Trench Coat Heroes - Jean-Pierre Melville

Heroes, specifically anti-heroes, wear trench coats. We know that. But who's the ultimate trench coat hero? Bogart? Certainly an archetypal trench coat wearer. But for the ultimate trench coterie, old Tweedy suggests the Gallic-noir crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville, and their moody anti-heroes played by the actors Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Ultimate Trench Coat Hero

And the Oscar Goes to Aquascutum

Melville used trench coats so much that they should have credits at the end of the films. It's said that they're used as symbols of the genre and of the characters that wear them. Le Doulos and Le Samouraï are packed with trench coat scenes, but they're also cracking crime capers. Perfect with a hard slug of scotch in a tough square glass, no ice.

Here's looking at you, Jean-Pierre.