James Bond's hat(s)?

[Anders]

I remember in Live and Let Die (book not the Moore film) bond was given a gray fedora by the CIA to make him look more American.

 

[Edward]

I wonder, and let me say first that I reckon DC is the best Bond since Dalton, why they don't do a period Bond film instead of constantly updating the character and stories to contemporary situations, OK I know the old ones were exactly that, but still, with their budget, a vintage Bond film made today would be somethin special???

I remember liking Dalton a lot at the time, though when I look back at his films now I find them painfully dated in every way - oddly, the earlier Bonds, especially Connery, seem to have held a classic feel which despite their obviously belonging to a certain time don't seem stale as such. But then I believe that has always been the case right across the board - the eighties styles and everything about that decade, pretty much, has dated much worse than any other of which I can think. Brosnan I liked, though the films were held back a bit IMO by the fact that by that point the Bond films had largely become self-parody. Personally, while I'm generally opposed to the mindless Hollywood craze for remakes and derivative sequels rather than concentrating on making good original films, I do think that it would be really interesting to see all the Bondss remade faithful to the books and set in the original time periods in which they were written. It would be very interesting to me to see whether someone could, in 2007, make a great film set in and about cold war era espionage / politics without it seeming dated. I guess the way to do that would be to avoid the cheap "Communists = bad guys" trap.

I suppose the reason why Bond kept being updated - just like superheroes are on TV and in film - was because they are commercial products targetted at a mainstream thriller audience, and the studios probably felt that i was more saleable to the public as a contemporary piece than a retro effort. Another thing that occurs to me - funnily enough, something I've been thinking about a lot this past week, in an unconnected context - is that it's probably much much cheaper to put together a contemporary production than it is to set a film in say the 50s or the 30s or whatever and get the period details right.

 

[byronic]

Lock & Co- 'Sandown'

I realise this thread is old, but being a Bond fan and also wanting to know what model hat Connery wore I stumbled across this article :

http://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/index_clothing.php?m=cl&g=cl038

The hat is the 'Sandown' model by Lock & Co. And apparently if one visits this corner of London one can also find nearby 'Swaine Adeney Brigg', the suppliers of the Attache case in 'From Russia With Love'- my personal favourite gadget of all the films, though I don't suppose it comes equipped with throwing knives and 50 gold sovereigns.

Direct link to the hat :

http://www.lockhatters.co.uk/Trilbys-Sandown-P53.aspx

 

[Lone_Ranger]

In the books, Bond didn't wear a hat at all, he didn't like them.

Perhaps, since it end up on Moneypenny's hatrack, he only wears it when he goes to see the boss?

I'd have to agree, David Niven would have been a good choice. Then again, wasn't Dirty Harry, written for Sinatra?

 

[Reddog]

I just came across an article which stated that the hat worn by James Bond in the first four films was a Trilby. Funny enough, I thought I heard people referring to them as skinny brims and so that Is what I had been referring them to be. in recent weeks I have purchased 4 Trilby's for myself, all in all this year I have added 7 Trilby's to my hat collection. Didn't think I would like them at first but now obviously have fallen in love with them. it' nice to know the correct name for them. The article described the Tilby as a Fedora with a shorter brim turned up sharply at the back.
Mainly the info came to me as part of an article with a picture of a woman with a Cloche hat that I thought would look great on my wife. We picked up one for a wedding we were going to mid Sept and then it looked so good on her on a recent trip to NYC I purchased two more Cloche hats for my wife at Sacs 5th Ave.
I would love to see a resurgence in hats. I think women look incredibly sexy in hats. I absolutely love the women of th 20's and 30's. I think men look very distinguished in hats, certainly a vast step up from ball caps which make people look common. Don't take me wrong, I enjoy wearing ball caps" I have several but they have a place.

 

[Yeps]

I just came across an article which stated that the hat worn by James Bond in the first four films was a Trilby. Funny enough, I thought I heard people referring to them as skinny brims and so that Is what I had been referring them to be. in recent weeks I have purchased 4 Trilby's for myself, all in all this year I have added 7 Trilby's to my hat collection..

Trilby is just the traditional UK name for a Fedora. Often it is used over here to refer to stingy brim fedoras, but there is no hard and fast rule of what is a fedora and what is a trilby.

 

[avedwards]

In the first two films Connery has at least three or four different hats.

The first one we see him throwing onto the hat rack at the beginning of Dr No is a black or dark blue homburg, which makes sense as he is wearing a dinner jacket and a chesterfield overcoat. Later in the film (after arriving in Kingston) he wears a narrow brimmed trilby which I believe was some shade of grey/green.

In From Russia with Love he has at least two different ones. He has one which appears to be the one he wore in Kingston in Dr No which he wears whilst in the ferry on Istanbul. Later in the film he wears a hat which goes through two people's hands first. Whilst at Zagreb the villain Grant impersonates Bond's contact sent by M and carries the hat which M's man was carrying. After getting rid of Grant Bond takes this hat, and this is the one he wears in the helicopter sequence.

I know it sounds complicated on paper, but if like me you've seen the film enough times it should become clear.

 

[theinterchange]

In the first two films Connery has at least three or four different hats.

The first one we see him throwing onto the hat rack at the beginning of Dr No is a black or dark blue homburg, which makes sense as he is wearing a dinner jacket and a chesterfield overcoat. Later in the film (after arriving in Kingston) he wears a narrow brimmed trilby which I believe was some shade of grey/green.

In From Russia with Love he has at least two different ones. He has one which appears to be the one he wore in Kingston in Dr No which he wears whilst in the ferry on Istanbul. Later in the film he wears a hat which goes through two people's hands first. Whilst at Zagreb the villain Grant impersonates Bond's contact sent by M and carries the hat which M's man was carrying. After getting rid of Grant Bond takes this hat, and this is the one he wears in the helicopter sequence.

I know it sounds complicated on paper, but if like me you've seen the film enough times it should become clear.

That was quite clear.

I've never liked the greenish colored hat in Dr. No. Wasn't that hat a flimsy straw, or am I thinking of another hat he carried in the film? I know he used it more as a personal fan than headwear... lol

My favorite Bond hat is an odd one... the captains hat he magically appears with in the boat chase sequence of FRWL. I think the nautical flare suits him.

Randy

 

[avedwards]

That was quite clear.

I've never liked the greenish colored hat in Dr. No. Wasn't that hat a flimsy straw, or am I thinking of another hat he carried in the film? I know he used it more as a personal fan than headwear... lol

My favorite Bond hat is an odd one... the captains hat he magically appears with in the boat chase sequence of FRWL. I think the nautical flare suits him.

Randy

That one didn't magically appear, he presumably took it from the driver of the truck, as he also took his coat. The continuity regarding hats in that film is quite good IMO as each hat originates somewhere logical - the first trilby came with Bond from England, the second one past from M's contact through Grant to Bond. The only costume continuity which I don't understand in the film is where Bond's pinstripe suit in the last scene (in Venice) came from.

 

[theinterchange]

That one didn't magically appear, he presumably took it from the driver of the truck, as he also took his coat. The continuity regarding hats in that film is quite good IMO as each hat originates somewhere logical - the first trilby came with Bond from England, the second one past from M's contact through Grant to Bond. The only costume continuity which I don't understand in the film is where Bond's pinstripe suit in the last scene (in Venice) came from.

I don't remember the truck driver wearing a captain's hat, but it's been a few months since I saw the film so I could very well be wrong.

I'll have to pull it out and rewatch... as if there's a need to make an excuse to see a Bond film!

Randy

 

[zetwal]

I always liked the one he wears topside while talking to the pretty Russian spy about the encryption device.

 

[theinterchange]

I always liked the one he wears topside while talking to the pretty Russian spy about the encryption device.

"Day and night. Go on about the mechanism."

lol

 

[avedwards]

I don't remember the truck driver wearing a captain's hat, but it's been a few months since I saw the film so I could very well be wrong.

I'll have to pull it out and rewatch... as if there's a need to make an excuse to see a Bond film!

Randy

The truck driver wasn't wearing it, but it can be assumed that it was it originated from him as Bond is wearing the truck driver's overcoat. It could have been in the glovebox or under the driver's seat. One just has to use their imagination .

 

[Lone_Ranger]

I wonder, and let me say first that I reckon DC is the best Bond since Dalton, why they don't do a period Bond film instead of constantly updating the character and stories to contemporary situations, OK I know the old ones were exactly that, but still, with their budget, a vintage Bond film made today would be somethin special???

That would be nice. It kind of looses something without the Cold War backdrop. I'd also like to see a Matt Helm movie, done the way Donald Hamilton wrote it, as opposed to a campy version.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I remember in Live and Let Die (book not the Moore film) bond was given a gray fedora by the CIA to make him look more American.

I just happened to be looking this up yesterday. In the narration from Fleming, he is given a "grey Fedora [sic] with a snap brim and a thin ribbon." Much later in the story, in Florida, one of Mr. Big's men spots him at a moderate distance and reports that Bond (whose name he doesn't know) is wearing "a grey Stetson." Now this doesn't absolutely mean that Bond is actually wearing a Stetson. The cab driver might have been using the brand name as an all-purpose term, as we do "Kleenex" to mean any kind of face tissue.

Still, it's sort of cool, given the thin ribbon, to think Bond might have been wearing a Stratoliner. . . .

 

[Bird Lives]

I just happened to be looking this up yesterday. In the narration from Fleming, he is given a "grey Fedora [sic] with a snap brim and a thin ribbon." Much later in the story, in Florida, one of Mr. Big's men spots him at a moderate distance and reports that Bond (whose name he doesn't know) is wearing "a grey Stetson"...............
Still, it's sort of cool, given the thin ribbon, to think Bond might have been wearing a Stratoliner. . . .

Bond in a Strat would be hip....but lets not forget that although Sinatra and Dean were famous for wearing Cavanaughs...The racing trilbys they had waiting for them in their Vegas dressing rooms were mostly Stetsons....

 

[APP Adrian]

James bond skyfall hat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUfPdoBDPCw

(At the start of the video)


What do you guys think? Looks pretty cool in my opinion.

 

[Seb Lucas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUfPdoBDPCw

(At the start of the video)


What do you guys think? Looks pretty cool in my opinion.

I assume you're referring to the peaked cap? Reminds me too much of a Salvation Army cap. It's an adaptation of the traditional army or police cap. Also seen on chauffeurs, security workers and third world dictators.

 

[vintage68]

Yes, that hat screams "chauffeur" and that's the look I assume he was going for to blend in with the crowd.