Which Akubra styles resemble these Spaghetti Western hats?

[The Good]

Which styles by Akubra most resemble these "Spaghetti" Italian Western hats, from Once Upon a Time in the West and the Sartana movies? The reason I refer to Akubra, is because I own some hats from them, and they are very durable and quite affordable for me. It's not easy for me to place these hat styles into an Akubra model, due to the fact that Akubras tend to have noticeably drooping brims on the front and back. I think what I want is a black moderate-to-wide hat with a more subtle dip in the brim, and if not completely flat, somewhat. I'm thinking something like the Akubra Territory hat may be too wide and too drooping for me, although it looks close to these film hats, especially Sartana's. The main Frank hat reminds me of a wider, flatter-brimmed Akubra Squatter with a telescope crown, while the one in the last photo reminds me of the Cattleman hat. What do you think?

OUATITW character Frank, played by Henry Fonda:

This last one is a different, but similar hat. He appears to have worn two in the movie, one more dusty, casual, and with a droopier brim, and one dressier, more flat-brimmed hat, resembling a bolero hat like Lee Van Cleef wore in For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Sartana, played by Gianni Garko:

Gianni Garko wore several hats as Sartana, I believe, but they are similar in style, and have somewhat drooping brims on the front and back, but are still relatively flatter than Akubra photos suggest. Could I manipulate the brim to be more flat? Thank you.

 

[ingineer]

http://www.nungar.com.au/catalog/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/10/products_id/86

 

[The Good]

http://www.nungar.com.au/catalog/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/10/products_id/86

Thank you! I didn't know they still had the Akubra Cowboy style of hat, anywhere. That's good to know, especially that there's a black one lying around, somewhere. I'm looking at making my next hat purchase decision in a matter of months though, not right away. I wonder what the black hat's band looks like, I only see one color on that site. Does any other photograph of the Akubra Cowboy hat exist?

 

[Fed in a Fedora]

There is also a Gymkhana:

http://www.nungar.com.au/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/25_27/products_id/92

Fed

 

[diabolicaldog]

Those all look like 4" brims to me. I think the Territory looks the closest as you mentioned and comes in black. The brim will easily flatten right out with a bit of work even just steam/water and weighted down on a flat bench. The brim could be cut back if need be but it already looks very close.

I have a squatter and I don't think it would work quite as well.

 

[The Good]

Those all look like 4" brims to me. I think the Territory looks the closest as you mentioned and comes in black. The brim will easily flatten right out with a bit of work even just steam/water and weighted down on a flat bench. The brim could be cut back if need be but it already looks very close.

I have a squatter and I don't think it would work quite as well.

Could the Squatter also be flattened on the brim, though, and look like a narrower brim gaucho hat, more like the first few photos? I've seen pictures of them with telescope crowns before, and they look good like that.

 

[diabolicaldog]

The crown and ribbon on the squatter would look right for sure but the brim at 3"would come up short and miss the whole look I think. It is definitely more fedora than western. Not that I have tried to flatten the brim but the bound edge seems far happier with a curl in it.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Unfortunately You won't find what you're looking for with Akubras. Even if you can find one of the wider brimmed akubras in black they will have air eyelets on the sides which ain't very spaghetti western, Also their crowns are too low & tapering to get a really good telescope crown. Their brims are a problem too, yes you can flatten 'em out but they will start to dip aussie style should they get wet .....ok if you wanted the Mick Dundee look I suppose
I think your best bet is to get a vintage black fur felt cowboy hat (Resistol, Stetson etc.) off the bay with the dimensions you're looking for & then steam in a telescope crown & shape the brim as you wish. Not only will you have a hat that really looks the part but it will also keep any style you give it much better than an Akubra. It would be cheaper too.

I fashioned an old black wool felt cowboy hat a while back on Clint's High Plains Drifter lid, I couldn't have done it with an Akubra.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

This last one is a different, but similar hat. He appears to have worn two in the movie, one more dusty, casual, and with a droopier brim, and one dressier, more flat-brimmed hat, .

Yeah Henry wore two hats in OUATITW, when we first see him & throughtout a large part of the movie he wore a wide brimmed (4") with a rolled leather hat band but when he comes to town & in his death scene he wore a hat with a slightly narrower brim (possibly 3 3/4 ") with a black ribbon 'n' bow.
Fonda certainly wore those types of hat well, better than any other actor in my opinion but they were also of a greater quality than in the other movies you mentioned.

 

[The Good]

Yeah Henry wore two hats in OUATITW, when we first see him & throughtout a large part of the movie he wore a wide brimmed (4") with a rolled leather hat band but when he comes to town & in his death scene he wore a hat with a slightly narrower brim (possibly 3 3/4 ") with a black ribbon 'n' bow.
Fonda certainly wore those types of hat well, better than any other actor in my opinion but they were also of a greater quality than in the other movies you mentioned.

I was only able to find one picture on the web of Fonda's first hat he wore in the film. Both hats looked great in the movie, and he did have a commanding presence wearing those types of hats. As for the second actor's hats, I can't say what the quality of them would have been, but I think they looked really good for those films as well, maybe a more easily obtainable look from Akubra than Fonda's hats. Garko's hat basically looks like a less dipped Territory. I'm not particularly bothered by the eyelets on the sides:

You do have a good idea of trying to look for a vintage western hat on eBay. Maybe something will turn up, or I may end up getting an Akubra hat. I think the Squatter hat does look pretty close to Fonda's dress hat in the film, if just a narrow brim and somewhat dipped version of it, but it must have a telescope crown in order to achieve that effect:

It could even resemble certain hats worn by Lee Van Cleef.

A black Cowboy or Gymkhana (basically same dimensions, different band) hat may work for what I'm looking for, too, particularly if I order the Cowboy style and get a dark brown or black band that would come with it:

Here's that Akubra Cowboy, for comparison:

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Errrrrrrrrrrrrr nope, you can throw up every model in Akubra's range but it still won't be spaghetti western. ......however if you were after something like Snipes's hat in Gallowwalkers for example, you might just be able to pull it off with an Akubra & the appropriate hat band.

 

[T Jones]

Not a spaghetti western, but, Akubra's Sombrero can be made to resemble Clint Eastwood's hat from, "Josey Wales".

 

[DesertDan]

The hat is cool but I really want a shirt like the black one Fonda is wearing!

 

[The Good]

The hat is cool but I really want a shirt like the black one Fonda is wearing!

I placed an order on eBay last night for a black shirt!

Yet, in the film, Fonda's shirt is in fact dark brown. Here is this picture:

T. Jones, the Akubra Sombrero does resemble The Outlaw Josey Wales hat!

 

[Brian Niebuhr]

Has anyone actually ordered from Nungar Trading? I've sent several emails over the last couple years with no response.

 

[The Good]

Has anyone actually ordered from Nungar Trading? I've sent several emails over the last couple years with no response.

That doesn't look good. Now I'm wondering about that retailer. They do seem to have quite a few older, mostly discontinued Akubra models that I haven't seen sold anywhere else, and a big color selection as well.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

If you're really hooked on Akubras, check out 'The Boss' & the 'Silver spur' both come in black & although their brims are narrower than the movie hats, you might be able to get something approaching the hat you're looking for with a lot of steam, a little know how & the right band.

 

[H Weinstein]

Akubra makes several wide-brim (3.5-4") western hats which might work for you. You'd have to make a few modifications to get the spaghetti-western look, but they don't require master-hatter skills.

It's pretty easy to flatten the curled brims back to neutral by using a steam iron (high setting, with a heavy t-shirt-type cloth between iron and brim to protect the felt).

And the crowns of Akubra westerns aren't notoriously stiff, so re-shaping a cattleman crown to a telescope isn't too hard to do. You can either wet the crown (with distilled water) or use tea-kettle steam.

I have 9 or 10 Akubra westerns and have re-shaped all of them (more than once!). The Arena comes with a 4" brim, the Bobby 3.6" and the Rough Rider almost 3.9". I have a couple of each. They're all pretty straight-sided, so once you lower the tall cattleman crowns to a telescope, taper shouldn't be much of an issue.

You can get any of these from the very reliable Everything Australian -- http://everythingaustralian.com.au/ -- where they have great prices and top-notch customer service from Sam Menche.

Oh, and the standard hatbands (whether ribbon or horsehair) are easy to remove by snipping a few stitches to be replaced by any other band you prefer to get the look you want. I've done that on most of my Akubras.

 

[hatophile]

Another Spaghetti Western hat, I love these movies:

 

[The Good]

I found a website selling Lee Van Cleef style bolero hats, similar to the Henry Fonda hat, but I think with an even flatter brim all around. Is this very overpriced at 239 dollars, and could there be a cheaper alternative to this look that has fur felt? I don't think I'm willing to go with a hat that expensive.

http://www.caliqo.com/findex.html?http&&&www.caliqo.com/lee_van_cleef_hat.html

If I want one of Garko's styles of hats, I think I'd get the Akubra Territory. Garko's hats have a little more dipping in the brims than Fonda's second hat (with the dressy ribbon instead of leather band). I also know the quality of Akubra's hats, versus the company whose hat is above. For the Akubra, I would want to get a chinstrap, like Garko wears his in the Sartana films.

In Light the Fuse, Sartana is Coming, the hat Garko wears appears to be almost exactly the same as the Territory hat. It is definitely not a flat brim there, although in other movies, it appears to be relatively flatter, yet not quite a bolero hat like Van Cleef's or Fonda's.

https://mubi.com/films/light-the-fuse-sartana-is-coming