Vitals

Frank Lovejoy as Howard Tyler, unemployed family man and World War II veteran

Central California, Spring 1950

Film: Try and Get Me!
(Original title: The Sound of Fury)
Release Date: November 15, 1950
Director: Cy Endfield
Men’s Wardrobe: Robert Martien (uncredited)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

In recognition of Veteran’s Day, today’s Noir-vember post focuses on one of the many films noir driven by the plight and cynicism of American servicemen in the years following World War II.

Originally released under the less lurid title The Sound of Fury, Try and Get Me! was adapted by Jo Pagano from his own 1947 novel The Condemned, which drew from the real-life 1933 lynching of two men who had confessed to kidnapping and murdering California heir Brooke Hart—the same incident which also inspired Fritz Lang’s 1936 film Fury. (For the trivia-inclined: Hart was kidnapped 92 years ago this week, on Thursday, November 9, 1933.)

The movie begins in the fictional town of Santa Sierra, California, where a seemingly innocent bowling alley conversation between the down-on-his-luck Howard Tyler (Frank Lovejoy) and gregarious fellow ex-serviceman Jerry Slocum (Lloyd Bridges) leads to the strong-willed Jerry enlisting Howard as his getaway driver for a series of holdups that escalate to a deadly kidnapping.

Try and Get Me! premiered 75 years ago this week in Phoenix, Arizona (where it was partially filmed six months earlier), but its violent final act stalled its endorsement among various censorship boards across the country. As Variety reported, the New York state board’s “requested scissoring would… eliminate the entire climax—and point—of the film,” but the state eventually relented and Try to Get Me! appeared in New York theaters in May 1951.

One of the last American films directed by Cy Endfield (born 111 years ago yesterday on November 10, 1914), Try and Get Me! gains added resonance from the director’s own experience: blacklisted for refusing to name names before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Endfield soon relocated to England. His critique of mob justice and reactionary violence hits even harder in that light.

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What’d He Wear?

Clothing drives much of the characters’ perceptions of themselves and each other throughout Try and Get Me!, from Jerry sizing up Howard as a veteran due to his surplus Army gear, bragging about his monogrammed “real silk” shirt with “platinum—not silver” cuff links, and admiring his kidnap victim’s custom-made suit to Howard’s trouser cuff inconveniently catching the victim’s monogrammed gold tie-clip.

While Jerry dresses for attention and flash, Howard wouldn’t have the means to even if he wanted to, dressed from day-to-day in the khakis and field jacket he was issued at Camp Roberts. Howard specifically wears the M1941 field jacket, constructed in a weather-resistant olive drab (OD) #2 cotton poplin shell that was prone to quickly fading from its pale pea-green dye to a warmer beige-green said to compromise its intended camouflaging properties.

The M-41 evolved from the Army’s first attempt at a field jacket, instituted from Major General James K. Parsons’ suggested design inspired by civilian windbreakers. This “Parsons jacket” was quickly refashioned by removing pocket flaps, adding shoulder epaulets, and lining the coat in a darker OD woolen flannel to create the 1941-issue “Jacket, Field, O.D.”, which would be largely overshadowed by successors like the M1943, M-51, and M-65.

Classic M-41 jackets like Howard’s were standardized with the aforementioned shoulder epaulets (presumably for officers to wear rank insignia), a straight-zip front reinforced with a six-button storm flap, and open slanted pockets over mid-chest. Bi-swing pleats behind each shoulder enhance the wearers’ range of motion, and the set-in sleeves are finished with straps that close through one of two buttons to trap body heat and enclose against the elements. A half-belt seam suppresses the waist across the back, with adjustable button-tabs securing the waist.

Work-shirts weren’t exclusive to G.I. uniforms by the 1940s, though the shade and style of Howard’s shirt suggests he may also be wearing the khaki cotton sateen service shirt from his Army days. This long-sleeved shirt has a front placket, button cuffs, and two large patch-style chest pockets with single-button flaps cut with mitred corners echoing the lower corners of each pocket. (The point collar and lack of shoulder epaulets are consistent with an enlisted man’s service shirt.)

Khaki slacks were also popularized by returning servicemen who found these uniform trousers doubled as effective workwear in civilian life. However, Howard’s gabardine slacks appear to be specifically civvies, styled with double forward-facing pleats, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs). He holds them up with a narrow belt of smooth dark leather, which closes through a rectangular single-prong buckle.

Howard’s shoes are dark leather lace-ups, likely brown cap-toe derbies similar to the low service shoes he would have been issued in the Army but again almost certainly civilian footwear. He wears them with light-colored socks.

After embarking on his criminal enterprise with Jerry, Howard maintains a similar approach to dressing with a military-informed jacket, open-neck shirt, and pleated slacks, though his clothing is slightly more refined with a dark leather blouson zipped over a plain white cotton shirt with trousers orphaned from his glen plaid suit.

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What to Imbibe

I know I’m not alone in criticizing when a movie or TV character requests nothing more specific than “a beer” from a bartender. At the bowling alley, this decision comes back to bite poor Howard—already in the dog house for giving his son a half-dollar that his wife felt wasn’t expendable—when Mike the bartender notices Howard has underpaid for the Miller High Life he served.

Mike: Hey, you’re a dime short. Eastern beer is two bits!
Howard: I didn’t want eastern beer.
Mike: Why didn’t you say so?
Howard: Why didn’t you ask me?

After Howard ambles over to Jerry’s bowling lane, Mike complains to newspaper columnist Gil Stanton (Richard Carlson), who responds: “I don’t know, Mike. The Lord must love a beer drinker, He made an awful lot of them!”

If that’s the case, He may not have been too fond of how Jerry then doctored Howard’s beer. After Howard declines his offer of a “jolt” of Barndollar whiskey, Jerry insists that he “make a Boilermaker out of it!” and pours some of the whiskey directly into the glass of High Life. “Sure been a long time since I had one of these!” comments Howard, foreshadowing his steady decline into alcoholism over the events of Try and Get Me!

Perhaps to celebrate his financial windfall after assisting Jerry’s robbery, Howard buys more High Life to drink upon getting home. After all, if you’ve just come into some money, why not celebrate with “the Champagne of Beers!”

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How to Get the Look

Despite its lackluster wartime reputation, the M-41 is one of my favorite field jackets to wear during transitional seasons like fall. Howard Tyler looks every bit the down-on-his-luck returned serviceman by pairing his M-41 with a service shirt and khakis, a simple style that can be easily rebuilt today to channel the legacy of World War II-era G.I.s without stealing valor.

• Pale beige-green OD#2 cotton poplin M1941 field jacket with ulster collar, straight-zip/six-button front, shoulder epaulets, slanted chest pockets, adjustable cuff straps, bi-swing back pleats, half-belted back, and button-tab waist adjusters
• Khaki cotton long-sleeved service shirt with point collar, front placket, two chest pockets (with single-button flaps), and button cuffs
• Khaki gabardine double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Dark smooth leather belt with rectangular single-prong buckle
• Dark-brown leather cap-toe derby shoes
• Light-colored socks

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.