MovieChat Forums > Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) Discussion > Bowties

Bowties

posted 9 years ago by tika313
4 replies | jump to latest

I'm literally less than 5 minutes into this film and I already hoping it gets better. I'm going into it with high expectations because of all the nominations and positive reviews. I hope the writing and acting are enough for me to suspend belief that this movie was made in the twenty first century because at this moment it's not. If the art department and the director allow something so obvious to slide by I'm not so sure I can sit through it without cringing and shaking my head. The reason for my disappointment is this, every single man in the opening sequence has on the exact same bowtie. On what planet does that happen because surely this is a science fiction movie ? Or, they bought every single one from the same place at the same time. It's obvious that's what happened. I find that to be laziness on the part of the people responsible. I could locate a dozen different ties in an hour. So I'm going back to watch more of this period piece with the hope it improves or the story makes me forget that it was filmed yesterday.

[–] denverlev 9 years ago

It was a formal affair...they are all wearing tuxedos, hence the bowties.

[–] tika313 9 years ago

I understand that, but every single man had on the exact same tie. My complaint/observation is that in a real life setting you would see many different styles of bowties. Some men may prefer the type you tie yourself, others may like pre-tied, others still may wear a clip on. This would be true particularly if the men in attendance were of different ages and come from different places. I sold vintage clothing for years and I personally had at least twenty different styles of black ties at any given time. In fact I still have some merchandise left. My point is the wardrobe mistress didn't put much thought into that aspect. I guess the art director didn't care either. I'm probably only one of a handful that would notice that. I have worked on a few projects myself and I know that time and or budget are at play in what makes it on the screen. I am cursed/blessed with a critical eye. I bet that when the wardrobe department got the script and saw they needed 36 or however many bowties for that scene, they placed a call to a tux rental store and placed the order. It worked but I don't think it looked realistic.

[–] denverlev 9 years ago

I remember formal affairs of that period, late 50s, and 9 out of 10 tuxedos would be identical. I see your point, but I think the attendees at the affair were mostly members of the media, a mostly conservative crowd who probably owned their own mostly standard tux. But yes, they could have thrown in a couple different ties.

[–] lwi101 9 years ago

It was not until the late 60's early 70's that evening wear was individualized. The 50's and 60's "black" tie was narrow satin shawl collar, tightly pleated shirt front, small bow tie. Identical was the style back then. White tie was cutaway coat, boiled shirt front white tie, and the idea was that every tux looked alike. In the 70's we got ruffled shirts and powder blue tuxedos. Not sure that was really an improvement.