Which Hat at the Official Indy store is most like the films?

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jamiestarr

New member
Listen, I get it. The Officially Licensed hats are not exact replicas of what Harrison wears in the films. However, I am not a HUGE stickler for detail. Nor, do I care to spend hours searching and shaping and paying for an exact replica. So my question is this:

There are a few Indy fedoras at the Official Store. Which is closest to THE hat?
 
T

Tennessee Smith

New member
Neither of those hats are close to the real deal. A. they're made of wool and will shrink as soon as they get wet. B. They're not even close to the correct bash, shape.

If you want an inexpensive Indy style hat, that's close to the real deal. Try getting an Akubra Federation from hatsdirect.com.
 
Nurhachi1991

Nurhachi1991

Well-known member
Tennessee Smith said:
Neither of those hats are close to the real deal. A. they're made of wool and will shrink as soon as they get wet. B. They're not even close to the correct bash, shape.

If you want an inexpensive Indy style hat, that's close to the real deal. Try getting an Akubra Federation from hatsdirect.com.
Click to expand...


there all the same arent they?
 
The_Raiders

The_Raiders

Well-known member
Tennessee Smith said:
Neither of those hats are close to the real deal. A. they're made of wool and will shrink as soon as they get wet. B. They're not even close to the correct bash, shape.

If you want an inexpensive Indy style hat, that's close to the real deal. Try getting an Akubra Federation from hatsdirect.com.
Click to expand...


Well, he did say he wasn't big on details, I used to think the same thing but now every time I watche ROTLA I end up examening the hat then shaping mine like it :rolleyes: I still like the one in my orginal post.
 
T

Tennessee Smith

New member
It looks good if a "kinda like Indy's" hat will suffice. The only thing official about this hat is the license dues paid Lucasfilm. The hat isn't the same style as Indy's by any strech. The main differnce is the fact that it has a tear drop crown but I will give it a plus for being made out of fur instead of wool. :)


...and sorry Nurhachi1991, not even close.
 
S

son of Indy

New member
For whatever it's worth...

Several companies have made fedoras which were worn by Harrison Ford and the various stuntmen doubling him. Of course, Herbert Johnson in England was where the "original" was found (I think it was a Bushman), and after some re-shaping by Deborah Nadoolman, became the hat he wore in ROTLA.
For TOD, Baron Hats in Burbank made a number of fedoras that Ford wore in that film, and most recently did some re-shaping on the hats that AB made for Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. I was there, and I personally saw the hats up close just before they went to the set. The re-shaping was done using the blocks from TOD. Baron now sells the same hat under the name of "The Cliffhanger" using the same materials and shaping they used for TOD and KOTCS. They ain't cheap, but they are worth it. They are a bit stiffer than the HJ's, but any of the aforementioned... Baron, HJ, or AB, are all GREAT hats. And Baron can also make one out of felt rather than fur if you are on a budget.
The biggest factor in the look of the hat is the crown bash. It should be a "center split" and not a "C-crown" (AKA teardrop-shape). Most Akubra Bushman hats, for example, are C-crown hats. Also, in Last Crusade, the hat's brim had a slight upturn on the very edges above each ear. I personally liked Indy's look in Last Crusade the best. Remember also, your hat will shrink a bit, so get it just a tad larger than is snug. After a week, it'll fit more tightly.

Below are two recent photos of me in my Baron, doing my bullwhip demonstration at Legoland for IndyFans Day. The lovely Marion is played by Renee Rose-Perry.

indymarionsepias.jpg
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Lower image credit: (USA Today photo by Dan MacMedan)
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ponypopping.jpg
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The brim on this lower image looks a bit wider than it should, but that's actually because my hair is longer on the sides than Ford's, and in this image my hair color matches the hat's color, creating the illusion of a wider-than-normal brim.

Also, if you're wondering, that's a Joe Strain bullwhip of the same style he and David Morgan made for the films. Joe made seven whips for Crystal Skull.
My thanks to Brandon Kleyla, Kevin English, and everyone elso involved with IndyFans for making it such a great day! (Now if I could just afford the right jacket....)
 
D

Deckard

New member
Hello Son of Indy, Congrats on an awesome job.

I do want to say something about Baron hats which is he lied to multiple sources including Parade claiming he "made" the hats for Crystal Skull. Plain and simple a lie. Also I don't know what you mean by Baron style the Crystal Skull Hats, but this is an exact quote from Steve of AB.

"One more thing. The hats we made were all sent creased to what you will see on the film. Unlike the other hats from the films that were sent open crown, these hats were sent creased. So, what you see on the film is not only our hats, but our crease jobs as well. We were sent pics to use to copy, and each hat had to be a clone. I had to use a ruler to put in each crease exactly the same length as the others. When I would get Marc's hats in, I would pull out the ruler to make sure his creases were clones of mine. Same goes for the front and back height of the hat after it is creased. This is a first for the Indy films. We were given more responsibility for these hats, than the other hatter was given for the other films. They trusted us, and I think relied upon us for putting the right hat on Indy's head. And from the feedback we have received from them, all have been very satisfied with our efforts. Fedora"

I don't want to insult anyone, it just seems you may have fallen for a load of the proverbial BS from the bad people at Baron's. I believe Parade amongst others have already printed retractions. You can cite this source for more claims amognst a ton of others:

http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie/226565/indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull

You could also go on the main Indiana Jones page click videos and watch the video in which the Bernie officialy announces AB as the Indy 4 hat.

It was less then a month ago Baron's tryed to make these claims and the uproar it caused from the people who knew it was false, forced him to take back his statements. If someone was misquoted thats a shame, but it wouldn't be the first time this has happened w/ Barons which makes for a poor track record in my book.


The real deal:

http://www.adventurebilthats.com/
http://www.adventurebiltdeluxe.com/
 
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S

son of Indy

New member
Just want to say...

To Deckard, Thanks for the congrats!

As to the folks at Baron's, I agree with the above poster: the story is like a vampire that never dies. However, there have been some new statements issued by several of the players involved, and hopefully once they're posted on the "other" website, all of the bruhaha (did I spell that right?) will be put to rest.

I will say that I've known Mark, the owner of Baron, for about 12 years now. We are VERY close, both as professional associates and personal friends. He has costumed a number of my small films, and helped me personally as well. He is not a liar, nor a bad person, and his hats are second-to-none. So are Steve Delk's AB hats, and Herbert Johnson's. They are ALL great hats. But, they all have little differences and variations that make them unique. Mark did NOT make the fedoras for this new film, but he did do some re-working of them before shooting. Notice in the ReelZ tape: he says he "worked on" the hats, but it's the WOMAN REPORTING who uses the word "MADE" and it is SHE who impropely implies that Mark made them from scratch. Mark was very angry about this, and is in the process of seeing about having ReelZ issue a retraction. As to what has been said in print, as an old newspaper writer myself, I can personally tell you all kinds of stories where a reporter has mis-quoted a source and nobody was the wiser, and that's what happened with the Parade article. After all, ANY written piece is subject to reinterpretation and morphing by the person reporting it, and Mark had no control over that. However, Mark DID hand-make the hat Shia wears, though. Anything more must be said by Mark and Bernie Pollack, and Mark has prepared a statement regarding this. But I can't post that; it's up to Mark to do so.

And, I was personally there to see the work being done on some of the AB hats by Mark at Baron. I even picked one up and handled it. (OOPS - forget I said that...!) Okay, I DID get yelled at and told to put it down immediately by Mark, which I did. Mark was, rightly, mortified that I would be so unprofessional as to pick up one of the hats destined for Indy's head, and you should know that he jumped on me about it.

Still, though... I got to hold one of them in my hands!
 
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E

eazybox

Member
The last few posts have taken this thread rather sharply off topic, so let me try to set it on the right course again. To answer the original question, no officially licensed hat looks any more like the film hat than another, in my opinion-- except perhaps for the $500 pure beaver special edition Dorfman, and even that is a stretch.

So, if you want a Dorfman, just pick the one you like the best, or can afford at the present time, and save your money to buy one of the better hats later on. That is what most fans end up doing anyway, whether they consciously decide on it or not. And if you are not too exacting about screen accuracy, a Dorfman should do just fine.

Jack
 
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