Apparently, I missed the news that filmmaker David Mamet started his own line of vintage inspired, outdoor clothing in 1999 under the Joseph Morse Company label. Here’s what I learned from the Cambridge Companion to David Mamet:
Perhaps Mamet should have waited a decade to launch his clothing brand. Per earlier blog posts, I remain fascinated by how well stocked his films are with newly popular heritage brands like Barbour, Woolrich and Filson. In Heist, a film I have not seen since 2001, Gene Hackman wordlessly walks through the opening scene of the film in an all-waxed cotton hunting ensemble. Although I’m unsure of the make of the field jacket (it looked Filson until I saw the pocketing), I’m pretty sure Hackman’s bag is a J.W. Hulme Co. English field bag (or a rebadged version offered by Orvis). Another blogger will have to document the make and model of Hackman’s shotgun and field notebook.
I read that the motto of Mamet’s clothing line was Quiet in the Woods. This must have been the overarching direction for Hackman’s hunting ensemble in the opening scene of Heist:
Heist (Mamet 2001)
J.W. Hulme English Field Shooting Bag
Archival Addendums:
Ibex Loden vest
Slumming: Barbour quilted vest
Mamet’s bag is indeed an original JW Hulme sporting bag. A true rarity, JW Hulme is over 100 years old and still carefully crafting distinctive leather and canvas bags and accessories 100% in the U.S.A. These unique handmade bags speak to a time when rugged American individualism was valued and people personally knew of someone who was a true artisan. http://www.jwhulmeco.com
That duxbak hat (great name!) seems like what Popeye Doyle would wear in the woods.
BTW; the fellow in the first pic, is not a hunter. He’s an early Trap Shooter. Clay pidgeons and all that. It certainly looks like he’s got a Ithaca 4E single barrel trap gun in in hand. Trap-shooting garb was hardly ever called fashionable. 🙂
http://www.guncollectorsclub.com/shotguns_ithaca_flues.htm
I’m pretty sure Gene Hackman’s coat and cap are made by Filson, an outfitter company in Seattle. You see Filson bags and jackets in The Spanish Prisoner as well.
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