I'm sure this has been asked and answered, but I haven't found the answer so far.
As the four gunmen are stalking Kane, Pierce veers off and smashes the window of a ladies' clothing store, grabbing a hat from the display. When he's dressed down by Miller, he says "I'm just getting ready" (or something similar).
What is the significance of this?
I had thought that he was intending to give it to Grace Kelly's character as a gift, as he had already expressed his desire for her. This little scene show's a lot about his character. Smashing the window shows that he is the type to just take what he wants, disregarding any authority like he owns the place. It also shows that he is so over confident about killing the sheriff that completely dismissed it as an afterthought, and he's already started focusing on 'celebrating' with Grace Kelly.
That's just what I got from it though, I've only just seen the film so I could be way off.
I remember seeing an episode of "Gunsmoke" where an outlaw talks about a saloon girl he tried to woo and how he bought her a pretty hat but she still wouldn't give him the time of day. I'm guessing that, after Kane's death, he and the boys were gonna celebrate big time and he was gonna give the hat to a saloon girl as a gift.
Odd you should mention him "celebrating" with Amy: isn't he the one that she shoots in the back to save Will?
Yippee: "For king!"
Yappee: "For country!"
Yahooie: "And, most of all, for 10¢ an hour!"
Wow, another coincidence! I was going through my dvr to catch up on the "Gunsmoke" episodes I've recorded and there was an episode where Matt is bringing a prisoner back to Dodge and they both drink poisoned water. They're discovered by some cattle drovers and nursed back to health. When they get to Dodge, some of the drovers get drunk and break into a store to steal something. What did they steal and why? A woman's hat to give to a saloon girl!
Yippee: "For king!"
Yappee: "For country!"
Yahooie: "And, most of all, for 10¢ an hour!"
Yes, that is why. He even comments on how he "had never seen anything like that here before", referring to Grace Kelly when she boarded the train.
shareI just watched that scene. He does not say something like this. In fact, he doesn't see Grace Kelly's character at the train station, but he takes a long look at Mrs. Ramirez.
shareHe did in when Grace Kelly buy the ticket to leave, you are talking about when she and Mrs Ramirez aboard the train and is not the same guy is the main villain who look at Mrs ramirez because she was her lover
shareThat is very perceptive ltgalloway1138. I have watched the film countless times and always thought that he had intended the hat as a present for some girl but it never occurred to me that the girl would be Amy. I think that you are correct. And it definitely shows the type of person that Ben Miller is.
shareI always thought they had intended to use the hat to humiliate Kane in death by putting the woman's hat on his corpse as it lay in the street or something like that.
The terrorists won a battle with America on 4/21/10 thanks to the cowards at Comedy Central
Yeah thats my take as well. It was to use to humiliate Kane in death. As far these guys knew, Kane's wife was on the train.
shareAs far as they knew, Kane was still single. Kane wasn't married when Miller was sent to prison. They didn't know about Amy until she shot Miller's man in the back.
Yippee: "For king!"
Yappee: "For country!"
Yahooie: "And, most of all, for 10¢ an hour!"
3rded. I also inferred they were going to slap the lady's hat on Kane's corpse.
shareThat's way I've always read the scene, as well.
shareI didn't understand the hat, but the scene was important in that it reflected that Kane was right: whether he stayed or left, these scoundrels were out to terrorize the town and had not changed one wink in the year's since Frank was first apprehended. They had no regard for anyone's rights, and it was wishful thinking to believe that things were going to be okay if Kane simply fled without confronting them.
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Presumably stealing the hat, like a number of other hints in film, is to show that the outlaws are going to rape some women in the town once they take over. Sorry to say something unpleasant, but this is pretty "obvious" if you consider the coded way that sexual topics were covered in movies at the time.
There is a pretty simple-minded match here "civilization" = "safe for women to walk the streets." If Miller's gang take over, it will not be safe to walk the streets, at least for a while, in Hadleysburg.
wasn't there some sort of custom at one time of a man going into a contest of some kind, such as jousting ( as in knights' jousting) wearing something like a silk scarf that belonged a woman?
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