movie hats that inspired you...

[danofarlington]

BTW

Cagney really knew how to wear a hat.

Look at the stills from his gangster fliks of the 30s
Man, did that guy look striking in a narrow-brimmed fedora

He was actually frightening in some of those shots

The later wide brimmed lids were striking, but so were the ones that Cagney, Cooper and the rest wore in the 30s

Sam

One thing I can't get out of my mind is James Cagney's dance number "Brooklyn" in the movie West Point Story. He's a short guy, and has on this really wide-brim hat. He does this long jive-like hipster dance number with great gusto that is so unlike what I had thought Cagney was about. It's really something to see. I've watched that part of the movie twice on TCM, and the image of that number sticks with me even more than Public Enemy.

 

[Sam Craig]

Cagney had the uncanny ability to be hilarious, to dance like crazy, and then to spin around and the the scariest tough guy around.
Remember the look on his face when he plugs the guy through the trunk of his car ... "Got enough air in there" .... blam, blam, blam
Or the look on his face when he screams "Made it ma, top of the world"
What a guy

I've been watching Last Man Standing and while I really can't recommend the movie, I was impressed that someone obviously copied Cagney's hats from the 30s for Bruce Willis' hat ... narrow brim, wide ribbon, high crown ... good looking hat

Sam

 

[1961MJS]

Mulholland Falls, unfortunately, is so riddled with nudity and unnecessary brutality that the story line gets lost.
Sadly, what they accomplished with Film Noir ... great writing, acting, lighting and costuming -- featuring world-class hats -- has been lost on this generation of film makers ... and the last one, too, including Nolte and his crowd.
Mulholland could have been a terrific film, but when you look close, even the hats are second rate in comparison to what was being done in the 30s and late 40s.

Sam

Wow Sam, don't watch Scarface from 1983. Mulholland Falls is TAME in comparison.

I'm not sure it's accurate to compare Mulholland Falls with the 30's and 40's movies, after all the movie was about the late 1940's Early 1950's, Nukes and all that.

later

 

[Widebrim]

I'm watching "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" and it has some great "cop" hats, with solidly-full brims. One scene has my nomination for a classic hat moment: Van Heflin begins to walk out of a restaurant, thinking that he is going into the alley to tangle with Lizabeth Scott's husband. The latter, after walking out the side door, turns around and signals to some men at the bar, who in unison pick up their hats, put 'em on, and proceed to exit out the same door (to beat the tar out of Heflin). I think I audibly uttered a "Whoa!" upon seeing that little piece of choreography...

 

[frussell]

"M," by Fritz Lang. Everyone, including Peter Lorre, has great hats in this movie. Lots of old school center-dent tall crowns with the brim up, dozens of interesting creases to be seen. Also a hell of a good movie, suspenseful without showing any real violence. Hadn't seen it in years, watched it a few days ago. Frank

 

[CharlieB]

BTW

Cagney really knew how to wear a hat.

Look at the stills from his gangster fliks of the 30s
Man, did that guy look striking in a narrow-brimmed fedora

He was actually frightening in some of those shots

The later wide brimmed lids were striking, but so were the ones that Cagney, Cooper and the rest wore in the 30s

Sam

I like that comment about knowing how to wear a hat. Has the forum ever had a primer on ways to wear hats, so new wearers can figure out what works best for them?

 

[Widebrim]

Mulholland Falls, unfortunately, is so riddled with nudity and unnecessary brutality that the story line gets lost.
Sadly, what they accomplished with Film Noir ... great writing, acting, lighting and costuming -- featuring world-class hats -- has been lost on this generation of film makers ... and the last one, too, including Nolte and his crowd.
Mulholland could have been a terrific film, but when you look close, even the hats are second rate in comparison to what was being done in the 30s and late 40s.

Sam

I just bought a $1 VHS copy of Mulholland Falls, Sam. I'll post here as to my impression of it, as relates to hats, that is...

 

[DanielJones]

I was looking at the preview & some behind the scenes clips for the film North Face. Looks like a good amount of fedoras and other sorts there in a 1936 setting.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Sam Craig]

Cagney had the most intimidating face. There are stills of him that are actually scary, especially when he was young./QUOTE]

How true, Sam. Just take a look at Cagney in this picture posted earlier. I'll bet he made the older generation at the time tremble!

Wow!
I never thought of that!
Just imagine what the older folks would have thought of Cagney, Robinson and Bogart in the 30s.
They probably were disturbing.
I know there was a backlash ... suggesting that Hollywood was glamorizing the gangsters.
Some things never change.

Sam

 

[CharlieB]

Caught part of an old Holiday movie on TCM this weekend; Holiday Affair. Not sure if you would call it "A Good Fedora Movie", but there were a lot of fine hats in it. Mitchum wore his very well.

 

[dawgvet]

Favorite Hat movie?

Just wondering what everyone's favorite "hat movie" is? I just got through watching the recent Johnny Depp movie Public Enemy. I heard Optimo did some of the hats. I personally think some of the brims were a bit stingy for period accuracy but overall was a good dose the hat tonic. Another of my faves is the Redford movie The Natural. I guess we can leave out the painfully obvious Harrison Ford series and maybe we need two general categories: modern movie and classic movie from the time period. What's your favorite hat flics?
Jedidah

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

How about The Sting?

 

[Machine Ager]

Ok laugh as you might.... my favorite is the old Republic Serial = "King of the Rocketmen" Jeff King and all his buddies as well as the bad guys sport great Fedoras!

If you have Netflix it is there etc..

Machine Ager

 

[CitizenGenet]

Nearly all of the police officials in Gattaca wear very nice stingy brim fedoras. You'll mostly see the one worn by Alan Arkin.

 

[Machine Ager]

Here is a youtube link of the trailer for King of the Rocketmen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uISDSjvClv8

 

[DanielJones]

Watching White Christmas last night there were plenty of hats to be seen. Especially the train station scene where all the army buddies show up for the benefit. Men's and woman's hats abound there. Bing had a couple of nice ones too. Edith Head knew how to dress them back then, even picking the toppers.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[DanielJones]

Oh yeah, another favorite of mine that comes to mind with a boat load & variety of hats is Seabiscuit. Ranging from the 1910's to 1930's in its scope. I believe that the Hat that Jeff Bridges wore was an old Penny's fedora that Art Fawsett had rented to the film and still has. He said that it wasn't in the best of shape, but man did it look fantastic in the film. Also the brown fedora that Chris Cooper wore most of the time I think is a vintage Dobbs 5th Ave. I have one that is the spitting image of that hat. For proliferation of hats, I dig on that film.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Widebrim]

Ok laugh as you might.... my favorite is the old Republic Serial = "King of the Rocketmen" Jeff King and all his buddies as well as the bad guys sport great Fedoras!

If you have Netflix it is there etc..

Machine Ager

Yeah, that is a good one, along with its "sequels," Radar Men from the Moon, Zombies of the Stratosphere, and Commando Cody, Sky Marshall of the Universe (that last title is a bit pretentious, don't you think?).

 

[Widebrim]

And don't forget Kiss of Death. Victor Mature as Nick Bianco sports a cool one in the film, but the award goes to Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo, with a fedora brim the size of a lampshade...

 

[Widebrim]

Union Station (1950) has a ton of cool hats, especially worn by cops and crooks. William Holden particularly sports a nifty dark fedora with a thin ribbon.