From Classic to Contemporary: Exploring Iconic Leather Holsters in Movie History

When it comes to watching movies, it’s no secret that every detail has to be thought of to really impact audiences. From ensuring continuity to honouring the latest styles, filmmakers are expected to stay current while innovating to stand out from the crowd, boost influence, and immortalise their work. Costume design is a significant part of storytelling and setting the stage, so let’s take a look at iconic leather gun holsters throughout movie history.

Classic to contemporary leather holsters in film

Holsters first burst onto big screens in Westerns in the 1900s, and particularly, movie producers would hire real cowboys to fill outcasts and give an authentic touch to the finished piece. This meant that many of the early leather iterations were personally owned and often handmade. William S. Hart is widely accepted as the first Western star to wear a plain yet authentic gun rig that really drew the attention of viewers.

In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Buscadero holster, worn through a slit in the gun belt, became the most popular model to feature in movies and depicted guns being carried in studded, embossed, and similar custom handcrafted designs that really made leather look special.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, John Wayne became the go-to Western icon to carry a holster, favouring different rigs throughout his career. From wearing a two-toned carved and laced Bohlin rig to a Heiser No. 714 carved belt and holster, he eventually succumbed to using a standard-issue Stembridge prop department holster until finding his signature setup, an angled, tan leather skirt-less holster.

Modern iterations

With audiences shifting away from watching classic Westerns and into more modern spaces, Clint Eastwood breathed fresh life into the genre in the 1970s and early 1980s, wearing stunning leather holsters in titles like The Man with No Name, A Fistful of Dollars, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The popularity of wearing a leather holster again blew up in the 80s and 90s with a new breed of movie stars; action heroes. The likes of Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eddie Murphy, and even TV stars like Chuck Norris wearing iconic leather shoulder holsters shined a new light on a host of leather styles and truly made them iconic.