Club Obi Wan

Here's an excerpt from a "new on dvd" interview feature on MSN, in which Harrison Ford directly addresses the continuity issue of Indy's hat.

Thought you guys might find his response interesting:


Are we to believe that Indy has this indestructible hat that survives from adventure to adventure?

Yes, you're supposed to believe that. That's why, when he takes it out of his closet, it's the same hat as last time, and it's the same whip, which he wears to match his "goin' digging" outfit. He has other hats for other occasions but he does wear that hat occasionally outside his archeological expeditions. He's wearing that hat at his wedding, though maybe you could call that another adventure.

Full article:
http://movies.msn.com/movies/moviesfeat ... ?GT1=28002

Cheers,
Michael

Thanks Michael!

I always assumed it was supposed to be the same hat. Now we know it is. At least an AB could actually go through all those adventures and come out alright.

Dave

DR Ulloa wrote:At least an AB could actually go through all those adventures and come out alright.

In CS, Indy had owned his fedora for 45 years. How can you make that assessment when the oldest AB is probably only about 5 years old?

I have an AB made from felt from 1927 ;-)

Regards,

Marc

I have one made from felt from about 1919, but who's counting. ;-)

Regards! Michaelson

That there has only been one hat has always been my take as well - Indy has had one irreplaceable lucky hat (and jacket, whip, etc) that plays a key role in all of his archeological adventures. That's why he risks life and/or limb literally to recover it should it become separate from his person by say a descending stone door.

I love that part of the quote - "goin' digging outfit". It couldn't be said any more accurately and efficiently!

Great little interview! It's nice to finally have that question answered definitively! Thanks for sharing!

conceited_ape wrote:

DR Ulloa wrote:At least an AB could actually go through all those adventures and come out alright.

In CS, Indy had owned his fedora for 45 years. How can you make that assessment when the oldest AB is probably only about 5 years old?

Becuase I have never seen a hat that holds up the way an AB does. Thats why I ordered one. If the last five years are indicative of how the AB will behave, I'd say it is the toughest hat out there and one of few that can actually take the sort of abuse that Indy's hat goes through, which is not typical and exaggerated.

Dave

How was this NOT completely rhetorical to everyone?!?

Of course it's the same bloody hat throughout his adventures! It never needed explaining!

Can we finally now change the site name to "Goin'DiggingGear.com"?

agent5 wrote:Can we finally now change the site name to "Goin'DiggingGear.com"?

Cool with me. ;-)

Michaelson wrote:I have one made from felt from about 1919, but who's counting. ;-)

Regards! Michaelson

You, too, huh? And I wear mine often enough! ;-)

oh that´s exactly what I believed when I was a kid.

agent5 wrote:Can we finally now change the site name to "Goin'DiggingGear.com"?

I like it.

BendingOak wrote:

agent5 wrote:Can we finally now change the site name to "Goin'DiggingGear.com"?

I like it.

Ditto, and actually who doesn't want a pair of Going digging boots/shirt /hats / trousers

You could sell that with no trouble like with indy or Indiana Jones attached

Marc wrote:I have an AB made from felt from 1927 ;-)

How did you do that, Marc? Are you just saying you re-blocked/rebuilt a vintage hat, or are you saying you made an AB from a felt body that was from 1927?

binkmeisterRick wrote:

Michaelson wrote:I have one made from felt from about 1919, but who's counting. ;-)

Regards! Michaelson

You, too, huh? And I wear mine often enough! ;-)

I don't. ;-)

That's what Marc is saying, Jason.....vintage felt on the AB bock.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:

binkmeisterRick wrote:

Michaelson wrote:I have one made from felt from about 1919, but who's counting. ;-)

Regards! Michaelson

You, too, huh? And I wear mine often enough! ;-)

I don't. ;-)

That's what Marc is saying, Jason.....vintage felt on the AB bock.

Regards! Michaelson

Hey Michaelson,

Where can I get some vintage felt?? I want Steve to make me one like that!!! I never researched it much and tried to find info on fedoralounge but didn't come up with anything. What kind of price range would it be in?

I have no idea. This was a several years ago when Steve/Marc first started making their hats professionally, and Steve found a small stash of mint vintage felt at a felter. He made several hats from the felt and a few of us were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time to get one.

It's not a standard, available item.

Regards! Michaelson

Some of us were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time when Steve got his hands on a small batch of vintage unsued hat bodies a good while back. It was a once in a lifetime chance that will likely never be replicated.

Looks like we were both at the right place at the right time to type our responses!

Yep. ;-)

Regards! Michaelson

I'd like to know where to get vintage felt as well. I'd love Steve to make me a hat with some vintage felt. That would be awesome. I'm willing to pay the premium, its worth it

Dave

binkmeisterRick wrote:Some of us were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time when Steve got his hands on a small batch of vintage unsued hat bodies a good while back. It was a once in a lifetime chance that will likely never be replicated.

Man...I am truly greeeeen with envy.

i have been on plenty of discussions about indy's hat, about if it was the same hat through all his adventures. "of course it is" i said. "he's known as 'the man with the hat, not hats.'" but there were always someone claiming that indy lost it in Raiders, left behind on the Bantu Wind, but now i can finally say: HA! told you so!
You even get the idea he got his "lucky" hat back in Raiders because he got his Grey hat back. as we all know, he took it with him too on that adventure and it would too have been on the Bantu Wind.

but Belloq took indy's whip in the opening of raiders.


CJ

Michaelson wrote:I have no idea. This was a several years ago when Steve/Marc first started making their hats professionally, and Steve found a small stash of mint vintage felt at a felter. He made several hats from the felt and a few of us were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time to get one.

It's not a standard, available item.

Regards! Michaelson

I will not ponder this for long as the ugly, green dragon of jealously will consume me.

Thanks for the reply Michaelson.

Any pics?

Here's a pic of mine. I (appropriately) opted for a 1920's look for this hat. This is also my "Mystery of the Hula" pose.

NICE Bink!

Mine looks the same, but then it should as it came from the same batch.

Regards! Michaelson

Wow, I didn't realize that hat body was so old Bink. Maybe I need to take up some of your vices

Randy

P.S Nice uke by the way, I've been kicking around the idea of getting one myself

The uke is fun, but the one I have is pretty much a souvenir some friends brought back for me. It doesn't keep tune so well. ;-) While I don't abuse this particular hat, I still wear it and am of the feeling that this hat would hold up for a lifetime of Indyesque adventures. Anyhow, what was the topic again?

Ford on Indy's hat..

I guess I'm in the minority in that I never believed it was always the same hat.

Indy had different hats throughout his younger years, starting with the fedora given to him by Fedora in LC.

Indy canon comes from GL and trickles down through Speilberg IMO.

Ford is expressing his opinion until I hear it from the others.

I can swallow "nuking the fridge", but the same hat?

I never thought it to be the same hat. Come on, I don't think ONE hat could last through YEARS of severe abuse.

R

I don't think ONE hat could last through YEARS of severe abuse.

Neither could a real person. If I can believe that Indy can pull off all the stuff he did, I can believe his hat lasted all those years. -M

Well said. ;-)

Regard! Michaelson

With all the adventures Indy has been in, chases, horseback rides, jumping out of planes and off tanks, etc., that's a stretch even for Indy. I wonder how many times they have had to do re-takes because of the hat falling off? Then again, sometimes you just can't bridge the make believe world to the real world. The jacket after the truck chase scene....no way!

As caps or hats are used, and as they become older, you sort of rotate the used ones to the work wear hat section while the newer ones get premo use. Indy no doubt would have rotated his dress hats as they became older.

Mulceber wrote:

I don't think ONE hat could last through YEARS of severe abuse.

Neither could a real person. If I can believe that Indy can pull off all the stuff he did, I can believe his hat lasted all those years. -M

I can believe a hat could last all of those years and through all of those adventures.

I just don't believe Indy managed to hang on to it through all of those years and through all of those adventures.

Besides, it's how I cope with the different looks we see. ;-)

I love that line in the Raiders novelization where Indy says: "This whole affair cost me my favorite hat, just for openers."

See- he lost his hat!

conceited_ape wrote:In CS, Indy had owned his fedora for 45 years. How can you make that assessment when the oldest AB is probably only about 5 years old?

I guess you guys haven't heard then.

It's a little known fact that the very first AB fedora was actually found at the West Bank in the late 1940s. It was in a large pottery jar with some Dead Sea scrolls.

In fact, it was this hat that led to the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls. A goat got away from the herd and was found starting to munch on the brim inside the cave.

It's rumored that the hat was signed by Moses himself. Yea, I never knew Moses made fedora hats either. Supposedly he used some really great felt made from alpaca fur. He was quite a hat pioneer.

Really it's true. Except for the parts that I made up.

Tron7960 wrote:I can believe a hat could last all of those years and through all of those adventures.

I just don't believe Indy managed to hang on to it through all of those years and through all of those adventures.

Besides, it's how I cope with the different looks we see.

And don't we all look different as we age and learn?

A hat smart enough to come back to it's "master" of it's own accord after an encounter with a tank, is certainly canny enough to live a long life.

I believe the hat "hung on" to Indy as much as Indy to it.

"Belief, Dr. Jones [and Tron], is a gift you have yet to receive. My sympathies."

Believe !!!

I never knew Moses to be quite the adventurer? With the fedora and the staff.....you go, dude!

He didn't need the whip!

lpa53 wrote:

Tron7960 wrote:I can believe a hat could last all of those years and through all of those adventures.

I just don't believe Indy managed to hang on to it through all of those years and through all of those adventures.

Besides, it's how I cope with the different looks we see.

And don't we all look different as we age and learn?

A hat smart enough to come back to it's "master" of it's own accord after an encounter with a tank, is certainly canny enough to live a long life.

I believe the hat "hung on" to Indy as much as Indy to it.

"Belief, Dr. Jones [and Tron], is a gift you have yet to receive. My sympathies."

Believe !!!

If you want to "believe" that the hat is a thinking entity capable of coming back to it's "master", go right ahead. You're bringing some perspective to the Indy movies that I'm not on board with.

I'm just saying that I view them as different hats throughout the the series, and that until I hear different from Lucas, I will continue to see it that way. Room there for many views and theories Ipa53.

Tron7960 wrote:If you want to "believe" that the hat is a thinking entity capable of coming back to it's "master", go right ahead. You're bringing some perspective to the Indy movies that I'm not on board with.

I'm just saying that I view them as different hats throughout the the series, and that until I hear different from Lucas, I will continue to see it that way. Room there for many views and theories Ipa53.

Sorry Tron, I was intending the post as humor, which is what Speilberg had when he "tossed the hat into the ring" at the edge of the cliff in LC.

That, and a sense of magic.

Guess I won't try that again ...

I think most people believe it to be the same hat. I never really gave it much thought. I'm the type of person who will buy multiples of the same article of clothing just incase they ever stop making it. If I lose something I really like, I try to replace it with something exactly the same or very similar. I imagine IJ would have done the same.

This thread reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies. Anyone who enjoys Indiana Jones should enjoy "Secondhand Lions." It's one of those really great, but underrated movies. Quite a bit of it has an Indiana Jones adventure type feel to it.

"If you want to believe in something, believe in it. Just because something isn't true, that's no reason you can't believe in it.Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in most; that people are basically good; that honor, virtue, and courage mean everything; that money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; that true love never dies."
-- Hub McCaan (Robert Duvall) to Walter (Haley Joel Osment)

I believe that Indy has several fedoras, but only one adventure hat. However, I do think there has been more than one adventure hat over the years. I personally think Indy lost his hat at the end of Raiders and as such he would have needed a new adventure hat. ;-)

Indiana Kev wrote:I personally think Indy lost his hat at the end of Raiders and as such he would have needed a new adventure hat. ;-)

Nah. I'm sure Katanga would have FedEx'd it right back along with the rest of his gear.