Attention, winter movie stars: Yosemite Sam called and he wants his facial hair back. A who’s who of recognizable faces can be seen onscreen this season sporting that old reliable standard of masculinity — the mustache. Is the furry-upper-lip look making a comeback? If the examples here are any indication, the mustache is again having a moment — at least in Hollywood.
JOSH BROLIN
Brolin’s lip is covered in two roles — as a corrupt narcotics officer in “American Gangster” and as a down-and-out Vietnam vet in “No Country for Old Men.”
The ‘staches: In “Gangster,” the mustache appears luxuriant and manicured, giving off a high-gloss sheen. In “No Country,” it looks forlorn and distinctly untidy — like it might be hiding stale beer and bits of fried chicken.
What it says about the characters: Brolin’s villainous cop in “Gangster” is all silken menace with a muscle car, leather trench coat and shellacked-in-place hair and mustache. Brolin’s broken-down and shot-up character in “No Country,” on the other hand, is a guy with a few dreams left but no time for frippery. His mustache is as simple.
WOODY HARRELSON
Harrelson plays a Truman Capote-inspired fop in the drama “The Walker,” opening Friday.
The ‘stache: Blond and wispy, somewhere between John Waters and Jeff Gillooly
What it says about the character: His mustache, bouffant toupee and expensive wardrobe all are meant to convey affluence and pedigree, but also a certain outsider quality; he’s a gay Washington, D.C., gadabout who squires wealthy women to society events.
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
Hoffman stars as CIA operative in the political potboiler “Charlie Wilson’s War,” opening on Christmas Day.
The ‘stache: Unglamorous, a bushy curtain of bristle
What it says about the character: He’s a rogue and a fast-talking, double-crossing, arms-dealing creep. The mustache bounces and wobbles whenever Hoffman speaks.
RYAN GOSLING
Gosling plays a creepy but sweet introvert who forms an emotional attachment to a lifelike sex doll in the dramedy “Lars and the Real Girl.”
The ‘stache: Inelegantly trimmed, dorky
What it says about the character: Dude is out of touch with reality. Living in the garage of his childhood home, Lars uses his facial hair as a disguise to convince the rest of the world — and himself — that he’s a functioning adult.
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
Day-Lewis stars as a hardscrabble oil man in “There Will Be Blood,” opening in January.
The ‘stache: Turn-of-the-last-century walrus whiskers
What it says about the character: You’re not supposed to think about Day-Lewis’ mustachioed Bill the Butcher in “Gangs of New York,” but the parallel is inevitable. It seems that whenever the actor wants to portray someone aggressive and ambitious, he stops shaving his upper lip.
JAVIER BARDEM
Bardem is a lovesick romantic in the big-screen adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel “Love in the Time of Cholera.”
The ‘stache: Broad, paintbrush-thick
What it says about the character: As seen on a character who’s been pining after a woman for “51 years, nine months and four days,” Bardem’s mustache is hardly a metaphor. It’s an exaggerated frown, the embodiment of his unrequited love.
FOREST WHITAKER
Whitaker portrays the father of a student on an all-African-American college debate team in the Denzel Washington-directed historical drama “The Great Debaters,” opening Christmas Day.
The ‘stache: Flecked with gray, curving below the edges of the Oscar winner’s mouth
What it says about the character: Taken in conjunction with the round, wire-rimmed spectacles he wears, the facial hair is an outward sign of Whitaker’s character’s moral rectitude and weary gravitas.
JASON SCHWARTZMAN
Schwartzman portrays one of three grieving brothers traveling through India in the dramedy “The Darjeeling Limited.”
The ‘stache: Think ’60s George Harrison after he met Ravi Shankar. Look them up.
What it says about the character: Schwartzman’s Jack spends a lot of the movie on the make for women. His facial foliage serves to emphasize a certain je ne sais quoi of the character’s male virility.
