Would "Raiders" have been as popular if the character had been hatless?

[Landman]

Am I the only one who finds the brim on Indy's hat bizarre? It's almost a western style brim, with a little bit of an upwards roll around the half of it. It's not the standard fedora flanging. I noticed it, last time I watched Raiders.

That is why I prefer Ladd's fedora. The upturned brim makes Indy's hat appear too tight. At least to me it does because when I force a hat on that is too small the brim will turn up in a similar manner.

 

[facade]

To answer the initial poster, no it would not be. Without the hat the movie would have been just as good and just as initially popular. However the fedora was made an integral part of the character and is now associated in the minds of many with that character. It does not matter that the look isn't original. The Indy look has allowed the film to stay in the consciousness of the public. Without the iconic look the character fades from memory. It's the hat that inspires the dreaded "Hey look its Indiana Jones" comment. Without the hat there is no look to remember.

 

[Greyryder]

That is why I prefer Ladd's fedora. The upturned brim makes Indy's hat appear too tight. At least to me it does because when I force a hat on that is too small the brim will turn up in a similar manner.

That would explain how it stayed on during the truck scene. I was beginning to suspect staples.

 

[Edward]

lol

Am I the only one who finds the brim on Indy's hat bizarre? It's almost a western style brim, with a little bit of an upwards roll around the half of it. It's not the standard fedora flanging. I noticed it, last time I watched Raiders.

The upturn athe sides can happen with a hat that's seen a lot of life. The bit that always looked 'off' to me is the brim being down turned at the back. I bashed my Fed DLX like Indy's Raiders hat, but I keep the back of the brim flipped up. I just prefer it that way.

 

[Hercule]

Do you think that Indy in a ball cap with a frayed bill edge would have basically started bespoke ball cap businesses and web sites dedicated to frayed bill ball caps? We will never know.......

I would venture to guess that the appeal of the character and the movie came first followed (at the same time but as a result) by the costuming (fedora and leather jacket). And the costuming, particularly the fedora, only because it was so unlike anything being worn at the time, and it tapped into the appeal of the adventure theme of the movie. Just what advertising ploys try to do. You see a movie or tv show, it speaks to you and pick up on those certain things that defined the image, and you choose to emulate it to some degree. Has this been seen elsewhere with similar elements? - Grease and Happy Days with the cool leather/biker jacket motif; Crocodile Dundee and the outback style hat. Where did the practice of wearing baseball caps backward come from? Kind of a similar thing isn't it?

But in the end I think there's a great deal of practicality driving it. The stylistic elements of the Indy films that became iconic were eminently adaptable to modern times. One could easily assimilate such things as an old fashioned hat and a quirky leather jacket into a modern context because their own context wasn't so different to begin with. Imagine if the Patriot (the Gibson Rev War movie) had been such a wild and popular success as the Indy films. Would we have seen the as wide spread adopting of tricorner hats, knee britches and long waist coats into modern fashion? I doubt it. Their context is too far removed and wildly different stylistically from today's. There are outliers of course. Remember that woman who wore a Star Trek Uniform replete with pretend tricorder and communication device while serving jury duty?

Just some thoughts.

 

[Seth Duzan]

That would explain how it stayed on during the truck scene. I was beginning to suspect staples.

I've seen a documentary where Harrison used a stapler to secure it...

 

[Seb Lucas]

I prefer Ladd's hat and A-2 jacket!

I prefer Ladd's gun.

Ford's costume looks like a very 1980's spin on what a 1930's working man was wearing. The jacket and pants are wrong. If Indy had been period he probably would have worn an A1 and cord breeches. Actually I dislike the presentation of Indy's hat, that terrible severe crease that all the fans imitate.

 

[T Jones]

I prefer Ladd's hat and A-2 jacket!

Dave Garrison offers a replica of Alan Ladd's 'China' fedora...I like that hat too.

http://garrisonhatters.com/garrison_hatters_update_2013_007.htm

 

[T Jones]

Am I the only one who finds the brim on Indy's hat bizarre? It's almost a western style brim, with a little bit of an upwards roll around the half of it. It's not the standard fedora flanging. I noticed it, last time I watched Raiders.

It looks something like a safari or an outback brim with a little bit of a fedora curl in the back, as well as with a western upturn on the sides...