Vitals

Gene Hackman as Harry Moseby, private detective and former professional football player

Florida Keys, Fall 1973

Film: Night Moves
Release Date: June 11, 1975
Director: Arthur Penn
Costumer: Arnie Lipin
Costume Supervisor: Rita Riggs

Background

Arthur Penn’s neo-noir Night Moves premiered 50 years ago today on June 11, 1975, starring the late Gene Hackman as football pro-turned-private eye Harry Moseby, one of the most effective roles in demonstrating Hackman’s talent for balancing traditional masculinity with emotional depth and vulnerability.

Harry was recently hired by a washed-up Hollywood starlet to find her 16-year-old daughter Delly (Melanie Griffith), whom he eventually traces to the Florida Keys, where she’s living with her stepfather Tom (John Crawford) and his girlfriend Paula (Jennifer Warren) who eventually spends a night with Harry before he returns to L.A.

After a simple runaway case twists into murky layers of smuggling, betrayal, incest, and an increasing body count, Harry takes a late TWA flight back to the Keys—to the resigned dismay of his estranged wife Ellen (Susan Clark).

Harry: I know there’s something wrong down there, and I know that I can figure it out!
Ellen: Then tell the police what you know.

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What’d He Wear?

Harry dresses for his flight to Florida and the following confrontation on Tom and Paula’s boat in a Levi’s chore shirt constructed from an ivory-colored cotton twill in a denim-like weight, detailed with dark slate-blue stitching along all the edges—including the collar, cuffs, placket, and pockets.

Stitched along the right edge of the left pocket is the brand’s “big E” white tab, which—rather than the more familiar red tab—was typically (but not exclusively) reserved for Levi’s corduroy garments through the 1960s and ’70s.

The overall style draws from safari-inspired menswear that dominated sportswear throughout the 1970s, paired with a generously sized point collar in keeping with disco-era fashion. The placket features six copper shank buttons, similar to those found on trucker jackets. These same style of buttons appear on the two-button cuffs and closing both of the single-button scalloped flaps covering the chest pockets.

The straight hem—cut with side vents—suggests that it’s meant to be worn untucked, as Harry does. These details, combined with the heavier cloth, combine to anticipate the modern shirt-jacket (or “shacket”).

Harry’s usual tan flat-front trousers take their styling queues from jeans, particularly with their slanted front pockets and patch-style back pockets. The slightly flared bottoms are unsurprisingly finished with plain hems, as casual trousers like these were rarely configured with cuffs. He initially wears a dark-brown leather belt, which gets lost sometime between night and day.

Appropriately dressed-down with this outfit, Harry continues wearing his sneakers with their light-brown leather uppers, flat dark-brown laces through six closed-lacing eyelets, and dirty white siped rubber outsoles. His pale-beige socks maintain the color continuity.

Harry continues wearing his wide gold wedding ring on his left ring finger.

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The Gun

Harry packs heat for the final act, arming himself with a Colt Detective Special. This snub-nosed .38 Special revolver is a classic P.I.’s gun, dating back to when Colt introduced it in 1927 as a “belly gun” for plainclothes cops, though its blend of concealment and power made it a favorite for cops and crooks alike—a perfect duality for the morally murky Harry Moseby.

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How to Get the Look

Harry Moseby returns to the Florida Keys dressed in super-’70s neutrals, including a heavyweight cotton Levi’s shirt that he wears untucked to conceal the snub-nosed .38 in the waistband of his khakis.

• Ivory denim-weight cotton twill shirt-jacket with large collar, front placket with six copper shank buttons, two chest pockets with scalloped single-button flaps, two-button cuffs, and straight hem with side vents
• Tan flat-front casual trousers with belt loops, slanted front pockets, patch back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark-brown leather belt
• Light-brown leather closed-lace 6-eyelet sneakers with siped white rubber outsoles
• Gold wedding ring

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, which is also streaming again on the Criterion Channel this month as part of the service’s tribute to the late Gene Hackman.

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The Quote

I’ve been listening to your ping-pong talk long enough!