I need an expert or someone who is knowledgeable to tell me what kind of hat Clint Eastwood is wearing in this film. I have a friend who insists it is a fedora, but I beg to differ. As far as I can tell, it is "cavalry hat" if there is such a thing. Can someone please provide some evidence so that I can close this dispute once and for all? Thank you!
shareYou will be pleased to know that you are the winner here.
The film is set in the latter part of the 1860's, Fedoras didn't arrive until the early 1890's. Also the Fedora is typically characterized by a crease running down the centre of the hat.
The hat that is worn in the movie is a cavalry hat, and you can see the cavalry cord tied round the hat in numerous shots.
Correct, Mr. Solution.
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While watching the movie again after reading this thread I was looking at his hat and noticed:
He starts out, being just a farmer and not a professional soldier, with a big, floppy brimmed hat, I suppose suited for shielding him from the sun during those long days plowing his field.
You can see the front of the brim bending back flat against his head while he's on horseback right after he's joined up with Bloody Bill.
Makes him look like a rube at first, but in the middle of all those fighting scenes, where he's giving water to a mortally wounded Bloody Bill, he now has the calvary hat on.
Sort of showing the progression of him "cutting his teeth" to waging war and finally becoming a soldier and fighter in earnest, no longer just the greenhorn country bumpkin.
Plus that helps show why the calvary hat is designed with the hard, upturned edge around the brim, to help keep it's shape during fast horse riding, which of course the calvary was prone to do.
"Go back to your oar, Forty-One."