Architecture of: American Gigolo [1980]

Director Paul Schrader was no architect, but Giorgio Armani is. He showed us a new way of seeing AND a new way of being seen: men could be dressed (fashionable) without being old-fashioned. Or effete, or [100%] queer. Bringing jacket-&-tie back to men's wardrobes may not seem like much. But with his un-constructed but expertly tailored suits, as employed by a guy whose job it was to please women, Armani made heterosexuality sexy again, even while helping to redistribute the balance of sexual power.  This scene was his entre-manifesto. 

 

Roads of "The Grapes of Wrath" [1940]

In a movie dramatizing both the threat to the American dream (being evicted from home and land), and the promise (travelling Westward toward prosperity), the lonliness, the expanse and the sublime of the open road, add up to a central character in The Grapes of Wrath.

Architecture of Shadows [1959]

Yes, the whole movie is beautiful beginning to end; and yes, the nostalgia I have for the gritty streets is itself a shopworn cliche.  But none of that should prevent us from enjoying these clips, showing the City we love for all the reasons we're still here, whether or not it is too. 

The bust station!

The gentle scale of the old garden at the Modern.

"This place is just for some sexless women who don't have any love in their life!"

Please see my post on the blog ChairsAndBuildings for a short discussion of the Museum of Modern Art in 2013