Harry Dean Stanton in Cockfighter (1974)
Vitals
Harry Dean Stanton as Jack Burke, country cockfighter
Georgia, Spring 1973
Film: Cockfighter
Release Date: July 30, 1974
Director: Monte Hellman
Wardrobe Credit: Carol Hammond & Patty Shaw
Background
The great character actor Harry Dean Stanton was born 98 years ago tomorrow on July 14, 1926. A familiar face among the supporting cast of classic movies for a career spanning more than a half-century, Stanton also shined in his rare leading roles in Paris, Texas (1984), Repo Man (1984), and Lucky (2017).
One of the lesser-known entries in Stanton’s filmography is Cockfighter, reuniting him with Two-Lane Blacktop director Monte Hellman and his friend and frequent co-star Warren Oates. Released 50 years ago this month, Cockfighter was controversial upon its release for its uncompromising portrayal of the titular bloodsport.
“King of Cult” producer and director Roger Corman had spied Charles Willeford’s novel of the same name in an airport bookstore and had read no more than the title and the back cover before buying the adaptation rights, explaining to his editor that “with a title like this, if we can’t sell it, we’re in big trouble.”
Spoiler alert: They couldn’t sell it.
In fact, Corman cycled through a trio of meaningless exploitative titles—Born to Kill, Gamblin’ Man, and Wild Drifter—in an attempt to find an audience, ultimately admitting defeat and citing Cockfighter as the sole New World Pictures release to lose money, even with its skimpy $400,000 budget.
Corman contracted Willeford to adapt his own screenplay and handed the directorial reins to Hellman. Oates was cast in the lead as Frank Mansfield, an obsessive cockfighter who embarks on a vow of silence until that he would only break after winning the Southern Conference Cockfighter of the Year. The mute Mansfield contrasts against his friendly rival Jack Burke (Stanton), whose earlier criticism had resulted in Mansfield’s vow:
You got two little faults, Frank, you drink too much and you talk too much.
What’d He Wear?
Contrasting Mansfield’s relatively subdued western shirts and jeans, Jack Burke dresses for his competitions in a rotation of flashy suits and silk neckerchiefs, most frequently a cream-colored pinwale corduroy suit. When I spied the narrow tufts in Burke’s suiting, I initially suspected Bedford cord, but the velvety texture and sheen and how the cloth folds more specifically suggests corduroy, albeit a fine-waled needlecord.
The single-breasted suit jacket has narrow notch lapels that would have been passé by the early 1970s, finished with sporty swelled edges. The lapels roll to a two-button front that Burke always wears open. The jacket also has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced three-button cuffs, and double vents.
Jack Burke and Frank Mansfield dress in contrasting suits when facing off during the Southern Conference that will determine the winner of the prized Cockfighter of the Year award.
The suit’s matching flat-front trousers have a low rise that sits below Harry Dean Stanton’s waist for a more lackadaisical presentation that suits Burke’s cheeky personality. Through the wide belt loops, he wears a wide brown leather belt that closes through a silver skeletal belt buckle consisting of a silver oval with four silver spokes centered around a turquoise stone.
Consistent with the fashions of the ’70s that emphasized a close fit around men’s hips, the trousers lack side pockets but have jetted back pockets. The cut tapers down each leg to the plain-hemmed bottoms.
The first time Burke wears this suit, he wears a shirt with an irregular arrangement of bold pink, violet, and periwinkle stripes against a white ground, echoing the periwinkle neckerchief he wears in lieu of a more traditional tie. The shirt follows a conventional design with a front placket, breast pocket, button cuffs, and a long point collar consistent with trends of the ’70s.
Facing off against Frank Mansfield during the climactic Southern Conference tournament, Burke affects a flashily monochromatic look by pairing a plain white shirt and off-white neckerchief with his cream corduroy suit. This white shirt is styled similarly to the striped shirt, with a long point collar and button cuffs that are closed with two stacked buttons.
Burke regularly wears black-and-white calfskin leather spectator derbies that grotesquely illustrate the stakes of cockfighting when the white leather vamps are splashed with blood during the Southern Conference tournament. In addition to this cinematic purpose, Burke’s spectator shoes also paint a fuller picture of the character as this footwear had traditionally been associated with cads, specifically the third party “co-respondents” in English divorce cases, hence their alternative “correspondent shoe” nomenclature.
Contrasting against the white vamps, Burke’s shoes have black brogued wingtips and black panels with round black laces pulled through four sets of brass-finished eyelets. He wears them with white narrow-ribbed cotton socks.
As demonstrated by his belt buckle, Burke wears an array of turquoise jewelry, traditionally associated with Native American culture like the Apache, Navajo, and Hopi tribes of the southwestern United States.
The bracelet around Burke’s cuff features a round turquoise stone mounted in the center of a dual-pronged silver cuff that gently tapers away from the stone.
Opposite the plain gold wedding band on his left ring finger, Burke wears a large silver statement ring on his right hand that consists of a complex triangular turquoise stone framed by a rope-like silver setting.
The turquoise extends to Burke’s wristwatch, a simple stainless piece—with a round silver dial, 3:00 date window, and non-numeric hour indices—strapped to his left wrist on a flat silver bracelet decorated with turquoise and coral.
How to Get the Look
Jack Burke affects the flashy presentation of a western-inspired gambler in his light, textural suit of cream-colored corduroy with coordinated neckerchiefs, turquoise jewelry, and rakish black-and-white spectator shoes.
Harry Dean Stanton in Cockfighter (1974)
- Cream-colored pinwale corduroy suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with swelled-edge notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and double vents
- Flat-front trousers with wide belt loops, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- White, pink, violet, and periwinkle-striped shirt with long point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
- Periwinkle neckerchief
- Brown leather belt with silver oval four-spoked buckle with turquoise center
- Black-and-white calfskin leather 4-eyelet wingtip spectator derby brogues
- White narrow-ribbed socks
- Silver dual-prong cuff bracelet with turquoise stone
- Silver statement ring with triangular turquoise stone
- Gold wedding ring
- Stainless steel wristwatch with round silver dial (with non-numeric hour indices and 3:00 date window) on turquoise-and-coral flat silver bracelet
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
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