Club Obi Wan

In the cave scene in LC, right after Indy makes the noise that alerts the bad guys that he has the cross of coronado, it appears as if Fedora is wearing a bag, a'la Indy. It looks darker and not canvas, but right as Fedora turns around I could swear he is wearing a bag. I don't see it in any other scene, but I looked at it twice (albeit on the small screen in the back f a mini-van with my kids) but it really looks like a bag. am I crazy?

Well as I love an excuse to go digging into the DVDs I found what you were talking about, sorry I can't tell you what kind of bag it is but I can at least show ya, hope this helps.

I always thought about the clothing of the character Fedora, because it's so similar to Indy's. Maybe he was an inspiration for young Indy? I don't know... Was it intended that the costume of Fedora is so similar to Indy in the 1930's?
Does someone know more about that?

Indiana Tom,

Yes, it was intended that way. Fedora was supposed to be Abner Ravenwood, Marion's father. I believe at the last minute, they changed his name in the credits to simply, Fedora.

The back story had Abner and Indy becoming friends and colleagues, and Abner was a mentor to Indy. This point was illustrated in the fade from Abner putting his fedora on Indy's head, to Indy raising his head as he was being beaten on the ship Coronado in Last Crusade. They had a falling out when Indy had a relationship with Marion when she was 15 years old.

In the streets of Cairo scene in Raiders, you can hear Marion and Indy talking about the relationship between Abner and Indy. This is after they have been thrown together for awhile and Marion has had a chance for her temper to calm down some, from when Indy first walked into the Raven Bar.

I read in Premiere magazine back in 1989 that the first 17 minutes of the movie were going to reveal almost all the influences of Indy. I think young Indy was so enamoured with Fedora that he adopted the look. For instance: when Fedora gave Indy the hat, I think that Indy thought that Fedora was someone to look up to considering Indy's relationship with his father. The man did not even come out of his office to see what was going on in the next room! In the opening sequence of the movie we find out why he became afraid of snakes, why he started carrying the whip and his sense of what is right: "That belongs in a museum!" We even see Indy's nick-name-sake, the dog.

As for the bag, mentioned above ...
To me it seems like one of those military map-bags (leather), the kind military reporters used in the past.

I own such a bag like this one here (but mine is brown in colour):

Bufflehead, that's a good explanation, now it makes sense. Thanks!

And Jens, this bag could be very similar to the one seen on screen.

Maybe we should start AbnerGear.com.

Does anyone have any more information about the rest of his gear? That mapcase looks like a great start for anyone wanting screen-accurate Fedora gear.

More information ... let me think about it.

Ah. Yes! He wore a Fedora!

Really? I thought it was a beanie!

Seriously, it'd be great to have a separate set of gear for that Fedora look.

The bag looks brown in the picture, and though the details are hard to see, it loks very similar to a WWII German map case I picked up a while ago:



I think I paid about $8, at someplace like Cheaper than Dirt

Abner appereantly is as an interesting character as Indy and most likely would have had his own trademark style of "gear". Fedora Has got to be some one differeant altho a very big influence. Trying to figure out where Abner inters into indy's life is confusing. The YIJC assignment sheets from Aug 1992 for Season III that has episodes never shot has Indy meeting him in Jerusalem, June 1909. Abner is looking for clues to the Ark on the Temple Mount.
By the way, I see the bag too!