Rebel without a Cause (1955)

Writing about 'the James Dean look' on movies like Badlands and Flyboys, I had to cover and show where this ideal image originates from. The popularity of James Dean was immense at the time and some say this was the reason for Warner Bros. to order director Nicholas Ray to re-shoot the movie in color. As originally the film was to be shot in black and white.

The rebellious character of Jim Stark seems of course to have been written for James Dean, who was known for his love of cars and any sorts of racing. However 'the James Dean look' has got nothing to do with cars, but is all about the indifferent, bored but cool expression on his face, his white tee combined with the iconic Lee 101 Riders jeans and the red Harrington jacket completes this look. Nicolas Ray did research on contemporary L.A. gangs for the characters in this movie and this resulted in lots of selvage jeans, probably most of them big E 501's, leather jackets and cowboy-style boots.

American Psycho (2000)

I know American Psycho is an often featured film when talking style, suits or just still images taken from movies. Still I enjoy every single minute of this utterly good movie. The mockery of the 80's and the Wallstreet type of businessmen is just great. The delusion in which these businessmen mingle themselves every single day, the fake burden and responsibility they carry and their materialistic view on life. This hollow life is all too much for the narcissistic character of Patrick Bateman, the best role performed by Christian Bale to date. Perhaps the still of Willem Dafoe need some explaining, it's his face that has got so much character to it, he's the actor that could, in theory, play any kind of role. I had to capture it.

The following thought/quotation from Patrick Bateman is my favorite one of the movie and actually summarizes it quite good:

"Allen has mistaken me for this dickhead, Marcus Halberstram.
It seems logical because Marcus also works at P&P,
and in fact does the same exact thing I do.
He also has a penchant for Valentino suits and Oliver Peoples glasses.
Marcus and I even go to the same barber,
although I have a slightly better haircut."