Movie
Photo: Gorup de Besanez, cropped by Warp3. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons Photo shows actor Dustin Hoffman
Captain Hook
Dustin Hoffman's pirate captain in Spielberg's Hook wears a long, curled handlebar that is groomed with the same obsessive care as his wig.
- Actor
- Dustin Hoffman
- Film
- Hook
- Year
- 1991
- Medium
- Movie
- Style
- Handlebar
- Fan Votes
- 0 legendary · 0 meh
Why Captain Hook's Mustache Matters
Captain James Hook has been mustachioed since J.M. Barrie put him on stage in 1904, but Dustin Hoffman's version in Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) turned the lip into a full production. Long, black, waxed into elaborate curls and paired with a wig of cascading ringlets, it is the mustache of a man who spends more time at the mirror than on the quarterdeck.
Hoffman played Hook as vain, theatrical and secretly fragile, and the mustache is the perfect prop for that reading. It twirls on cue, droops in despair, and somehow survives every sword fight with Robin Williams's grown-up Peter Pan.
Whether in Disney's 1953 animated film, on stage, or in Hoffman's hands, Hook remains the most famous pirate mustache in storytelling.
- *Hook* was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Robin Williams as Peter Banning and Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell.
- Captain Hook first appeared in J.M. Barrie's play *Peter Pan* in 1904.
- Dustin Hoffman (born 1937) was reportedly nearly unrecognizable under the wig, prosthetic nose and mustache.
How to Grow the Handlebar
The grand champion. Curled at the ends, waxed to the heavens, and absolutely not sorry about it.
✂ Read the Style Guide
