Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in Twister (1996)
Vitals
Bill Paxton as Bill Harding, experienced storm chaser-turned-weatherman
Oklahoma, Summer 1996
Film: Twister
Release Date: May 10, 1996
Director: Jan de Bont
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
With its standalone sequel Twisters starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell now arriving in theaters, let’s revisit the original Twister, Jan de Bont’s 1996 blockbuster centered around a group of storm-chasers pursuing and researching tornadoes across Oklahoma.
Our lead storm-chasers are the star-crossed Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill Harding (Bill Paxton), in the midst of a divorce as Bill seeks to leave his dangerous storm-chasing days as “The Extreme” and settle into a more comfortable life as a TV weatherman with his new fiancée Dr. Melissa Reeves (Jami Gertz). “New job, new truck, new wife, it’s like a whole new you!” Jo observes as Bill arrives in his new Dodge Ram truck to request that she sign the papers to finalize their divorce.
In the meantime, Jo and her team are preparing to deploy their innovative tornado-measuring device—the realized execution of Bill’s original concept, nicknamed “Dorothy”—into the record-breaking storms wreaking havoc through Oklahoma.
To their credit, husband-and-wife screenwriting team Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin never portray Melinda Melissa as a villain, despite her representing a romantic foil for our obvious protagonist Jo. Instead, they present the intelligent but inexperienced-with-tornadoes Melissa as a surrogate for the audience, giving Bill, Jo, and their team someone to explain the basics of tornado science to for our benefit… including the colorful Dusty Davies (Philip Seymour Hoffman) whispering in her ear about “the suck zone.”
Much like the F5 tornado that sucked a young Jo’s father away from her 27 years earlier, Bill finds himself pulled back into the cyclone of his old life… and old wife. Melissa may have been sweet, smart, and supportive—but she’s no storm-chaser, and that’s what gives Bill a thrill. Despite repeatedly declaring “I’m not back!” to the members of his team, Bill eagerly throws himself into the proverbial eye of the storm.
He’s so back.
What’d He Wear?
Despite his reputation and former nickname, Bill Harding looks anything but “extreme” when we meet him at the start of Twister. Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick dressed Bill with a business casual sensibility in his sports coat and blue shirt, with only his Lee jeans and cowboy boots suggesting anything more adventurous than a board meeting. (This choice was evidently made in production, as the 1994 screenplay initially describes Bill as “cowboy-rugged in jeans and a work shirt” in his introduction.)
Bill’s single-breasted sport jacket is woven in a micro beige, brown, and black “puppytooth” check, a smaller-scaled variation of the houndstooth check that presents almost like a semi-solid tan from a distance. According to iCollector and Prop Store auction listings, the jacket was made by Donna Karan New York.
R.I.P. to two kings.
The sports coat illustrates many hallmarks of 1990s menswear, from its heavily padded shoulders and ventless back to the lower-positioned two-button stance. The notch lapels are of a moderate width, and the sleeves are finished with three-button cuffs. In addition to the welted breast pocket, the straight jetted hip pockets are another ’90s touch.
Perhaps most consistent with ’90s trends, the jacket is considerably roomy, though this may also have been done with intention as Bill looks overwhelmed by this businesslike jacket, which represents the sartorial trappings of a tamer profession like his prospective future as a TV weatherman.
Welcome back, Bill.
Bill begins the movie dressed in a light-blue cotton shirt, specifically made by Anto Beverly Hills for Bill Paxton to wear on screen. The shirt has a point collar, breast pocket, squared button cuffs, and a front placket that Bill always wears with the top two buttons undone.
After Bill and Jo get caught in a tornado that also claims her Jeep as a casualty, the group stops to visit her aunt Meg (Lois Smith) in Wakita, where Bill changes out of his dirty clothes and into a fresh shirt. Once again a storm-chaser—if not fully embracing that he is still “The Extreme”—this slate-blue end-on-end cotton work-shirt evokes more adventure with its pointed western yokes and snap-up front placket. The shirt also has a point collar and two open chest pockets, lacking the snap-down flaps that many western-styled shirts feature.
While it’s possible that this is another Anto shirt, I haven’t been able to confirm its manufacturer. Some auction listings describe an American Rag shirt, but the shirt pictured and described was never actually worn by Paxton on screen.
Bill wears light-blue denim Lee jeans, characterized by curved front pockets and the brand’s “lazy S” stitching across the two back pockets. These are likely Lee’s classic 101 Riders, fashioned with the usual five-pocket layout and a zip fly. (The iCollector and Prop Store auction listings describe the wash as “pepper stonewash”, though I associate this with a darker denim.)
Through the belt loops, Bill wears a dark-brown leather belt that closes through a dulled silver-toned single-prong buckle.
While any average Joe (or Bill) can wear jeans, Bill’s cowboy boots remain a lasting remnant of his life as “The Extreme”. These well-traveled russet leather boots feature the signature “bug-and-wrinkle” stitching over the toes and insteps.
Bill’s watch also suggests a man with a passion for adventure, as he dresses his left wrist in a stainless steel Breitling Navitimer Avi Auto Chronograph, likely the ref. A13023 as suggested by a Redditor. The Navitimer model dates to 1954, when Breitling launched it with its new circular slide rule bezel. Intended for (and favored by) pilots, the Navitimer underwent several iterations including the addition of a 24-hour model specifically requested by NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter to wear during his 1962 space flight. The first automatic Navitimer chronograph was introduced by Breitling in 1969.
Powered by a 25-jewel automatic movement, the ref. A13023 boasts a steel rotating bezel—with non-contrasting debossed hour markers—to match the 41mm case. Three white sub-registers at 12, 9, and 6 o’clock and a white-wheeled date window at 3 o’clock populate the dial, which was offered in several different colors, though Bill’s Breitling has a navy-blue dial. He wears it on an edge-stitched brown leather strap.
When Bill and Jo drive into the storm in an attempt to activate Dorothy, he protects himself from the rain by pulling on a dark-brown leather jacket that he likely kept in the truck. Though not exactly to World War II-era Army specs, his outerwear recalls the iconic A-2 flight jacket with its shirt-style collar, waist-length cut, and ribbed-knit wool cuffs and hem. The slanted, flapped set-in hand pockets are the clearest departure from an original A-2, which had flapped patch pockets over the hips.
Heritage Auctions lists a very similar-looking jacket from the Canadian brand Roots that it claims to be part of Bill’s costume, though it also features a blue denim American Rag western shirt that he certainly never prominently wore on screen, so you may want to take this listing’s claims with a grain of salt.
Nooo, Bill, don’t declare your continued love for your ex-wife when she’s still hooked up to a microphone! Your new fiancée can hear every word, Bill! No, stop, Melinda Melissa never deserved this kind of humiliation!
The Truck
Bill makes his introduction to the audience—and his re-introduction to Jo’s team—at the wheel of a red 1995 Dodge Ram 2500 Club Cab SLT Laramie 4×4 pickup truck.
Dodge had just launched a massive update of the Ram for the 1994 model year, the first substantive redesign since the model was introduced in the fall of 1980. This updated second-generation Ram was an immediate success and was named named “Truck of the Year” by Motor Trend in 1994. Sales had more than doubled from 1993 to 1994, nearly doubling again in 1995 with more than 410,000 pickups sold.
The new Ram lineup included the half-ton 1500, ¾-ton 2500, and one-ton 3500, with varying engine, cab, and bed configurations based on the specific model. The second-generation Ram continued the same V6, V8, and Cummins diesel straight-six engine options from the previous generation, though it also introduced a massive 8.0 L Magnum V10 engine that generated 300 horsepower and 450 lb⋅ft of torque—the first factory-produced V10 pickup truck. The badging visible on Bill’s screen-used truck confirms that his 1995 Ram 2500 Club Cab SLT Laramie is powered by this V10 engine.
After Jo’s yellow 1982 Jeep J10 Honcho is totaled, Bill is voluntold that his Ram will be the new storm-chasing truck for hauling Dorothy. “It’s a very pretty truck,” Jo condescends in response to Bill’s confirmation that he only carries liability coverage—not full coverage.
The next we see of Bill’s truck, the box cap is removed from the eight-foot cargo bed to accommodate Dorothy. Several storms and much flying debris later, Bill’s Ram indeed remains a surprisingly very pretty truck… right up until the moment it’s eventually sucked away in the climactic tornado.
The Ram was again redesigned with the launch of the third generation in 2009, quickly followed by Chrysler separating Ram from Dodge to make it a separate marque for the 2010 model year onward. It appears that Glen Powell’s character in Twisters will pay tribute to the 1996 film by driving a red 2010 Ram Heavy Duty 3500 Crew Cab.
What to Imbibe
Between the pair of ice-cold lemonades that Melissa abandons atop the truck and the bottle of Jack Daniel’s that a debatably naked “Evil Bill” had launched into an F2 tornado years earlier, I think the ideal cocktail for revisiting Twister would be the Lynchburg Lemonade.
Named in tribute to Lynchburg, Tennessee, where the Jack Daniel’s distillery continues to operate, this variation of a whiskey sour was invented in 1980 by Alabama restauranteur Tony Mason, who later sued the distillery itself for marketing his drink.
Unlike the diner lemonades, I doubt Bill or Melissa would have wantonly abandoned two Lynchburg Lemonades on top of the Ram before driving into a storm. (Source: Emeals.com.)
Proportions vary, but typical ingredients include Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey, triple sec, and sour mix, topped in a tall highball glass with a lemon-lime soda like 7 Up or Sprite and garnished with a lemon wedge and—sometimes—maraschino cherries. Jack Daniel’s themselves recommends equal proportions of one ounce of their classic “Old No. 7” whiskey, one ounce of triple sec, and one ounce sour mix, finished with four ounces of lemon-lime soda, though Colleen Graham adds an extra half-ounce of Jack in her recipe for The Spruce Eats.
Regardless of how much whiskey you pour into your cocktail, please dispose of the bottle properly and do not throw it into any type of extreme weather event.
How to Get the Look
Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in Twister (1996)
Bill Harding’s internal struggle between his adventurous past and safe future are represented when he dresses for the present in a businesslike sport jacket and blue shirt with ruggedly romantic jeans and cowboy boots. By the end, the thrill of the Hunt (so to speak) is victorious, sartorially signaled when he swaps out the sports coat and button-up shirt for a hardy western-styled work-shirt.
- Beige, brown, and black puppytooth check single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Donna Karan New York
- Light-blue cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and squared button cuffs
- Anto Beverly Hills
- Medium-light blue denim five-pocket jeans
- Lee 101 Rider
- Dark-brown leather belt with dulled silver-toned single-prong buckle
- Russet-brown leather cowboy boots with “bug-and-wrinkle” toe
- Stainless steel pilot’s watch with 41mm case, steel rotating bezel, navy-blue dial (with 3 white sub-registers and 3:00 date window), and edge-stitched brown leather strap
- Breitling Navitimer Avi Auto Chronograph ref. A13023
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
Do you always have to do things the hard way?
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