James Caan as Axel Freed in The Gambler (1974)
Vitals
James Caan as Axel Freed, gambling-addicted English professor
New York City, Fall 1973
Film: The Gambler
Release Date: October 2, 1974
Director: Karel Reisz
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
In addition to today being the first day of summer, June 20th is also observed as International Tennis Day, established ten years ago to recognize the day when the first “Tennis Court Oath” was taken in 1789 at a tennis court near the Palace of Versailles.
The sport has found renewed interest this year after the release of Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, a film not without its own notable style including—but certainly not limited to—the “I TOLD YA” T-shirt homage to John F. Kennedy Jr. that costume designer J.W. Anderson chose for Zendaya’s wardrobe.
“We don’t talk enough about the scene in the original version of The Gambler where the James Caan character absolutely destroys his own mother at tennis,” Matt Zoller Seitz tweeted after Caan’s death in July 2022, so I’m hoping to rectify this oversight.
While Challengers will have its BAMF Style spotlight soon, the intersection of International Tennis Day and the summer solstice during the 50th anniversary year of The Gambler drew me toward the Fred Perry-branded tennis whites that Caan wore as Axel Freed in this 1974 drama. At least $44,000 in debt to local loan shark “Hips” (Paul Sorvino), Axel aggressively challenges his mother, Dr. Naomi Freed (Jacqueline Brookes), to a match before asking her for $10,000. Horrified, Naomi asks “is is that you’ve gambled and already lost, or you’re waiting to gamble if I say I’ll help you?”
What’d He Wear?
The Gambler was filmed in New York City through the late summer of 1973, around the same time that its star James Caan participated in the 2nd Annual Robert F. Kennedy Pro Celebrity Tennis Tournament at Forest Hills Stadium on August 25th.
James Caan during a smoke break at the 2nd Annual RFK Pro Celebrity Tennis Tournament, wearing the same white Fred Perry tennis shirt and shorts that he would wear in The Gambler. In fact, the only difference between this fit and his screen style would be swapping out both red, white, and blue-striped sweatbands for a single white one on his right wrist. Photo by Ron Galella.
Photos from the tournament show Caan competing in the same shirt, shorts, socks, and shoes that he would also wear for this tennis-centric scene in The Gambler. The shirt and shoes were both Fred Perry Sportswear products, as indicated by the navy embroidered laurel wreath logos over the shirt’s left breast and the shorts’ right thigh. (Fred Perry was a British world champion in tennis who founded his recognizable clothing label in 1952.)
Axel’s short-sleeved collared shirt follows the typical tennis shirt design established by René Lacoste in the late 1920s, though his Fred Perry shirt appears to be a white jersey-knit cotton rather than the traditional textured piqué cotton. The collar and sleeve ends are twin-tipped with light-blue and darker navy bands around the edges, and the top placket has three clear plastic buttons through horizontal buttonholes.
He tucks the shirt into his white flat-front shorts, likely made from a twill blend of polyester and cotton. These short-inseam shorts have an elasticized waistband with an extended front closure and short button-tab adjusters on each side of the waistband. These have on-seam side pockets, a jetted back-right pocket, and short split vents on the outside of each hem.
After the match, Axel pulls on a black polyester track jacket with a zip-up front that extends up the funnel-neck that lays flat like a collar when he wears it open. Three white stripes run the length of each sleeve from the neck seam to the all-black elasticized cuff, framing two dark-green stripes between them. Though the triple-striped branding has been an Adidas signature since the German athletic brand purchased it from the Finnish company Karhu Sports in 1952, the stripes on Axel’s track jacket differ slightly from the traditional Adidas presentation.
Like his Fred Perry clothes, Axel’s white leather tennis shoes are also named in tribute to a tennis star—two of them, in fact.
Conceived by Horst Dassler, Adidas launched its first footwear designed exclusively for tennis in 1963; the premium leather uppers and lining also made these the first mass-produced leather tennis shoes. Two years later, Adidas began marketing this model as the Haillet in tribute to French tennis star Robert Haillet, and it would have been the Adidas Haillet that Caan sported on the set of The Gambler and while participating in the RFK Memorial tennis tournament that same year, worn with white ribbed cotton-blend crew socks detailed with red and navy-blue bands around the top.
The white leather uppers have three perforated rows—of four, five, and six holes each—to represent Adidas’ traditional three-stripe branding, and they’re derby-laced through seven sets of white-finished eyelets. Green foam padding was added to the back of the heel in 1967 to protect the Achilles tendon. The pimped outsoles are made from a cream-colored rubber that Adidas touts as “abrasion-resistant.”
After Haillet’s retirement from tennis, Dassler worked with tennis manager Donald Dell to secure a new partnership with American world champion Stan Smith, and the iconic sneaker was rebranded as the Adidas Stan Smith from 1978 onward, represented with Stan’s likeness sketched and framed in green on the tongues. As Adidas boasts, “like Stan Smith himself, they’re versatile, timeless and always ready for whatever comes next.”
The current Stan Smith model was updated to be sustainable with vegan uppers made of at least 50% recycled materials, though the retro-oriented Stan Smith Lux offers the same premium leather uppers as the original. Prices and availability current as of June 13, 2024.
On his right wrist, Axel wears a white terry-cloth cotton sweatband. Terry’s absorbent loops make it a popular cloth for sweat-catching garments and toweling.
How to Get the Look
James Caan as Axel Freed in The Gambler (1974)
In his Fred Perry shirt and shorts and Adidas sneakers, Axel Freed’s tennis whites pay homage to some of the sport’s greatest players of the 20th century.
- White jersey-knit cotton Fred Perry short-sleeved tennis shirt with three-button placket and twin-tipped collar and sleeve-ends
- White polyester/cotton twill Fred Perry flat-front tennis shorts with extended waistband and button-tab side adjusters, on-seam side pockets, and jetted back-right pocket
- White leather Adidas Haillet/Stan Smith tennis shoes with 7-eyelet derby lacing, green foam back padding, and pimpled rubber outsoles
- White ribbed cotton crew socks with red-and-navy banded top
- White terry-cloth cotton sweatband
- Black polyester track jacket with white triple-striped sleeves
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The post The Gambler: James Caan’s White Tennis Gear appeared first on BAMF Style.