Should Indy have had a pencil mustache?

[Raiders90]

The original Indy trilogy is set in the 1930s. At the time, the most dapper, rogue-ish leading men--the guys who were in essence the "men's men" of the era--wore pencil mustaches. A pencil mustache on a man's face in the mid 30s-late '40s was as big an icon of that period as the fedora on his head.

The biggest cinema heroes of the era, from the romantic leading men to the action stars to the swashbucklers and the western stars, all wore them at some point in the '30s. Clark Gable, Errol Flynn William Powell, David Niven, Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks, Ronald Coleman were among the most notable wearers and also the biggest leading men of the '30s and '40s. Even Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant got in on the trend at points.

Howard Hughes, en route to an Indiana Jones look-a-like contest:

Do you think it could've suited Indy? I just think it'd have been more period appropriate for the time period Indy's adventures take place in than the stubble. At least while in his "Dr. Jones" persona, it might've worked.

Also, I might as well also ask: Do you feel Indy should've been a smoker? I think the idea of him being a smoker was tossed around during the Raiders story conference in 1978, as was the idea of him being an alcoholic and a womanizer. While the alcoholism was tossed aside, and the playboy aspect was toned down significantly, I think the smoking bend might've added to his character. The image of him puffing away on a pipe while wearing his three piece suit (as "Dr. Jones") and smoking a more common cigarette on the field as Indy might've further reinforced the division between his Professor persona and his Adventurer side, and would've shown his recklessness off more.

 

[I Don Quixote]

Hmm. That would be an interesting look. We've seen Indy unshaven, but the pencil moustache doesn't really appeal to me for him. But, I could be wrong. I just prefer the rugged look. Moustache seems too intentional for me.

 

[Montana Smith]

Add another one to that listof threads!

 

[Goodeknight]

the pencil moustache doesn't really appeal to me for him. But, I could be wrong. I just prefer the rugged look. Moustache seems too intentional for me.

I agree. Perhaps for the time the moustache would have been fine while on campus. But I prefer the more bookish look. He's really a bit nerdy with the glasses and the maps rolled up under his arm. More professorial.

And in the field, certainly stubble. That's the point. Out in the jungle, exploring, hunting, or fighting for your life. No time to trim your pencil stache.

Also, I might as well also ask: Do you feel Indy should've been a smoker? I think the idea of him being a smoker was tossed around during the Raiders story conference in 1978, as was the idea of him being an alcoholic and a womanizer. While the alcoholism was tossed aside, and the playboy aspect was toned down significantly, I think the smoking bend might've added to his character. The image of him puffing away on a pipe while wearing his three piece suit (as "Dr. Jones") and smoking a more common cigarette on the field as Indy might've further reinforced the division between his Professor persona and his Adventurer side, and would've shown his recklessness off more.

This, I think, could have fit well with the time period. But I don't think it would have shown his reckless abandon. Pretty much everybody in movies at the time smoked. Picture any movie with a newsroom, and reporters puffing on cigars or cigarettes as they bang away at their typewriters. I even recall as a kid seeing an old b/w movie where a doctor sits down at the edge of a patient's bed and asks, "Want a smoke?" Nobody thought anything of it back then. Way before Surgeon General's warnings.

But, yes, I do think it would have come across as kind of roguish.

 

[Mickiana]

No, he should not have had a pencil mustache. Not needed, not suitable.

 

[Raiders90]

I agree. Perhaps for the time the moustache would have been fine while on campus. But I prefer the more bookish look. He's really a bit nerdy with the glasses and the maps rolled up under his arm. More professorial.

And in the field, certainly stubble. That's the point. Out in the jungle, exploring, hunting, or fighting for your life. No time to trim your pencil stache.

Hmm....I don't think the bookish side ever fit Harrison. What I mean is, it fit the character, but Harrison Ford could never really come off as stodgy and bookish even if he tried. He's too cool, too "alpha". I also don't see how his supposed-to-be-nerdy teacher side got all of his female students all worked up. Yes, Indy is a good looking man, but as "Professor Jones", his personality is rather droll, he dresses incredibly conservative and wears glasses--All would mark him as a nerd back in the '30s rather than as a sexy Professor. You know what I mean? The idea of him with the bowtie and whatnot doesn't really radiate that he's the "cool teacher." I'm saying the mustache might've lent him a sort of rogue-ish respectability, as in, a rogue-ish teacher who'd believably excite the female students. He'd be the mysterious Clark Gable looking teacher in 1936.

Also, I don't mean he should've been clean cut on his adventures. Have the mustache of course, simply let his stubble grow out with it on his adventures. Sort of like George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Btw, this trade was made in honor of Movember

 

[ROB98374]

This is pretty close....

 

[Rocket Surgeon]

Only in he gets fangs too...

 

[Attila the Professor]

Hmm....I don't think the bookish side ever fit Harrison. What I mean is, it fit the character, but Harrison Ford could never really come off as stodgy and bookish even if he tried. He's too cool, too "alpha". I also don't see how his supposed-to-be-nerdy teacher side got all of his female students all worked up. Yes, Indy is a good looking man, but as "Professor Jones", his personality is rather droll, he dresses incredibly conservative and wears glasses--All would mark him as a nerd back in the '30s rather than as a sexy Professor. You know what I mean? The idea of him with the bowtie and whatnot doesn't really radiate that he's the "cool teacher." I'm saying the mustache might've lent him a sort of rogue-ish respectability, as in, a rogue-ish teacher who'd believably excite the female students. He'd be the mysterious Clark Gable looking teacher in 1936.

I don't think professorial necessarily implies "stodgy and bookish." Universities are a pretty solid place for smart alpha types with more-than-healthy egos. The costume doesn't need to tell the story that he's the teacher if the performances do that instead. Instead, it contributes to another facet of the film (and later the series), defining a look to go with that facet of Indy's life when he is, first and foremost, a noted and learned scholar. Maybe you could argue that it's laying it on a bit thick, but I think you can find most of the masculine icons you have in mind in a non-tuxedo bowtie or a three-piece suit quite easily. The glasses might be trickier.

Of course, if the man wears the suit, instead of the suit wearing him? That's probably not a mistake, and I don't think we're meant to find any gap between the costume, the man, and the performances.

 

[Finn]

I wonder whether we'd seen one if the role had gone to the original choice...

 

[The Drifter]

Have you ever been bored whilst doing homework or taxes, curled your upper lip and stuck the old number 2 betwix your upper lip and nose?

 

[I Don Quixote]

Also, I might as well also ask: Do you feel Indy should've been a smoker? I think the idea of him being a smoker was tossed around during the Raiders story conference in 1978, as was the idea of him being an alcoholic and a womanizer. While the alcoholism was tossed aside, and the playboy aspect was toned down significantly, I think the smoking bend might've added to his character. The image of him puffing away on a pipe while wearing his three piece suit (as "Dr. Jones") and smoking a more common cigarette on the field as Indy might've further reinforced the division between his Professor persona and his Adventurer side, and would've shown his recklessness off more.

I can sort of see that. People back then just didn't know it made your lungs black.
But, maybe Indy just didn't like smoking.

 

[Stoo]

At the time, the most dapper, rogue-ish leading men--the guys who were in essence the "men's men" of the era--wore pencil mustaches. A pencil mustache on a man's face in the mid 30s-late '40s was as big an icon of that period as the fedora on his head.

The biggest cinema heroes of the era, from the romantic leading men to the action stars to the swashbucklers and the western stars, all wore them at some point in the '30s. Clark Gable, Errol Flynn William Powell, David Niven, Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks, Ronald Coleman were among the most notable wearers and also the biggest leading men of the '30s and '40s.
---
Do you think it could've suited Indy?

To answer your question bluntly: NO. Your examples demonstrate a confusion between "men's men" and "ladies' men". Indy wasn't some suave, dashing & debonair, cinema star and likely not someone concerned with fashion enough who would want to emulate them.

Plus, from the commercial aspect of the Indy films, pencil moustaches weren't popular in the 1980s (nor have they been anytime since then) so audiences might have found it unappealing. There's a reason why that style fell out favour over half a century ago. By modern standards, pencil 'staches are rather silly looking.

Add another one to that list of threads!

Crikey. Make this #6 of Raiders112390's hair-related topics!

Also, I might as well also ask: Do you feel Indy should've been a smoker? I think the idea of him being a smoker was tossed around during the Raiders story conference in 1978, as was the idea of him being an alcoholic and a womanizer. While the alcoholism was tossed aside, and the playboy aspect was toned down significantly, I think the smoking bend might've added to his character. The image of him puffing away on a pipe while wearing his three piece suit (as "Dr. Jones") and smoking a more common cigarette on the field as Indy might've further reinforced the division between his Professor persona and his Adventurer side, and would've shown his recklessness off more.

Yesterday, I (unintentionally) noticed that you quickly edited your post to add that smoker question/paragraph after you viewed this thread:

How come Indy never smoked in the movies?

Why didn't you just reply to that thread when you found it? (Instead of coming back here & adding those smoker comments to your opening post about pencil moustaches?)

Picture this:
Raven Member: "Hmm, I'm interested in talking about Indy being a smoker. Let's see - Oh, look what I found! A thread about pencil moustaches! FOR SURE there'll be some talk about smoking going on in there!"

 

[Finn]

Btw, this trade was made in honor of Movember

Well, at least this time he did have a reason bit deeper than just simple inanity.

 

[Goodeknight]

Yesterday, I (unintentionally) noticed that you quickly edited your post to add that smoker question/paragraph after you viewed this thread:

How come Indy never smoked in the movies?

Why didn't you just reply to that thread when you found it? (Instead of coming back here & adding those smoker comments to your opening post about pencil moustaches?)

Picture this:
Raven Member: "Hmm, I'm interested in talking about Indy being a smoker. Let's see - Oh, look what I found! A thread about pencil moustaches! FOR SURE there'll be some talk about smoking going on in there!"

Stoo, your observation skills and critiques never fail to amaze, and slightly frighten me.

Always right on target.

 

[Finn]

I sure hope Raiders112390 hits that occultistic amount of threads opened that's required to ascend to another plane of existence soon. Haven't witnessed a genuine miracle before.










<small>FYI, that incident at the 2009 Sacred Rye Festival didn't count after all. It was just lint on the camera lens.</small>

 

[Temple Raider]

I think Indy would look odd with a pencil-thin mustache, doesn't fit him IMO. Just a mild growth of stubble is best for him IMO, not beard-length but enough so that it gives him a bit of a gritty look.

 

[Montana Smith]

Only if Indy had been played by David Niven.

"Jones, Indiana Jones."

To answer your question bluntly: NO. Your examples demonstrate a confusion between "men's men" and "ladies' men". Indy wasn't some suave, dashing & debonair, cinema star and likely not someone concerned with fashion enough who would want to emulate them.

Plus, from the commercial aspect of the Indy films, pencil moustaches weren't popular in the 1980s (nor have they been anytime since then) so audiences might have found it unappealing. There's a reason why that style fell out favour over half a century ago. By modern standards, pencil 'staches are rather silly looking.

Meg: Oh, my God, Dad, what's on your face?

Peter: It's a mustache, Meg.

Lois: Oh, I think it's sexy.

Brian: I think it's gay.

Peter: It's not gay, Brian. If I'm gay, then Freddie Mercury was gay.

Brian: Freddie Mercury the lead singer of Queen? He was incredibly gay.

Peter: He was not! He had a mustache which is praal like wedding ring.

Chris: I imagine you're going to be much more of a stern father, now that you have a mustache.

Peter: Well, Chris, there may be more lap sitting than there's been. And I might answer most of your questions with a story. But, mostly, my mustache tells people that there is a 90% chance that I am poorly educated, that I keep upscale porn magazines out in the open and that I listen to the Little River Band with giant headphones.

 

[Henry W Jones]

Add another one to that listof threads!

Where is the thread about pubic hair? Does Willie shave? Does Indy shave the willie? Do all the Indy girls have carpet that matches the drapes?

As for the moustache..... HELL NO!!!! How cheesy. First, Indys stubble is a look of not being able throughout his adventure to stop and shave. I dont think its a fashion statement. Second, its not very "rough and tumble" to be drawing on a moustache. And last, with the amount of sweating Indy does, wouldn't it be smearing the whole film and wouldn't he have to find a mirror constantly to fix it?

 

[Montana Smith]

Where is the thread about pubic hair? Does Willie shave? Does Indy shave the willie? Do all the Indy girls have carpet that matches the drapes?

Be patient and I'm sure Raiders90210 will provide us with the delights of such a thread!