Casting the leather jacket in movies, working man or trouble?

There are two main leather jackets worn by actors in Hollywood movies - the military-issued, aviator style A2, and the motorcycle style Schott One-star. Like every piece of costuming, the leather jacket is chosen to help establish the actor's character. Each jacket and its variants has a parallel history. Let's look at the A2 first.

Manufactured for pilots during WWII, this jacket came to symbolize the adventurous, daredevil attitudes of the combat aviator. After the war, great quantities of this jacket were available as war surplus items for less than ten dollars each, so  millions were sold. It seemed to be the perfect leather jacket for the working man. It was rugged, comfortable, and in Hollywood movies it became a symbol for the blue-collar man of action.

The Schott has a history that's even considerably longer than the A2, but instead of being associated with the wild blue yonder, it became a necessary motorcycle accessory. It's been around as long as motorcycles, and like motorcycles in Hollywood films it can either represent the good or the bad.

The A2 seems to get cast whenever a director feels the need to express a little intensity for a particular character. He calls up to the costume department and asks for a "leather jacket" to be sent down. This request always seems to be interpreted as an A2. If he wants much more intensity, or even a downright "outlaw" vibe, he'll ask for a "motorcycle jacket." He still might get an A2, but if he understands the formula, he'll send it right back and demand an actual motorcycle jacket.

Here's the formula:

An A2 is a leather jacket, It equals solid working man or at the very least, man of action. Once in a while a female will wear one, but the jackets are usually too big make the woman look cute. A good example of the man of action is Bob Cummings in Hitchcock's immortal "Saboteur."

The Schott motorcycle jacket means either "outlaw" or "cop." It has a sinister vibe. Put one on a woman, and you add an element of sinister sexuality. Like it's hot and she can hardly wait for somebody to take it off her. It's a great prop, but there should be at least one motorcycle in the scene. Motorcycle jackets in a movie without motorcycles is just wrong. In so many ways.

Marlon Brando literally made the Schott a motorcycle icon with the movie, "The Wild One." In that famous scene of Brando sitting on his bike, holding his purloined trophy, the Schott seems to melt into the bike making the bike, Brando and the Schott one-star seem as one.

Here's where things can go wrong, or right depending on the director, and probably the actor. Schott motorcycle jackets are almost always used the right way in movies, but the A2 often fills the role of the anonymous "leather jacket."

Take the Fonz from the simpering "Happy Days" TV show. He's supposed to be tough. He rides a motorcycle. He actually did jump the shark. He wears a leather jacket. But it's an A2. Not a motorcycle jacket. He looks anything but tough. Put him in a Schott, and he might have actually been taken for tough in spite of the fact that he never got into a pool cue fight.

So, the Fonz was a bad choice. What was a good choice? I think the Ramons were an excellent choice - all wearing Schotts, all with the same last name, all tough and troubled just the way motorcycle jacket wearing people should be.

 Brando! Ride, baby, ride.

 Don't worry, folks. He's got his A2 on. The Nazis. That's who should worry.

 What was he always saying? Aaaaaaaaey. Never cool. Thumbs up, baby, but where is your super-cool motorcycle jacket? You think you look like a tough guy? You don't. You look like the carny who set up the Tilt-A-Wheel and is now heading for some "shave ice."

The Ramones. Super cool, troubled, disenfranchised. I'm sure there are four motorcycles somewhere nearby. I say four because they would rather walk than ride tandem.