Topic: Jack's hat...

[samwise_fan1965]

Hello friends,
I have a question (which I hope hasn't been talked to death) about one of Jack's hats. I was watching the movie recently and noticed that the hat he wears during the 'You're late.' scene looks an awful lot like the one he wore at the beginning. It even has the same hat band. It looks a bit more worn but I think it might be the same hat and was wondering if anyone else thought about it.
I guess it is possible that he would still have it since I still have one I wore when I was 15.
Again, if this is an old topic feel free to delete it.
-Samwise

[Tony]

  Dear Sam - no, didn't notice that.  But it would have some unusual meaning, as Jack had moved on some financial success, and his keeping that older hat just might be like....his keeping the shirts.   Maybe everything from the time on the mountain was a relic or a treasure.

[myprivatejack]

No,I didn't notice this either.But I tend to agree with Tony in that maybe all these symbols of the happy times in the mountains were a kind of treasure for him.So,he liked to wear them when they were together trying to recreate these past moments,in the measure it was possible.As if we see Ennis wearing mainly in blue or grey when Jack is not by his side;a kind of remembering what or who we love by wearing their clothings?.

[Tony]

As if we see Ennis wearing mainly in blue or grey when Jack is not by his side;a kind of remembering what or who we love by wearing their clothings?.

    Very true.  And now, I'm sorry Ennis didn't get the hat, any maybe other clothing, along with the shirts.  Annie has Ennis lost in feverish dreams, at the end.  The shirts were a sacred treasure so they could not be risked, but, and I apolgize for the romanticism, it's sad there were no other pieces of clothing Ennis could have clung to as he tossed and turned in a delirium, night after night.  Something to comfort him, for it was a very great love.

[samwise_fan1965]

Yeah, it would have been nice if Ennis had also found Jack's old hat in the closet! But I guess the shirts worked as well. As for keeping something to remind him of happier times up on the mountain, that's cool too. I suppose we have all done that at some point in our lives (like I said, I still have a hat from when I was 15).
Come to think of it, I think it would be nice that Jack wore the hat. Maybe Ennis appreciated moments like that too.
-samwise

[tpe]

  Dear Sam - no, didn't notice that.  But it would have some unusual meaning, as Jack had moved on some financial success, and his keeping that older hat just might be like....his keeping the shirts.   Maybe everything from the time on the mountain was a relic or a treasure.

Interesting thought, Tony.  If this was the same hat, then perhaps he wore it in honor of the time they spent together on BBM 4 years ago.

[tpe]

Yeah, it would have been nice if Ennis had also found Jack's old hat in the closet! But I guess the shirts worked as well. As for keeping something to remind him of happier times up on the mountain, that's cool too. I suppose we have all done that at some point in our lives (like I said, I still have a hat from when I was 15).
Come to think of it, I think it would be nice that Jack wore the hat. Maybe Ennis appreciated moments like that too.
-samwise

Yes, I am sure each of us had done simething similar in the past.  We like to keep certain memories alive, I guess.  And people in general do have a fondness for relics.

[jackster]

Good observation samwise. I’m guessing that this is quite intentional on the part of the late Marit Allen (costume designer). Hats are mentioned only a few times in the short story and always specifically to make a point, as Annie is so spare in her writing. One of these few mentions of hats is during the 1967 reunion scene when she describes Ennis’ first view of Jack after four years:

Late in the afternoon, thunder growling, that same old green pickup rolled in and he saw Jack get out of the truck, beat up Resistol tilted back. A hot jolt scalded Ennis . . .

It seems this same hat, or at least the same style hat, is significant in Ennis’ image of Jack. Like so many aspects of the film it may or may not be “real” but the image Ennis maintains of Jack in his head is what is significant. In the movie reunion Jack's NOT wearing the same black hat you spotted in this later fishin' trip. The reappearance of this black hat in multiple movie scenes was probably intended to reinforce the idea that Ennis’s view of Jack was an unchanging or static one. (also it makes Jake look so damn sexy!) JMHO

[tpe]

Good observation samwise. I’m guessing that this is quite intentional on the part of the late Marit Allen (costume designer). Hats are mentioned only a few times in the short story and always specifically to make a point, as Annie is so spare in her writing. One of these few mentions of hats is during the 1967 reunion scene when she describes Ennis’ first view of Jack after four years:

Late in the afternoon, thunder growling, that same old green pickup rolled in and he saw Jack get out of the truck, beat up Resistol tilted back. A hot jolt scalded Ennis . . .

It seems this same hat, or at least the same style hat, is significant in Ennis’ image of Jack. Like so many aspects of the film it may or may not be “real” but the image Ennis maintains of Jack in his head is what is significant. In the movie reunion Jack's NOT wearing the same black hat you spotted in this later fishin' trip. The reappearance of this black hat in multiple movie scenes was probably intended to reinforce the idea that Ennis’s view of Jack was an unchanging or static one. (also it makes Jake look so damn sexy!) JMHO

Wonderful observation, jackster.  Come to think of it, my image of Jack is tied visually and emotionally to the hat -- probably for the very same reasons you mention here.  Moreso than in the case of Ennis, I suppose... 

[jackster]

. . . Come to think of it, my image of Jack is tied visually and emotionally to the hat . . .

Very true thomas. Case in point:


Compared to:


It almost seems that this is a picture of someone else, it's not Jack at all without the hat.

[atalley]

I agree 100%...that hat makes Jack that much HOTTER!

[babytammy7]

Very true thomas. Case in point:


Compared to:


It almost seems that this is a picture of someone else, it's not Jack at all without the hat.

Thomas knows well I ADORE Jack's black Resistol!!  Jack is extremely sexy with it.  But I love too that soft light brown hat he wore in the divorce scene, that it's the same that he wore in the reunion scene. I don't understand much about hats, but I think that one was not a Resistol but a Stetson (Thomas you know it better). Well, I'm not sure about that, but I know for sure that Jack's black hat in the confrontation scene was not the hat he wore up in BBM and in the scene where Ennis was late and Jack was already cooking. That last hat was Texan style, taller and with the brims wider. That was not his old Resistol. I prefer his old hat, so so beautiful. 

I think that that black hat is one of the biggest symbols of BBM, the thing that always reminds us to Jack. The same with those Ennis light hats, especially the first one he wore up in BBM. 

[jackster]

Gee don't they both look good! - - - I mean the hats of course!

BT – I love these hats too. I’m partial to Ennis’s first hat. Took me over a year to find one just like it with a “pinch” front, a very high crown, and not too wide of brim. BTW the color is known as Silver Belly.

Annie specifically calls Jack’s hat a Resistol in the SS, so it’s probably a good chance they used a Resistol in the movie. But in looking at hundreds of hats on dozens of websites and ebay over the past year I’d have to say it is pretty difficult to tell the brand of a hat by its looks alone. Stetson and Resistol (the two biggies) make many hats that look very similar and they are constantly changing their product lines. Several hats very similar to Jack’s original black Resistol are still available today. Jack’s hats are generally a “Cattlemen's” profile, that is the crown goes straight from front to back, and they have pretty wide brims. However, Ennis's very high crown (at least 5”) with a pinch front is an older style that does not seem to be common or even readily available today. It may be that they had these specially made to complement the shape of Heath’s large forehead and square jaw (just guessing).

I think the distinctive hats, along with the blue jeans and pickup trucks are some of the most emblematic and powerful symbols used in the movie. Of course they don't pack the emotional punch that "the shirts" do, but these three items really set the cowboy tone of the film for me.

[babytammy7]

Love your post, Jackster!! Thank you so much!!!  I adore their hats, those ones of the pic, their jeans, light and dark (just like the hats) and the pick ups!! 

[tpe]

jackster, at the BBM wardrobe auction, one of jack's black hats (battered an worn, according to the description) was explicitly identified as a Resisol, I recall.