Top Ten Movie cowboy hats

[frank battaglia]

1. Frank Culpepper's hat in the "Culpepper Cattle Company"
2. Lee Marvin's hat (1st hat in the movie) "Monte Walsh"
3. Selleck's hat from "Quigley Down Under"
4. Walter Brennan's hat in "Red River" (and many other movies)
5. Gus in "Lonesome Dove"
6. Beaver Sampson's (stagecoach shotgun rider) in Conagher ("Anyone tell you there are Indians around here")
7. Eastwood's "Pale Rider"
8. Pea Eye's hat in ""Lonesome Dove"
9. Kostner's hat in "Open Range"
10. The Duke's hat in "Rio Bravo"

[Juha Nakari]

Lee Marvin in The Professionals.

[frank battaglia]

add to list

Burt Lancaster's hat in Ulzana's Raid

[Dee Taylor]

How about Jeff Bridges' hat in 'Wild Bill'. A great, flamboyant and authentic Hickok style hat, however different than the flat brimmed, round crown hat that Hickok also wore in real life.

 

[Flying R]

That was a way cool hat!

[frank battaglia]

More great hats from Red River

Noah Berry's hat (he was a great rider-- one of the best actor-riders)

Hal Taliferro's (the long haired cowboy with buckskin shirt)

Both are traditional classic "Boss of the Plains" style hats--- look GREAT!

[Murray A. Gewirtz]

The number one all time greatest western hat is the one worn by Gabby Hayes --- especially in his later years when he was host of a kid's TV show, and called the kids "buckaroozh." That hat had character! It apparently had been through a great deal of trials and tribulations --- beaten by wind and rain, stomped into the dirt, shot with bullets and arrows, bitten by horses and cougars, and more. Anyone else would have thrown it away by then, and bought a new one, but not Gabby! He was too attached to it. it had become his trademark, his brand. When it sat on Gabby's head, it was uniquely and unmistakably one-of-a-kind --- his!

[frank battaglia]

Gabby--- best side-kick EVER

[frank battaglia]

Check out my new hat made by Mike at Buckarroo Hatters

(http://www.buckaroohatters.com/ )

I have tried many hat makers (too many) to get this hat copied and Mike is the only one to do it right.

It is a copy of the hat carried by Texas Ranger Captain John Salmon “RIP” Ford as seen in this 1854 photo. Old Rip is my personal hero. He is a great man that all western history buffs should know well. There are several great books about him and even his own memoir's. 

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Top 2--John Wayne's hat in 'Hondo,' Clint Eastwood's hat in 'The Outlaw Josey Wales.'

[Steve McCarty]

Most of the original hats that I have seen had the pencil roll.  Mexican sugar loafs did not, I think, but the felt hats do, or did.  Also when I see a display of authentic old west hats they too have the pencil roll.  Most of the hats that we wear today do not have that turned up edge.

Therefore, for a hat to be original looking does it have to have that little pencil roll on the edge of the brim? There's a bit of ribbon sown to the edge as well. 

I think the pencil roll helped the hat brim to keep its shape if rained upon.  That pic of the standing Doc Holliday shows him holding a Homberg.  It's not a "cowboy" looking hat at all. 

There is an excellent picture of Wyatt and Johnny Clum stand together on the street in Nome. (I think it's Nome; Alaska anyway)  Wyatt is wearing a Homberg too. 

 

 

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

That 'pencil roll' is called a 'kettle roll.'  You could get a hat with a 'bound brim'--ribbon or sort of whipstitching around the edge of the brim--or an 'unbound brim,' which had a raw edge to the brim.  Homburgs & derbies were very popular 'town hats.'  Out on the range you'd wear what we'd call a 'cowboy hat' today, but if you were a townie you didn't wear one unless you were riding out of town.  The ultimate dress hat, of course, was the silk topper.  It went with 'evening clothes,' which might be black tie or white tie, depending on the formality of the occasion.  If you were part of 'society' in the town, you owned a full dress suit with both black & white vests & ties, & a silk topper.  Everybody--at least all 'respectable' people--wore hats well into the 20th Century.  It was well into the '50s before Mom quit wearing hats when we went out, & Dad never did quit.  A silver-belly Stetson Open Road was as much a part of him as his pants. I still wear a hat or a cap any time I go out, but that's mostly because i've got a hole in my haircut & sunburns up there hurt. 

[Steve McCarty]

Yes, I know that "sunburn".  My wife won't allow me to leave the  house without a hat. "You'll burn the top of your head."  I was a Marine and we had to be "covered" when outside and "uncovered" when inside (unless armed).  So I got used to wearing a hat too.  In the 19th Century (and probably before) it was considered unhealthy to go outside without a hat, and if one looks at old pictures everyone wears a hat. 

So who or what killed the hat?  It was Jack Kennedy!  He was all about his haircut and he went without a hat and it became the style. 

Women wore a hat and long gloves.  It was considered low class to have a tan that's why women carried that parasol too.  Only working class women were tanned.  

I seek out old fedora hats.  They were well made and soft.  I also wish we could bring back the straw boater.  Men would buy one a year and then in the spring, sometimes on May Day, they would smash last years and buy another.  I have my grandfather's and it fits me perfectly.  I even wear it, but my wife says it looks dorky. 

I also wear this damn ball cap with the adjustable fit, but they are really an excuse for a hat. I have a hat like the wonderful Stetson that Harry Truman and LBJ wore all the time.  My grandparents did too.  I had it custom made, so it was expensive.  Having a proper hat was a must and they came in all sorts of specialized sizes.  There were round, oval and long oval hats.  I'm a long oval.  Hard to find one now.  Soft felt hats kind of form fit.  Resistol hats are known for being softer and form fitting.

When I farmed I wore a straw cowboy like hat and so did everybody else.  I don't recall anybody working while wearing a felt hat. I don't think I ever saw my mom's dad go outside without some kind of a hat.  He also smoked about a half a box of cigars a day. White Owls.  When I smell cigar smoke today I harken back to my grandfather whom I adored. He lived to be 87, but he did have to quit smoking.