10 Magnificent Moustaches at the Movies
3. John Ruth (Kurt Russell) – The Hateful Eight (2015)
Upon his arrival at Minnie’s Haberdashery with valuable human cargo in The Hateful Eight, John Ruth is definitely overcompensating for something with his massive whiskers as he fruitlessly attempts to take charge. For a while it looks like he’s got the situation under control, and with the help of his moustache and his pistol he takes a commanding position in the room and plans to wait out the blizzard. But Ruth’s extreme facial hair is a mark of overconfidence, of underestimating an eclectic room full of strange characters and a dangerous prisoner, which leads to his ultimate downfall…
2. Calvin Barr (Sam Elliott) – The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot (2018)
Calvin Barr’s moustache very appropriately tells a story. You look at it and you think, “that moustache has seen some things”. Barr’s life story as presented to us is a remarkable and unlikely one. Quite aside from claiming to have assassinated Hitler during WWII, which history tells us did not happen, in his old age Barr’s sense of reality is slipping. He’s still self-sufficient but his moments of complete clarity are becoming few and far between, and as for whether two G-Men really do try and recruit him to go after Bigfoot; who knows? Calvin Barr’s moustache is part of his story, a physical manifestation of a tall tale.
1. Clive Candy (Roger Livesey) – The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
A blustering and long-lived English soldier bound by tradition and honour. The only moustache on the list that’s an important plot point, its wearer Clive Candy works his way through the ranks in several wars, always abiding by his sense of duty and good sportsmanship. He’s outraged when soldiers on a training exercise jump the gun and “capture” him while he’s relaxing at a spa when it was agreed that “War starts at midnight!”. This prompts the relaying of his life story, of particular significance being his relationship with German counterpart Theo (Anton Walbrook), their first violent encounter prompting Candy to grow a fine moustache to conceal a duelling scar. Candy/Blimp’s increasingly walrussy moustache is a mark of his rank, a reminder of where he’s been, what he’s been through and who he met along the way.
Did your top mo-vie make the cut? What’s your favourite moustache on film? Make sure to let us know in the comments!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this list of favourite facial hair written by a film fan trying to get a few more guys to think about their physical, emotional and mental health.
