Indy Jacket Changes- So what is the big deal?

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:32 am

Howdy folks....I have read numerous postings about how Indy jackets are different from movie to movie. So what is the big deal? I have worn Carhart coats for years, and even my favorite style changes every few years, even if only slightly. Maybe Indy's coat was a "favorite" style and after every few adventures he had to get new ones. In the ROTLA truck scene, besides the famous drag behind, Indy is shot in the arm. Where was the bullet hole in LC?

I have realy enjoyed this site and forum, but some times the fights over jacket specs is humerous. Any one else agree? Glad to make all your acquaintances. Long Ashes.... Cowboy

Mr. Das · Post by **Mr. Das** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:57 am

Maybe Indy's coat was a "favorite" style and after every few adventures he had to get new ones. In the ROTLA truck scene, besides the famous drag behind, Indy is shot in the arm. Where was the bullet hole in LC?

Good point, but it's voided when you recall an earlier scene in ROTLA where they showed a closet full of jackets/shirts.

Each movie jacket is different, but some of the members here are going for an accurate movie jacket. Prop collectors go for accuracy. I've worn a Wested for years with their "oversized pockets" but didn't really care. I got a flightsuits jacket not too long ago and the only two things I liked better were the collar (more Raiders accurate) and the dracon twill lining (Raiders was just 100% cotton).

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:09 am

How do we know that they were all purchased at the same time? ROTLA was a year after TOD. Most likely, the jackets were purchased at different intervals.

Forrest_Bell · Post by **Forrest_Bell** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:15 am

IF we are speaking solely in terms of the movie, i would guess indy bought 2 or 3 jackets at a time so that he would always have a back up, and it would be more cost effective to buy more than one at a time (assuming that he would have them all custom made)

This would explain why they change over the course of time but only in small details, he would go to the tailor and ask for three more jackets just like the last ones but the tailor would add little things (like bigger pockets or a button on the storm flap)

AND WELCOME TO COW!

Where in Washington are ya?

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:23 pm

Some where near where the Idaho, Canadian and Washington Borders Collide.

Indy is too off the cuff to order several jackets at once.

Kt Templar · Post by **Kt Templar** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:35 pm

I hate to curtail this line of thought but there isn't actually a closet full of jackets.

I think one of the big 3 joked that we should see a row of identical jackets in the closet when he does the packing scene, but if you look at it closely the rest are just ordinary clothes.

Only one leather jacket there.

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:42 pm

welcome to cow cowboy! i voted that it does matter on the details of the jacket. theres a line that separates the screen accurate/movie produced camp and the close-enough camp. i'm happy in the screen accurate camp with the major gear (jacket, hat, and boots), the rest of the gear is in the close-enough camp (whip, belts, pants, shirts, women, monkey, whiskey, german mechanics, etc.).

enjoy the fun!

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:42 pm

And so you agree? I thought that this was the case. I could not remember the scene from memory.

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:44 pm

kt,

i thought he had one by the door when marcus comes in....hanging on a hook? maybe his TOD jacket...which chronologically would be correct for ford but would still be a brain fart for lucas and spieldberg?

Kt Templar · Post by **Kt Templar** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:13 pm

Indiana G wrote:kt,

i thought he had one by the door when marcus comes in....hanging on a hook? maybe his TOD jacket...which chronologically would be correct for ford but would still be a brain fart for lucas and spieldberg?

That would be an amazing bit of time travelling, considering that they didn't know that TOD would happen! But no, I think it's the tweed jacket from the previous scene, (an impressive bit of continuity work if it actually is!).

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:42 pm

of course it is.....i can see willie's lipstik marks on the collar!!!

GCR · Post by **GCR** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:26 pm

Indiana G wrote:of course it is.....i can see willie's lipstik marks on the collar!!!

Here's a question that has been bugging me...not to derail this thread, but why does Indy have a closet full of clothes / jackets / suitcases, etc. in his living room?

I don't know about everyone else, but I hang my suit jackets in my bedroom closet and keep my luggage in the attic. Then again, I'm not running off on some globe-trotting adventure every month, either.

Anyways, I think the differences between the jackets in the films may have been an effort by the costume folks to convey the idea that Indy does indeed have more than one jacket. As you said, the results of the damage inflicted on the jacket in Raiders is absent in LC. I think these differences ARE important. After all, if you want a Raiders jacket, you don't want press studs on your storm flap or D-rings on your side straps.

-GCR

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:49 pm

GCR,

maybe its a 30's thing. why did we put shag carpetting on our walls in the 70's? good question though...did you notice that his study is also in his living room? maybe he doesn't stay at home much so he just threw things wherever.

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:51 pm

How do you know that it is his LR? Many homes of that era had a dedicated Study..... In my own private study, I have a spare change of duds as well as Indy style protection devices. Indy is a mans man, so he would not care where he kept clothes.

GCR · Post by **GCR** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:34 pm

Cowboy wrote:How do you know that it is his LR? Many homes of that era had a dedicated Study..... In my own private study, I have a spare change of duds as well as Indy style protection devices. Indy is a mans man, so he would not care where he kept clothes.

Okay, I sort of assumed it was his living room, based on the couch and fireplace and such. I would say the room could function as a study as well, perhaps, but I don't think it was designed as a dedicated study. Based on the outside shot of Indy's house, it didn't exactly seem like a "Wayne manor" type of place that would have it's own study or butler quarters or any of that.

Of course the real reason the closet was there was simply because it needed to be there. The scene called for it, so the production design folks designed a closet into the set. Come to think of it, my own home office, which sort of functions as a study I guess, DOES have closets, but that is because it is a converted spare bedroom. Anyways, enough of all this, it's the Jacket section after all, right? This thread was about jackets, wasn't it?

-GCR

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:40 pm

Thank you my friend. You are a gentlemen and a scholar.. Regards...Cowboy

randystokes · Post by **randystokes** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:44 pm

Tweed jacket? I still think the jacket by the front door looks like one of Indy's leather jackets. Wouldn't swear on a stack of Dutch bibles, but that's what is looks like to me.

It wouldn't surprise me if Indy had several of those jackets. I have four myself.

Randy

GCR · Post by **GCR** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:05 am

It wouldn't surprise me if Indy had several of those jackets.

Just to throw my two cents in (or two more cents, I guess...jeeze, I'm runnin' out of change...) I would have to agree that Indy did indeed have more than one jacket at any one time. Seems likely and it makes sense. Heck, he had more than one hat (no one will convince me the hat the character wore in Raiders was the same hat Indy wore a year before in ToD...no reblock could save the ToD hat, IMO. And of course, he had his Gray hat as well

), he carried more than one gun at a time, he HAD to have more than one shirt (I doubt the shirt he wore in ToD could have been salvaged after all it went through) and he had different belts and holsters over the series of films, so why not jackets? Much like Cowboy has his favorite style of Carhart jacket, Indy probably had a favorite type of leather jacket, bought one, wore the heck out of it and decided to get a few more. makes sense to me!

-GCR

Cowboy · Post by **Cowboy** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:08 am

BTW, all of this attention would irritate Indy.... We all like what we like, but just make sure that we do not end up like little girls!

Don't Call Me Junior! · Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:19 am

GCR wrote:
It wouldn't surprise me if Indy had several of those jackets.
Just to throw my two cents in (or two more cents, I guess...jeeze, I'm runnin' out of change...) I would have to agree that Indy did indeed have more than one jacket at any one time. Seems likely and it makes sense. Heck, he had more than one hat (no one will convince me the hat the character wore in Raiders was the same hat Indy wore a year before in ToD...no reblock could save the ToD hat, IMO. And of course, he had his Gray hat as well ), he carried more than one gun at a time, he HAD to have more than one shirt (I doubt the shirt he wore in ToD could have been salvaged after all it went through) and he had different belts and holsters over the series of films, so why not jackets? Much like Cowboy has his favorite style of Carhart jacket, Indy probably had a favorite type of leather jacket, bought one, wore the heck out of it and decided to get a few more. makes sense to me!

-GCR

I always liked the idea that Indy wore the jacket because it was his lucky jacket and he wore the hat because it was his lucky hat. I remember the first time seeing in LC in the theater. In the scene where he loses his hat just before the tank goes over the cliff the audience gasped. Indy never loses his hat! Bad omen! -Because thats "The Hat"! I've always thought that about the jacket. It's "The Jacket".

It would almost seem "corny" and cartoonish if he had a stash of "The Jackets" and "The Hats" agreeing that I'm sure he had other hats and jackets for the appropriate occasions.

If Indy were a real person I still would imagine that he would be doing a lot of "making it up as I go" but as long as he has his trusty hat, whip and jacket then he's that much more comfortable in taking on anything that gets thrown at him.

I've had the same pocket knife for almost thirty years now given to me by my grandmother. It has definitely become sort of a lucky charm for me. I rarely forget to take it with me even though I don't necessarily need to use it everyday but on the days I don't have it on me I feel "off-balance" on the rare occasion that I forget to grab it from my dresser. I've acquired numerous other knives, some very similar to my favorite one, in my life but the one I always have on me is that one that I received long ago.

Obviously Indy would probably replace the jacket or hat should that become necessary due to loss or unrepairable damage but I think that the idea that he wears "The Jacket" and "The Hat" is part of the draw that we have to these items as fans.

Well, that's my take anyway! Cheers!