David Duchovny as Hank Moody at LAX in “Filthy Lucre”, the ninth episode of Californication.

Vitals

David Duchovny as Hank Moody, womanizing novelist with substance abuse issues

Venice Beach, Fall 2007

Series: Californication
Episodes: “California Son” (Episode 1.08) & “Filthy Lucre” (Episode 1.09)
Air Dates: October 1, 2007; October 8, 2007
Directors: Scott Winant; Scott Burns
Costume Designer: Peggy A. Schnitzer

Background

It’s been almost three months since BAMF Style has checked in with Hank Moody, the hero of Californication. In “California Son”, Hank had just come to terms with the death of his father with the help of a roll in the sack with ex-girlfriend Karen. He departs LAX for a brief exodus home to JFK, returning a few weeks later. Upon his return in the next episode, Hank is pleasantly surprised to find Karen waiting outside LAX but soon discovers that she is there to meet boring dial tone Bill – her fiance – rather than Hank. Hank makes the best of this uncomfortable situation.

If you’re heading home for the Thanksgiving holiday, take a few style nods from Hank Moody to travel comfortably and fashionably.

What’d He Wear?

Hank’s flying attire (in season 1, at least) consists of his staples: his brown smoking jacket, a black shirt, and dark jeans, all paired with Hank’s usual slip-on boots. With modern security regulations calling for the removal of jackets and shoes, Hank’s attire is smart and reasonable. He can toss all of his belongings into his jacket, move it through security, and slip his shoes on and off. In the meantime, the octogenarian in the other line is pulling his keys and coins out of various pants pockets and holding up the line trying to untie his ancient white tennis shoes.

Hank’s smoking jacket is his tried-and-true chocolate brown sueded thin wale corduroy sport coat from Yves St. Laurent with a single-breasted 2-button front and notch lapels. There is a breast pocket, but the inside pockets and flapped hip pockets would be best for Hank to store his accessories – including cigarettes, a lighter, sunglasses, and keys – to avoid setting off the metal detectors and to make security check-in a breeze. The jacket also has a single rear vent and 3-button cuffs.

Hank looks none too enthused about the prospect of flying.

His denim jeans are very dark blue with a boot cut to allow a comfortable fit on the plane and to be worn with boots. Hank never wears a belt with his jeans, making these a practical choice for walking through security.

Hank’s shirts are both black – a plain t-shirt for the trip to New York and a rumpled button-down for the return to L.A. The button-down shirt has long sleeves with squared cuffs – that are worn unbuttoned – and a placket-less front.

If you want to look a little dressier as you emerge from your flight, opt for a button-down rather than a t-shirt.

On his feet, Hank wisely wears his loyal pair of brown Timberland “Mt. Washington” sueded leather Chelsea boots. As a pair of comfortable but sturdy slip-on boots, the Timberlands are ideal for air travel, both casual enough to work with dressed-down travel attire and dressy enough to be worn with a sport coat or suit if traveling to a more formal occasion. A pair of all-purpose shoes like these are wise to give you more space when packing for a trip, since footwear is a very heavy and space-consuming item to include in your baggage. Hank wears black socks with his boots.

Hank’s other accessories are his sunglasses, his ring, and his studded wrist strap. The sunglasses are Izod 725, a compact and fashionable pair that folds down to fit into a pocket without creating a bulge or breaking easily.

His ring is a silver spinner, worn on his right index finger and a good choice for the borderline-ADD Hank who needs something to play with. Since cell phones and electronics have to be off during takeoff, at least he would have his ring to distract him.

You may really want to show off that spinner ring, but make sure you’re off the plane and out of the airport before lighting up a smoke.

He also wears his black leather bracelet with silver hexagonal studs, strapped to his left wrist and paired with his usual black braided leather bracelet.

Go Big or Go Home

Hank travels lightly, with just one nondescript black duffel bag that he’s able to check onto a plane. Personally, I prefer to just carry one medium-sized bag as well, fitting it either under the seat or into the overhead bin; the cost and worry of checking luggage is hardly worth it, especially for shorter trips that don’t require excessive clothing changes. Of course, even for a longer trip you can pack lightly by keeping everything to one major color motif.

Before you leave, make sure you take care of a few things around the house. Dump any cups that aren’t full, especially glasses of Scotch used for depositing cigarette ashes. If you’re prone to a Cezanne-like setting with fruit on your table, toss any exposed fruit to prevent mold. These seem like obvious tips, but they weren’t too obvious for Hank.

Nobody wants to come home to this.

Once on the plane, you don’t want your entertainment to be at the mercy of the flight crew. Sure, you might be able to fit three seasons of Breaking Bad on your iPhone not to mention hours of music, but a) You could run out of battery, and 2) Flights are pretty tough on people with electronics, making you wait until after takeoff and turning it off before you land. The best tip – and one Hank would agree with – is to take a book or two and read. Or, of course, you could sleep. Either way, Hank would say to do it with a cocktail in hand. Although unseen in the finished episode, the script for “Filthy Lucre” called for Hank to step off the plane and down a mini bottle of Jack Daniel’s.

How to Get the Look

Hank’s look is a fine option for comfortable and easy air travel. Take hints and make it your own.

• Dark brown sueded corduroy single-breasted smoking jacket with notch lapels, 2-button front, 3-button cuffs, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, and a single rear vent
• Black long-sleeve button-down shirt with a placket-less front and rolled-up sleeves
• Black short-sleeve James Perse cotton t-shirt
• Dark blue denim bootcut jeans
• Brown suede Timberland “Torrance” Chelsea boots
• Black socks
• Izod 725 sunglasses with brown lenses
• Silver ring with two ridged bands, worn on the right index finger
• Black leather bracelet with silver hexagonal and round studs, worn on the left wrist
• Thin black braided leather bracelet, also worn on the left wrist

Do Yourself A Favor And…

Buy the first season.

The Quote

Hank: And this is where I think we should part company. I think I see a cab with my name on it.
Bill: Don’t be ridiculous.
Hank: No, uh, Bill, it’s just a figure of speech. There’s not really a cab with my name on it.

Footnotes

As usual, you can find Hank’s bracelets at Urban Wrist.

Daniel Craig on the set of Casino Royale (2006) in a photograph by Greg Williams that appeared in the book Bond on Set: Filming Casino Royale.

Vitals

Daniel Craig as James Bond, British secret agent

London, July 2006

Film: Casino Royale
Release Date: November 14, 2006
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming

Background

Arrogance and self-awareness seldom go hand in hand.

After getting caught on camera shooting up an embassy and then breaking into his boss’s apartment, Bond receives just the advice that he needs to hear at the start of his budding career as a secret agent. Dressing in dark colors and wearing a smirk straight from the Bruce Willis School of Badassery, Bond doesn’t impress the stern but wise M as she lays down the law.

What’d He Wear?

Bond’s outfit for this scene, particularly the casual topcoat, was nicely analyzed in a detailed post by 007 expert Matt Spaiser on The Suits of James Bond. It is a very slick and cool look that reflects the agent’s devil-may-care state of mind at the time; so what if he just “violated the only absolutely inviolate rule of international relations”? He’s a spy, dammit, and he’s going to dress like one!

Spaiser describes Bond’s Brioni topcoat as “a light blue barleycorn pattern on a black ground”, giving this simple look an elegant element of color that keeps it from being monochromatic.

Bond does some late night recon.

Otherwise, the coat is very similar to the black topcoat worn by a contemporary action spy – Jason Bourne. Like Bourne’s overcoat, it is single-breasted and knee-length with notch lapels and a 3-button front. Also like Bourne’s coat (particularly in The Bourne Supremacy), it has straight flapped pockets rather than slash pockets and 3-button cuffs.

Bond tries to work his wily charm on M.

The topcoat also has a welted breast pocket and roped sleeveheads. There is a single vent in the rear.

The most similar item that Brioni is currently offering, as of November 2014, is an all-black cashmere and silk velour topcoat that, while undeniably luxurious, carries the extra-luxurious price tag of $7,575.

Bond’s black long-sleeve polo shirt is a callback to his preference for similar shirts while sneaking around at night in classic 007 adventures like Goldfinger and Thunderball. The shirt is constructed from a soft material that appears to be cashmere. It has three black buttons, much like the black knit polo worn by Connery in Goldfinger.

The dark buttons on Bond’s polo keep his look darker and more mysteriously sinister.

Bond wears a pair of black and white Glen Urquhart check flat front trousers with a light blue plaid overcheck, which Spaiser notes “picks up the blue in the topcoat”, bringing the outfit full circle. The trousers have on-seam side pockets and cuffed bottoms (or “turn-ups”) with a short break. Given that Ted Baker provided other trousers for the film, it’s possible that these too were made by Ted Baker.

Bond would later wear these same trousers while consulting with Mathis on the balcony of his Montenegro hotel room. Daniel Craig later posed for a series of promotional photos with Eva Green while wearing the same trousers.

Craig wore the same trousers during this photo shoot with Eva Green.

Casino Royale reveals Bond’s preference for chukka boots, and he wears a pair of black calf John Lobb “Romsey” boots in this scene. They are plain-toe with two eyelets. His socks are also black. Typically, one tries to match socks to the trousers rather than the shoes, but that can be difficult with multi-colored Glen check trousers.

Though the original Romsey style as worn in Casino Royale is now out of production, John Lobb now manufactures the “Romsey II”, a similar looking ankle boot in kendal calf available in black, moss green, and dark brown. A pair can be yours for only $1,495. Only.

Bond’s Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean.

His watch is famously an Omega, notably the sporty Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean “Big Size” 2900.50.91 with a stainless steel case and large black rubber diver’s strap. It has a black dial under domed, anti-reflective, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal and is water resistant down to 2,000 feet. He will later wear the more formal Omega Seamaster Professional Diver, but the Planet Ocean is fine for casual outfits like this.

As this scene takes place in the middle of summer (around July 8, I believe), it may be hard to imagine someone wearing a topcoat. However, this is London where July temperatures are typically around 65°F. Plus, Bond layers it casually with just a shirt and trousers rather than a suit or sweater. Thus, it’s very reasonable attire for a late night London summer.

I sported a brown-toned version of a similarly inspired outfit like this for Thanksgiving last year, consisting of a dark brown herringbone vintage topcoat, brown cotton/lycra Banana Republic long-sleeve polo, and dark brown and tan Glen check trousers.

Six years later in Skyfall, Bond and M find themselves in a similar situation, only now Bond has listened to M’s directive. Totally self-aware, he is no longer “dressing like a spy” and instead stands before her in a shabby-looking leather jacket, looking every bit the weary and cynical recluse rather than the once-swaggering hotshot spy that broke into her flat. Obviously, he didn’t heed her advice to “don’t ever break into my house again!”

Ah, what six years can do to a secret agent…

Go Big or Go Home (or Go to M’s Home)

Rather than waiting to get admonished at the office, Bond goes straight to M’s place to face the music with a frank discussion about his future… and also some recon using her secure network. Upon her return, he’s quick to show that he believes he has the upper hand by revealing the knowledge of her name (Olivia Mansfield, according to some movie tie-in novels)…

Bond: I always thought M was a randomly assigned initial. I had no idea it stood for-
M: Utter one more syllable, and I’ll have you killed.

This scene sets a fine foundation for the Bond-M relationship that Daniel Craig and Judi Dench portray so beautifully. They bring out the best in each other’s acting chops, and the relationship is at its most dynamic during their three-film tenure.

As of Skyfall, we still haven’t received glimpses of Bond’s living situation beyond a few scenes in Dr. No and Live and Let Die that would surely be outdated by the 21st century. However, we get quite a nice look at M’s apartment with James Bond Lifestyle coming to the rescue with a few decorating tips to live like MI6’s savvy chief.

M’s rad London flat. Bond is sitting on one of the Knoll Barcelona chairs while his previously-occupied Herman Miller Aeron office chair sits off to his left. The Burne-Jones book is on the table in front of him.

During their discussion, Bond and M sit on two of her three Knoll Barcelona chrome-framed designer chairs in “Spinneybeck leather”. The chairs have an appropriately retro look, dating back to a 1929 design by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe that was bought by Knoll in the 1960s. According to Bond Lifestyle, a genuine Knoll Barcelona chair can go for at least $5,000 but Amazon has some examples at around a tenth of the price. (Source: James Bond Lifestyle)

Before M shows up, Bond makes himself at home in her Herman Miller Aeron office chair, an iconic and highly adjustable chair that has even been featured in MoMa. Bond Lifestyle tells us that M’s chair is a premium model with a graphite-framed polished aluminum base, gray black “tuxedo” weave seat and back, and a “V”-shaped PostureFit lumbar support kit. Evidently, prices range between $700 and $1,170 which is a steal compared to the Knoll Barcelona but a bit ridiculous considering you could buy a used ’98 Toyota for the same price. Certainly there must be cheaper ways of sitting in front of the computer. (Source: James Bond Lifestyle)

And speaking of computers… M falls victim to Sony’s ubiquity in the Bond franchise with her Sony VAIO TX-series laptop, kept at home with a green MI6 background and evidently poor password protection. Bond uses his Zio FoneMate SIM Card Manager CM-43000 to access Mollaka’s phone on her computer. (Source: James Bond Lifestyle)

For the more dignified bon vivant who eschews modern technology – or at least likes a good book – the eagle-eyed spotters at Bond Lifestyle noticed a hardcover copy of Burne-Jones: The Life and Works of Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) by Christopher Wood on M’s table. For anyone who doesn’t know (including me, before this post), Sir Edward Burne-Jones was a talented British artist and designer who helped rejuvenate the art of stained glass in England in addition to his multiple painting and crafting efforts. The cover of the book itself is a detail of his painting “Garden of Hesperides”. (Sources: James Bond Lifestyle and Wikipedia, as if I would’ve known any of that myself)

Of course, if you’re going in for coffee table books, a meta example – and one that I would actually read – would be Bond on Set: Filming Casino Royale, featuring a collection of rare and impressive on-set photography by Greg Williams. This book, available from Amazon, would also make a great Christmas gift, although one could say that of any book in the Bond on Set collection.

How to Get the Look

Bond settles comfortably into the image of the slick and stylish 21st century super spy when he breaks into M’s apartment. It’s a shame that this particular outfit didn’t receive more exposure in the movie.

• Black (with light blue barleycorn pattern) knee-length single-breasted Brioni topcoat with notch lapels, 3-button front, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single rear vent
• Black cashmere long-sleeve polo with 3-button placket
• Black and white Glen Urquhart check (with light blue plaid overcheck) flat front trousers with on-seam side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs, possibly from Ted Baker
• Black calf leather 2-eyelet John Lobb “Romsey” chukka boots
• Black dress socks
• Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean “Big Size” 2900.50.91 on a large black rubber strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the film.

The Quote

So you want me to be half-monk, half-hitman.

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti in “A Hit is a Hit”, episode 1.10 of The Sopranos.

Vitals

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, Jersey mob associate and aspiring screenwriter

New York City, Spring 2000

Series: The Sopranos
Episodes: “A Hit is a Hit” (Episode 1.10) and “D-Girl” (Episode 2.07)
Air Dates: March 14, 1999 (1.10) and February 27, 2000 (2.07)
Directors: Matthew Penn (1.10) and Allen Coulter (2.07)
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

Background

Although a bit late for this Valentine’s Day (and my self-proclaimed #MafiaMonday), this post explores a creative integration of red into a man’s outfit. While some – and, likely, most – will consider it over-the-top, the character in question isn’t exactly known for his good taste.

For date nights in New York City with Adriana, Chris likes to show off his gangster status by donning his two favorite wardrobe colors: red and black. The pairing of a red sport coat with black trousers and shirt evokes a look made famous by Robert De Niro in Casino. Given Christopher’s obsession with mob movies (and Martin Scorsese), it would make sense that he would choose to mimic an outfit from one of the best-known mob movies sported by the genre’s undisputed maestro.

What’d He Wear?

We first see Christopher’s red sport coat in “A Hit is a Hit” (Episode 1.10) after a particularly lucrative – and deadly – heist. After toasting glasses of champagne (which appear to be Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Heredad, a Spanish Cava) with Tony and Paulie, he leaves the two made men for his night on the town with Adriana La Cerva:

Rent. Fuckin’ broadway musicals. I mean, we’re all supposed to get all fuckin’ weepy eyed ’cause they turned off the heat in some guy’s loft?

The jacket itself is constructed of a soft, heavy material (possibly flannel or even cashmere) in deep red. It is single-breasted with peak lapels on a convex break line. The low 3-button stance consists of three dark red plastic buttons placed closely together, but Chris always wears the jacket open.

Chris’ jacket also has padded shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and a ventless rear. It is styled very similarly to a suit jacket from the 1920s or 1930s, the dawn of the American gangster and a period that would be very alluring for the image-conscious Christopher.

The sport coat has a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets, although the flaps often tuck inside the pocket to show only the jetting. The lining of the jacket is an ornate gold paisley, and there are also inner pockets that close on a single button. In the brief shot of the lining and inside pocket, we are also given a glimpse of the manufacturer’s label. It’s too blurry for me to detect a name, but perhaps someone more eagle-eyed (or familiar) can make it out.

Any idea about the label?

There is a small loop on the back of the jacket about an inch or so beneath the collar that resembles the “locker loop” seen on some original frat-tastic oxford button-down shirts. The purpose of this fabric ring on the shirts was to permit wearers to hang the shirt in a locker by the loop to prevent wrinkling.

Chris fails to charm the patrons of “Kansas Fried Chicken”. Luckily, he’s got Adriana on hand to win over the most prominent of them, a gangsta rapper named Massive Genius.

I’m not sure what purpose this serves on this particular sport coat, as the wearer should know better than to hang it by the ring inside a locker. It’s especially interesting given their connotation as “fairy loops” (or worse) that such a masculinity-driven person like Christopher would have one on his jacket.

Christopher always pairs his red sport coat with a pair of black flat front trousers that have on-seam side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms. They are worn with a standard black leather belt that closes in the front through a silver-toned rectangular clasp.

Yeah, Chris is really not good at making friends when in a multicultural setting.

In both instances, Christopher carries the black leg line from the trouser to the shoes with a pair of black dress socks and heavy black leather split toe bluchers.

For the dinner and a show night in “A Hit is a Hit” (Episode 1.10), Christopher wears only a black shirt constructed of soft silk or microsuede. He wears it loose and open with the first few buttons of the plain (non-placket) front open to show off the various gold medallions entangled with his chest hair.

The jacket’s next – and final – appearance, in “D-Girl” (Episode 2.07) finds Christopher and Adriana escorting Chrissy’s cousin Gregory and his fiancée – the titular “D-Girl” – out for drinks in Manhattan. Although it’s a less formal occasion than seeing Rent with Adriana, Chris dresses up a little more with a red shirt and tie.

Chris and Ade entertain their guests.

This shirt is dark red silk with a slim spread collar, breast pocket, button cuffs, and – like the black shirt – a plain button-down front with no placket. His tie is more busy with a red silk ground and a white vertical motif of broken lines underlying a white diamond and a light blue diamond shape under it, slightly overlapped by the white diamond.

As usual, Christopher wears a white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt.

Chris’ preference for the color red extends from his clothing to his choice of cigarettes; in the show’s earlier seasons, he smokes Marlboro Reds.

No pinkie rings for Christopher, although he certainly mobs up with gold accessories around both his neck and wrist. (Although he doesn’t wear a pinkie ring, he does briefly wear a gold diamond ring in “A Hit is a Hit” on the third finger of his left hand.)

His one constant piece of jewelry is a thin gold chain around his neck with a round saint pendant – St. Christopher, perhaps? In the first season, it is accompanied by a thicker gold chain with a large gold crucifix.

Luckily, Chris leaves the ’70s look behind after the first season by ditching one of the chains and buttoning up.

Christopher also swaps out his gold wristwatches between seasons. In the first season, he wears a gold 18-carat Cartier Tank with a white square dial on a gold link bracelet. He replaces this in the second season with a gold Rolex DateJust on a mixed metal “Jubilee” bracelet. He would later switch back to Cartier in following seasons.

Go Big or Go Home

Or at least go home to this…

Gratuitous? Maybe, but who’s complaining?

How to Get the Look

A red sport coat isn’t for everyone, but Christopher Moltisanti wants the world to know he’s a gangster, and he’s not afraid to dress the part. In both episodes, it works to impress.

• Red single-breasted sport coat with peak lapels, 3-button front, welted breast pocket, flapped straight hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, “locker loop”, and ventless rear
• Dark red (or black) silk/microsuede shirt with spread collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Red silk necktie with white and blue diamond motif
• Black flat front trousers with on-seam side pockets, belt loops, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt with silver-toned rectangular clasp
• Black leather split-toe bluchers
• Black dress socks
• Thick gold necklace with a large gold crucifix
• Thin gold necklace with a round gold St. Christopher medallion
• Gold wristwatch on a metal link bracelet
  • Chris wears a Cartier Tank in “A Hit is a Hit” and a Rolex DateJust in “D-Girl”

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the entire series, because it’s brilliant. Christopher’s distinctive red sport coat only shows up in two early episodes, however: “A Hit is a Hit” (Episode 1.10) and “D-Girl” (Episode 2.07). Interestingly, both episodes prominently feature Chrissy’s attempts to break into the arts.

The Quote

The Sopranos doesn’t hesitate to fling mud at its celebrity cameos. After Adriana sings the praises of Swingers director Jon Favreau, one of “D-Girl”‘s many guest stars, Christopher responds with:

Swingers? He can suck my dick. That swings too.

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line (2005).

Vitals

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, badass but troubled country rock musician

Los Angeles, January 1968

Film: Walk the Line
Release Date: November 18, 2005
Director: James Mangold
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Tailor: Pam Lisenby

Background

Columbia Exec: Your fans are church folk, Johnny. Christians. They don’t wanna hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin’ to cheer ’em up.
Johnny Cash: Well, they’re not Christians, then.

The terrific 2005 biopic Walk the Line features a great scene of Cash rebooting his career as a prison performer (and reformer) when he confidently strides into Columbia Records and announces his plan to record an album live from Folsom Prison. He dudes himself up appropriately in all black and is the most self-assured as we’ve seen him throughout the film.

To honor Johnny Cash’s birthday (he would have been exactly 83 years old today), here’s a look at Joaquin Phoenix’s take on “the Man in Black”.

What’d He Wear?

Columbia Exec: And what’s with the black? He looks like he’s going to a funeral!
Johnny Cash: Maybe I am.

…although some may consider this look a bit too badass for a funeral.

Cash suits up for his meeting by donning his trademark attire, black from head to toe. His three-piece wool suit is black with very thin tonal stripe that shine under certain light.

The suit jacket is single-breasted with a fashionable late ’60s cut. The slim notch lapels glide down to the single button closure at his waist. There is a welted breast pocket and the flapped hip pockets, including the right side ticket pocket, slant backwards.

Cash oozes cool as he nonchalantly tells Columbia Records exactly what he plans to do.

His suit jacket has roped sleeveheads, 1-button cuffs, and long double rear vents. The lining is only briefly seen when he is putting on his jacket, but it is a very bright red silk that contrasts heavily with the rest of the outfit.

The suit has a matching waistcoat, although not much is seen of it as the low-fastening garment is mostly covered when he wears the jacket buttoned. It has slim notch lapels like the jacket. The same bright red silk lining on the inside of the jacket also adorns the back of the vest.

Cash’s flat front suit trousers have plain-hemmed bottoms with a very short break over his feet. His shoes are a very mod pair of black calf leather plain-toe loafers. They are very simple with no perforations, cap toes, side gussets, etc. Naturally, he wears a pair of black dress socks. This is no time for a “hint of color”.

I’ve found an affordable pair of similar loafers from Cole Haan; the Copley 2 Gore Loafer in black leather is currently offered from Jos. A. Bank’s site for only $148 if you’re looking for a reasonable pair. They also come in brown leather, but what color do you think Johnny would pick?

While he wears a white shirt for the eventual Folsom Prison performance, he wears a black silk shirt here. Like the suit, it has a thin tonal stripe, although this stripe is spaced further apart than on the suit. The shirt has a large collar, which he wears open, and no front placket. The shirt’s French cuffs are fastened by silver square links. Naturally, each link has a large black raised square in the center.

Note the contrasting black striped suit and shirt as he buttons up for the day.

To maintain his aloof appearance (and perhaps battle his withdrawal), Cash keeps his sunglasses on throughout nearly the entire scene. They are a pair of black acetate wayfarers with dark green lenses, likely a classic pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers before they started placing the logo on the temples and lenses.

Johnny Cash is a man on a mission.

June Carter: You wear black ’cause you can’t find anything else to wear? You found your sound ’cause you can’t play no better? You just tried to kiss me because “it just happened?” You should try take credit for something every once in a while, John.

How to Get the Look

They didn’t call him the “Man in Black” for no reason.

• Black wool tonal-striped three-piece suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with slim notch lapels, 1-button front, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, slanted right ticket pocket, 1-button cuffs, and long double rear vents
  • Low-fastening single-breasted waistcoat with slim notch lapels
  • Flat front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black silk tonal-striped shirt with large collar, no placket, and double/French cuffs
• Silver square cuff links with raised black centers
• Black calf leather plain-toe loafers
• Black dress socks
• Black acetate wayfarer-style sunglasses

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie and, for cryin’ out loud, listen to Johnny Cash!

If you’re ever in the Pittsburgh area, friends of mine host Johnny Cash Day at the Elks Club on the North Side every September. More information is available on their Facebook page, but I can personally say that it’s an incredible event that celebrates his life, music, and style… plus there’s cheap beer and awesome bands. Even if you’re not in Pittsburgh, you should come to Johnny Cash Day.

The Quote

January 13. I’ll be at Folsom Prison with June and the boys. You listen to the tapes. You don’t like ’em… you can toss ’em.

Just Curious…

Even Johnny Cash celebrated with birthday cake!

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990).

Vitals

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, New York mob associate and club owner

Queens, NY, June 11, 1970

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

Background

As Morrie Kessler’s favorite “half mick, half guinea”, it’s nice to see Henry Hill channeling his Irish side with a green suit while out at a bar. In particular, his bar – The Suite Lounge in Queens. (In reality, the scene was filmed at the Lido Cabaret at 7320 Grand Avenue in Maspeth.) Unfortunately for us, it wasn’t St. Patrick’s Day, and unfortunately for Billy Batts, an angry Joe Pesci was around.

This scene, one of the most iconic of the film, marks the shift in tone between the “glamour” of the wiseguy era in the ’60s and the harsh and violent reality of the ’70s as it all comes crashing down. The first portion of the film may explain why Henry’s biggest ambition was to be a gangster as we see an endless parade of sharp suits, champagne on the house, and big-haired and bosomy mistresses.

After Billy Batts, the suits are replaced by prison uniforms (or worse, polyester disco shirts), the champagne becomes drugs, and the mistresses become strung-out coke whores who stab you in the back. The scene and its repercussions teach us an important lesson: don’t kill, kids.

What’d He Wear?

For Billy Batts’ release party (and subsequent murder) in his bar, Henry Hill wears a green suit with a distinctive shine that implies either silk or possibly a mohair/silk blend. The suit is a two-piece with moderate features appropriate for 1970, a sartorial transition period between the ultra-slim ’60s and excessively wide ’70s.

The suit jacket is single-breasted with notch lapels that roll down to the low 2-button stance. Both the buttons on the front and the two buttons on each cuff are constructed of dark plastic, likely black. The shoulders are slightly padded with roped sleeveheads.

Obviously, Henry’s attempts as a conflict mediator leave something to be desired.

Henry’s suit coat has a welted breast pocket and two flapped hip pockets that slant slightly back. The double rear vents rise to Henry’s natural waist.

The flat front suit trousers rise high on Henry’s waist with a straight fly and sharp creases down each slightly tapered leg to the plain-hemmed, full break bottoms. The slanted side pockets are visible, but Henry only removes the jacket when digging Batts’ grave so it’s hard to determine the rear pocket situation. He wears a slim black leather belt through the trousers’ belt loops.

Henry’s suit is illuminated as Jimmy takes care of the Billy Batts situation.

Henry wears a black shirt, a popular choice for a casual suit on a night out. He leaves the top two white plastic buttons undone; the rest are buttoned down the front placket. Broken white edge stitching is visible on the shirt’s wide placket in close-up shots.

Poor Henry looks so tired, and then Jimmy and Tommy make him go and dig a grave.

The shirt’s long sleeves close with a single button, and the straight hem is revealed when Henry untucks the shirt to dig Batts’ grave. The material is hard to determine, but it appears to be polyester.

His leather shoes are also black, and – although they don’t receive much screen time – they appear to have a cap toe and a lace-up throat. He also appears to be wearing black socks, which I think is a good choice as the green suit isn’t neutral enough to warrant green socks.

The gold watch on his right wrist is supposedly a Rolex Day-Date, although I can’t tell for sure from the angles we are given. It is certainly a gold case with a round white dial on a flat gold bracelet; I have typically seen Day-Dates worn on thicker link bracelets, but it’s possible that this was swapped out for Henry.

Henry’s watch is best seen as he goes to investigate the rumbling from his trunk.

Henry sticks with gold jewelry, also wearing his usual pinky ring on his right hand and his plain gold wedding band on the third finger of his left hand.

Underneath, he is likely wearing one of his usual white ribbed cotton sleeveless A-shirts.

Go Big or Go Home

Since Henry doesn’t actually do any killing in this scene (glossing over his enabling, clean-up, and other general accessory duties), it’s fine to have a Henry Hill-style night out. We’ve already got the outfit down, so now all you need is the right cigarettes, the right car, and the right music.

And, of course, the right breakfast.

Henry’s smokes of choice are soft packs of Winston Full-Flavor filtered cigarettes with a gold lighter. At the time, Winston was the most popular cigarette brand in the United States, holding its position from 1966 until 1972 when it was eclipsed by Marlboro, who has remained the market leader to this day. It’s also somewhat telling that Henry’s cigarette brand was in its prime whenever he was… and it lost its popularity once things got bad (prison, drugs, killings, witness protection, etc.).

I know it’s not Car Week, but I have to show my appreciation for Henry’s fine choice in American machinery. For the bulk of the film, Henry drives a dark brown 1968 Pontiac Grand Prix with a white hardtop.

Henry’s ’68 Pontiac, parked in front of his goomah’s place.

’68 was a special year for the Grand Prix, a transition between the first two generations of body styles and the final year for the B-body platform full-sized Grand Prix. Since the convertible model had just been discontinued, the only option was the 2-door hardtop coupe, which Henry drives here. Engine options were the standard 400 cubic inch V8 with 350 horsepower, but an optional 428 was available with base 375 horsepower or a High Output (HO) 390 horsepower version. In reality, Hill drove a new 1970 Buick Electra, but all that you really need to take away from the scene is that the trunk was pretty much ruined after hauling Batts’ rotting corpse back and forth.

And finally, the music. Goodfellas has one of the greatest soundtracks of any movie, and this scene features two classic songs that nicely indicate the scene’s tone-changing effect on the rest of the film. The party is seen in high gear to the upbeat 1963 track “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” by the Phil Spector-produced group The Crystals.

Hours later, when Tommy returns to kill Batts and set the crew on its fatal course, the darker and deeper “Atlantis” by Donovan is used to punctuate the brutal murder.

Bonus points to anyone who can quickly – and correctly – pronounce Barabajagal, the name of Donovan’s 1969 album that contained the song.

What to Imbibe

Billy Batts: Give us a drink. And give some to those Irish hoodlums down there.
Jimmy Conway: Only one Irishman here, Billy.
Billy Batts: On the house. Salud.
Jimmy Conway: Top of the mornin’.

Whiskey is the order of the night for Jimmy and his crew, although he, Henry, and Tommy are more often seen drinking Crown Royal (Canadian), Cutty Sark (Scotch), or J&B (Scotch again) than anything Irish. Since Jameson will likely be flowing at your local bar on March 17th, feel free to down a shot or two with your local Irish hoodlums.

St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Tuesday this year, so it’s unclear whether or not to bring your wife (Saturday) or your mistress (Friday).

Now go home and get your fuckin’ shinebox.

How to Get the Look

Henry keeps his night out look flashy but simple using only three colors: green, black, and gold.

• Green silk suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with notch lapels, 2-button front, welted breast pocket, flapped slanted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and double rear vents
  • Flat front high rise trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, and plain-hemmed tapered bottoms
• Black polyester shirt with white buttons, white edge-stitched front placket, and button cuffs
• Black cap toe leather laced shoes
• Black dress socks
• Black slim leather belt with small silver square clasp
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Rolex Day-Date with a gold case, white round dial, and flat gold bracelet
• Pinky ring, worn on right pinky
• Plain gold wedding band, worn on left ring finger

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. To me that was better than being president of the United States. To be a gangster was to own the world.

Footnotes

Curious about what really happened to Billy Batts? It’s not that different from what Goodfellas shows us, although the film wisely condenses the action to one night rather than over the course of a couple weeks. As found on Tommy DeSimone’s Wikipedia page…

Scorsese directs Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, and Frank Vincent. Interesting to note that Vincent is wearing jeans with his suit coat, shirt, and tie.

In the book Wiseguy, Henry Hill said they threw a “welcome home” party at Robert’s Lounge, which was owned by Jimmy Burke, for William “Billy Batts” Bentvena (confused as William Devino), a made man in Carmine Fatico’s crew (the same crew John Gotti was a part of) in the Gambino crime family.

Bentvena had just been released from prison after serving a six year term for drug possession. Hill states in Wiseguy that Bentvena saw DeSimone and asked him if he still shined shoes and DeSimone took this as an insult. Hill also said that Bentvena provoked DeSimone because he wanted to impress some mobsters from another crime family. A couple of minutes later when that issue was going to be forgotten, DeSimone leaned over to Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke and said “I’m gonna kill that fuck.” Hill saw that he was serious about it. A couple of weeks later, on June 11, 1970, Bentvena went over to “The Suite” owned by Hill in Jamaica, Queens to go drinking with DeSimone’s crew, including Hill, DeSimone, and Jimmy. Later that night DeSimone took his girlfriend home and Burke started making Bentvena feel comfortable. Twenty minutes later, DeSimone arrived with a .38 revolver and a plastic mattress cover. DeSimone walked over to him at the corner of the bar and attacked Bentvena. Before Bentvena was attacked, Jimmy Burke tightened his arms around Bentvena and he was pistol whipped with the .38 revolver. He was so inebriated that he couldn’t defend himself.

In the book Wiseguy, Hill said that before DeSimone started to beat Bentvena, DeSimone yelled, “Shine these fucking shoes!” DeSimone killed Bentvena not only because he had insulted him, but also because Burke had taken over Bentvena’s loanshark business while Bentvena was in prison. According to Hill, Bentvena had been complaining to Joseph N. Gallo about getting back this racket. Not wanting to return the business to Bentvena, Burke knew sooner or later Bentvena would have to be killed. After the beating, the three men put Bentvena into the trunk of Hill’s 1970 Buick Electra and later while the three men were driving on The Van Wyck Expressway, they discovered that Bentvena was not dead. Later, they visited DeSimone’s mother’s house to get a knife, lime, and a shovel. Later in the drive, closer to their destination, Hill said it had been an hour of DeSimone driving and he kept getting mad about the noises in the trunk and finally slammed the brakes and leaned over for the shovel and that Burke and DeSimone “didn’t actually shoot him, they just stabbed him, thirty or forty fucking times, fucking horrible.”

Hill does not mention a knife, but claims Burke and DeSimone finished Bentvena off by beating him with a tire iron and the shovel, respectively and the men later buried him under a dog kennel. At the time of the murder in 1970, Bentvena was 49 years old and was a respected and a feared made man in the Gambino crime family, as well as a personal friend of future Gambino boss John Gotti. Murdering a made man without the official consent of his family’s leadership was an unforgivable offense in the Mafia code of omerta, especially by a rival family and a mere associate such as DeSimone, and it was this murder (after the Gotti crew definitively tied DeSimone to the killing) that led to DeSimone’s own murder as retaliation.

Keanu Reeves as John Wick in John Wick (2014).

Vitals

Keanu Reeves as John Wick, retired assassin out for revenge

New York City, Spring 2014

Film: John Wick
Release Date: October 24, 2014
Director: Chad Stehelski
Costume Designer: Luca Mosca

Background

Rarely have I ever received such overwhelming demand for a post as I had for John Wick… and I hadn’t even heard of the film before February! Somehow this flick missed my radar completely (the concussion in January didn’t help). Granted, the only movie I’ve managed to see in theaters since last summer was Birdman, but still I tend to be aware of badass action movies upon their release. Thankfully, the badasses who comment on this blog brought it to my attention and now we all have Craig, Aaron, and gunner to thank for this post!

Any preconceived notions I may have had about Keanu Reeves were tossed – or, rather, violently thrown – out the window after seeing him take out approximately 80 bad guys with advanced weaponry and tactics, all while wearing a sharp suit and driving a beautiful example of automotive American muscle.

Not only did Keanu perform about 90% of his own stunts in the movie (which few actors do even in a non-action drama flick these days), but he supposedly learned, memorized, and performed the insane nightclub fight sequence all in the day it was filmed… while running a 104° fever.

So if you’re tired of hearing about all the Fifty Shades of Grey crap and want to watch a real man literally wearing multiple shades of gray without having to tie up some poor woman, here you go.

What’d He Wear?

The Suit

Although John Wick is one of the more emotional hired killers to grace the big screen lately, you’d never know it to look at his slick, monochromatic color palette. Once he begins his puppy-driven revenge, he wears only a sharp dark gray lightweight wool three-piece suit custom-made for him by costume designer Luca Mosca.

John Wick rents a room from Lt. Daniels.

(Wick also wears a brown leather jacket and jeans earlier in the film, but we’ll get to that in a later post.)

The single-breasted suit jacket has slim notch lapels that nicely roll down the front of the jacket to the 2-button front. The lapels have edge stitching and the left lapel is graced by a buttonhole.

It’s been a long couple of days for John Wick, and yet he still dresses to the nines. Take notes.

Wick’s suit jacket also has a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets. There are four buttons on each cuff of the same black plastic as the front buttons. The jacket is nicely fitted with natural shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and double rear vents that allow Wick quick access to his holsters underneath.

The suit is indeed a three-piece, but Wick only wears the vest for a few early scenes. Wick’s vest (or waistcoat) is a very modern low-fastening style with just four buttons to close, revealing much of the chest and tie beneath it. It is single-breasted with no lapels and two lower welted pockets. The notched bottom is small but high enough that Wick is able to keep his bottom buttoned fastened without sacrificing mobility.

The suit’s matching flat front trousers rise low on his waist, but still high enough that the vest keeps his waist line covered. The side pockets are slightly slanted, and both rear pockets are jetted with a single button each to close. The fit through the leg is comfortable but straight, ending at plain-hemmed bottoms that break high over his shoes. The last thing an action hero needs is to trip over his own pants when leaping over a table during a gunfight in a Russian nightclub. (Plus, a short break allows easy access to an ankle holster!)

Some set photos help illustrate everything you ever wanted to know about John Wick’s pants.

As we see in an EXTREME CLOSE-UP when Wick prepares for battle, the trousers have belt loops, through which he wears a solid black leather belt with a well-shined silver square buckle.

The movie wants to make sure we know that John Wick WEARS A BELT.

The Accessories

We know the belt must be solid leather, as it manages to hold Wick’s multitude of holsters and pouches as he goes ballistic (pun) on the local Russian mob. His primary holster is a black leather paddle holster worn through the right rear portion of his belt, holding his Heckler & Koch P30L pistol.

Wick’s P30L sits unused in his holster after he takes out a baddie by hand.

The P30L’s two magazines are held in a double carrier on the opposing side of his waist, also in his belt. The positioning of his pistol for a strong side draw and magazines on the left side are wise for someone employing C.A.R. shooting and reloading tactics, which I’ll get into below.

Call me crazy, but it felt like he went through a lot more than two spare magazines during this scene.

Like many action heroes, Wick wisely carries a backup pistol. He opts for the subcompact Glock 26, carried in a black IWB holster just above the left rear pocket of his trousers.

Sometiimes a BUG can be a good thing.

Jewelry-wise, Wick doesn’t go in for much. He wears his stainless wedding band on the third finger of his left hand, a memento of the wife he loved so dearly. Otherwise, his only accessory is a Carl F. Bucherer Manero AutoDate, worn on the inside of his left wrist. Chad Stahelski, the film’s primary director, mentioned that this military style was often adopted to protect the timepiece, and it thus seemed appropriate for a hitman like Wick. At a going rate of $3,495, it’s no wonder that Wick would want to protect it.

Wick gets ready at 9:47 p.m.

Wick’s Manero AutoDate consists of a 42mm stainless case with a scratch resistant, anti-reflective sapphire crystal and a transparent sapphire back. The dial is white with silver-toned luminescent hands and markers and a 3:00-position date. The strap is black alligator leather.

Wick’s preference for black leather accessories extends to his feet, where he wears a pair of black calfskin cap toe bluchers with three eyelets and squared toes. A pair of thick black cotton dress socks keeps the whole black theme going.

Remember that ankle holster that benefits from a high-breaking trouser leg? Wick straps a black flip knife onto a black holster worn on the outside of his left leg.

Update! Thanks to Craig, we also know that Wick’s knife is a Microtech Ultratech OTF.

Shirts and Ties

All of Wick’s shirts are similarly styled and probably came from the same manufacturer… although I’m not quite sure which one. They all have moderately spread collars, French cuffs, a narrow front placket, and no breast pocket. The rear of each shirt has two side darts.

The first shirt he wears on his kill-crazy revenge trip is dark gray metallic, just a shade lighter than the suit. He pairs it with a similarly contrasting dark gray ribbed silk tie. Unlike denim, pairing multiple shades of a dark color works nicely with gray, and Wick plays it perfectly. He fastens the double cuffs of the dark gray shirt with silver and black squared cuff links.

Three shades of gray.

For his foray into the nightclub, Wick wears a plain white dress shirt and a solid black silk tie. The white shirt’s double cuffs are worn with another pair of silver and black squared cuff links.

Ugh, the one time he wears a light shirt and he has to go and get blood all over it. Just… sloppy.

Due to the lighting in the scene and the contrast of white vs. gray, some have speculated that he wears a black suit for this scene – thus channeling the popular Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction look, but this is incorrect… it is the same suit, just sans waistcoat.

The next day, Wick goes into full assault mode. He’s not playing around anymore, and his black shirt shows that he means business… and his business is death. (I felt like I was designing a poster for a bad Dolph Lundgren movie as I wrote that. Maybe one where Dolph plays a violent, jaded office drone. Let’s get back to that.)

Wick contrasts the black shirt with a gray diagonally-ribbed Calvin Klein silk tie. The ribs fall in a left-down-to-right direction. How do I know it’s a Calvin Klein tie? A behind-the-scenes shot captured at a lucky angle shows the white rear loop with CK’s standard black lettering.

If the badass shotty is distracting you more than the Calvin Klein tie (or the obvious green screen, for that matter), keep reading.

His cuff links with the black shirt appear to be silver diamond-studded rectangles with a mother-of-pearl center. I could be way off, of course.

Dammit!

Wick also wore the black shirt earlier to his wife’s funeral, that time paired with the solid black tie.

Some promotional photos and posters depict Wick wearing a black lightweight turtleneck jumper around this scene, but I don’t believe it appears in the finished film. I guess the turtleneck lobby lost this battle. (It’s okay, SPECTRE‘s got them covered.)

It looks badass… but he didn’t actually wear it in the movie.

Underoos

Wick’s preference for gray and black does not extend to his undergarments. In fact, his plain white cotton crew neck t-shirt and light blue cotton boxers are more reminiscent of Don Draper than Dolph Lundgren. (Yes, I know Don switches to white undershorts after the first episode, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.)

Is the lump on his left buttock a poorly-concealed microphone? I hope so.

Go Big or Go Home

After losing his classic Mustang to a gang of Russian thugs (more on that car in the upcoming leather jacket post), John Wick doesn’t throw in the towel and say, “Aw, to hell with a nice car. I’ll take a 2002 Corolla.” Instead, he sticks with strong American muscle, switching brands by getting into the driver’s seat of a slick black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396.

Give me a car like that, and I’d probably forget all about revenge.

Ever the diplomat, Wick honors all three major American brands – Ford, GM, and Chrysler – when he hops into a black 2011 Dodge Charger sedan for the final act. Mopar fans may rejoice at the inclusion of a Dodge, but it would’ve been nice to see the ’68 Charger in Leguizamo’s chop shop get some action in.

I’m legitimately thinking about getting a 2011-2015 Charger V8 AWD. Anyone have any experience with them?

Wick stays brand savvy with his choice of phones. Anyone out there with an iPhone 5S – you’re using the same smartphone of choice as a badass ex-killer.

The blood covering Wick’s hands isn’t a spoiler;. this is literally from the first scene in the movie.

In a film with a body count of 119, John Wick wisely mixes it up so we’re seeing more than just a lot of shooting – badass though the shooting may be. Keanu must have trained pretty damn hard for this, as he whips out some traditional jujutsu that certainly looks expert to a novice like myself. Much of his fighting method consists of head throws and arm throws, leading to more than a few of the 76 deaths caused by Wick’s own hand. (To save you all some math, that means 64% of the deaths in the movie are John Wick-inflicted.)

He does have a soft spot for some things, though. Unfortunately, being loved by John Wick isn’t a good sign for your future. Wife? Dead. Car? Stolen and chopped. Puppy? Well, I don’t even want to say. But it’s sad.

Aw, Daisy.

What to Imbibe

Not only is John Wick a connoisseur of clothing, combat, canines, and cars, but he also knows a thing or two about good whiskey. After the nightclub gunfight takes a lot out of him – including a lot of blood – Wick is getting stitched up by an underworld doctor. When the doctor asks if he needs any pain medication, Wick raises his glass of Blanton’s, indicating that he is just fine without the relatively lacking benefits of aspirin.

Seeing a bottle of Blanton’s has a very Pavlovian effect on me.

As a Bourbon drinker, I’ve found drinking Blanton’s to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my 25 years on Earth. Full and slightly citrusy with a hint of burnt vanilla, Blanton’s is a comfortable kick in the pants at 93 proof. The Original Single Barrel bottling is worth every bit of its $50 price tag, and it makes a great gift… especially for yourself.

How to Get the Look

It’s hard to be as inconspicuous when you’ve got an assault carbine strapped across your chest.

Think gray.

• Dark gray lightweight wool bespoke suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted suit coat with slim notch lapels, 2-button front, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double rear vents
  • Single-breasted low-fastening vest/waistcoat with 4-button front, 2 welted lower pockets, and notched bottom
  • Flat front low rise trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, button-through jetted rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms with short break
• Dark gray metallic dress shirt with moderate spread collar, narrow front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Dark gray ribbed silk Calvin Klein necktie
• Silver & black metal cuff links
• Black leather belt with silver-toned square clasp/buckle
• Black calfskin leather 3-eyelet squared cap toe bluchers
• Black thick cotton dress socks
• White cotton crew neck short-sleeve undershirt
• Light blue cotton boxer undershorts with elastic waistband
• Stainless wedding band, worn on left ring finger
• Carl F. Bucherer Manero AutoDate with stainless round case, white dial (with date), and black alligator leather strap, worn on inside of left wrist
• Black paddle holster, worn on right rear, for full-size H&K pistol
• Black double magazine carrier, worn on left belt
• Black IWB holster, worn on left rear, for subcompact Glock pistol

The Guns

John Wick’s primary handgun, the Heckler & Koch P30L fitted with a custom compensator, is a relative newcomer to the big screen. Unlike many pistols which have a compact variant of a full-size model, the P30L is actually a full-size variant of the more compact P30. Wick’s P30L is chambered in 9×19 mm Parabellum, as indicated on the barrel. He actually owns two, as seen when he heads into his subterranean arsenal after the attack on his home. He keeps his P30L holstered in a paddle holster on the right rear side of his belt.

Damn, son.

The P30 was originally introduced in 2006 as an evolutionary descendant of H&K’s earlier USP and P2000 pistols. It was developed and marketed as the perfect police handgun, and the Zollkriminalamt (German Customs Investigation Bureau) kicked off a wave of European police adoption when it adopted the V6 variant, which uses a DAO system with a heavier trigger pull. Currently, police forces in Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland have all begun using variants of the P30.

A standard, uncompensated H&K P30L.

The P30 and P30L are both available in 9×19 mm and .40 S&W, carrying 15 and 13 rounds – respectively – in a lightweight 3.3 ounce box magazine. The P30L boasts a 0.5″ longer barrel (4.4″) than the P30, slightly increasing its overall length to 7.7″ and unloaded weight to 24.2 ounces. Like other H&K pistols, it has multiple variants (V0-V6) based on the action, trigger pull, and decocker.

Wick’s backup pistol is a subcompact Glock 26, also chambered in 9×19 mm. Wick keeps his Glock holstered in an IWB fastened into his left rear waistband. Like the P30L, he is also shown owning two of these pistols.

One of John Wick’s Glocks. This also gives us a nice shot of the P30L’s custom compensator.

When he goes into full assault mode the day after the nightclub gunfight, Wick arms himself with a Coharie Arms CA-415 assault carbine, an American clone of the Heckler & Koch HK416. In turn, the HK416 had been inspired by the M4 Carbine, so this is essential a copy of a copy. Think #4 from Multiplicity. (Second Michael Keaton movie reference in this post!)

A conscientious shooter like Wick keeps his finger off the trigger at all times when he’s not shooting, even when he wants to kill everyone around him.

Like the P30L, the HK416 is relatively new, having only entered production in 2005 and first appearing in films with 2008’s Hancock. James Bond notably used a found HK416 D10RS while fending off Silva’s henchmen in the final act of Skyfall.

Similar to the HK416, the CA-415 takes STANAG magazines of 5.56×45 mm NATO ammunition, fired in either semi-automatic or fully automatic mode. Much information about the CA-415 comes from IMFDB, which places the overall length at 36.9″ with a 16.5″ barrel and total weight of 7.9 pounds. Wick’s model has a shorter barrel and is fitted with an EOTech 553 holographic sight and a vertical foregrip. A second Coharie weapon, the MP-10 submachine gun in 9×19 mm, makes a brief appearance in the hands of one of Viggo’s doomed thugs.

During the same gunfight, Wick commandeers one of the unique Kel-Tec KSG shotguns used by the thugs. The KSG is a very distinctive pump-action shotgun developed in 2011. Its double tube magazines under the single 18.5″ barrel give the weapon a total capacity of either twelve or fourteen 12-gauge shells… as well as the misconception that it is a double-barreled weapon.

The Kel-Tec KSG: Not your granddad’s 12-gauge.

The KSG shotguns seen in John Wick have EOTech sights.

Center Axis Relock Shooting

John Wick has become noteworthy in the firearm community for prominently featuring the Center Axis Relock (C.A.R.) shooting system, which was developed by Paul Castle to increase performance of close-range combat, particularly with semi-automatic handguns. The goal is to use the shooter’s condition under duress to his or her own advantage, eliminating stability issues by focusing on natural focal points and movements. The stable firing grip improve a shooter’s recoil control, thus increasing the rate of accurate fire. According to an article at Aimed Point Shooting (APS), this can be up to four center mass shots in less than one second. The system was also developed to improve one-hand weapon retention and allow the support hand more freedom for non-shooting related movements like opening a door or pushing something away.

You can make whatever face you want while shooting, but this is definitely a grimace worth recommending.

Another benefit of the C.A.R. system is that it saves time. Not only is it “strong, stable, and flexible” – as noted in the APS article – but it allows quick target acquisition and reloading. APS notes two stances that are bases for C.A.R. system action:

• The High Position, used for moving, confined spaces, and from cover. The shooter fires from a semi-bladed stance, holding the weapon near the chest and reducing the silhouette to form a “circle of control and defense”.
• The Extended Position, used for entry, combat, assault, and from a vehicle. The shooter holds the weapon naturally but at a reading distance – rather than full arm extension – to rely on the shooter’s natural focus point.

With the support hand freer due to the reduced stress on the shooting hand, reloading or clearing a jam can be performed much quicker with a rapid return to shooting. All actions should be performed close to the body using short movements. The C.A.R. system also relies on two different types of reloading:

• The Combat Reload, when the pistol is empty. Use the free hand’s thumb and index finger to draw a front-facing magazine while simultaneously lowering the gun hand’s elbow, keeping the gun in place. The empty magazine should be ejected by operating the weapon’s release and quickly flicking the wrist out and back. The free hand’s index finger will then quickly guide the fresh mag into the pistol, pressing it in with the free hand’s palm. John Wick does this a good number of times to great effect.
• The Tactical Reload, typically when the pistol isn’t empty. Use the free hand’s index and middle fingers to draw a magazine, bringing it up to the gun as the gun hand’s elbow lowers. Operate the mag release as the new magazine approaches the gun, then pull out the partial mag with the free hand’s thumb and index finger. In one flowing motion, press in the new magazine while letting the top-heavy partial mag fall into the free hand’s palm.

Wick benefits from a lightning fast reload afforded him by the CAR technique.

Keanu Reeves talked about his weapons training in an October 2014 interview with The Sag Harbor Express:

I’ve had some movie gun training in the past, so some of the techniques I was familiar with, but each character I play requires something different so I worked for a while with a gentleman from LAPD SWAT.  I also worked with a guy from the army, because I would be doing different kinds of weapon and tactical techniques.  So it was basically reacquainting myself with weapons and techniques while training new things on the job and trying to get it right under the circumstances. One thing I needed to get right was a tricky holster!

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Do I look civilized to you?

Footnotes

Mr. Mom. Now I’ve mentioned three Michael Keaton movies in this post.

I want to go to there.

David Duchovny as Hank Moody outside LAX on Californication (Episode 5.01, “JFK to LAX”, 2012).

Vitals

David Duchovny as Hank Moody, womanizing novelist and screenwriter

New York City, Spring 2012

Series: Californication
Episode: “JFK to LAX” (Ep. 5.01)
Air Date: January 8, 2012
Director: John Dahl
Costume Designer: Alison Cole

Background

I don’t often find myself traveling for work; my first business trip for this job was in March 2012 to Phoenix, Arizona, and I just returned from my second, a weekend in D.C. hosting a client conference. With the news of new episodes of The X-Files coming, this was as good a time as any to check back in with BAMF Style hero Hank Moody. Since I’ve been hopping on and off of planes, I also figured we could take an updated look at Moody’s airborne style. (My first post about Hank Moody on a plane focused on his travel to and from New York in the first season episodes “California Son” and “Filthy Lucre”.)

For a third twist of relevance, the first time I actually saw Californication‘s fifth season premiere was in my Phoenix hotel room three years ago. I’d been too busy to catch it during the first two months, but I managed to snag some downtime while idling away the hours in my room at the Courtyard Phoenix Chandler.

The fifth season premiere first finds Hank on a date… or technically avoiding a date, as he nervously smokes in the bathroom of a hip-looking NYC bistro. Having settled on a solid break-up speech, he heads out to end things with the lovely Carrie (Natalie Zea) before she ends up calling him out in front of the whole restaurant:

This man’s a monster! He likes to fuck women in the ass and then tell them that he just wants to keep it casual.

Needless to say, she dumps her martini in his face and takes to heels while he takes one on the chin. On his way elsewhere – my best guess is a bar – he receives a call from Runkle “with the prospect of a significant payday”. He takes the job, sight unseen, to avoid “a bunny boiler situation” with Carrie. This leads him onto a plane where he has a chance encounter with a voluptuous R&B singer, not yet knowing that his new gig is writing a shitty action movie for the singer’s volatile rapper boyfriend… and certainly not knowing that he just made his prospects a little cloudier by making out with her in the plane’s bathroom. Only Hank.

Of course, Hank and Carrie’s “bunny boiler situation” literally heats up as she burns down his apartment, likely ruining an impressive collection of both books and black t-shirts and once again leaving Hank stranded on his least favorite coast.

What’d He Wear?

Getting to see Hank in his native environment – New York City – for the first time since the second season flashback shows us just how little his style changed from coast to coast. In this case, though, his preference for all black fits in much more with the city’s slick atmosphere.

The most notable change in his wardrobe, which sticks for the rest of the show, is a cool black leather jacket that seems to have taken the place of the familiar brown smoking jacket as his outerwear of choice. The jacket is constructed of soft leather with a shirt-style collar, silver zip front, and slanted slash hand pockets. Each cuff closes with a silver-toned snap, and the waistband is free of any adjusters, tabs, or additional snaps. Stitching is present on all seams and down each of the front panels and down the rear to create a tri-panel back.

Hank fits in perfectly in the streets of the Big Apple.

A stunt version of the jacket was auctioned by ScreenBid in July 2014 with “2 SIZES TOO BIG FOR DAVE” written inside. Considering that the jacket was a size 44, we can reasonably deduce that the jacket sported by Duchovny on the show is a size 40. Also considering that the stunt jacket was made by Dolce & Gabbana, we can again reasonably deduce that Duchovny wore a D&G as there’s no viable reason why the show would spring for a similar-looking D&G jacket for stunts but not for its lead character!

The stunt-used D&G jacket (left) and the Amazon-sold replica (right).

Amazon is currently selling a replica of Hank’s leather jacket. Marketed by BlingSoul as simply the “Hank Moody Leather Jacket”, the $189 real leather jacket appears to be a pretty accurate replica of the one Duchovny wore from seasons five through seven on the show with all favorable reviews from buyers, at least as of April 2015. The only noticeable external difference is that the Amazon jacket features a “T”-style three-panel back; Moody’s jacket on the show has a three-panel back, but it is divided down each shoulder blade.

The rest of the outfit is all Hank’s signature look. He wears a black short-sleeve James Perse crew neck t-shirt the whole time.

The three men’s attire say volumes about their characters: Runkle is a businessman, Stu is sleazy, and Hank is casual. (Note the reversed jewelry for Hank… I’m coming to that.)

You can get your own from the James Perse website for $50, which is – admittedly – a lot of money for a plain black cotton t-shirt. Based on auctioned versions, we know Duchovny wears a size 2, JP’s equivalent to a ‘medium’. The site describes the shirt, style #MLJ3311, as:

Short sleeve crew with binded neck. Lightweight Jersey is an extremely soft knit made by specially treating the cotton fibers before they are spun into a yarn. This fabric breathes well and has a nice drape.

In New York City, he adds a layer with a “slightly darker black” (thank you, Archer) long-sleeve crew neck t-shirt over the short-sleeve shirt. The layering is reasonable given NYC’s naturally chillier climate than L.A. Once he arrives in L.A., he drops the outer layer and wears only the short-sleeve t.

Hank mulls over his non-future with Carrie.

Always an advocate of denim (“the people’s fabric”, as he earlier told a snooty country club attendant), Hank wears a pair of jeans in a very dark blue wash. The stitching on the pockets and seams appears to be rust brown-colored thread. I can’t tell if this is one of his Earnest Sewn pairs or not, but the brand has certainly been positively identified with Californication.

Hank meets Sam.

Hank’s shoes are his usual Timberland “Torrance” sueded leather Chelsea boots, colored in medium brown. We don’t see his socks in this episode, but he wears black socks 99% of the time so we can assume the same here.

Hank also wears his usual accessories in the usual places, at least for the New York scenes. His silver spinner ring is present on his right index finger, and the left wrist sports both black leather bracelets that we’ve come to know and love – the larger one studded with silver hexagons and circles and the thinner one consisting of a tied black woven braid. (As you’ve also doubtlessly come to know, you can find Hank’s bracelets at Urban Wrist.)

However, something strange happens after Hank returns to L.A. The silver ring is now on his left index finger, the black studded bracelet is now on his right wrist, and the thin leather braided bracelet is nowhere to be seen.

What the hell? A ring on his left finger and the bracelet on his right wrist? And WHERE is the braided leather bracelet? Let’s discuss.

At first, I assumed this was the result of an image reversal, but background evidence and Hank’s own finger tattoo prove that he’s simply wearing these objects on the wrong hands. Is it possible that both Duchovny and the wardrobe folks forgot how Hank wears his famous jewelry? The show had been on a year-long hiatus, after all? Or was the plan to eventually reverse the L.A. scenes to make up for something else? Either way, it’s mystifying to anyone who notices.

An additional mystery is the appearance of a pair of tortoise wayfarer-style sunglasses that Hank wears in – I believe – this episode only. He had worn his dark Izod 725 shades in the first four seasons, occasionally sporting a pair of thicker-framed Oliver Peoples in some episodes of seasons 3 and 4 (Duchovny’s own, I understand). After this episode, he wore black-framed Ray-Ban aviators for the rest of the show’s run.

Based on the temple logos and the distinctive 21mm folding bridge, I believe Hank’s sunglasses in this episode are a pair of classic Persol PO 0714 sunglasses in color code 24/57 with tortoise “Havana” plastic frames and large, 54mm wide crystal brown polarized lenses. Whether I’m right or not, you can pick up your own pair of these Persols here. It was a pair of these sunglasses, with smaller blue 52mm lenses, that Steve McQueen made popular in The Thomas Crown Affair.

Gotta be Persol, right?

If I’m wrong about Hank’s sunglasses, or if someone has more information about them, do us all a favor and let me know!

Go Big or Go Home

The first frame of the episode sets up both Hank and Californication as entities that don’t care about social norms. With a flick of his red Bic, Hank lights up a cigarette while nervously constructing the perfect break-up speech… of course, it turns out to be inside the bathroom of a New York City restaurant, and New York was one of the first states to implement a statewide smoking ban (in 2003, if you’re curious) that would certainly include restaurant bathrooms. (Although, of course, California’s 1995 act made it the first state to pass a statewide smoking ban.)

Smoke ’em if you got ’em… even if it could mean a $2,000 fine.

Hank stays true to his drink of choice – Scotch, neat – whether in the New York eatery or on his mile-high journey to L.A.

All wet.

The most surprising change is Hank’s telecommunication technology. For the first three seasons, he’d stuck with his Motorola RAZR before upgrading to a BlackBerry Bold for the fourth season. Interestingly, season four premiered six months after I switched from a flip phone to a BlackBerry Bold…

Now, in season five, he’s got an iPhone 4S. Again, an eerie coincidence for me as I had just switched from the BlackBerry to an iPhone 4S the day before the business trip where I first saw this episode. Hank and I even use the same case, a hard plastic black SPECK with dark gray rubber edges and buttons. While I’d like to think it’s Hank mimicking me, I will shamelessly admit to borrowing his “Who callin’ my phone?!” greeting.

Even Hank isn’t above a selfie.

The show’s use of music has always been impressive, and one of my favorite tracks featured on the show was Paul Oakenfold’s remix of The Doors’ “L.A. Woman” in the second episode. Another Doors remix is used to kick off “JFK to LAX”; this time, it’s a remix of “Love Me Two Times” by Infected Mushroom.

While a badass song in its own right, it’s also a cheeky implication of the “two times” – or two ways – that Hank has been “loving” Carrie.

The episode also introduces two of the better recurring characters from the show’s later seasons: RZA as Samurai Apocalypse, an absurd but talented rapper who pushes Hank into writing Santa Monica Cop for him, and the stunning Meagan Good as Kali, Samurai’s girlfriend and – naturally – an eventual love interest for Hank.

Hank manages to avoid his John Candy prophecy and how!

How to Get the Look

Hank’s updated look for 2012 is admittedly more versatile – and accessible – than the smoking jacket that had defined his style for four seasons.

• Black soft leather Dolce & Gabbana jacket with shirt-style collar, silver zip-front, slanted side pockets, and snap cuffs
• Black cotton long-sleeve crew neck t-shirt
• Black cotton short-sleeve crew neck James Perse t-shirt
• Dark blue denim bootcut jeans
• Brown sueded leather Timberland “Torrance” Chelsea boots
• Black socks
• Black boxer briefs
• Persol PO 0714 folding-bridge sunglasses with “Havana” tortoise plastic frames and brown polarized lenses (color code 24/57)
• Silver spinner ring, worn on right index finger
• Black leather bracelet with silver hexagonal and round studs, worn on the left wrist
• Thin black braided woven leather bracelet, also worn on the left wrist

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Watch the series, and – if you want to see this episode – pick up the fifth season.

The Quote

Usually, I get on the plane, and I’m seated next to John Candy or Ruth Gordon… if I’m lucky. But I end up next to the most beautiful woman in the tri-state area, and I go and spill a drink in her lap. Nice work, huh?

Steve McQueen as Eric “The Kid” Stoner in The Cincinnati Kid (1965).

Vitals

Steve McQueen as Eric “the Kid” Stoner, hotshot poker player

New Orleans, Fall 1936

Film: The Cincinnati Kid
Release Date: October 15, 1965
Director: Norman Jewison
Costume Designer: Donfeld (Donald Lee Feld)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The World Series of Poker started yesterday, hosted by the Rio in Las Vegas. We already had a look at some Vegas cool with Monday’s post, so BAMF Style is gonna examine a look from one of the coolest poker movies of all time, The Cincinnati Kid.

The Cincinnati Kid was Steve McQueen’s first major starring role after kicking Nazi ass in The Great Escape two years earlier, and it also throws him back in time… to the Great Depression, in fact. McQueen plays Eric “the Kid” Stoner, a confident and talented young poker player bumming around the streets of New Orleans from one crooked card game to the next. His life is full of colorful characters including his sweet girlfriend Christian (Tuesday Weld), crooked aristocrat Mr. Slade (Rip Torn), The Kid’s ex-pro buddy “Shooter” (Karl Malden), and Shooter’s sultry wife Melba (Ann-Margret).

Lancey Howard: Lady Fingers? I haven’t seen that old bitch in- oh, it must be at least ten years. Long enough to think of her almost fondly.

The cast also includes actors from the ’30s playing veteran cardsharps in the era when they were most popular. Edward G. Robinson brings an urbane and somewhat sinister side to Lancey Howard, the undisputed poker king. Joan Blondell, the bright-eyed ingenue who first played against Robinson in 1936’s Bullets or Ballots, shows up thirty years later as “Lady Fingers”, another player who commands the game with wit and respect.

Edward G. Robinson and Joan Blondell banter on screen nearly thirty years after starring together in the Warner Brothers gangster flick Bullets or Ballots (inset).

What’d He Wear?

The Kid dresses surprisingly warmly for New Orleans. The events of the film are likely set in the fall, but average high temperatures in the Big Easy typically fall between 72°F and 80°F in November and December. A gambler like the Kid is mostly active at night, however, so his attire would be more appropriate for the cooler mid-50s °F temperatures.

The Kid dresses his dates with both Melba and with Lady Luck.

For both his date with Melba and the climactic poker game, the Kid wears a distinctive gray barleycorn tweed sport coat. He has a very casual wardrobe, and this coat – paired with a tie for the first few rounds of the game – is as dressy as he gets. The 1930s was part of a major transitional phase for men’s clothing. While suits, hats, and ties were the norm for daily dress in the 1920s, the lack of resources and personal funds during the Depression led to many men needing to take a more casual approach to dressing for practical reasons. An already young guy like the Kid who uses his money strictly for gambling would be part of this new wave that would continue into the World War II era as factories focused their resources on wartime production. By the late 1940s, suits were falling into the domain of business wear as modern casual attire was established in the form of camp shirts, polo shirts, and even t-shirts and jeans.

It hasn’t been a good night for the Kid.

But back to the Kid. His gray barleycorn single-breasted sport coat has a 2-button front consisting of black leather clusters that match the non-functioning 3-button cuffs. The lapels have very wide, large notches. His shoulders are padded with roped sleeveheads, and the back is ventless.

Cockfights bring out the best in people.

All three outer pockets are patch pockets that close with a button-down squared flap. The breast pocket is naturally smaller than the large hip pockets. Eric tends to keep all of his pockets unbuttoned, allowing for easier access and continuing the casual, devil-may-care nature of his dress.

In every instance, the Kid pairs his sport coat with a pair of dark gray wool trousers with a single forward pleat on each side. The trousers have a medium-high rise and slim belt loops around McQueen’s waist, although he wears them without a belt or suspenders, revealing the extended squared waist tab that closes on a concealed hook. The Kid’s trousers have on-seam side pockets and no rear pockets.

Eric Stoner’s 3-step method for anger management: Denial, Anger, Acceptance.

As a Depression-era man of the streets, the Kid doesn’t have many pairs of shoes, and his one pair of black leather Oxfords have seen plenty of wear and tear. He wears them with a pair of thin dark blue dress socks, best seen on his date with Melba.

The date with Melba provides the first sighting of the gray tweed sport coat and slacks. Rather than a shirt and tie, he simply wears a solid navy blue cotton pullover sweater with a large crew neck opening and a ribbed waistband. It’s an interesting forecast of McQueen’s most iconic look in Bullitt when he wears a brown shooting jacket, blue mock neck jumper, and charcoal slacks.

After the rave reviews this outfit got from his co-star, it’s no surprise that McQueen revived something similar for Bullitt.

He also wears this blue jumper in the first scene of the film with his black leather jacket. The jumper is very similarly styled to the brick red sweater he wears with both the black leather jacket and an olive-colored corduroy sport coat when visiting Christian’s family.

The Kid shows up to his big game against Lancey Howard in his most formal outfit of the film, wearing the sport coat and slacks with a light gray chambray utility shirt and dark blue knit tie. The shirt is large and lightweight to provide a comfortable fit for a man who will be spending hours at a time at a poker table. It has a slim point collar and white plastic buttons down the front placket. The cuffs are rounded and close with a button. The shirt has two large patch pockets that close with button-down flaps with mitred corners. The left chest pocket has open stitching in the right corner to allow for a pen.

Eric’s “dress shirt”.

For the final game and the climactic hand, the Kid wears a similar utility shirt in black, only with no tie.

The Kid takes a stand, literally and figuratively.

The final shot of the film was eventually supposed to be a freeze frame of the Kid’s face after the final losing hand, but Norman Jewison was forced by the producers to add an ending of him reconciling with Christian outside. For this ending, the Kid wears the gray tweed sport coat with the black shirt and gray slacks.

No accessories for the Kid; he would’ve just gambled them away, anyway.

Go Big or Go Home

Some poker players say to avoid booze to keep themselves sharp during the game, but the Kid and his cronies take full advantage of the bar in the game room. Although a bottle of Wild Turkey (yum) is clearly present, I have some difficulty nailing down the bottle that the Kid himself chooses to drink from.

What’s the Kid drinking? It almost looks like a bottle of Jose Cuervo, but… that can’t be right.

Less ambiguous is the Kid’s preferred brand of cigarettes; he clearly smokes Lucky Strikes from an era-correct green pack. Although fierce advertising and – most recently – Mad Men have popularized the white Lucky packet with a black-and-red circle, green was indeed the original color of Lucky Strike’s pre-WWII packaging.

It’s toasted.

Appropriate to the themes of The Cincinnati Kid, company president George Washington Hill made a $50,000 bet for industrial designer Raymond Loewy to improve the existing green and red package to appeal to female smokers. Loewy’s decision to make the background white and place the logo on both sides of the package increased visibility and sales while cutting printing costs due to the eliminated need for green dye; Hill paid Loewy the $50,000. The company then jumped on the patriotic bandwagon – as it was 1942 – and advertised that “Lucky Strike Green has gone to war” by explaining that the new branding allowed the copper used to create the green color was needed for war resources, ignoring the fact that the green ink was actually produced by chromium. Isn’t it shocking that a tobacco company could be so sneaky?

The Cincinnati Kid also features one of the more bizarre dates in cinema history when Shooter practically begs the Kid to take his wife Melba out, evidently not realizing that Melba is played by Ann-Margret. The Kid takes Melba to a cockfight, where she eagerly watches the two roosters engage in bloodsport before taking the Kid back to her place and “slipping into something more comfortable”.

Something more comfortable, indeed.

The Kid turns her down, also evidently not realizing that she’s played by Ann-Margaret, although not before slapping her ass and hopping out the door.

Melba: Ouch. You Bastard!
The Kid: Cheers baby.
Melba: I hope you lose.

Unfortunately for him, Melba’s hex seems to work. After a long game that inevitably comes down to Eric Stoner vs. Lancey Howard, The Kid is on the button and Lady Fingers is dealing. Howard gets his first up card: 8 of diamonds. The Kid gets a 10 of clubs, and he bets $500. Howard calls. Lady Fingers then deals Howard the queen of diamonds and a 10 of spades to the Kid. The Kid bets again: $1,000. Howard raises another $1,000. The Kid calls. Another deal – Howard gets a 10 of diamonds, the Kid gets an ace of clubs. The Kid, now holding a pair of 10s and an ace, bets $3,000. Lancey, with a 8-10-Q of diamonds, calls.

The final hand.

Lady Fingers deals the final cards. Lancey Howard gets a 9 of diamonds, giving him an 8-9-10-Q flush. All he needs is that jack of diamonds. The Kid is dealt an ace of spades, now holding two pair – aces and 10s. The Kid checks. Lancey bets $1,000. The Kid goes all in with a $3,500 bet. Seemingly out of spite, Howard pulls another $5,000 from his wallet to raise and take the Kid’s marker. Howard turns over his last card, revealing a jack of diamonds for a queen-high straight flush. The Kid reveals his own card, an ace of hearts. The Kid’s full house, aces full of tens, loses in a bad beat against Howard’s straight flush.

According to Anthony Holden’s book Big Deal: A Year as  Professional Poker Player, the odds against a full house losing to a straight flush in a two-handed game are 45,102,781 to 1. Holden goes on to explain that the chances of both hands appearing in one deal are more than 332 billion to 1. “If these two played 50 hands of stud an hour, eight hours a day, five days a week,” explains Holden, “the situation would arise about once every 443 years.” No wonder the Kid went all in.

How to Get the Look

The Kid shows us how 1930s casual can still look cool even eighty years later.

• Gray barleycorn tweed single-breasted sport coat with wide-notched lapels, 2-button front (black leather clusters), button-down flapped patch breast pocket, button-down flapped patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs (black leather clusters), and ventless rear
• Dark gray wool single forward-pleated trousers with slim belt loops, extended hook tab, on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Light gray chambray utility shirt with slim point collar, front placket, button-down flapped patch pockets, and rounded button cuffs
• Dark blue knit necktie with flat bottom
• Black leather Oxford balmorals
• Dark blue dress socks

For the last night of the poker game, the Kid swaps out his shirt for a similar black one and loses the tie. If you’re really feeling casual, drop the shirt altogether and replace it with a navy cotton jumper.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Lancey Howard: Gets down to what it’s all about, doesn’t it? Making the wrong move at the right time.
The Kid: Is that what it’s all about?

Kevin Spacey as Sgt. Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential (1997).

Vitals

Kevin Spacey as Sgt. Jack Vincennes, swaggering LAPD “celebrity” narcotics detective

Los Angeles, Spring 1953

Film: L.A. Confidential
Release Date: September 19, 1997
Director: Curtis Hanson
Costume Designer: Ruth Myers

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After binge-watching three seasons of House of Cards, it’s refreshing to revisit the days when Kevin Spacey was far less murderously calculating. Sure, he was also a psychopathic serial killer in Se7en and a diabolical master criminal in The Usual Suspects, but his charming turn as the laidback and endearingly morally bankrupt LAPD Sergeant Jack Vincennes is a fine reminder that Spacey is good at being the guy you want to root for.

What’d He Wear?

“Hollywood Jack” has the most distinctive wardrobe of any of the LAPD cops in L.A. Detective. Even on the job, he stays fashionable in atomic fleck sport coats and silk suits. Vincennes always shows up to the party – like the Badge of Honor Christmas party – with a unique sport coat to help him look like even more of a celebrity than the cinema set he pals around with. The city councilman’s re-election party with the Badge of Honor cast is no exception, with Vincennes wearing an outfit comprised solely of black and white… an interesting combination for a man whose morality is anything but.

For the party, Vincennes wears a luxurious lambswool sport coat just one shade closer to being cream than white. The lambswool is likely blended with cashmere or another soft material, thus making Vincennes look even more distinctive and debonair to any potential ingenues hanging around the Badge of Honor set.

The single-breasted jacket has a fashionably large cut with padded shoulders, roped sleeveheads, ventless rear, and a full chest. The notch lapels are wide with surprisingly short gorges.

Danny DeVito must have rejoiced that most of his screen time was shared with the 5’10” Kevin Spacey rather than the 6′-tall Russell Crowe. Two inches taller and his co-star would’ve been off the screen!

Each of the three external pockets of the jacket are patches with rounded bottoms: one on the left breast and two larger pockets on the hips. The two buttons on the front and two buttons on each cuff are covered in the same material as the rest of the coat.

You’d be hard pressed to find many characters cooler than Hollywood Jack.

Jack wears a black silk sports shirt with a large camp collar, worn open. Though uncommon for this type of shirt, Vincennes’ shirt has double cuffs that he fastens with a pair of plain gold links.

Vincennes’ black pleated trousers have a medium rise, considerably low for the era, with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. The two-tone belt is black leather with a white center around the sides and a curved steel single-claw buckle. His black snap-closed leather holster – for his Colt Commander semi-automatic pistol – is worn far back on the right side of his belt for a strong-side draw with his right hand.

Jack also wears a pair of black and cream two-tone leather spectator Oxfords, his casual footwear of choice. Two-tone spectator shoes often vary by what part is what color. Although we’re only offered the briefest of glimpses as Jack exits his car outside the Hollywood Center Motel, we can see that Jack’s perforated toe cap, eyelet tab, and outside counter are all black leather with a white leather vamp and quarter. The laces are black to avoid a contrast on the eyelet tab. You can find a similar pair, in black and white, on Amazon.

This sequence offers us the best look at Vincennes’ Bulova watch when he checks the time inside the Frolic Room. Thanks to the extensive research of Omar, a commenter on this blog, we now know that Vincennes’ snazzy waterproof watch is actually a Bulova Surf King manufactured sometime between 1963 and 1965, more than ten years after the events of L.A. Confidential. (You could argue that Vincennes is ahead of his time, but wow!)

Vincennes’ Bulova has a stainless case and lugs connecting it to a brown “lizard expansion band”. The only numeral on the clean-looking white dial is a very dec-looking “12” at the top.

Jack’s only other accessory is the usual gold ring on his right pinky. The black square face of the ring has a pinhead-sized diamond in the center.

Go Big or Go Home

This short sequence tracking Jack across town from a crowded party to a dark-lit bar and finally a lonely dive motel is backed by some fine era-appropriate music.

Gerry Mulligan’s quartet, featuring talented trumpeter Chet Baker, provides the music for the city councilman’s re-election party with “Makin’ Whoopee” and “The Lady is a Tramp”. Everything about this music selection is perfect for the scene, especially when one knows that the real Gerry Mulligan, a heroin addict like Baker and many of their peers, was just months away from getting pinched for narcotics and spending six months.

Mulligan and Baker first started playing together at The Haig on Wilshire Boulevard while Mulligan was arranging for Stan Kenton. Their jam sessions led to an experimental and wildly successful pianoless quartet that also included drummer Chico Hamilton and bassist Bob Whitlock (…although it is Larry Bunker and Carson Smith, respectively, heard on “Makin’ Whoopee”). The improvisations from Mulligan on sax and Baker on trumpet are a special highlight with the two musicians improvising and complementing each other with a nearly telepathic sense of the other man’s musical direction. After his arrest, Mulligan spent the last few months of 1953 imprisoned while Baker became a star. The two would record and perform together again over the following decades, but it is the 1952-1953 quartet sessions that are most legendary.

After setting up Matt Reynolds at the party, Vincennes heads to the iconic Frolic Room bar on Hollywood Boulevard between Argyle and Vine where he attempts to wash away his self-disgust with a so-far unidentified whiskey.

The familiar image of a noir-esque antihero cynically drinking alone in a darkened L.A. bar.

From the bar’s now-famous jukebox, Dean Martin provides some dark juxtaposition with his pleasant 1949 ditty “Powder Your Face with Sunshine (Smile, Smile, Smile)”. Jack doesn’t follow Dean’s advice, but he certainly powders his bartender’s face with a smile when he leaves a $50 bill on his glass.

No good deed goes unpunished, though, and by the time Jack gets to the Hollywood Center Motel, it’s too late. He discovers Matt Reynolds’ corpse with his throat freshly slashed. In the background, Joni James croons “How Important Can It Be?”, recorded in 1955 for MGM.

The song eventually reached #2 in the charts, another dark juxtaposition as the corpse on the floor failed to reach any heights of stardom as he had hoped.

How to Get the Look

Jack Vincennes knows how to look stylish for a hip L.A. party. Elements of the outfit are very 1953, but the essence remains a fashionable look more than sixty years later.

• Light cream lambswool/cashmere single-breasted sport coat with covered 2-button front, wide notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads, covered 2-button cuffs, and ventless rear
• Black silk sport shirt with large camp collar and double/French cuffs
• Gold plain cuff links
• Black pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black & white two-tone leather belt with curved steel single-claw buckle
• Black & white two-tone leather wingtip cap-toe spectator Oxfords
• Black dress socks
• Bulova Surf King stainless-cased wristwatch with clean white dial on brown lizard expansion strap
• Gold pinky ring with black square surface and pinhead-sized diamond
• Black leather snap-closed belt holster for a Colt Commander semi-automatic pistol

The Car

No stodgy Buicks or run-of-the-mill Fords for this cop, Jack Vincennes scoots around L.A. in a two-tone 1953 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe, a futuristic-looking symbol of that space-obsessed decade. This coupe would also influence the redesign of Rootes Group’s Hillman Minx automobiles in the late 1950s and early-to-mid 1960s, all designed by Raymond Loewy Associates.

The “Commander” name was used by Studebaker for various cars from 1927 through 1964, but it’s the post-WWII design that captured the most attention. In 1947, Raymond Loewy designed the unique 2-door Starlight five-passenger coupe for Studebaker that became an instant hit on the market. The sheet metal on the front was redesigned to include the iconic “bullet nose” for 1950, ushering in the space age decade with a futuristic look that would’ve blown H.G. Wells’ mind.

An automotive designer from Loewy’s studio, Robert E. Bourke, redesigned all Studebakers for 1953, now offering both Starliner hardtop coupes and Starlight five-window pillared coupes for the Commander and Champion model ranges. 1953 was also the first year that no convertible version was offered; evidently the car was cool enough to not need an open top.

The Starlight and Starliner names only lasted two model years; Studebaker took on more literal nomenclatures for its coupes in 1955 as the Starlight became the “5-passenger coupe” and the Starliner became the “5-passenger hardtop”. The next year, the pillared ex-Starlight coupes were rebranded as the Studebaker Hawk.

1953 Studebaker Commander Regal Series 4H Starlight Coupe (Regal Series 4H)

Body Style: 2-door pillared coupe

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

Engine: 232.6 cubic inch (3.8 L) Studebaker V8 with dual Stromberg downshaft carburetor

Power: 120 bhp (89.5 kW; 122 PS) @ 4000 rpm

Torque: 190 lb·ft (258 N·m) @ 2000 rpm

Transmission: 3-speed manual

Wheelbase: 120.5 inches (3061 mm)

Length: 202.2 inches (5136 mm)

Width: 71 inches (1803 mm)

Height: 56 inches (1422 mm)

The particular ’53 Studebaker driven by Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential is painted Chippewa green with a darker Lombard green roof. Most specs for this model were found at Classic Car Database.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Matt Reynolds: When l came out to L.A. this isn’t exactly where l saw myself ending up.
Jack Vincennes: Yeah, well…get in line.

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

Vitals

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

Los Angeles, Spring 2008

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

Background

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

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

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

What’d He Wear?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Better luck next time, Lew.

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

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

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

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

Go Big or Go Home

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

Well played, Lew.

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

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

How to Get the Look

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

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

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

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the second season.

The Quote

Life is just too fucking boring not to try.

Footnotes

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

Robert Redford as The Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

Vitals

Robert Redford as Harry Longbaugh, aka “The Sundance Kid”, laconic and sharp-shooting American outlaw

Colorado, Fall 1898

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

Background

Last year, we celebrated Robert Redford’s 78th birthday (and Throwback Tuesday, which I’ve decided can be a thing) by breaking down the Sundance Kid’s traveling suit when he and Butch Cassidy pack up and head to Bolivia. This year, for Bob’s 79th, we’ll look at his main outfit leading up to that – a badass assortment of Western wear that epitomize American outlaw style at the turn of the century.

What’d He Wear?

Although the film’s audience would be hard-pressed to call either Butch or Sundance a true villain despite their criminal vocations, Sundance is certainly the darker-demeanored of the two, reflected by his attire. In Bolivia, he wears a black suit and black hat. While still conducting his banditry in the U.S., he wears all black save for a brown corduroy jacket. By default, he becomes the film’s personification of the “black-hatted outlaw” trope although his easy charm differentiates him from more villianous contemporaries like Lee Van Cleef in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The one major non-black part of his American banditry outfit is the brown wide-waled corduroy jacket. The jacket looks as well-traveled as Sundance himself, providing him comfortable and surprisingly fashionable outerwear that allows a wide range of motion for a man whose job includes jumping on and off of moving trains.

Even a taciturn bandit like Sundance has to laugh sometimes.

Though it’s a casual jacket, Sundance’s corduroy coat is cut like a suit coat with the only major difference being his jacket’s shirt-style collar, faced in black leather. It has five buttons down the front and plain cuffs. A special Western touch is the yoke that stretches horizontally across the upper back and slants down the chest from the upper portion of the sleeves. It’s simpler than the traditional pointed yoke, fitting Sundance’s understated style and sense of humor.

Sundance’s jacket also has straight flapped hip pockets and a long single rear vent.

There’s no denying that the Sundance Kid is good at what he does.

Butch would also wear a corduroy jacket when the two pick up their career in South America, but Butch’s garment is a lighter brown example of a more traditional sport coat with notch lapels.

Paul Newman, Redford, and Katharine Ross on set.

The rest of Sundance’s attire is all black. He wears a black cotton long-sleeve work shirt with black buttons down the front placket. The two chest patch pockets have mitred lower corners, and the cuffs close on a single button. The contrast between Sundance’s shirt and much darker pants indicates that the shirt may just be a very dark shade of charcoal, but let’s call it black for the sake of practicality.

The much darker pants I mentioned are black flat front trousers with slanted front pockets and a straight leg fit down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. Sundance wears a wide black leather belt through the trousers’ tall belt loops, fastened through a large steel single-claw buckle.

Sundance’s gun belt is also wide black leather, slung around his waist with the actual holster for his Single Action Army laced around his left hip… as Robert Redford is left-handed. The cartridge loops for Sundance’s .45 Colt ammunition are located along the right side of his gun belt.

Sundance also shows his fondness for black hats, perhaps to reflect his darker personality. The black “cowboy” hat worn with this outfit is black felt with a flat crown and a relatively short brim that only slightly curls at the edges. It’s not the same hat he wears in Bolivia, which is differentiated by its much thicker ribbon. Rather than a ribbon, this hat has only a slim black band that is tied on the left side.

Sundance sticks to his color theme by wearing a pair of black leather riding boots.

The aftermath of too much dynamite.

Sundance is sparse with his accessories, wearing only a pair of pale yellow leather riding gloves when he needs them. Robert Redford also wears his usual silver ring on the third finger of his right hand, a gift from Hopi Indians that he had received in 1966 and has worn in “every film I have done since 1968,” as he told the Hollywood Reporter. A look at Redford’s filmography tells us that this was the first movie he made since 1967’s Barefoot in the Park, so it’s likely that this is also his first movie wearing the ring that his fans would see in every subsequent film.

 Go Big or Go Home

Arguably one of the finest and funniest moments in the film finds Butch and Sundance weary from days of relentless pursuit from Joe LeFors and his lawmen. Once we finally learn who those guys are, the two determine their best alternative is to escape by any means possible. After attempting to lose the posse by falling down a hillside, the two outlaws find themselves at a rocky ledge, overlooking the Animas River in Colorado.

Butch weighs their options, but Sundance knows he only has one desired option: to fight.

Up to this point, Sundance has been the voice of reason to the more amiable, easygoing Butch. Butch plans on running off to Bolivia… Sundance laughs him off. Butch suggests joining the U.S. Army to fight the Spanish-American War… Sundance laughs him off. As Butch weights their fight vs. flight options, Sundance wryly counters with:

They could surrender to us, but I wouldn’t count on that.

Once it’s determined that the posse is “going for position” and plans to shoot at them, Sundance prepares to fight. He checks his gun, takes aim, and – Butch halts. What if they jump? “Like hell we will,” refuses Sundance after a glimpse down to the water. This fits with his character, whom we know to be an accurate shot and a man of action. Butch persists.

Butch: I’ll jump first.
Sundance: No.
Butch: Then you jump first.
Sundance: No, I said!
Butch: What’s the matter with you?
Sundance: I can’t swim!

The sudden revelation is embarrassing, and Sundance knows it. Newman and Redford play the scene beautifully, allowing the statement to land before Redford gives a bashful nod… and Newman breaks out in laughter.

Of course, the true mortality of this situation forces its way back in as Butch slows himself down to realize, “the fall will probably kill you.” The men resign themselves to whatever fate awaits. They remove their jackets, pick up their holsters, and…

Oh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h, shiiiiiiiiiit!

How to Get the Look

Sundance manages to pull off a rustic combination of black and brown, although attempted copycats should keep in mind that he was a turn-of-the-century train robber. If you’re comfortable giving off that vibe, go for it.

• Brown wide-waled corduroy jacket with black leather faced shirt-style collar, 5-button front, flapped hip pockets, and single rear vent
• Black cotton work shirt with two chest patch pockets, front placket, and button cuffs
• Black flat front straight-leg trousers with tall belt loops, slanted front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black wide leather trouser belt with large steel single-claw buckle
• Black wide leather gun belt with Ranger-style buckle, cartridge loops, and left-side holster with tie
• Black felt cowboy hat with flat crown, slim tied band, and flat brim
• Black leather riding boots
• Pale yellow leather riding gloves
• Silver tribal ring

The Gun

Few guns have received as much widespread recognition or as many nicknames as Colt’s venerable Single Action Army revolver. Whether you prefer the dubious moniker of “Peacemaker” or the more accurate “Gun That Won the West” (a title it shares with the Winchester rifle), there’s no denying that you’ve seen a Single Action Army if you’ve ever seen a Western movie in your life.

While filmmakers are probably a bit overly anxious to arm their outlaws with Colt Peacemakers, it’s documented that the Colt .45 was indeed the preferred sidearm for both Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, particularly while in the United States. During one of his first arrests, when he was merely a 20-year-old horse thief, Harry Longbaugh (the future “Sundance Kid”), had three six-shooters taken from him. Ten years later, he was a “professional” bandit, riding with Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch and packing a Single Action Army.

Sundance prepares to fight; Butch prepares to jump.

Whether intentionally or not, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid also correctly depicts Sundance’s preferred model of Single Action Army: the 4.75″-barreled “Quickdraw” or “Civilian” model. The SAA was offered in three standard barrel lengths – Cavalry (7.5″), Artillery (5.5″), and the Quickdraw (4.75″) – with shorter or longer barrel options available by special order. WesternLeatherHolster.com visited the Crook County Museum in Sundance, Wyoming this spring and actually discovered a holster that may have belonged to the Kid himself, remarking that the holster had been modified specifically for a revolver of that size: “cut down from 7 1/2″ to 4 1/2″ with rivets at the trigger guard and toe to keep the gun at the exact position the shootist wanted it to be”.

Butch and Sundance were proponents of the Colt .45 throughout their long career, although Thom Hatch’s book (which I mention below) reports that each man carried a Browning pistol and a Mauser carbine rifle during their final robbery in San Vicente, Bolivia in November 1908. Perhaps the two outlaws were more adaptable with the times than the movie suggests?

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

For a good read, I highly recommend Thom Hatch’s recent book about the duo: The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Hatch’s book goes into plenty of detail about Butch and The Kid, including the guns they carried, Butch’s favorite whiskey (Mount Vernon rye), and the most likely story surrounding their now-famous demise.

The Quote

Think ya used enough dynamite there, Butch?

Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger (1964).

Vitals

Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and super spy

Geneva, Switzerland, Summer 1964

Film: Goldfinger
Release Date: September 18, 1964
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Supervisor: Elsa Fennell

Background

James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Auric Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!

For this 00-7th of October installment, BAMF Style is looking at the classic scene from the most iconic of Bond flicks, Goldfinger.

After successfully trailing the sinister Auric Goldfinger to his metallurgy plant in Geneva, James Bond chooses the dark of night to cover his covert investigations of the plant. He discovers Goldfinger’s gold smuggling enterprise and overhears his conversation with a Red Chinese agent about the mysterious “Operation Grand Slam”.

When he tries to leave, Bond finds Tilly Masterson – a woman he’d encountered earlier in the day – aiming a rifle at the plant. The two tussle and trip an alarm that sends Oddjob and Goldfinger’s legions of Asian henchmen after the duo. Bond attempts to spirit them away in his DB5, but an unfortunate roadblock and the sharp edge of Oddjob’s bowler hat bring an end to both the getaway plan and Tilly’s life.

Goldfinger greets the waking Bond when the latter is strapped to a cutting table. Goldfinger smugly assures Bond that his attempts were in vain as an industrial laser slowly moves to cut Bond in two, starting with his most utilized organ. In desperation, Bond reveals his knowledge of Operation Grand Slam, and Goldfinger shrewdly decides that the spy is worth more to him alive… for the time being. Bond next wakes up on Goldfinger’s private plane, headed for Fort Knox. He’s stunned by the first image he sees, a lovely and buxom pilot who is quick to introduce herself to the disoriented agent:

Pussy: My name is Pussy Galore.
Bond: I must be dreaming.

What’d He Wear?

Bond establishes his preference in Goldfinger for wearing all black on convert night missions, following next in Thunderball with a black polo and again during Roger Moore’s first outing in Live and Let Die when he sports a black turtleneck and trousers. However, black isn’t the best choice for nighttime secrecy as it tends to stand out among non-black surroundings like a dark blue sky, green foliage, or gray buildings.

Bond finds himself aboard Goldfinger’s personal plane.

For sneaking around Goldfinger’s plant, Bond wears an all black outfit consisting of a shirt, sweater, trousers, shoes, and socks. The contrast between his shirt and sweater isn’t obvious at first since both are the same black knit texture.

Bond’s shirt is a black knit polo with three buttons and a large, soft collar. Though we don’t see for sure, it’s likely a short-sleeve polo shirt to keep him cool under the sweater and prevent bunching at the wrists.

Poor Bond is pretty out to sea when it comes to learning the time without consulting his Rolex.

The sweater is a v-neck jumper that looks like a very comfortable lightweight wool like merino. The long sleeves have elasticized cuffs that fall somewhat short on Connery’s wrists, giving more credence to the theory that the polo is short-sleeved since it would otherwise create an unsightly collision at the wrist.

The black merino wool v-neck sweater would make a return appearance in Skyfall when Daniel Craig wears one with his peacoat, white shirt, and black tie. That particular jumper – the John Smedley “Bobby” – was constructed from extra-fine 30-gauge merino wool from New Zealand. You can still pick one up for $230 from Mr Porter.

A quick massage eases Bond’s pain after being shot in the side by a tranquilizer gun.

Bond wears a pair of black wool flat front trousers with his usual “Daks top” 3-button side adjusters on each side of the waist. They have a straight cut and plain-hemmed bottoms.

A precarious situation.

Interestingly, Bond wears the same black calf ankle boots that he wore with his white dinner jacket in the film’s opening sequence, truly showing the versatility of the shoe. They have black elastic side gussets but are shorter than the typical Chelsea boot.

Bond’s shoes would be the only clothing left intact after Goldfinger’s laser has its way with him.

The soles of Bond’s low boots are smooth, hard tan leather with “HANDCRAFTED” printed under the arch. They have been customized to slip open the heel that stores Bond’s Q-issued GPS tracker.

Somehow, GPS devices have actually gotten less cool in the last 50 years.

We get a good look at Bond’s socks when he is tied to Goldfinger’s laser-cutting table. They are naturally also black, as this would be a poor outfit to inject colored socks. Based on the texture and the ribbing, they may also be merino wool. Merino wool socks offer a more luxurious – but also sweatier – alternative to the usual cotton socks.

Naturally, Bond also sports his stainless Rolex Submariner 6538 on his left wrist. This is the same watch he wears throughout Goldfinger with its black dial and undersized striped RAF strap.

A Swiss watch in Switzerland.

He doesn’t appear to have his watch after being captured by Goldfinger; perhaps Goldfinger knows what sort of watches they give out in Q Branch.

Bond’s nighttime ensemble in Goldfinger is also featured in a post on Matt Spaiser’s blog, The Suits of James Bond.

What to Imbibe

A martini. Shaken, not stirred.

Bond isn’t dressed for the occasion, but this sequence is when he first orders his iconic cocktail of choice*. Goldfinger’s stewardess, who is a bit too chipper to be a working for a terrorist, eagerly serves him one made with Martini & Rossi Extra Dry vermouth, garnished with a thin twist of lemon.

“Here’s to Operation Grand Slam.”

* Bond did indeed drink “shaken, not stirred” martinis in Dr. No, but this is the first time we actually hear 007 himself utter the words.

How to Get the Look

Bond’s totally black outfit may not be the most tactically sound outfit for sneaking around at night, but his ensemble is certainly more fashionable – albeit less practical – than the military-inspired fatigues that later 007 actors like Pierce Brosnan would wear in similar situations.

• Black knit short-sleeve polo shirt with 3-button collar
• Black merino wool v-neck long-sleeve sweater
• Black wool flat front trousers with 3-button “Daks top” side adjusters and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather plain-toe ankle boots with elastic side gussets
• Black ribbed merino wool socks
• Rolex Submariner 6538 wristwatch with stainless case and black dial on an undersized striped RAF strap

The Gun

Although Goldfinger is often considered to be the quintessential James Bond movie, it interestingly reduces the role of his iconic Walther PPK sidearm to a brief appearance in the pre-credits sequence. After that, he is only armed with Walther P38 pistols – one of his own and one taken from a careless guard in Kentucky.

The Walther P38 was first designed for the rapidly advancing German military in 1938 – hence its nomenclature. It was intended to replace the recognizable but costly Luger pistol, and the first production models rolled out of the Walther factory in Zella-Mehlis by the middle of 1940. Like its legendary predecessor, the P38 was loaded with a single-stack box magazine containing eight rounds of 9×19 mm Parabellum ammunition. However, the Luger’s distinctive toggle-lock action was abandoned in favor of a more conventional locked-breech short-recoil system. As the Walther factory was destroyed during the war and Germany was banned from producing weapons for more than a decade following, production on the familiar P38 was halted until 1957. Wartime P38 pistols were rounded up and resold once the imprinted swastikas were removed. The new generation of Walther P38s were christened the “Pistole P1” and manufactured through the year 2000 while serving as the standard sidearm for German military and police forces. Interestingly, Germany’s last death penalty in 1981 was conducted with a silenced Walther P38.

Bond takes aim with his seat-concealed Walther P38.

Though not seen in the finished film, publicity material for Goldfinger showed a drawer under the seat in Bond’s new DB5 that carried a Walther P38. It is presumably from this concealed drawer that Bond produced his P38 used during the gunfight outside Goldfinger’s factory.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

I think you made your point. Thank you for the demonstration.

Goldfinger gets the upper hand though, replying with “Choose your next witticism carefully Mr. Bond, it may be your last.”

Bond came very close to losing his thunderballs!

Footnotes

Tim Siedell tweeted a brilliant interpretation of the most iconic quote from this scene a few years ago.

Link to Tweet.

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990).

Vitals

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, ambitious New York mob associate

Queens, NY, Summer 1963

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

Background

For Mafia Monday, I’m taking a look at what was always one of the more memorable movie outfits for me growing up.

Goodfellas introduces us to the adult Henry Hill, aged 20, while casually taking part in a heist at Idlewild Airport. Presumably that evening, he and his mobbed-up cronies take their beehive-haired comares to The Bamboo Lounge, an actual former hangout for the gang located in Canarsie. (The location used in the film was actually the Polynesian bar Hawaii Kai, previously located at 1638 Broadway in Manhattan before it was closed the year before Goodfellas was released.)

The scene shows us the potential glamour of mob life, with silk-suited mobsters with names like “Fat Andy” and “Jimmy Two Times” sipping on anisette while seated next to women who are far out of their league. The hardworking Henry is able to enjoy these aspects of the night while also working, shuffling in racks of stolen mink coats and planning his next heist at the Air France terminal.

While the scene would have already been memorable for these reasons, it has become legendary for the mostly improvised “You think I’m funny?” banter between Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) and Henry. The scene emerged from Pesci recounting a very similar story to Martin Scorsese, who decided to include it in the film under Pesci’s direction.

What’d He Wear?

Henry stands out from the other guys in their gray silk suits with his slick mixing and matching of white and black, including an ivory jacket and a black shirt with a distinctively large contrast collar.

This is one of those “smoking is cool” moments in movies that the tobacco companies must secretly love.

The off-white single-breasted jacket that Henry wears for his night out appears to be ivory silk and resplendent with sumptuously sporty details. Both buttons on the front are covered in the same ivory silk as the jacket as is each button on the cuff. The sleeves end with a narrow turnback cuff likely around ¾” long.

The breast pocket and both hip pockets are all patch pockets. Henry’s jacket has straight shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and a ventless back. The notch lapels have swelled edges.

Henry is just as comfortable at the bar as he is in the storage room, providing that he’s got a fat stack of cash coming his way for all that swag.

Although we see his black trousers, not much else is seen of Henry’s lower half in the scene. I think we can safely assume that he changed out of his olive alligator shoes into a pair of black leather loafers with black silk socks, but these gangsters aren’t always so predictable when it comes to style.

In fact, Henry’s black shirt with its contrast collar and cuffs is anything but predictable. Only the shirt itself is black; the long-pointed collar, the button cuffs, and even the plastic buttons down the front placket are all white.

It incorporates the almost impossibly long-pointed “Goodfella collar” with its nearly non-existent spread. Though its nomenclature is derived from this movie, it’s been seen on mobsters represented in other Scorsese flicks like Raging Bull and Casino. You can’t just walk into a Macy’s and ask for a shirt with this type of collar, though. (Maybe not outside of Brooklyn, at least.)

A few sites online – like Guido Fashions – specialize in marketing the “Goodfella collar” or “Italian collar”, but I have yet to test any of them out myself. In fact, I tried to emulate the look in my youth by sporting a standard black dress shirt over a vintage white shirt with a long ’70s collar poking out over the shirt, but it looked horrible and made me very sweaty to boot.

Also, most Macy’s salespeople don’t like to be told to “shut the fuck up” like this. They just don’t get it.

Ray Liotta has recalled anecdotes of Scorsese stepping in to tie Liotta’s necktie for him to ensure that it would be totally accurate for the period and setting. The slim ivory silk tie that Henry wears in this scene is certainly reasonable for a sharp, ambitious mobster to wear for a night out in the summer of ’63, although most of the knot is totally hidden beneath that big collar.

Henry feels some stress from working nights.

Not yet totally swamped by the jewelry demands of being both a mobster and a married man, Henry keeps his accessories somewhat simple early on. In addition to the Standard Mafia Issue gold pinky ring on his right hand, he also wears an all-gold watch secured to his right wrist by a black alligator strap. Still fully Catholic, he wears only his gold cross on a gold necklace with no Star of David to be seen.

Go Big or Go Home

Although Scorsese is careful to avoid glamorizing the Mafia lifestyle, these early scenes of the guys kicking back in a nightclub with everything on the house can’t help but to make any reasonable guy wonder if he’s chosen the right occupation. Luckily, the opera of deaths, arrests, and living “like a schnook” during the film’s finale should reassure that reasonable guy that selling insurance is an a-okay life decision!

Of course, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t feel free to have a Goodfellas-themed night out on the town, especially if you’ve got a friendly bar owner in your list of contacts. Button up your silk suit, hide that little tie knot under a big shirt collar, and spend far too much on making your girlfriend’s hair look like a beehive. Put some classic Italian pop – in this case, it’s Mina’s 1960 hit “Il cielo in una stanza” – and line up your table with liquor. Safe bets are Leroux anisette and Crown Royal, which was indeed the real Tommy DeSimone’s preferred whiskey. (Interestingly, Crown Royal wasn’t legal to import into the U.S. until 1965, which makes many people think it’s an error to see it in this scene set in 1963. Um… would a silly think like a law really stop these guys from bringing their favorite booze into the country?)

Keep in mind that Manischewitz would look funny on Tommy’s table. And speaking of “funny”…

GOODFELLAS

Tommy’s reputation as a violent hothead doesn’t do him any favors with his friends. Sure, they love to hear his stories, but you might be sacrificing your life just by showing your appreciation for them:

Henry: You’re a pistol, you’re really funny. You’re really funny.
Tommy: What do you mean I’m “funny”?
Henry: (laughs) It’s funny, you know. It’s a good story, it’s funny… you’re a funny guy.
Tommy: What do you mean? You mean the way I talk? What?
Henry: It’s just, you know, you’re just funny, it’s… funny, the way you tell the story and everything.
Tommy: Funny how? What’s funny about it?
Anthony Stabile: Tommy, naw, you got it all wrong.
Tommy: Oh, oh, Anthony. He’s a big boy, he knows what he said. What’d ja say? Funny how?
Henry: Just-
Tommy: What?
Henry: Just… ya know… you’re funny.
Tommy: You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little fucked up maybe, but I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh? I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
Henry: Just… you know, how you tell the story, what?
Tommy: No, no, I don’t know, you said it. How do I know? You said I’m funny. How the fuck am I funny, what the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what’s funny!
Henry: (after a long pause) Get the fuck out of here… Tommy!
Tommy: (leading the laughter) Ya motherfucker! I almost had him, I almost had him. Ya stuttering prick ya. Frankie, was he shaking? I wonder about you sometimes, Henry… You may fold under questioning!

How to Get the Look

Although not everything (like morality) is black and white in Henry’s mob world, that’s no reason not to find a creative marriage of both colors for a night out with fellow gangsters.

• Ivory silk single-breasted sportcoat with notch lapels, 2 covered-button front, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, “turnback” cuffs with single decorative covered button, and ventless back
• Black trousers
• Black dress shirt with long white point collar and white button cuffs
• Ivory silk tie
• Black leather horsebit loafers
• Black silk dress socks
• White sleeveless ribbed cotton undershirt
• Gold watch on black leather strap
• Gold pinky ring, worn on right pinky
• Gold Catholic cross pendant, worn on gold necklace

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie. Seriously, you’ll love it.

The Quote

For us to live any other way was nuts. To us, those goody-good people who worked shitty jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day, and worried about their bills, were dead. I mean, they were suckers. They had no balls. If we wanted something, we just took it. If anyone complained twice they got hit so bad, believe me, they never complained again.

I use this still of Ray Liotta’s laughing face as the background on my iPhone. I honestly do.

Footnotes

I recently came across a cool blog that stays up to date with the latest mob-related news – appropriately titled Cosa Nostra News – and I recommend it for fellow historians of American organized crime.

If you’re curious about how accurate Goodfellas really is, pay attention to when Henry’s voiceover introduces us to “Fat Andy” at the bar. (Hint: he’s the fat guy.) This brief part was played by NYPD detective Louis Eppolito. Eppolito could be called the good egg from a bad family after his father, uncle, and cousin had all been linked to the Mafia… except that Eppolito himself was arrested in 2005 and charged with racketeering, obstruction of justice, extortion, and up to eight murders. Both Eppolito and his partner were sentenced to life imprisonment. (Technically, life imprisonment plus 80 years, should their lives be unexpectedly long.)

Roger Moore as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973).

Vitals

Roger Moore as James Bond, debonair British secret agent

“San Monique” (actually Jamaica), Spring 1973

Film: Live and Let Die
Release Date: June 27, 1973
Director: Guy Hamilton
Costume Designer: Julie Harris

Background

Despite today being April 1st, this post isn’t timed to be an April Fool’s Day post; instead, BAMF Style is celebrating the return of Archer last night by analyzing the “tactileneck” that started it all – Roger Moore’s all-black assault attire in Live and Let Die.

After the love of his life his temporary lust object is kidnapped in keeping with the movie’s rampant polyester-flavored blend of racism and sexism, James Bond packs some heavy heat to return to Jamaica San Monique and retrieve her… mostly so he can have someone to have sex with during his return trip.

Bond manages to really bungle things up and, although he lands a henchman in a coffin of poisonous snakes, he gets captured right alongside of Solitaire.

The 1954 Fleming novel from which this took its title then saw Bond and Solitaire horrendously tied to the back of his yacht and dragged through coral reef into shark-infested waters, which is admitted a pretty badass way to be tortured. Unfortunately, this was shelved in favor of a more budget-friendly version that finds Bond and Solitaire tied up together to a slow… a very slow… device that would lower them into a shark tank. The lowering process gives Bond time to activate the buzz saw on his Rolex (although he probably would’ve had time to chew through it then read a few passages of Ulysses) and escape. This is the stereotypical unnecessarily slow-and-escapable torture that would give Austin Powers so much fodder to mock decades later, right down to Dr. Kananga’s smug insistence on laying out every detail of his evil plan, even saying “Let me show you exactly how it works.”

(Luckily, the reef-cutting sharkbait torture was revived for For Your Eyes Only, which I would argue to be my favorite of Roger Moore’s outings as Bond.)

What’d He Wear?

By the time Roger Moore took over the mantle as “00-’70s”, the turtleneck sweater had been trending for decades as a fresh alternative to ties. Beginning with its association with beatniks and “sweater girls” in the ’50s, the turtleneck gradually went mainstream until exploding in popularity when Steve McQueen sported one as Lt. Frank Bullitt in 1968.

Bond prepares for battle on San Monique.

Known as a “polo neck” or “roll-neck” among the Brits, the turtleneck eased its way into the Bond series in the form of shorter polo necks in the three preceding Bond outings – You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Diamonds are Forever – before the costumers decided to go all out and place their new 007, Roger Moore, in a black jumper with a full turtleneck collar that rolled over to totally cover his neck. (In that context, the “roll-neck” appellation probably makes the most sense for this type of collar.)

Bond’s black knit turtleneck jumper is comfortably lightweight for the jungle atmosphere, although it appears to be a warmer material like merino wool. (I still wouldn’t rule out cotton, though.) The cuffs have extended ribbing to allow them to be folded back over the wrist without having to sacrifice the sleeve’s integrity by rolling them up (which that asshole Kananga does anyway before drawing Bond’s blood!) His jumper is tucked into his trousers.

Roger Moore’s eyebrow carries yet another scene.

The series paid tribute to this look in Spectre by placing Daniel Craig in several mock and full polo neck jumpers throughout the film, including a luxurious charcoal mock polo neck that was paired with a brown shoulder holster for the teaser poster that directly evoked Moore’s look in Live and Let Die. The well-fitted turtleneck for assault purposes is also a favorite of Sterling Archer, who enjoys a closet full of at least ten “tactilenecks” in black… and “slightly darker black”.

“Solitaire. Solitaire… SOLITAIREEEEEEEE!”
“What?”
“Danger zone!”

Bond’s black trousers continue the clean, minimalist look with sewn-down darts that provide the comfortable fit of pleats while offering the cleaner look of flat front trousers. Like Moore’s other trousers tailored by Cyril Castle for Live and Let Die, these don’t have the typical front or side pockets; instead, there is a straight slit just below the belt line on each side that serves like a “large coin pocket” for small, essential items. There are two jetted hip pockets in the back that close through a button.

Bond may have been better served tactically if he had forgone the then-fashionable flared bottoms, but his rescue mission involved a very beautiful woman so 007 would want to look as stylish as possible. The corny flared bottoms are somewhat thankfully offset by the trousers’ high rise on Roger Moore’s already tall 6’1″ frame.

I apologize in retrospect for unintentionally making it look like Roger Moore is distracted by his own ass.

Moore’s “Bond for the ’70s” differentiates himself further by incorporating belts into his outfits, which was virtually unheard of during the Connery-Lazenby era as both men wore trousers with “Daks top” side adjusters exclusively. Moore bridges the transition by wearing some suits with button-tab side adjusters in Live and Let Die while sporting belts with his more casual looks, from his basketweave sport coat in New Orleans to this all-black “assault gear”. By The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond would become a full-time belt wearer with both suits and casualwear.

In this case, Bond’s wide black textured leather belt is both stylish and practical; heavy action means more stress on the trousers, and a large shoulder holster like the one he’s sporting for his .44 Magnum (more on that later) needs to be fastened to a belt to stabilize it and keep it from flopping around. Like his other belts – most notably the one worn with his beige trousers and black silk shirt when he lands in New Orleans – this one has a large squared brass single-claw buckle.

Bond judges Whispers and Kananga’s crew for wearing the strangest henchmen uniforms yet: red polos with tight jeans. Is this a villain’s cave or a Target?

Bond’s footwear for the occasion is a step (heyoo!) in the right direction for 007’s tactical wear. While Sean Connery had always sported black leather dress boots when prowling around in all black, Roger Moore’s Bond opts for more practical shoes with his dark gray sueded leather laced sneakers (or “trainers”, being as he’s British.) Only a brief look at Bond’s socks is given, and they appear to be very thin black dress socks, possibly even silk.

Kickin’ ass on San Monique.

The all black of Bond’s outfit is diversified by his brown leather shoulder rig. The large holster under his left arm is big enough for the Smith & Wesson N-framed revolver that he carries for this particular mission. The leather portion consists of the holster itself and a large leather loop around the left shoulder, which is harnessed to Bond’s chest by an olive-colored vinyl strap with a silver adjuster. There are four rows of tan lacing directly above the holster opening.

Bond takes charge with his .44 Magnum.

Although Q himself doesn’t appear in Live and Let Die (part of a thankfully brief attempt to distance the Moore era from the previous entries), the “bezel buzz saw” on Bond’s stainless Rolex helps he and Solitaire out of a jam. It’s the same Rolex Submariner 5513 that Kananga used in an earlier scene to try and gauge Solitaire’s powers, with its black dial, stainless steel link bracelet, and – of course – black ceramic bezel with its life-saving buzz saw. The watch also has magnetic powers, as Bond uses to disrobe the voluptuous Miss Caruso (Madeline Smith) in the opening scene; it may be this very scene that influenced Roger Moore to cite this watch as his favorite Bond gadget. (Interestingly, the 5513 Submariner was produced from 1962 until 1989, the entire duration (with a few breaks) of Bond’s on-screen Rolex preference before Pierce Brosnan showed up wearing an Omega in 1995’s GoldenEye.)

Shame on you if you don’t know what kind of watch this is.

Credit should be given to the real-life Q of the Bond series: Syd Cain. Cain was the production designer who modified many of the most famous gadgets, including wearables like this buzz saw Rolex and Rosa Klebb’s poison-tipped shoes in From Russia With Love. This Live and Let Die Rolex was included in an auction lot from Phillips Watches in November 2015, signed “Roger Moore 007” on the caseback. Additional images and info can be found at Watch Guru.

Ever find yourself tied with rope and facing off against a villain who can’t stand to be filled with gas to the point of exploding? The magnetic buzzsaw Rolex is perfect for you.

On his blog, The Suits of James Bond, Matt Spaiser includes a fine analysis of Bond’s outfit with nice screenshots that could clarify more details.

How to Get the Look

Although there are better choices than all black for furtive nighttime wear, Roger Moore looks very cool in this now-iconic outfit that has proven its influence on future generations of fictional spies.

• Black lightweight merino wool turtleneck jumper
• Black wool darted-front trousers with tall belt loops, waistline front pockets, jetted button-through back pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black textured leather belt with large squared brass single-claw buckle
• Dark gray sueded leather sneakers/trainers
• Thin black silk dress socks
• Brown leather shoulder holster (RHD), for S&W N-frame revolver, with olive-colored vinyl strap
• Rolex Submariner 5513 wristwatch with black dial and black bezel on stainless link bracelet

The Gun

Makes a jolly good can opener but not practical for Bond…

…was the conclusion of Geoffrey Boothroyd, the Scottish firearms expert consulted by Ian Fleming for the novels and later featured in the featurette “The Guns of James Bond”. That clip, from which the above quote was derived, was filmed in 1964 during the making of Goldfinger and found Boothroyd joining Sean Connery on the Fort Knox set to discuss Bond’s various handguns, notably comparing the Beretta to the Walther. In it, Boothroyd also gets a chance to fire his personal favorite, a single-action Ruger Blackhawk revolver in .44 Magnum, but determines that the large, “man-sized gun” would be “too big to hide under an agent’s coat”.

Nearly a decade later, a .44 Magnum finally made its way into James Bond’s shoulder holster in the form of a nickel Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver.

Bond makes an ass of himself by shooting up a sentient porcelain statue.

Though the .44 Magnum was first produced in 1955, it wasn’t until Clint Eastwood declared it “the most powerful handgun in the world” in Dirty Harry that the world actually began to take notice. The Bond franchise, which was paying more and more attention to pop culture trends, realized that the subtlety of Bond’s classic Walther PPK might alienate audiences who were preferring heroes that blew away opponents with oversized American hand cannons; indeed, Tee-Hee’s treatment of the PPK in an early scene may be symbolic of this. (Interestingly, rumor has it that Clint Eastwood was approached for the Bond role in Live and Let Die but respectfully refused and said that the role should go to a Brit.)

Four years after Smith & Wesson developed the .44 Magnum cartridge, it was eclipsed as the “most powerful” handgun round when the .454 Casull was developed (sorry, Clint.) Throughout the ’60s, the .44 Magnum found a special audience with hunters and gung-ho cops but never caught on with mainstream firearms enthusiasts.

After Dirty Harry was released in 1971, gun stores couldn’t keep the Smith & Wesson Model 29 on their shelves. Desperate to feel like Harry Callahan, customers began ordering other .44 Magnum revolvers like the Ruger Redhawk, and the cartridge took on a new life. Smith & Wesson continued to offer its Model 29 in a variety of barrel lengths ranging from 3″ up to a staggering 10⅝” as well as in a highly polished blue or nickel-plated finish. (Smith & Wesson also offered a stainless steel version, the Model 629.)

The Model 29 in Roger Moore’s holster as he marched into San Monique was nickel-plated with a 6″ barrel and checkered walnut grips. Due to being such a badass gun, it was often used for promotional artwork even in other scenes where Bond was armed with his PPK (or nothing at all).

Whether it was capitalizing on the trend started by Dirty Harry or a nod to Boothroyd’s preferred “man-sized gun”, Live and Let Die wisely armed 007 with this heavier duty weapon for combat against Kananga’s henchmen, although it’s a mystery why he didn’t take any speedloaders or reloads since six rounds of anything – .44 Magnum or not – won’t stop more than six targets.

Moore and Seymour pose with Bond’s big honkin’ .44 and a legion of surly looking “San Moniquans”.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie, and check out Archer on FX if you haven’t yet!

The Quote

Although the series was trying to distance itself from the Connery years, Live and Let Die still keeps the cringe-worthy one-liners intact. After Bond witnesses Kananga’s death-by-expanding-gas-pellet…

He always did have an inflated opinion of himself.

Footnotes

• The SPECTRE connection doesn’t end with the revival of the dark, tight-fitting turtleneck; this was also the first Bond film that Daniel Craig had ever seen. (SPECTRE was also the only Bond film after Live and Let Die that featured a scene in Bond’s apartment, but this is slightly less interesting trivia.)
• The Polish title translates to “Allow to Leave Alone to Die”. OK, Poland.
• I’ve mentioned it in a previous Live and Let Die post, and I’ll continue to mention it; I really like seeing Jane Seymour on screen in this one.

Next stop Poundtown.

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990).

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Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, New York mob associate and club owner

Queens, NY, June 11, 1970

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

Background

As Morrie Kessler’s favorite “half mick, half guinea”, it’s nice to see Henry Hill channeling his Irish side with a green suit while out at a bar. In particular, his bar – The Suite Lounge in Queens. (In reality, the scene was filmed at the Lido Cabaret at 7320 Grand Avenue in Maspeth.) Unfortunately for us, it wasn’t St. Patrick’s Day, and unfortunately for Billy Batts, an angry Joe Pesci was around.

This scene, one of the most iconic of the film, marks the shift in tone between the “glamour” of the wiseguy era in the ’60s and the harsh and violent reality of the ’70s as it all comes crashing down. The first portion of the film may explain why Henry’s biggest ambition was to be a gangster as we see an endless parade of sharp suits, champagne on the house, and big-haired and bosomy mistresses.

After Billy Batts, the suits are replaced by prison uniforms (or worse, polyester disco shirts), the champagne becomes drugs, and the mistresses become strung-out coke whores who stab you in the back. The scene and its repercussions teach us an important lesson: don’t kill, kids.

What’d He Wear?

For Billy Batts’ release party (and subsequent murder) in his bar, Henry Hill wears a green suit with a distinctive shine that implies either silk or possibly a mohair/silk blend. The suit is a two-piece with moderate features appropriate for 1970, a sartorial transition period between the ultra-slim ’60s and excessively wide ’70s.

The suit jacket is single-breasted with notch lapels that roll down to the low 2-button stance. Both the buttons on the front and the two buttons on each cuff are constructed of dark plastic, likely black. The shoulders are slightly padded with roped sleeveheads.

Obviously, Henry’s attempts as a conflict mediator leave something to be desired.

Henry’s suit coat has a welted breast pocket and two flapped hip pockets that slant slightly back. The double rear vents rise to Henry’s natural waist.

The flat front suit trousers rise high on Henry’s waist with a straight fly and sharp creases down each slightly tapered leg to the plain-hemmed, full break bottoms. The slanted side pockets are visible, but Henry only removes the jacket when digging Batts’ grave so it’s hard to determine the rear pocket situation. He wears a slim black leather belt through the trousers’ belt loops.

Henry’s suit is illuminated as Jimmy takes care of the Billy Batts situation.

Henry wears a black shirt, a popular choice for a casual suit on a night out. He leaves the top two white plastic buttons undone; the rest are buttoned down the front placket. Broken white edge stitching is visible on the shirt’s wide placket in close-up shots.

Poor Henry looks so tired, and then Jimmy and Tommy make him go and dig a grave.

The shirt’s long sleeves close with a single button, and the straight hem is revealed when Henry untucks the shirt to dig Batts’ grave. The material is hard to determine, but it appears to be polyester.

His leather shoes are also black, and – although they don’t receive much screen time – they appear to have a cap toe and a lace-up throat. He also appears to be wearing black socks, which I think is a good choice as the green suit isn’t neutral enough to warrant green socks.

The gold watch on his right wrist is supposedly a Rolex Day-Date, although I can’t tell for sure from the angles we are given. It is certainly a gold case with a round white dial on a flat gold bracelet; I have typically seen Day-Dates worn on thicker link bracelets, but it’s possible that this was swapped out for Henry.

Henry’s watch is best seen as he goes to investigate the rumbling from his trunk.

Henry sticks with gold jewelry, also wearing his usual pinky ring on his right hand and his plain gold wedding band on the third finger of his left hand.

Underneath, he is likely wearing one of his usual white ribbed cotton sleeveless A-shirts.

Go Big or Go Home

Since Henry doesn’t actually do any killing in this scene (glossing over his enabling, clean-up, and other general accessory duties), it’s fine to have a Henry Hill-style night out. We’ve already got the outfit down, so now all you need is the right cigarettes, the right car, and the right music.

And, of course, the right breakfast.

Henry’s smokes of choice are soft packs of Winston Full-Flavor filtered cigarettes with a gold lighter. At the time, Winston was the most popular cigarette brand in the United States, holding its position from 1966 until 1972 when it was eclipsed by Marlboro, who has remained the market leader to this day. It’s also somewhat telling that Henry’s cigarette brand was in its prime whenever he was… and it lost its popularity once things got bad (prison, drugs, killings, witness protection, etc.).

I know it’s not Car Week, but I have to show my appreciation for Henry’s fine choice in American machinery. For the bulk of the film, Henry drives a dark brown 1968 Pontiac Grand Prix with a white hardtop.

Henry’s ’68 Pontiac, parked in front of his goomah’s place.

’68 was a special year for the Grand Prix, a transition between the first two generations of body styles and the final year for the B-body platform full-sized Grand Prix. Since the convertible model had just been discontinued, the only option was the 2-door hardtop coupe, which Henry drives here. Engine options were the standard 400 cubic inch V8 with 350 horsepower, but an optional 428 was available with base 375 horsepower or a High Output (HO) 390 horsepower version. In reality, Hill drove a new 1970 Buick Electra, but all that you really need to take away from the scene is that the trunk was pretty much ruined after hauling Batts’ rotting corpse back and forth.

And finally, the music. Goodfellas has one of the greatest soundtracks of any movie, and this scene features two classic songs that nicely indicate the scene’s tone-changing effect on the rest of the film. The party is seen in high gear to the upbeat 1963 track “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” by the Phil Spector-produced group The Crystals.

Hours later, when Tommy returns to kill Batts and set the crew on its fatal course, the darker and deeper “Atlantis” by Donovan is used to punctuate the brutal murder.

Bonus points to anyone who can quickly – and correctly – pronounce Barabajagal, the name of Donovan’s 1969 album that contained the song.

What to Imbibe

Billy Batts: Give us a drink. And give some to those Irish hoodlums down there.
Jimmy Conway: Only one Irishman here, Billy.
Billy Batts: On the house. Salud.
Jimmy Conway: Top of the mornin’.

Whiskey is the order of the night for Jimmy and his crew, although he, Henry, and Tommy are more often seen drinking Crown Royal (Canadian), Cutty Sark (Scotch), or J&B (Scotch again) than anything Irish. Since Jameson will likely be flowing at your local bar on March 17th, feel free to down a shot or two with your local Irish hoodlums.

St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Tuesday this year, so it’s unclear whether or not to bring your wife (Saturday) or your mistress (Friday).

Now go home and get your fuckin’ shinebox.

How to Get the Look

Henry keeps his night out look flashy but simple using only three colors: green, black, and gold.

• Green silk suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with notch lapels, 2-button front, welted breast pocket, flapped slanted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and double rear vents
  • Flat front high rise trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, and plain-hemmed tapered bottoms
• Black polyester shirt with white buttons, white edge-stitched front placket, and button cuffs
• Black cap toe leather laced shoes
• Black dress socks
• Black slim leather belt with small silver square clasp
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Rolex Day-Date with a gold case, white round dial, and flat gold bracelet
• Pinky ring, worn on right pinky
• Plain gold wedding band, worn on left ring finger

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. To me that was better than being president of the United States. To be a gangster was to own the world.

Footnotes

Curious about what really happened to Billy Batts? It’s not that different from what Goodfellas shows us, although the film wisely condenses the action to one night rather than over the course of a couple weeks. As found on Tommy DeSimone’s Wikipedia page…

Scorsese directs Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, and Frank Vincent. Interesting to note that Vincent is wearing jeans with his suit coat, shirt, and tie.

In the book Wiseguy, Henry Hill said they threw a “welcome home” party at Robert’s Lounge, which was owned by Jimmy Burke, for William “Billy Batts” Bentvena (confused as William Devino), a made man in Carmine Fatico’s crew (the same crew John Gotti was a part of) in the Gambino crime family.

Bentvena had just been released from prison after serving a six year term for drug possession. Hill states in Wiseguy that Bentvena saw DeSimone and asked him if he still shined shoes and DeSimone took this as an insult. Hill also said that Bentvena provoked DeSimone because he wanted to impress some mobsters from another crime family. A couple of minutes later when that issue was going to be forgotten, DeSimone leaned over to Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke and said “I’m gonna kill that fuck.” Hill saw that he was serious about it. A couple of weeks later, on June 11, 1970, Bentvena went over to “The Suite” owned by Hill in Jamaica, Queens to go drinking with DeSimone’s crew, including Hill, DeSimone, and Jimmy. Later that night DeSimone took his girlfriend home and Burke started making Bentvena feel comfortable. Twenty minutes later, DeSimone arrived with a .38 revolver and a plastic mattress cover. DeSimone walked over to him at the corner of the bar and attacked Bentvena. Before Bentvena was attacked, Jimmy Burke tightened his arms around Bentvena and he was pistol whipped with the .38 revolver. He was so inebriated that he couldn’t defend himself.

In the book Wiseguy, Hill said that before DeSimone started to beat Bentvena, DeSimone yelled, “Shine these fucking shoes!” DeSimone killed Bentvena not only because he had insulted him, but also because Burke had taken over Bentvena’s loanshark business while Bentvena was in prison. According to Hill, Bentvena had been complaining to Joseph N. Gallo about getting back this racket. Not wanting to return the business to Bentvena, Burke knew sooner or later Bentvena would have to be killed. After the beating, the three men put Bentvena into the trunk of Hill’s 1970 Buick Electra and later while the three men were driving on The Van Wyck Expressway, they discovered that Bentvena was not dead. Later, they visited DeSimone’s mother’s house to get a knife, lime, and a shovel. Later in the drive, closer to their destination, Hill said it had been an hour of DeSimone driving and he kept getting mad about the noises in the trunk and finally slammed the brakes and leaned over for the shovel and that Burke and DeSimone “didn’t actually shoot him, they just stabbed him, thirty or forty fucking times, fucking horrible.”

Hill does not mention a knife, but claims Burke and DeSimone finished Bentvena off by beating him with a tire iron and the shovel, respectively and the men later buried him under a dog kennel. At the time of the murder in 1970, Bentvena was 49 years old and was a respected and a feared made man in the Gambino crime family, as well as a personal friend of future Gambino boss John Gotti. Murdering a made man without the official consent of his family’s leadership was an unforgivable offense in the Mafia code of omerta, especially by a rival family and a mere associate such as DeSimone, and it was this murder (after the Gotti crew definitively tied DeSimone to the killing) that led to DeSimone’s own murder as retaliation.

Keanu Reeves as John Wick in John Wick (2014).

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Keanu Reeves as John Wick, retired assassin out for revenge

New York City, Spring 2014

Film: John Wick
Release Date: October 24, 2014
Director: Chad Stehelski
Costume Designer: Luca Mosca

Background

Rarely have I ever received such overwhelming demand for a post as I had for John Wick… and I hadn’t even heard of the film before February! Somehow this flick missed my radar completely (the concussion in January didn’t help). Granted, the only movie I’ve managed to see in theaters since last summer was Birdman, but still I tend to be aware of badass action movies upon their release. Thankfully, the badasses who comment on this blog brought it to my attention and now we all have Craig, Aaron, and gunner to thank for this post!

Any preconceived notions I may have had about Keanu Reeves were tossed – or, rather, violently thrown – out the window after seeing him take out approximately 80 bad guys with advanced weaponry and tactics, all while wearing a sharp suit and driving a beautiful example of automotive American muscle.

Not only did Keanu perform about 90% of his own stunts in the movie (which few actors do even in a non-action drama flick these days), but he supposedly learned, memorized, and performed the insane nightclub fight sequence all in the day it was filmed… while running a 104° fever.

So if you’re tired of hearing about all the Fifty Shades of Grey crap and want to watch a real man literally wearing multiple shades of gray without having to tie up some poor woman, here you go.

What’d He Wear?

The Suit

Although John Wick is one of the more emotional hired killers to grace the big screen lately, you’d never know it to look at his slick, monochromatic color palette. Once he begins his puppy-driven revenge, he wears only a sharp dark gray lightweight wool three-piece suit custom-made for him by costume designer Luca Mosca.

John Wick rents a room from Lt. Daniels.

(Wick also wears a brown leather jacket and jeans earlier in the film, but we’ll get to that in a later post.)

The single-breasted suit jacket has slim notch lapels that nicely roll down the front of the jacket to the 2-button front. The lapels have edge stitching and the left lapel is graced by a buttonhole.

It’s been a long couple of days for John Wick, and yet he still dresses to the nines. Take notes.

Wick’s suit jacket also has a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets. There are four buttons on each cuff of the same black plastic as the front buttons. The jacket is nicely fitted with natural shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and double rear vents that allow Wick quick access to his holsters underneath.

The suit is indeed a three-piece, but Wick only wears the vest for a few early scenes. Wick’s vest (or waistcoat) is a very modern low-fastening style with just four buttons to close, revealing much of the chest and tie beneath it. It is single-breasted with no lapels and two lower welted pockets. The notched bottom is small but high enough that Wick is able to keep his bottom buttoned fastened without sacrificing mobility.

The suit’s matching flat front trousers rise low on his waist, but still high enough that the vest keeps his waist line covered. The side pockets are slightly slanted, and both rear pockets are jetted with a single button each to close. The fit through the leg is comfortable but straight, ending at plain-hemmed bottoms that break high over his shoes. The last thing an action hero needs is to trip over his own pants when leaping over a table during a gunfight in a Russian nightclub. (Plus, a short break allows easy access to an ankle holster!)

Some set photos help illustrate everything you ever wanted to know about John Wick’s pants.

As we see in an EXTREME CLOSE-UP when Wick prepares for battle, the trousers have belt loops, through which he wears a solid black leather belt with a well-shined silver square buckle.

The movie wants to make sure we know that John Wick WEARS A BELT.

The Accessories

We know the belt must be solid leather, as it manages to hold Wick’s multitude of holsters and pouches as he goes ballistic (pun) on the local Russian mob. His primary holster is a black leather slide holster worn through the right rear portion of his belt, holding his Heckler & Koch P30L pistol.

Wick’s P30L sits unused in his holster after he takes out a baddie by hand.

The P30L’s two magazines are held in a double carrier on the opposing side of his waist, also in his belt. The positioning of his pistol for a strong side draw and magazines on the left side are wise for someone employing C.A.R. shooting and reloading tactics, which I’ll get into below.

Call me crazy, but it felt like he went through a lot more than two spare magazines during this scene.

Like many action heroes, Wick wisely carries a backup pistol. He opts for the subcompact Glock 26, carried in a black IWB holster just above the left rear pocket of his trousers.

Sometiimes a BUG can be a good thing.

Jewelry-wise, Wick doesn’t go in for much. He wears his stainless wedding band on the third finger of his left hand, a memento of the wife he loved so dearly. Otherwise, his only accessory is a Carl F. Bucherer Manero AutoDate, worn on the inside of his left wrist. Chad Stahelski, the film’s primary director, mentioned that this military style was often adopted to protect the timepiece, and it thus seemed appropriate for a hitman like Wick. At a going rate of $3,495, it’s no wonder that Wick would want to protect it.

Lee, a commenter, adds that the tactical decision to wear a watch inside reduces glare that would compromise the wearer’s position as well as offering the opportunity to view the wristwatch with a weapon drawn for synchronization.

Wick gets ready at 9:47 p.m.

Wick’s Manero AutoDate consists of a 42mm stainless case with a scratch resistant, anti-reflective sapphire crystal and a transparent sapphire back. The dial is white with silver-toned luminescent hands and markers and a 3:00-position date. The strap is black alligator leather.

Wick’s preference for black leather accessories extends to his feet, where he wears a pair of black calfskin cap toe bluchers with three eyelets and squared toes. A pair of thick black cotton dress socks keeps the whole black theme going.

Remember that ankle holster that benefits from a high-breaking trouser leg? Wick straps a black flip knife onto a black holster worn on the outside of his left leg.

Update! Thanks to Craig, we also know that Wick’s knife is a Microtech Ultratech OTF.

Shirts and Ties

All of Wick’s shirts are similarly styled and probably came from the same manufacturer… although I’m not quite sure which one. They all have moderately spread collars, French cuffs, a narrow front placket, and no breast pocket. The rear of each shirt has two side darts.

The first shirt he wears on his kill-crazy revenge trip is dark gray metallic, just a shade lighter than the suit. He pairs it with a similarly contrasting dark gray ribbed silk tie. Unlike denim, pairing multiple shades of a dark color works nicely with gray, and Wick plays it perfectly. He fastens the double cuffs of the dark gray shirt with silver and black squared cuff links.

Three shades of gray.

For his foray into the nightclub, Wick wears a plain white dress shirt and a solid black silk tie. The white shirt’s double cuffs are worn with another pair of silver and black squared cuff links.

Ugh, the one time he wears a light shirt and he has to go and get blood all over it. Just… sloppy.

Due to the lighting in the scene and the contrast of white vs. gray, some have speculated that he wears a black suit for this scene – thus channeling the popular Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction look, but this is incorrect… it is the same suit, just sans waistcoat.

The next day, Wick goes into full assault mode. He’s not playing around anymore, and his black shirt shows that he means business… and his business is death. (I felt like I was designing a poster for a bad Dolph Lundgren movie as I wrote that. Maybe one where Dolph plays a violent, jaded office drone. Let’s get back to that.)

Wick contrasts the black shirt with a gray diagonally-ribbed Calvin Klein silk tie. The ribs fall in a left-down-to-right direction. How do I know it’s a Calvin Klein tie? A behind-the-scenes shot captured at a lucky angle shows the white rear loop with CK’s standard black lettering.

If the badass shotty is distracting you more than the Calvin Klein tie (or the obvious green screen, for that matter), keep reading.

His cuff links with the black shirt appear to be silver diamond-studded rectangles with a mother-of-pearl center. I could be way off, of course.

Dammit!

Wick also wore the black shirt earlier to his wife’s funeral, that time paired with the solid black tie.

Some promotional photos and posters depict Wick wearing a black lightweight turtleneck jumper around this scene, but I don’t believe it appears in the finished film. I guess the turtleneck lobby lost this battle. (It’s okay, SPECTRE‘s got them covered.)

It looks badass… but he didn’t actually wear it in the movie.

Underoos

Wick’s preference for gray and black does not extend to his undergarments. In fact, his plain white cotton crew neck t-shirt and light blue cotton boxers are more reminiscent of Don Draper than Dolph Lundgren. (Yes, I know Don switches to white undershorts after the first episode, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.)

Is the lump on his left buttock a poorly-concealed microphone? I hope so.

Go Big or Go Home

After losing his classic Mustang to a gang of Russian thugs (more on that car in the upcoming leather jacket post), John Wick doesn’t throw in the towel and say, “Aw, to hell with a nice car. I’ll take a 2002 Corolla.” Instead, he sticks with strong American muscle, switching brands by getting into the driver’s seat of a slick black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396.

Give me a car like that, and I’d probably forget all about revenge.

Ever the diplomat, Wick honors all three major American brands – Ford, GM, and Chrysler – when he hops into a black 2011 Dodge Charger sedan for the final act. Mopar fans may rejoice at the inclusion of a Dodge, but it would’ve been nice to see the ’68 Charger in Leguizamo’s chop shop get some action in.

I’m legitimately thinking about getting a 2011-2015 Charger V8 AWD. Anyone have any experience with them?

Wick stays brand savvy with his choice of phones. Anyone out there with an iPhone 5S – you’re using the same smartphone of choice as a badass ex-killer.

The blood covering Wick’s hands isn’t a spoiler;. this is literally from the first scene in the movie.

In a film with a body count of 119, John Wick wisely mixes it up so we’re seeing more than just a lot of shooting – badass though the shooting may be. Keanu must have trained pretty damn hard for this, as he whips out some traditional jujutsu that certainly looks expert to a novice like myself. Much of his fighting method consists of head throws and arm throws, leading to more than a few of the 76 deaths caused by Wick’s own hand. (To save you all some math, that means 64% of the deaths in the movie are John Wick-inflicted.)

He does have a soft spot for some things, though. Unfortunately, being loved by John Wick isn’t a good sign for your future. Wife? Dead. Car? Stolen and chopped. Puppy? Well, I don’t even want to say. But it’s sad.

Aw, Daisy.

What to Imbibe

Not only is John Wick a connoisseur of clothing, combat, canines, and cars, but he also knows a thing or two about good whiskey. After the nightclub gunfight takes a lot out of him – including a lot of blood – Wick is getting stitched up by an underworld doctor. When the doctor asks if he needs any pain medication, Wick raises his glass of Blanton’s, indicating that he is just fine without the relatively lacking benefits of aspirin.

Seeing a bottle of Blanton’s has a very Pavlovian effect on me.

As a Bourbon drinker, I’ve found drinking Blanton’s to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my 25 years on Earth. Full and slightly citrusy with a hint of burnt vanilla, Blanton’s is a comfortable kick in the pants at 93 proof. The Original Single Barrel bottling is worth every bit of its $50 price tag, and it makes a great gift… especially for yourself.

How to Get the Look

It’s hard to be as inconspicuous when you’ve got an assault carbine strapped across your chest.

Think gray.

• Dark gray lightweight wool bespoke suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted suit coat with slim notch lapels, 2-button front, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double rear vents
  • Single-breasted low-fastening vest/waistcoat with 4-button front, 2 welted lower pockets, and notched bottom
  • Flat front low rise trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, button-through jetted rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms with short break
• Dark gray metallic dress shirt with moderate spread collar, narrow front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Dark gray ribbed silk Calvin Klein necktie
• Silver & black metal cuff links
• Black leather belt with silver-toned square clasp/buckle
• Black calfskin leather 3-eyelet squared cap toe bluchers
• Black thick cotton dress socks
• White cotton crew neck short-sleeve undershirt
• Light blue cotton boxer undershorts with elastic waistband
• Stainless wedding band, worn on left ring finger
• Carl F. Bucherer Manero AutoDate with stainless round case, white dial (with date), and black alligator leather strap, worn on inside of left wrist
• Black slide holster, worn on right rear, for full-size H&K pistol
• Black double magazine carrier, worn on left belt
• Black IWB holster, worn on left rear, for subcompact Glock pistol

The Guns

John Wick’s primary handgun, the Heckler & Koch P30L fitted with a custom compensator, is a relative newcomer to the big screen. Unlike many pistols which have a compact variant of a full-size model, the P30L is actually a full-size variant of the more compact P30. Wick’s P30L is chambered in 9×19 mm Parabellum, as indicated on the barrel. He actually owns two, as seen when he heads into his subterranean arsenal after the attack on his home. He keeps his P30L holstered in a slide holster on the right rear side of his belt. (A commenter has suggested that this is possibly a Yaqui slide holster.)

Damn, son.

The P30 was originally introduced in 2006 as an evolutionary descendant of H&K’s earlier USP and P2000 pistols. It was developed and marketed as the perfect police handgun, and the Zollkriminalamt (German Customs Investigation Bureau) kicked off a wave of European police adoption when it adopted the V6 variant, which uses a DAO system with a heavier trigger pull. Currently, police forces in Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland have all begun using variants of the P30.

A standard, uncompensated H&K P30L.

The P30 and P30L are both available in 9×19 mm and .40 S&W, carrying 15 and 13 rounds – respectively – in a lightweight 3.3 ounce box magazine. The P30L boasts a 0.5″ longer barrel (4.4″) than the P30, slightly increasing its overall length to 7.7″ and unloaded weight to 24.2 ounces. Like other H&K pistols, it has multiple variants (V0-V6) based on the action, trigger pull, and decocker.

Wick’s backup pistol is a subcompact Glock 26, also chambered in 9×19 mm. Wick keeps his Glock holstered in an IWB fastened into his left rear waistband. Like the P30L, he is also shown owning two of these pistols.

One of John Wick’s Glocks. This also gives us a nice shot of the P30L’s custom compensator.

When he goes into full assault mode the day after the nightclub gunfight, Wick arms himself with a Coharie Arms CA-415 assault carbine, an American clone of the Heckler & Koch HK416. In turn, the HK416 had been inspired by the M4 Carbine, so this is essential a copy of a copy. Think #4 from Multiplicity. (Second Michael Keaton movie reference in this post!)

A conscientious shooter like Wick keeps his finger off the trigger at all times when he’s not shooting, even when he wants to kill everyone around him.

Like the P30L, the HK416 is relatively new, having only entered production in 2005 and first appearing in films with 2008’s Hancock. James Bond notably used a found HK416 D10RS while fending off Silva’s henchmen in the final act of Skyfall.

Similar to the HK416, the CA-415 takes STANAG magazines of 5.56×45 mm NATO ammunition, fired in either semi-automatic or fully automatic mode. Much information about the CA-415 comes from IMFDB, which places the overall length at 36.9″ with a 16.5″ barrel and total weight of 7.9 pounds. Wick’s model has a shorter barrel and is fitted with an EOTech 553 holographic sight and a vertical foregrip. A second Coharie weapon, the MP-10 submachine gun in 9×19 mm, makes a brief appearance in the hands of one of Viggo’s doomed thugs.

During the same gunfight, Wick commandeers one of the unique Kel-Tec KSG shotguns used by the thugs. The KSG is a very distinctive pump-action shotgun developed in 2011. Its double tube magazines under the single 18.5″ barrel give the weapon a total capacity of either twelve or fourteen 12-gauge shells… as well as the misconception that it is a double-barreled weapon.

The Kel-Tec KSG: Not your granddad’s 12-gauge.

The KSG shotguns seen in John Wick have EOTech sights.

Center Axis Relock Shooting

John Wick has become noteworthy in the firearm community for prominently featuring the Center Axis Relock (C.A.R.) shooting system, which was developed by Paul Castle to increase performance of close-range combat, particularly with semi-automatic handguns. The goal is to use the shooter’s condition under duress to his or her own advantage, eliminating stability issues by focusing on natural focal points and movements. The stable firing grip improve a shooter’s recoil control, thus increasing the rate of accurate fire. According to an article at Aimed Point Shooting (APS), this can be up to four center mass shots in less than one second. The system was also developed to improve one-hand weapon retention and allow the support hand more freedom for non-shooting related movements like opening a door or pushing something away.

You can make whatever face you want while shooting, but this is definitely a grimace worth recommending.

Another benefit of the C.A.R. system is that it saves time. Not only is it “strong, stable, and flexible” – as noted in the APS article – but it allows quick target acquisition and reloading. APS notes two stances that are bases for C.A.R. system action:

• The High Position, used for moving, confined spaces, and from cover. The shooter fires from a semi-bladed stance, holding the weapon near the chest and reducing the silhouette to form a “circle of control and defense”.
• The Extended Position, used for entry, combat, assault, and from a vehicle. The shooter holds the weapon naturally but at a reading distance – rather than full arm extension – to rely on the shooter’s natural focus point.

With the support hand freer due to the reduced stress on the shooting hand, reloading or clearing a jam can be performed much quicker with a rapid return to shooting. All actions should be performed close to the body using short movements. The C.A.R. system also relies on two different types of reloading:

• The Combat Reload, when the pistol is empty. Use the free hand’s thumb and index finger to draw a front-facing magazine while simultaneously lowering the gun hand’s elbow, keeping the gun in place. The empty magazine should be ejected by operating the weapon’s release and quickly flicking the wrist out and back. The free hand’s index finger will then quickly guide the fresh mag into the pistol, pressing it in with the free hand’s palm. John Wick does this a good number of times to great effect.
• The Tactical Reload, typically when the pistol isn’t empty. Use the free hand’s index and middle fingers to draw a magazine, bringing it up to the gun as the gun hand’s elbow lowers. Operate the mag release as the new magazine approaches the gun, then pull out the partial mag with the free hand’s thumb and index finger. In one flowing motion, press in the new magazine while letting the top-heavy partial mag fall into the free hand’s palm.

Wick benefits from a lightning fast reload afforded him by the CAR technique.

Keanu Reeves talked about his weapons training in an October 2014 interview with The Sag Harbor Express:

I’ve had some movie gun training in the past, so some of the techniques I was familiar with, but each character I play requires something different so I worked for a while with a gentleman from LAPD SWAT.  I also worked with a guy from the army, because I would be doing different kinds of weapon and tactical techniques.  So it was basically reacquainting myself with weapons and techniques while training new things on the job and trying to get it right under the circumstances. One thing I needed to get right was a tricky holster!

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Do I look civilized to you?

Footnotes

Mr. Mom. Now I’ve mentioned three Michael Keaton movies in this post.

I want to go to there.

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 5.08: “Whistle Past the Graveyard”).

Vitals

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

Harlan County, Kentucky, Spring 2014

Series: Justified
Episodes:
– “The Kids Aren’t All Right” (Episode 5.02, Director: Bill Johnson, Air Date: January 14, 2014)
– “Good Intentions” (Episode 5.03, Director: Dean Parisot, Air Date: January 21, 2014)
– “Whistle Past the Graveyard” (Episode 5.08, Director: Peter Werner, Air Date: March 4, 2014)
– “The Toll” (Episode 5.11, Director: Jon Avnet, Air Date: March 25, 2014)
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Patia Prouty

Background

With the Kentucky Derby upon us this weekend, BAMF Style is returning to Harlan County to check in with one of our favorite residents of the state, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.

Justified‘s penultimate season finds Raylan Givens primarily facing off against the gator farmers of Dewey Crowe’s criminal family, led by his oldest brother Darryl Jr. (Michael Rapaport) who proves to be a much more menacing nemesis than the tragically dimwitted Dewey (Damon Herriman). Fans who first met the hapless Dewey in the pilot episode, irresponsibly brandishing a shotgun retrieved from the trunk of his Cadillac while a gator-tooth necklace clings to his “Heil Hitler”-tattooed neck must have been surprised to see that the scrappy little hoodlum was developed to the point of having such a fascinatingly imposing family, but that’s just the magic of the potential that Elmore Leonard gives to all of his characters.

What’d He Wear?

One of Raylan’s favorite off-duty looks over the entire run of Justified is a plaid shirt layered over a dark T-shirt, naturally worn with jeans as well as his usual lineup of cowboy boots, Stetson hat, and holstered Glock. Throughout the fifth season, Raylan offers a fresh take on a dark upper half by incorporating a gray-on-black plaid shirt over a black T-shirt.

Raylan abides.

Raylan’s outer layer is a black flannel shirt with an all gray tartan plaid overcheck. While a “flannel shirt” is colloquially – and ultimately wrongly – used to describe a plaid shirt, it’s worth noting that flannel actually refers to the softly woven fabric from which the shirt is made. Traditionally, flannel was made from wool, but the growing popularity of cotton, silk, and synthetic fibers in clothing now means that the flannel process can be applied to various materials.

The gray-on-black plaid flannel shirt has a slim collar and black plastic buttons down the front placket. Similar buttons are found to fasten the cuffs and to close the mitred-corner flaps on each of the two chest patch pockets.

Raylan chats up the least repulsive member of the Crowe clan.

Underneath, Raylan wears a plain black cotton short-sleeve T-shirt with a crew neck and a small patch pocket on the left chest. While Raylan seems like the type of guy who would just buy a three-pack of undershirts from Hanes or Fruit of the Loom and call it a day, this shirt more resembles the comfortable and affordable minimalism from a brand like H&M, which offers a similar black cotton pocket tee for $9.99.

Hank Moody would be proud of Raylan Givens.

Raylan wears his tried-and-true blue medium wash Levi’s denim jeans. These (appropriately) bootcut jeans have the usual five-pocket layout of two front pockets, right coin pocket, and two patch pockets in the back.

Yep… Hank Moody would be very proud of Raylan Givens.

Raylan wears his ostrich leg cowboy boots from Lucchese, which the company describes as made from a “cigar” shade of dark brown leather. These distinctive boots can still be found at sites like Sam’s Boot Ranch.

Raylan’s boots are most clearly seen when sporting a similar look – wearing a navy blue and forest green plaid flannel shirt rather than gray-on-black – in “Starvation” (Episode 5.12).

Although most of his clothing is black (suits) or blue (denim), Raylan always wears brown leather accessories. In the fifth season, he wears a well-worn dark brown tooled leather belt with a large steel single-claw buckle. The belt has white stitching along the top and bottom with vertical double-stitching on the belt’s thick front loop.

Fixed to the right side of his belt for a right-hand draw is Raylan’s Bianchi Model 59 Special Agent® thumb break paddle holster in tan-finished full grain leather. Raylan’s holster, model #19128, is fitted for a right-hand shooter carrying a 4.49″-barreled full size pistol like our protagonist’s trusty Glock 17.

Raylan’s Glock remains holstered by his side at all times.

At the end of “Whistle Past the Graveyard” (Episode 5.08), Raylan briefly wears his blue denim Levi’s trucker jacket as an extra layer, recalling the “denim sandwich” look that he manages to pull off unlike so many other men. The stonewashed denim jacket has two patch pockets on the chest that close with a steel button through a pointed flap as well as the handwarmer side pockets that were added to Levi’s denim jackets in 1980. There are six aluminum stud buttons down the front as well as a button to close each cuff and a button-fastened adjustable strap on each side of the waistband.

I forgot just how much swagger Raylan had during the fifth season.

Although known for his distinctive cowboy hat, Raylan tends to go hatless with this outfit, leaving his ranch tan 4X wool Stetson cattleman’s hat at home.

Raylan’s wristwatch is his usual TAG Heuer Series 6000 with a white dial and brushed steel case. The watch is secured to his left wrist on a plain black leather strap.

Finally, Raylan sports his silver horseshoe ring on the third finger of his right hand, a subtle call-out of his cowboy reputation and tendencies.

How to Get the Look

Raylan’s off-duty casual wear is exactly what you’d expect: ruggedly masculine and comfortably utilitarian… while still just fashionable enough for him to catch the eye of an interested woman.

• Gray-on-black plaid flannel long-sleeve shirt with slim collar, front placket, and mitred-corner flapped chest pockets
• Black cotton short-sleeve crew-neck T-shirt with small patch pocket
• Blue denim Levi’s bootcut jeans
• Lucchese “cigar”-colored brown ostrich leg Western-style boots with decorative stitched calf leather shafts
• Dark brown tooled leather belt with a dulled steel single-claw buckle
• Tan full grain leather Bianchi Model 59 Special Agent® paddle holster for a full-size Glock pistol
• TAG Heuer Series 6000 wristwatch with brushed steel case, white dial, and black leather strap
• Silver horseshoe ring

On a chilly evening, Raylan isn’t opposed to the “Canadian tuxedo” of a blue Levi’s trucker jacket worn with his blue jeans… he would probably refer if you called it a Kentucky tuxedo, though.

The Gun

Both on- and off-duty, Raylan carries his blued Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol, chambered in 9×19 mm Parabellum. The U.S. Marshal Service has issued the Glock 22 since 2000 – famously called out as a plot point by Tommy Lee Jones in U.S. Marshals – but that model’s .40 S&W ammunition is more expensive than the 9mm of the Glock 17.

Given the amount of gunplay on Justified and the cosmetic similarities between the on-screen Glock 17 and the actual issued Glock 22, the economical decision of the showrunners to utilize less expensive blank ammunition should be applauded.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the entire series. This look was primarily seen throughout the fifth season, making its primary appearances in “Good Intentions” (Episode 5.03) and “Whistle Past the Graveyard” (Episode 5.08) with only brief or varied appearances in the other mentioned episodes.

And, if you’re a “rolly coaster” fan like Uncle Jack in “Whistle Past the Graveyard”, do yourself the favor of checking out the mentioned “face-melter” Millennium Force at Cedar Point. It’s a hell of a ride. (One of the first times I rode the Millennium Force shortly after it opened, a pen flew out of my pocket while going down a hill. It briefly lingered near my face before the velocity of the coaster overtook gravity and the hotel pen was relegated to my wake.)

The Quote

Get me out here again, you best remember to ditch.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006).

Vitals

Daniel Craig as James Bond, British government agent and card sharp

Bahamas, July 9, 2006

Film: Casino Royale
Release Date: November 14, 2006
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming

Background

For the 00-7th of July, BAMF Style is traveling back ten years (or at least two days shy of ten years) to Daniel Craig’s first outing as James Bond in Casino Royale. The agent finds himself supposedly “on holiday” at One&Only Ocean Club in the Bahamas, secretly following up on a lead for his investigation.

Bond’s Caribbean getaway appropriately leads to cocktails, beautiful women, and a game of high-stakes – or “Aston Martin stakes” poker – in an exotic locale.

What’d He Wear?

Unlike earlier Bond films that found 007 waltzing into a casino wearing a tuxedo regardless of the actual formality, Craig’s Bond dresses comfortably and practically while still looking fashionable for an evening round of poker at One&Only Ocean Club.

Bond appears to be wearing a basic black button-up shirt untucked with a pair of taupe linen trousers when he strolls into the gambling area. However, information from the Absolutely James Bond forums (1 2 3 4) reveal that plenty of work from the wardrobe team went into modifying the shirt to look just right for this scene.

The black soft polyester long-sleeve shirt worn by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale was from Alfani, a Macy’s house brand. People with costume cards or who have seen the shirt firsthand describe its woven “microfiber” texture that feels almost like suede or velvet. Costume designer Lindy Hemming even reveals the shirt’s “heavy navy blue” color, although there is still some forum discussion. Since the shirt looks black on screen, it will be treated as a black shirt in this post.

Bond eyes his prey for the evening.

After the shirt was obtained, it still had plenty of customization ahead of it for the production. The shirt originally had a concealed button-down collar with hidden tabs beneath the collar that fixed it to the shirt; both the collar buttons and the hidden tabs were removed. The shirt’s uneven hem, originally meant to be worn tucked in, was tailored to be cut straight square around the bottom with a short notched vent on each side. (This trend led to Chris Riccobono founding the New York clothing company UNTUCKit to specifically cater to men wishing to look fashionable while wearing an untucked shirt. Had UNTUCKit existed when Casino Royale was filmed, we might have seen Bond wearing the “Aubon” cotton oxford shirt or “Valpolicella” soft poplin shirt.)

The final result, as customized for the on-screen shirt, reminds me of a black microfiber Bruno shirt I had also purchased from Macy’s around 2001… more on that below! Like the Casino Royale shirt, it had a non-buttoning soft collar, plain front, breast pocket, and straight hem. (If only the team had reached out to me in 2006, as I would have been more than happy to source my shirt for 007!)

Bond wears Ted Baker “Larked” linen flat front trousers in mink brown. These trousers have slanted side pockets and a patch pocket on the back right. Bond wears them without a belt while casually gambling at the Ocean Club, but he slips on a belt with the brown Armani leather jacket and gray t-shirt when he follows a lead to Miami later that night. The trousers have a straight cut and plain-hemmed bottoms.

Bond makes the most of his brief time with Solange (Caterina Murino).

Although the “Larked” model has been discontinued, 007 wannabes jonesing for a pair of Bond-style linen trousers can try Ted Baker “Linchi”, available in a gray linen-cotton blend for $89 as of June 2016. If you want a summer trouser more along the lines of the mink pants sported by Daniel Craig, Ted Baker also offers the “Tegatin” mini-design cotton trousers for $71.

Bond wears black leather cap-toe oxfords at the poker game and throughout his floor session with Solange that he appears to continue wearing when he heads up to Miami, despite the surprising formality of the shoe with this outfit. They do not appear to be the John Lobb “Luffield” 2-eyelet derby shoes that he later wears with his dinner suit at Casino Royale.

Bond makes a subtle but grand entrance into the gaming area.

Bond wears two Omega wristwatches in Casino Royale; this scene features the sportier Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean “Big Size” 2900.50.91 on a large black rubber strap. The “Big Size” moniker is no misnomer due to the watch’s 45.5mm stainless steel case. The bezel and the dial, covered by a scratch-resistant domed sapphire crystal, are both black.

Bond doesn’t seem too concerned about timekeeping at a moment like this…

More information about the watch can be found at James Bond Lifestyle.

What to Imbibe

James Bond sidles up to the hotel bar as gamblers around him play round after round of high stakes poker. This is the first we’ve seen the agent ordering a drink on-screen. Will it be a vodka martini, shaken not stirred…?

Large Mount Gay with soda, please.

Even the two buffoonish German tourists are shocked by Bond’s supposedly “uncharacteristic” drink of choice!

Much like his untucked black shirt in a casual resort casino, Bond’s choice makes sense given his surroundings. Why expect to always be seeing him in a tuxedo drinking a martini – just because he’s James Bond in a casino? Of course our ruggedly sophisticated hero would order a drink appropriate to the context of the scene, and for a calm summer evening of gambling in the Caribbean, Bond chooses wisely with a Rum and Soda.

The first distinction to make is that this is not a “Rum and Coke,” the highball of choice for college students and obsessive Dr Pepper drinkers. While that ubiquitous campus concoction uses cola, Bond orders his with plain soda water to both neutralize the potency of the rum (keeping his mind sharp while gambling) and to offer refreshing coolness on a warm night.

Mount Gay has been distilled in Barbados for centuries, with the oldest surviving company deed from 1703 dating it as the longest existing rum brand in the world. It has a strong association with sailors, particularly English sailors due to the British influence in Barbados, making it an especially savvy choice for Commander Bond of the Royal Navy Reserve.

I tend to shy away from rum after too many nights serving under Admiral Nelson and Captain Morgan in college, but Mount Gay offers a full flavor without the sweetness or spice that drove me away from rum and into the welcoming arms of whiskey. It was a bottle of Mount Gay Eclipse that reintroduced rum to my palette.

(It’s also worth mentioning that Bond also enjoys some chilled Bollinger Grand Année champagne with Solange back in his room.)

How to Get the Look

Casino Royale proves that James Bond doesn’t need to sport his finest dinner suit every time he walks into a casino; in fact, he need go no further than the Macy’s men’s casual department!

• Black soft polyester Alfani button-up shirt with soft collar, plain front, breast pocket, squared button cuffs, and customized straight hem
• Mink brown linen flat front Ted Baker “Larked” trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, right rear patch pocket, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather belt with squared steel single-claw buckle
• Black leather cap-toe bluchers
• Light gray cotton socks
• Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean “Big Size” 2900.50.91 on a large black rubber strap

According to an Absolutely James Bond forum post, the Alfani shirt’s tag read “Made in Vietnam/ WPL 8046” which may help some potential wearers track down the original shirt, although the “WPL 8046” code seems to have been reused on other items for both men and women.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

‘n abend.

Footnote

The shirt I purchased around 2001 from Macy’s shares some similarities with the end result of the on-screen shirt worn by Daniel Craig. This Bruno “Sueded Microfiber” shirt is 75% rayon and 25% polyester… not the most luxurious blend, but the microfiber texture keeps it comfortable fifteen years after I first picked it up.

Sadly, only a drop remains of my Mount Gay Eclipse, but I plan on rectifying that with a new bottle soon.

Although it’s a lightweight material, I typically don’t wear it in the summer because the polyester blend doesn’t breathe nearly as well as any of my cotton or linen alternatives. Still, it’s a worthwhile shirt that I didn’t expect to last this long and it comes in handy when channeling Daniel Craig’s James Bond dressing down (or David Duchovny’s Hank Moody dressing up!)

Vitals

David Duchovny as Hank Moody on Californication. (Episode 3.02: “The Land of Rape and Honey”)

David Duchovny as Hank Moody, borderline alcoholic and womanizing college professor, née novelist

Venice Beach, Fall 2009

Series: Californication
Episode: “The Land of Rape and Honey” (Episode 3.02)
Air Date: October 4, 2009
Director: Bart Freundlich & David Von Ancken
Costume Designer: Peggy A. Schnitzer

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Midterms are in full swing for fall semester college students, so BAMF Style is taking a look at Californication‘s Hank Moody making his brief foray into the world of academia. Frankly, the show’s third season is where it started to lose my interest with broader humor that seemed more focused on being zany and raunchy than relatable. (For example, a brooding student’s suicide attempt is seemingly written in – and quickly written off – as an excuse for Hank to pontificate and spout a few one-liners and find out that one of his hot students is also a stripper.)

…but now I’m pontificating! “The Land of Rape and Honey” (eek, that episode title!) is the most we see of Professor Hank Moody in action – before using his job to get some action – and, of course, he kinda sucks at it.

What’d He Wear?

Hank Moody doesn’t dress any differently than usual when working his brief professorial shift, sporting dark button-up shirts and dark jeans typically accompanied by his trademark brown smoking jacket and Chelsea boots.

Hank looks up from his phone for a few minutes to deliver some sage advice to the young writers of America.

The olive brown smoking jacket re-emerges in this episode, having been briefly replaced by a darker and heavier version in the third season premiere. It is the same familiar thin-corded, single-breasted 2-button jacket that Hank’s been wearing since his introduction in the first episode. Edge swelling is present throughout from the notch lapels to the welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets. It has a single back vent and 3-button cuffs.

Hank wears this comfortable black lightweight cotton button-up shirt in many third season episodes (“Wish You Were Here”, “Zoso”, “Comings and Goings”, and the climactic finale in “Mia Culpa”), always with the button cuffs undone and rolled partially up his forearms. It has a plain front with no placket and no pocket. It is distinctive with its slim, soft collar, reinforced stitched seam across the horizontal back yoke, and the easily-wrinkled material that suggests the possibility of a cotton-linen blend.

Hank sits at attention in his office.

It takes a wedding, a funeral, or extreme physical activity to get Hank Moody in anything but jeans, so a few hours slumped behind a desk each day would hardly be enough to get him to wear anything but “the people’s fabric”. His dark blue denim jeans in this scene may or may not be from the New York designer Earnest Sewn, which definitely made some of Hank’s jeans as confirmed by the ScreenBid auction of Californication costumes and props in July 2014.

Hank takes a decidedly casual approach to teaching.

You may not realize it at first glance, but Hank actually wears a different pair of brown Chelsea boots than usual in this scene. These boots are dark brown oiled leather with lighter brown elastic side gussets, brown-stitched quarter seams, and black soles.

…a very casual approach

The Timberland Earthkeepers® Tremont Chelsea boot in dark brown oiled leather.

Hank’s usual Chelsea boots are sueded leather Timberland Torrance boots with black side gussets in various shades of brown. The boots in this episode more closely resemble the Timberland Earthkeepers® Tremont Chelsea – available here or from Amazon in the same dark brown oiled leather – although the Earthkeepers have distinctive Gripstick™ + Green Rubber™ soles for superior traction while Hank’s boots in this episode appear to have more typical black rubber soles.

Update! A reader named Mark contributed a very helpful comment below that identifies Hank’s boots as likely a pair of Blundstones, evident by the boot soles. Mark suggested either the 500 series or 550 series.

Though not clearly seen, Hank is probably wearing his usual black socks and black boxer briefs. During Hank’s tussle with Dean Koons in “Comings  and Goings” (Episode 3.11), the orange-lettered “Calvin Klein” logo can be seen on the black waistband of his boxer briefs.

Hank’s usual jewelry and accessories are also on full display as he gesticulates wildly, doling out unsolicited romantic advice and solicited (but unappreciated) career advice. On his right index finger, he wears his silver ring with two rows of silver “teeth” embedded in the ring’s black ridge.

Hank makes Jill one of many offers that she isn’t eager to accept.

The familiar faded black leather stud bracelet is snapped to Hank’s left wrist with its silver hexagonal studs and a single round stud over the snap. It is supplemented by a black woven leather braid, tied in a permanent knot on the same wrist. Replicas of both bracelets are available at Urban Wrist.

What to Imbibe

It makes sense that a metal fan like Hank Moody would idle his office hours time by enjoying Lemmy’s favorite cocktail, Jack and Coke… or, um, “Jake” and Coke since the show used the fictional lookalike: Jake Danzel’s Old No. 2 Kentucky Whiskey.

Those poor students…

The opportunistically transparent “Jake Danzel’s” is a label offered by Earl Hays Press, one of several prop houses that provides products for movies and TV shows that want to avoid product placement for legal or financial reasons. This can range from beverages, cigarettes, and food to newspapers, magazines, and medicines. Interestingly, although the show goes to these lengths to avoid the actual brand, Hank still refers to “killing that bottle of Jack” after Jackie – the aforementioned student/stripper – makes a late night visit with two friends and a bottle of Jake Danzel’s in “The Apartment” (Episode 3.08).

In this episode, however, Hank pours his whiskey straight into the cola can for himself and offers the bottle to his jaded student to wash down the disappointing news that the young man may not be such a great writer, after all.

How to Get the Look

Hank’s new boots offer a slight twist on his usual “uniform” and his trademark smoking jacket is less out-of-place in this mahogany-paneled university setting than his usual world of beaches and dive bars.

• Olive brown thin-corded single-breasted 2-button smoking jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Black lightweight cotton shirt with soft collar, plain front, and rolled-up button cuffs
• Dark blue denim jeans with long, thin belt loops and five-pocket layout
• Dark brown oiled leather Blundstone slip-on Chelsea boots with brown side gussets and black rubber soles
• Black tube socks
• Black Calvin Klein boxer briefs
• Silver black-ridged ring, worn on the right index finger
• Black leather bracelet with silver hexagonal and round studs, snapped on the left wrist
• Black woven leather braided bracelet, tied on the left wrist

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the show. I think the first two seasons are the best and variations of this look show up in basically every episode, but this particular outfit with the slightly different Chelsea boots only shows up in the third season.

The Quote

The world doesn’t need any more lame vampire fiction.

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

It’s now December, a chilly month that means seeing plenty of red everywhere to celebrate the holiday season. For my office’s upcoming Christmas party, I’ll be choosing to channel the memorable red-and-black custom-made ensemble that Robert De Niro wore as idiosyncratic casino executive Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino.

The real Ace – Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal – was reportedly a loud dresser himself, known for sporting loud pastels and bold earth tones. Rosenthal’s shirtmaker, Anto Beverly Hills, was even contracted by the filmmakers to delve into its own archives to recreate Lefty’s distinctive shirts and ties for De Niro to wear on screen. (Now that would be a nice Christmas gift for someone, if you’re still looking for ideas…)

Costume designer Rita Ryack has stated that she wanted Casino‘s costume colors to reflect the surrounding level of chaos in the story. In this sequence, things have basically escalated to the same “powder keg” level as the Balkans in 1914. Ace’s mercurial ex-wife Ginger (Sharon Stone) has an expensive drug problem, an abusive pimp boyfriend (James Woods), and a terrible habit of tying up their youngest daughter so she can go out on the town with her new boyfriend… and, of course, that boyfriend is Ace’s frenemy Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), a violently volatile gangster who sees Las Vegas as his own murderous playground. Mix in some Mafia overlords and a shotgun-toting Don Rickles and you’ve got yourself one hell of a situation… certainly the sort of situation that calls for a red silk sport coat.

What’d He Wear?

Into this pastiche of tackiness walks De Niro, a sartorial vision in a bright red jacket made of raw silk over all-black undergirding.

…even Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times felt there was something notable about De Niro’s red silk jacket ensemble when writing the paper’s February 22, 1995 cover story about Casino. It’s an outfit that could only be so brazenly pulled off by a man like Sam “Ace” Rothstein: a slightly overconfident man whose sense of self-awareness has become so clouded by the “pastiche of tackiness” of 1970s Las Vegas that, to him, there’s simply no question that it’s an acceptable outfit for a night on the town.

Poor Ace can’t even enjoy a stress-free night out. Of course, you’d be paranoid too if you had the sort of ex who would leave your daughter tied up while she went on a bender. (Interestingly, the woman to Ace’s right – Trudy – is played by Claudia Haro, who was previously married to Joe Pesci before they divorced in 1992.)

In a three hour movie with dozens of costume changes, few cinematic attention is paid to this outfit. It doesn’t get the grand pan-up shot that introduced the adult Henry Hill to Goodfellas audiences by the way of his alligator loafers and gray silk suit; Scorsese matter-of-factly presents Sam Rothstein’s red silk jacket as merely another loud set of clothing that we would expect from a man who has at least three different mint green sport coats.

Ace’s bright red raw silk jacket is single-breasted with characteristic styling of the 1980s like the low two-button stance, extra wide lapel notches, and heavily padded shoulders that hangs the jacket loosely on De Niro’s frame to create an even more powerful, imposing presence as he looms over Nicky.

Ace’s imposing presence in Nicky’s restaurant is probably helped by the fact that Robert De Niro is 5’9″ compared to Joe Pesci’s 5’4″ height.

The three spaced buttons on each cuff are the same dark red plastic as the two on the front and are purely decorative and non-functional. Although ventless jackets would become fashionable during the ’80s, Ace’s red sport coat has a single vent in the back. There is a straight flapped pocket on each hip and a welted breast pocket, where Ace wears a multi-folded red-trimmed black silk display kerchief.

Ace can’t help but to keep the nasty words coming!

As that red jacket is certainly enough on its own, Ace simplifies the rest of his outfit with a total monochromatic color scheme. His black shirt, tie, and trousers – or “undergirdling” as Willman called it in his L.A. Times piece – takes on a blue shine in certain light, but both the shirtmaker Anto and behind-the-scenes raw footage confirmed that it is, indeed, black.

The shirt and tie were made by Anto from the same black silk with the satin side used to create the tie and the dull side used for the shirting. In addition to the long “1977 point collar” used by Anto on most – if not all – of De Niro’s Casino shirts, the black dress shirt features the distinctive “Lapidus” single-button tab cuffs seen on many of Ace’s shirts.

De Niro was feeling much more jovial behind the scenes (left) than his frantic, paranoid character (right).

The black trousers appear to be the same ones that he wore earlier with his cream fleck jacket when confronting an angry Nicky in the desert. They have a darted front with frogmouth pockets and a fitted waistband devoid of adjusters or belt loops. The flared bottoms are plain-hemmed with a full break.

Contrast footwear would disrupt the flow of Ace’s loud outfit, so he continues the black theme with his black leather apron-toe loafers with smooth back counters, raised heels, and a high vamp that nicely works with his black socks to cleanly continue the black trouser leg line into his shoes.

The angles used on screen and the longer break of the trousers makes the details of Ace’s shoes difficult to accurately ascertain, but buyers seeking Ace-appropriate shoes can look to some of the shoemakers that supplied De Niro’s footwear in Casino: Bally, Bruno Magli, Di Fabrizio, Florsheim, and Johnston & Murphy. On the high end of that spectrum, Bruno Magli offers the Raging slip-on moc-toe loafer for $415, while Florsheim offers the Forum or the Midtown for $110 (or the Rally for $10 less), and Johnston & Murphy offers the Goodwin Moc-Toe Venetian for $150.

Ace’s footwear is best seen in times of great duress. Also, check out Don Rickles as Billy Sherbert getting out of Ace’s torn-up ’81 Caddy.

A red-faced watch like the one he wore with his ivory suit and red-on-red silk shirt and tie might have been the obvious choice for this outfit, but a close look at some promotional photos reveal that Ace’s flat silver-toned wristwatch actually has a blue square dial. It is likely one of the several 14-carat white gold vintage watches by Bueche Girod that were obtained for production.

This is backed up by the blue synthetic emerald-cut stone on his 14-carat white gold pinky ring, as Ace almost always matches his rings and watches. Don’t you?

Quintessential De Niro.

Since Casino is set in the usually toasty climate of Las Vegas, very few overcoats are seen. However, this scene is set during the colder fall or winter months (in reality, this incident was early September 1980), so Ace dons a black wool overcoat when he and Billy Sherbert follow a police-accompanied Ginger to the bank as she retrieves her cash and jewels. The single-breasted overcoat has notch lapels that roll down to a three-button front. It is structured similarly to the red jacket beneath it with wide, padded shoulders and a center back vent.

Ace stands, powerless as his life is systematically destroyed.

This fan favorite outfit is the last newly seen* of De Niro’s in the film and is featured second-to-last on the bottom of Ibraheem Youssef’s distinctive poster that illustrates all of Ace’s suits and odd jackets.

* Excluding the gray polka-dot silk robe he briefly wears when federal agents present him with photos of Nicky and Ginger, and excluding the salmon-colored jacket that was previously seen during the flash-forward prologue.

Expecting trouble overnight but not about to lounge around in plebian attire, Ace wears a navy silk dressing gown over his shirt and trousers. The robe has tan piping on the belt, the gauntlet cuff edges, the pockets, and the wide shawl collar. The entire garment is also covered in a printed tan pattern that looks like a series of panthers or some other four-legged animal.

Ace’s gestures are just not enough to convince the friendly cops that Ginger should be stopped.

This robe had been previously featured in earlier scenes when Ginger was desperately asking for money for Lester leading up to Ace’s ivory-suited confrontation with him in the diner, when Ace and Nicky use their wives to coordinate their ultimately final desert meeting, and when Ace kicks Ginger out of the house. Something about wearing this robe tends to mean a confrontation in Ace’s future…

How to Get the Look

A behind-the-scenes shot of Robert De Niro in the Jubilation nightclub set of Casino.

Ace Rothstein’s red-on-black silk outfit is one of the most memorable from Casino, signifying the dramatic shift that the storyline has taken toward frantic paranoia as opposed to the more serene earth tones of the early establishing scenes… not to mention that it allows Robert De Niro to fit in perfectly while puffing away on Dunhill cigarettes in an animal-print decorated Vegas nightclub to the sounds of Devo’s “Satisfaction”.

• Red raw silk single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single back vent
• Black dull silk dress shirt with long point collar and 1-button “Lapidus” tab cuffs
• Black 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
• Black wool single-breasted 3-button overcoat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, hip pockets, single back vent
• White gold vintage wristwatch with blue square dial on link bracelet
• White gold 14-carat pinky ring with synthetic blue emerald-cut stone set in geometric polished shank

A plain black pocket square would simply be too plain for a bold outfit like this, so Ace wears a red-trimmed display kerchief poking out of his jacket’s breast pocket, custom made by Anto to perfectly match the black shirt and tie while also calling out the surrounding redness of the silk sport coat.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Listen to me – listen carefully. You ever touch her again, you ever do anything like that again, I’ll fucking kill ya, pure and simple. You hear me? Pure and fuckin’ simple.

Footnotes

I mentioned Devo’s “Satisfaction” as the soundtrack to this scene. Perhaps a nod to just how far things have come from Ace and Nicky’s more “idyllic” friendship in the ’60s, Scorsese uses Devo’s cover of The Rolling Stones’ 1965 hit single “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” as the backdrop, building up to Ace’s phone call to Billy Sherbert that ends with him asking: “You got a gun at home?”

Devo released their cover of “Satisfaction” as a single in 1977; it also appeared the following year on their debut album Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!

Apparently, even celebrity impersonators have picked up on the importance of this Casino outfit. Robert Nash (“DeNiro Guy”) advertises his services with a header image that is undoubtedly inspired by this scene.

I’ll be honest: I’ve been looking forward to writing about this outfit!