Club Obi Wan

I've noticed, over the period of my membership here at COW that a number of posts about Indy's fedora and there seems to be a debate as to whether or not its the same hat the "Fedora" gave him in 1914. So, let's take a pole ... Does Indy have but one hat that he keeps getting re-blocked or does he have more than one?

More than one He's just got to have a brown fedora.

Travis

According to the powers that be (Harrison Ford and the Army of the Dead novel ), he has one hat so that's how I voted. I do like the "romantic" qualities of that (and since this is a movieverse we're talking about then anything's possible) scenario.

Realistically, however? There's no way, no matter how much care and money was spent on it, would one rabbit fedora make it through everything he's put it through.

crismans wrote:Realistically, however?

I don't think so

So I guess we don't count the gray travel fedora?

Realistically, I agree with the other realists: multiple hats, but of similar type.

Are we supposed to vote on "movie Indy" or "hypothetically real Indy?"

There should also be an "I'm bored with this whole topic" option.

Jack

Regardless what people here think, we ultimately have to go by what the creators intent was. Maybe _ can get us a difinitive answer on this one. How 'bout it? One hat or many?

I thought LC opening was intended to answer this --- he got THE fedora from Fedora.

And that would make it 1912 to 1957. (not 1914)

Oh... my... God. Is this really a thread???
The 'crowning' of Indy in the beginning of LC was just THAT. It was ceremonial. It was symbolic. THAT hat is an extension of the man himself. We are given subtle hints as to Indy's sentimentality as far as his hat goes in RotLA and ToD. LC just cemented it!
If it was any old brown hat then why would he risk being crushed by a stone door in ToD just to retrieve it?
EVERYONE I KNOW who has ever seen the Indy films, as children OR as adults, has considered Indy's brown, battered 'adventure' fedora to be his keepsake. It's a foregone conclusion.

conceited_ape wrote:Oh... my... God. Is this really a thread???
The 'crowning' of Indy in the beginning of LC was just THAT. It was ceremonial. It was symbolic. THAT hat is an extension of the man himself. We are given subtle hints as to Indy's sentimentality as far as his hat goes in RotLA and ToD. LC just cemented it!

That scene can also be looked at as what started Indy on his path to wearing that type of hat. Think about it. I know Ive done this: you take off your hat, and put it on some kid's head that youre fond of. Your intention wasnt for him to keep the hat. Youre just smushing it in his face, so to speak, out of fondness. And, why would this guy 'Fedora' give up his own hat? Doesnt make sense.

If it was any old brown hat then why would he risk being crushed by a stone door in ToD just to retrieve it?
EVERYONE I KNOW who has ever seen the Indy films, as children OR as adults, has considered Indy's brown, battered 'adventure' fedora to be his keepsake. It's a foregone conclusion.

Nothing is a foregone conclusion. Thats why we talk about stuff here. Its fun.

I dont like losing my own stuff. I once ran out onto the Long Island Expressway to retrieve a western hat that ended up there when its stampede string broke (I was on my motorcycle). Indy is a movie character with defined ideologies, for lack of a better word right now. He goes to retrieve his hat at great peril because he can. To me, its speaks more to the point of Indy not being without his hat, regardless of which one he happens to be adventuring in at the time. Sort of a little character moment. The hat and Indy are inseparable. These little hat (and whip) retrieval moments only reinforce this. But I dont take it as far as it being the same hat from 1912 to 1957 (at last count). I think it can be interpreted either way with some degree of believability, one reason being that a hat lasting all those years, the way Indy treats it, seems virtually impossible, especially considering how good it looks in CS. Not possible, imho. And lets not forget, if you buy into the hat being THE one that Fedora gave him, that the hat was used when Indy got it. Are hats really that durable?

Yes, I know Im talking in realistic terms, but movie-myth and reality have to meet somewhere for plausibility to be possible.

He does have a grey one.

the pic on the left is from a scene before the other one



and it's still supposed to be the same hat through the whole series! as we all know Indy's hat goes through drastic changes all the time.

and as i mentioned in the other thread; young indy's(sean p flanery) hat has a small distressing on the ribbon over his left eye. the same distressing can bee seen in old indy's hat(playd by george hall)+ a little extra.

Ergo; this is done to show the audience that it is the same hat. (this is of course not shown on harrison's hat because the series came after the movies)

i'm starting to think that people here whom still don't think its supposed to be the same hat( still when harrison and indy has confirmed it) is because they can't hold on to just one hat themself


CJ

Oh my god!! That pic on the left has just become the worst Indy hat I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!! And I thought the TOD cockpit hat was bad!!!

There is only One. It's a transmitter; it's a radio for speaking to God.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Jack

eazybox wrote: What's the frequency, Kenneth?

LOL! I wonder how many people are gonna get that?
_ _ _ _ _

I don't mean to drag this off-topic, but I have a slightly related question: are there any discussion topics on the board about the Fedora guy? (I've tried searching, but just imagine the results you get when searching for "fedora" on this board!) Does the character have a name? Who was the actor, and why isn't he a major topic of discussion like some of the other supporting actors in the series? Does the guy appear at conventions and Indy-related gigs? Is there a thread about Fedora's fedora? Is his hat really the same as an "Indy" hat?

Back to the subject at hand: I like thinking that Indy has a row of old hats lined up on a shelf in the top of his closet. He keeps the old ones, but being a practical guy, he has to spring for a new one once in a while.

Realistically, however, I don't think he'd keep his old hats. I don't get the impression that Indy is particularly sentimental. Other than a brief mention of losing his dad and Marcus in the last film, he seems to be able to shrug off the loss, usually violent in nature, of old friends and colleagues with very little emotional effort. If he can shrug off the loss of people, I don't think giving up a hat would bother him all that much... when he's ready to give it up! You see, Indy is an egotist. He has a BIG hang-up about people taking things from him. This, too, could originate with his youthful encounter with Fedora man. Indy is not gonna let anybody, or anything, take his hat, or his hard-won artifact, or his girlfriend, or anything else. It has little to do with an attachment to the item (or person). It's his competitive nature, his ego, and possibly a little bit of a psychological quirk. Whether it's a hat he's had for years, or a new one he picked up last week, I don't think he's willing to let anybody take it from him. But once he makes the choice to replace it, I think Indy would have no problem dropping his old fedora in the dustbin.

I don't mean to drag this off-topic, but I have a slightly related question: are there any discussion topics on the board about the Fedora guy? (I've tried searching, but just imagine the results you get when searching for "fedora" on this board!) Does the character have a name? Who was the actor, and why isn't he a major topic of discussion like some of the other supporting actors in the series? Does the guy appear at conventions and Indy-related gigs? Is there a thread about Fedora's fedora? Is his hat really the same as an "Indy" hat?

davidd,

Try here:viewtopic.php?f=19&t=44811&hilit=Fedora+Actor

moses wrote:Oh my god!! That pic on the left has just become the worst Indy hat I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!! And I thought the TOD cockpit hat was bad!!!

welcome to the club. i get tears in my eyes every time i see that scene. it's just....horrible



CJ

tears.....of laughter? It's so bad it's almost laughable.

I answered the poll basing it on the movie myth. But if you asked on the basis of reality, I'd say he had to have several hats.

As for the cockpit scene; that was one of my favorite scenes in TOD (not the hat, just the scene) because of the Indy's expression when he said, "No, do you?"

To be serious for a moment (if that's possible with this topic) there's no way this poll can have any valid results unless it's rephrased to be more specific and started over from scratch. As it stands, it's too vaguely worded and people could be voting based on a number of different assumptions.

How many voted for the fictional Indy of the movies, as opposed to their idea of what a "real" Indy might wear?

How many voted "no" because they believe Indy has more than one brown hat? How many others voted "no" who believe he has one brown hat, at least one grey and perhaps many other "like" hats of other colors? There's no way to differentiate between these possible assumptions as the poll stands.

Jack

Wait... you're saying Indiana Jones is fictional?!

Yeah, right! Next thing, you'll be claiming Sherlock Holmes is fictional, too!

davidd wrote:Wait... you're saying Indiana Jones is fictional?!

Yeah, right! Next thing, you'll be claiming Sherlock Holmes is fictional, too!

Well, Bigfoot tells me he believes Holmes is real-- so he MUST be.

Jack

Chiliana Jones wrote:

moses wrote:Oh my god!! That pic on the left has just become the worst Indy hat I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!! And I thought the TOD cockpit hat was bad!!!

welcome to the club. i get tears in my eyes every time i see that scene. it's just....horrible



CJ

It looks like my Christy's Adventurer after it got soaked last summer. I gave it away to my 5 year old godson so that he had something to wear while playing at Indy. I feel guilty now! (He wanted my Fed IV deluxe - he has taste!)

fenris wrote:I answered the poll basing it on the movie myth. But if you asked on the basis of reality, I'd say he had to have several hats.

As for the cockpit scene; that was one of my favorite scenes in TOD (not the hat, just the scene) because of the Indy's expression when he said, "No, do you?"

eazybox wrote:To be serious for a moment (if that's possible with this topic) there's no way this poll can have any valid results unless it's rephrased to be more specific and started over from scratch. As it stands, it's too vaguely worded and people could be voting based on a number of different assumptions.

How many voted for the fictional Indy of the movies, as opposed to their idea of what a "real" Indy might wear?

How many voted "no" because they believe Indy has more than one brown hat? How many others voted "no" who believe he has one brown hat, at least one grey and perhaps many other "like" hats of other colors? There's no way to differentiate between these possible assumptions as the poll stands.

Jack

I answered many hats under the pretense of the "real" Indy. I have always been at peace with the idea that dr. jones just needed "a" brown fedora, not "that" brown fedora. Now, noting this, I have also always maintained that he was very particular about what that brown fedora looked like (ie. Tall crown, squarish block shape, dark brown ribbon, etc.,etc,).



Travis

Does (anybody) have but one hat?

_ wrote:

whipitgood wrote:Regardless what people here think, we ultimately have to go by what the creators intent was. Maybe _ can get us a difinitive answer on this one. How 'bout it? One hat or many?

Me? Definitive? Everyone knows that I'm just making this up as I go...

Hey, not everybody knows.

But I don't think you need to ask as I think I already know what the answer would be

Regards, Geert

My two cents is that Indy IS a sentimental guy. Sure, he can be pretty rough and tough, but he's a softy at heart. Take TOD for instance. Indy was sympathetic to the bad fortune of the villagers from the loss of the sankara stone, but wasn't particularly moved to get involved, until the village elder told him the children had disappeared. At that point you can see the fire rise in him and the look on his face alone says "I committed to this now".

As far as hats go, I think he's like a lot of us. I have a closet full of hats that I've bought or been given over the years. Up until I got in to Indy gear, they were all baseball caps. I can't count how many I have. But I still always wear the same one. It's my favorite and I wear it almost exclusively. The others are just collecting dust.

I bet Indy's got a hat rack with several hats on it. When it's a formal occasion he wears the gray one, but when it's time for action, I bet his hand reaches for the same beat up old brown hat without even thinking about it. He's probably got a nice new brown fedora hanging right next to it.... but never thinks to grab the new one.

JRabbit

well i voted different hats -- just because he has the grey and the brown hats , but to look at the movies they try to keep the hats the same for each adventure . but if you look at indy's hat in cairo how dirty it looked and then looked at imam"s room where the hat is sitting on the table next to the "bad dates' its a cleaner hat . and in last crusade when he first meets elsa the height of the crown is different than the height through the rest of the movie so he had a travel hat that was also brown and then his adventure hat, which may be a bit more beaten up, and as mentioned before in the thread the hat is mentioned in the 'army of the dead" that indy still has the hat given to him as a kid , i think that throughout the years he has hats made with the similar look to the original fedora,. just like us we have many fedoras in different blocks styles ,

But only one set of skivvies during all that time, right?

_ wrote: Me? Definitive? Everyone knows that I'm just making this up as I go...

_ wrote: The dirt is a special compost formula developed by George Lucas for his prize-winnng tea roses ("Princess Leah Organic"). It was actually applied to the wardrobe post-production and the all the scenes were reshot in taupe-screen (a proprietary technology developed by Martha Stuart) using stunt doubles at Deb Nadoolman's apartment (she was on her honeymoon). If you look closely you can see the glow from Deb's lava lamp in the reshot frames at the Raven Bar.

I have proof of all of this in the form of receipts for lunch at the El Pollo Loco down the street. George likes dark meat and pico de gallo.

Do you mean these were not genuine facts ?

_ wrote:Actually, I just may have that definitive answer...

We know he has a butt-load of jackets. Scene in Indy's house in Raiders with Marcus? The closet has several on hangers. There's on on the coatrack by the door?

If he's got several jackets, he has several lids - and has HAD several over the years... Viola!

Yes, there appears to be at least two - the one from the closet that he throws into the suitcase, and the one on the rack by the door. Ive been looking at it for a few minutes now in real time, and paused frames. The rest of the jackets in the closet appear to be various cloth jackets - probably suits and/or sport jackets.

Ive been trying to look into the top and bottom of the closet for hats, but I cant/dont see anything.

ANZAC_1915 wrote:I thought LC opening was intended to answer this --- he got THE fedora from Fedora.

And that would make it 1912 to 1957. (not 1914)

i think the opening of LC was meant to tell us what formed young indy, influenced him, into the man he would later become. obviously he was enamored with Fedora, the look of the hat and jacket, and the moment of crowning was just a "mentor/role model" type moment launching him in the direction he would go.

That's where he got HIS LOOK, and yes...he was given A HAT, but not THE HAT that he would carry for all those years.

RaidersBash wrote: i think the opening of LC was meant to tell us what formed young indy, influenced him, into the man he would later become. obviously he was enamored with Fedora, the look of the hat and jacket, and the moment of crowning was just a "mentor/role model" type moment launching him in the direction he would go.

That's where he got HIS LOOK, and yes...he was given A HAT, but not THE HAT that he would carry for all those years.

Exactly! That's the way I always understood it as well. Well said, RaidersBash.

We had quite a lively conversation all the way to Chicago. She texted me pics of the underwear she bought in Cabo. Well, she sorta modeled them. Kelly was not amused - but I thought it was pretty funny.

OMG!!! THAT is as funny as anything I've ever read here. ROTFLMAO!!!

LJ

HarryStreet wrote:

RaidersBash wrote: i think the opening of LC was meant to tell us what formed young indy, influenced him, into the man he would later become. obviously he was enamored with Fedora, the look of the hat and jacket, and the moment of crowning was just a "mentor/role model" type moment launching him in the direction he would go.

That's where he got HIS LOOK, and yes...he was given A HAT, but not THE HAT that he would carry for all those years.

Exactly! That's the way I always understood it as well. Well said, RaidersBash.

Very well said

Chiliana Jones wrote:

moses wrote:Oh my god!! That pic on the left has just become the worst Indy hat I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!! And I thought the TOD cockpit hat was bad!!!

welcome to the club. i get tears in my eyes every time i see that scene. it's just....horrible



CJ

Yes. Everytime the cockpit scene shows on a TV, a cat dies.

Didn't Indy leave his fedora on the boat just before swimming over to to the sub to go after those rotten Nazis?

Hollowpond wrote: I answered many hats under the pretense of the "real" Indy. I have always been at peace with the idea that dr. jones just needed "a" brown fedora, not "that" brown fedora. Now, noting this, I have also always maintained that he was very particular about what that brown fedora looked like (ie. Tall crown, squarish block shape, dark brown ribbon, etc.,etc,).



Travis

Well. I placed my vote based on "movie" Indy, so that immediately invalidates any results. It's all good, though-- this thread has turned out to be pretty entertaining!

Jack

generalFROSTY wrote:Didn't Indy leave his fedora on the boat just before swimming over to to the sub to go after those rotten Nazis?

The answer to this question is "yes." See the discussion in the other thread on this topic for a further elaboration on the fate of the fedora.

Jack

jkdbuck76 wrote:

Chiliana Jones wrote:

moses wrote:Oh my god!! That pic on the left has just become the worst Indy hat I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!! And I thought the TOD cockpit hat was bad!!!

welcome to the club. i get tears in my eyes every time i see that scene. it's just....horrible



CJ

Yes. Everytime the cockpit scene shows on a TV, a cat dies.

i was talking about the scene from "spring break adventure". i actually started to like the TOD-cockpit hat a little after i saw that scene in SBA

and i voted "one hat" by meaning one adventure hat. of course Indy has several hats but wears the one he got as a kid on his adventures.


CJ

_ wrote:Actually, I just may have that definitive answer...

We know he has a butt-load of jackets. Scene in Indy's house in Raiders with Marcus? The closet has several on hangers. There's on on the coatrack by the door?

If he's got several jackets, he has several lids - and has HAD several over the years... Viola!

...but that's not the difinitive answer I was looking for

He obviously gets a new jacket (due to his jackets after ROTLA do not have a hole in the arm from the gunshot. He obviously replaces his bag strap.

Why wouldn't he change his hat? It would explain why we see so many different styles OF the same hat throughout YIJC all the way to CS.

davidd wrote: ......Back to the subject at hand: I like thinking that Indy has a row of old hats lined up on a shelf in the top of his closet. He keeps the old ones, but being a practical guy, he has to spring for a new one once in a while.

lol, kinda like in Dick Tracy....not sure if it was in the movie, but in the novelization of the movie, he gets his hat shot up, and when he goes back to the office, opens up a closet that has a row of yellow hats....

RaidersBash wrote:
i think the opening of LC was meant to tell us what formed young indy, influenced him, into the man he would later become. obviously he was enamored with Fedora, the look of the hat and jacket, and the moment of crowning was just a "mentor/role model" type moment launching him in the direction he would go.

That's where he got HIS LOOK, and yes...he was given A HAT, but not THE HAT that he would carry for all those years.

I agree with this. It's obvious how much the guy influenced him. He's wearing a leather jacket with tan pans, a open collar shirt with a satchel....unshaven with a scar.

He's obviously the inspiration for indy's outfit. Especially after he's given the first hat.

What I find funny and completely unbelievable is this one adventure, this One adventure is where he recieves ALL his signature trademarks. His hate for snacks, his bullwhip intrests, his style choice, his scar, etc.

backstagejack wrote:
What I find funny and completely unbelievable is this one adventure, this One adventure is where he recieves ALL his signature trademarks. His hate for snacks, his bullwhip intrests, his style choice, his scar, etc.

Yeah, I thought that was weird, too, especially discovering why he hates to eat in between meals . . .

backstagejack wrote:What I find funny and completely unbelievable is this one adventure, this One adventure is where he recieves ALL his signature trademarks. His hate for snakes (Edited, since I knew what you meant), his bullwhip intrests, his style choice, his scar, etc.

Yes, now that you mention it, it was a rather busy (and impressionable) morning, wasn't it?

scottyrocks6 wrote:

backstagejack wrote:
What I find funny and completely unbelievable is this one adventure, this One adventure is where he recieves ALL his signature trademarks. His hate for snacks, his bullwhip intrests, his style choice, his scar, etc.

Yeah, I thought that was weird, too, especially discovering why he hates to eat in between meals . . .

darn flying fingers.....yes, snakes, snakes...his hatred for snakes. and what the blazes I can't right dick tracy? Its a man's name!!! Richard Tracy then even though the movie isn't titled that!!

Mitch LaRue wrote:

backstagejack wrote:What I find funny and completely unbelievable is this one adventure, this One adventure is where he recieves ALL his signature trademarks. His hate for snakes (Edited, since I knew what you meant), his bullwhip intrests, his style choice, his scar, etc.

Yes, now that you mention it, it was a rather busy (and impressionable) morning, wasn't it?

lol, thanks for the edit. Yeah, I watched LC again last night....and that really was a busy morning.....which after YIJC it was just another day in the life of Henry Jones Jr. It just happen to be the one morning that he recieved everything that would later help define him.

I know the YIJC was just a thought in GL's head at the time....in forsight though I would've liked his trademark style and quirks to be an evolution. Although even in YIJC he only ever donned the fedora...never anything else that would later be associated with indy. Occasionally he used a whip.....

In 'Army of the dead' Steve Perry makes a whole deal about how Indy has this one hat wich he has to have mended and reblocked all the time.

But as Perry isn't a very good writer, I'm not buying that, unless every time Indy takes his hat to the hatmaker it can change make, model and colour as well...

Indiana Joosse wrote:In 'Army of the dead' Steve Perry makes a whole deal about how Indy has this one hat wich he has to have mended and reblocked all the time.

But as Perry isn't a very good writer, I'm not buying that, unless every time Indy takes his hat to the hatmaker it can change make, model and colour as well...

mended? How do you "mend" a hat? Add a patch? stitch it together? when you wear a hole through the crown by pinching it so much, how do you mend that? Weld the felt back together?

I see no evidence of indy having stitches or patches on his hat.....lol!!!

The last indy book I read was the interior world by Rob Macgregor. I LOVED his books up till his last two.....The Unicorns Horn and Interior world, then I stopped reading them altogether.

backstagejack wrote:
mended? How do you "mend" a hat? Add a patch? stitch it together? when you wear a hole through the crown by pinching it so much, how do you mend that? Weld the felt back together?

I see no evidence of indy having stitches or patches on his hat.....lol!!!

Like I said, he isn't a very good writer. But I have to give him credit at least for knowing that a hat can be reblocked. Perhaps he looked that up right here on COW?

For me too he's not a good writer at all! Read this page of the book I quoted in the end of this topic:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43981

The whole book was like a camping trip.

And the punching a hole into the hat??? I dont think anybody in their right mind would do that. He dwelled too much on the reblocking/repairing part and didn't go with common sense... Hello??? Indy had a bag! Why the #### would anyone punch a hole in their hat to keep from losing it when the obvious choice would be to stuff the hat into the bag!