Vitals

Ben Johnson as J.D. Morales, Texas Rangers company captain

Texarkana, Arkansas, Spring 1946

Film: The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Release Date: December 24, 1976
Director: Charles B. Pierce
Wardrobe Credit: Karen Jones & Bonnie Langriff

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Born 107 years ago on June 13, 1918, Ben Johnson was an Academy Award-winning actor and—like his father, Ben Sr.—a bona fide cowboy and rodeo champion.

Johnson’s screen career appropriately began as a stuntman in Howard Hughes’ controversial 1943 film The Outlaw, establishing the start of a half-century career that began with Westerns like 3 Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Shane (1953), Hang ‘Em High (1968), and The Wild Bunch (1969). After a more dramatic performance in The Last Picture Show (1971) resulted in Johnson’s sole Oscar win, the middle-aged actor diversified his filmography with major roles in non-Westerns like The Getaway (1972), Dillinger (1973), Red Dawn (1984), and Angels in the Outfield (1994).

Since today’s commemoration of Johnson’s birthday also falls on Friday the 13th, it feels appropriate to focus on one of the actor’s first of few forays into horror. The Town That Dreaded Sundown was loosely based on the real-life Texarkana Moonlight Murders when a still-unknown “Phantom Killer” attacked eight people—killing five—through the spring of 1946. Filmed on location in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas through the hot summer of 1976, The Town That Dreaded Sundown erroneously centered most of the action around Texarkana, Arkansas, which initially resulted in the city threatening director Charles B. Pierce… but has since become an annual Halloween tradition during Texarkana’s “Movies in the Park” series.

Johnson’s cowboy background and persona suited his performance as Captain J.D. Morales, based on the case’s actual lead investigator: Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas. Born in Spain in 1891, Gonzaullas served in the Mexican Army, Texas Rangers, and newly formed Texas Bureau of Intelligence before he was reappointed by the Texas Rangers in 1940 to be Company B captain—in turn becoming the first American of Spanish descent to receive such a high rank in the Rangers. As depicted on screen, Captain Gonzaullas was indeed assigned to the Texarkana area to investigate the Phantom’s murder spree.

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What’d He Wear?

“You know the man in the white suit? That’s Captain Morales,” a local police administrator comments to a patrolman as Morales arrives in Texarkana. More accurately, the suit is a few shades warmer than white—closer to cream—and made from a tightly woven gabardine with a subtle sheen. The jacket and waistcoat are detailed with slightly darker taupe-brown two-hole buttons that contrast against the off-white suiting.

The single-breasted jacket is shaped with front darts but still maintains a generous fit over Ben Johnson’s frame, with a three-button front that balances the cowboy actor’s 6’1″ frame. The ventless jacket follows the cut and details of a brown three-piece suit jacket that he would later wear during a shootout, with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and vestigial three-button cuffs.

Morales wears all seven buttons fastened on the suit’s matching waistcoat, which also boasts four welted pockets and a notched bottom. The pleated trousers have a medium-rise, held up at the waist by a brown leather belt in addition to the gun-belt where Morales keeps his Single Action Army revolver holstered on the left side; this hefty gun-belt is also a dark-brown leather, detailed with contrasting white edge-stitching and a silver-toned single-prong buckle. Full through the legs, the trousers are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) over the long shafts of his dark-brown leather cowboy boots.

Morales colorfully contrasts his light, neutral suit with a peach-colored shirt that appears to be a poplin blend of polyester and cotton, as was commonly sold off-the-rack during the 1970s production (but would have been far less common during the 1940s setting.) He fills the substantial space between the shirt’s spread collar with the wide Windsor knot of his dark-russet silk tie, which features a tonal satin downhill-striped design.

As expected of an experienced Texas Ranger, Morales always wears his beige felt cattleman’s-style cowboy hat, characterized by its tall crown and dramatically curved brim, and detailed with a narrow double-layer beige grosgrain band.

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How to Get the Look

Morales dresses to make an instant impression in the “white suit” that indeed gets noticed by his new colleagues, paired with his usual ranger regalia of a cowboy hat and boots, though he changes into more practical brown suits for his everyday work investigating the Texarkana murders.

• Cream gabardine three-piece suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Single-breasted 7-button waistcoat with four welted pockets
  • Pleated trousers with belt loops and turn-ups/cuffs
• Peach poplin shirt with spread collar and button cuffs
• Dark-russet tonal-satin “downhill”-striped tie
• Dark-brown leather belt
• Dark-brown edge-stitched leather gun-belt with left-side Single Action Army holster
• Dark-brown leather cowboy boots
• Beige felt cattleman’s-style cowboy hat with beige double-layered grosgrain band

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. A sequel of the same name was released in 2014.