connery Bond suits to Fleming’s sartorial vision.

Connery’s single-breasted suit jacket is also distinctive for its single-breasted front. This would be the first appearance of the then-fashionable single-button closure on a non-dinner jacket for Bond (Roger Moore would later wear a single-button jacket with his cream summer suit in Moonraker and Pierce Brosnan’s striped charcoal three-piece suit in The World is Not Enough also had a single-button front.) The single-button also reflects the minimalist simplicity of Fleming’s Bond, although the author never stipulated just how many buttons were on the front of Bond’s suit jackets.

The single-button closure is perfectly placed at Connery’s natural waist for a flattering fit as Connery’s midsection started to expand.

The suit jacket remains otherwise consistent with the details we expect from Connery’s beautifully tailored “Conduit Cut” suits from Anthony Sinclair: the narrow notch lapels, natural shoulders with roped sleeveheads, and a full chest with a suppressed waist. The straight hip pockets are flapped, the welted breast pocket has no pocket square, and both sleeves have four buttons spaced on the cuffs.

Bond checks out Osato’s distinctive office decor.

The elements of Connery’s trousers that have followed him since his first “Conduit Cut” suit in Dr. No were less stylish by 1967, particularly the pleated front and the cuffs.

Despite the fashion-forwardness of his jacket, Connery still retains these more traditional elements on his double forward-pleated suit trousers in You Only Live Twice, with the same tapered leg, cuffed bottoms, and three-button “Daks top” side adjusters that we associate with the Connery Bond of the ’60s.

A rough day at the docks for 007.

This suit would be the last appearance of Connery’s traditional pale blue shirt and navy silk tie that had been a staple of his 007 look since Dr. No in 1962. The poplin shirt from Turnbull & Asser has a spread collar, front placket, and two-button turnback cuffs (or “cocktail cuffs”) that Connery’s Bond popularized.

Straightening his tie, adjusting his cuffs… Bond always finds time for a wardrobe adjustment after a major action sequence.

Connery’s slim solid silk ties in the ’60s alternated between grenadine ties (in Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Thunderball) and silk knit ties (in Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice); his silk knitted tie in this scene is navy, a shade darker than the blue of his suit and certainly evocative of the “thin black knitted silk tie” described in Fleming’s novels.

Composed and cool in Osato’s office.

In Moonraker, the third of his Bond novels, Ian Fleming described Bond’s “black moccasin shoes.” The closest that Connery’s Bond ever came to this casual footwear are these black grain leather slip-on shoes that he, appropriately enough, wears with this Fleming-esque blue suit in You Only Live Twice. Though the shoes’ plain toes prevent them from being true moccasin-style loafers like Fleming had envisioned, they certainly reflect the same comfortable, informal spirit of a man who “abhors shoe laces” (as we learned in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service).

Connery wears black ribbed dress socks with his loafers.

Bond holds his feet to the fire.

He also carries a navy felt trilby into the meeting but never actually wears it on his head.

Much like You Only Live Twice broke from Bond tradition by never featuring the hero wearing a tuxedo or behind the wheel of a car, it was also the first of the official films to not prominently feature Bond’s wristwatch. Connery’s Rolex Submariner had indeed received prominent screen time in Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and Thunderball. Here, barely glimpsed under his left shirt cuff, is the Gruen Precision 510 dress watch that Dell Deaton identified on his informative site, James Bond Watches.

For more about this suit and outfit, check out Matt Spaiser’s blog post on The Suits of James Bond.

How to Get the Look

Hey, that’s no Walther PPK!

You Only Live Twice incorporated many style elements of Ian Fleming’s literary James Bond, blended with the trends of a later decade and the template set for Sean Connery’s 007 to deliver a fashionable and fitting summer business suit for Bond’s visit to Osato’s office.

• Dark blue lightweight wool “Conduit Cut” tailored business suit:
  • Single-breasted 1-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 4-button cuffs, and long single vent
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with 3-button “Daks top” side adjusters, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale blue poplin dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, and 2-button turnback/”cocktail” cuffs
• Navy blue knitted silk tie
• Black grain leather plain-toe slip-on shoes/loafers
• Black ribbed dress socks
• Navy felt trilby
• Gruen Precision 510 yellow gold dress watch

Bond’s blue suit in You Only Live Twice would be the last Fleming-esque blue-suited outfit of the series for decades until Daniel Craig’s sharkskin suit for a Moroccan gunfight in Spectre, which I’ll be featuring in a few weeks as we get closer to Ian Fleming’s birthday.

The Gun

Even non-firearm enthusiasts knew by You Only Live Twice that James Bond famously carried a Walther PPK in his shoulder holster. In fact, the year after the film was released, Walther developed the PPK/S model for importation to the United States after the passing of the Gun Control Act of 1968. The U.S. was Walther’s largest market for the PPK, doubtlessly due to its popularity as Bond’s sidearm of choice, so the Walther PPK/S was developed to meet the parameters for legal importation into the country.

It’s thus very questionable that Blofeld would be able to deduce from Osato’s x-ray machine that: “only one person we know uses this sort of gun: James Bond.” Not only is this a very silly supposition due to the fact that this is one of the most popular firearms in the world, but also because two of Blofeld’s own SPECTRE agents – Vargas and Count Lippe – had used their own Walther PPK pistols in the previous film, Thunderball, and Dr. No had established the PPK as the well-known sidearm of the CIA!

Look out, Q, Osato’s got some fancy gadgets as well.

The confusion is compounded in the following scene, when Bond draws his sidearm for a gunfight at the port of Kobe and it isn’t a Walther PPK at all, but rather appears to be a cosmetically different Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless pistol.

The early Bond films are known for making quite a few forgivable firearm-related errors, but to swap out the hero’s trademark weapon leaves some questions. A PPK had actually been used earlier in the film, so it’s not that the filmmakers didn’t have access to one as was the case for Dr. No.

PPK or not, Bond’s pistol serves him well when he gets into a sticky situation.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Mr. Osato: You should give up smoking. Cigarettes are very bad for your chest.
Helga: Mr. Osato believes in a healthy chest.
Bond: Really?

Yes, Bond, really.