Vitals

Cliff Robertson as Higgins, pragmatic CIA deputy director and Korean War veteran

New York City and Washington, D.C., Winter 1975

Film: Three Days of the Condor
Release Date: September 24, 1975
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Sydney Pollack’s Christmas-set political thriller Three Days of the Condor. While Robert Redford’s rugged casual-wear as the bookish CIA analyst Joe Turner (codename “Condor”) has commanded considerable sartorial attention—including one of my very first blog posts!—the men pursuing him from the shadows are also stylish dressers, from Max Von Sydow as the professional European hitman Joubert to the workaholic CIA deputy director Higgins played by Cliff Robertson, who died fourteen years ago today on September 10, 2011.

We first meet Higgins as Turner calls his office, seeking answers after realizing the massacre at his workplace was no random hit. The desperate Turner then kidnaps and ultimately recruits the innocent Katherine Hale (Faye Dunaway), who helps him corner Higgins during his lunch at McCoy’s.

I love how much of Joe and Kathy’s plan depends on the inevitability of Higgins’ lunch break. Having worked entry-level corporate jobs where I was expected to power through lunch, I’m amazed that a CIA deputy director under this kind of pressure could actually step out, sit down at a restuarant, and eat! Robertson also plays Higgins beautifully through this scene, balancing annoyance at the interruption with genuine amusement at Joe and Kathy’s amateur but effective scheme—reminding me of how my parents would humor me when I tried to prank them as a kid.

Anyway… Higgins is one of the few left standing by the Condor’s third day on the run, when he confronts Higgins in Times Square to the dissonant soundtrack of Salvation Army carolers.

Joe: Boy, what is it with you people? You think getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?
Higgins: No, it’s simple economics. Today, it’s oil, right? In ten or fifteen years: food, plutonium. And maybe even sooner. Now what do you think the people are gonna want us to do then?
Joe: Ask them.
Higgins: Not now—then. Ask them when they’re running out. Ask them when there’s no heat in their homes and they’re cold. Ask them when their engines stop. Ask them when people who’ve never known hunger start going hungry. You wanna know something? They won’t want us to ask them, they’ll just want us to get it for them.
Joe: Boy, have you found a home… seven people killed! And you play fucking games!
Higgins: Right. And the other side does too. That’s why we can’t let you stay outside.

An accomplished aviator in addition to his acting career, Robertson built steady momentum through the ’50s and ’60s, with an acclaimed portrayal of JFK in PT-109 (1963) and an Oscar-winning performance in Charly (1968). But Three Days of the Condor marked one of Robertson’s last major Hollywood roles for years, as his discovery of a forged signature on a check exposed Columbia Pictures head David Begelman’s embezzlement. Much like Joe Turner, Robertson paid a price for blowing the whistle—finding himself effectively blacklisted until 1983, when he returned to the screen in Brainstorm, Class, and Star 80.

Ironically, Robertson may be best known to younger audiences for his first Columbia production in more than two decades when he was cast as Peter Parker’s doomed Uncle Ben in Spider-Man (2002). He died one day after his 88th birthday.

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What’d He Wear?

On the second “day of the Condor”, Kathy—dubbed “Sparrow Hawk” for her new collaboration with Condor—trails Higgins from his office to lunch. He’s dressed in more grounded tones than the businesslike navy worsted three-piece suit he wore the previous day, anchored by a tweed two-piece suit woven in a heavy twill from beige, mustard, and gray wool—producing a muted light-taupe heathered tweed with a soft, fuzzy finish.

The single-breasted jacket smartly blends ’70s trends with heritage details. The fashionably broad notch lapels roll to a two-button front, and the rear skirt splits with long double side vents. In addition to the standard welted breast pocket, the flapped hip pockets are slanted toward the back as an equestrian-inspired nod to tweed’s sporting heritage. The sleeves are finished with three vestigial buttons on each cuff.

The trousers are almost certainly flat-fronted, though his buttoned jackets and coats cover them up through Robertson’s screen-time in this suit. They have a straight cut through the legs down to plain-hemmed bottoms that break over the tops of his black leather plain-toe ankle boots.

While some gentlemen may prefer brown shoes with brown-toned outfits like this, Higgins evidently reserves his caramel cap-toe oxfords for the warmer brown suit he wears the following day, preferring plain black shoes that coordinate with the cooler tones of his tweed suit. Matt Spaiser expounds on the virtues of black shoes in a Bond Suits article, writing that “If the brown in in cool and muted tones, black shoes can work. Richer, warmer browns are much easier to pair with brown shoes.”

Like the light-blue shirt he wore with his navy suit the first day, Higgins’ pale-ecru cotton shirt creates a soft harmony with his suit without the businesslike contrast of a crisp white shirt. The shirt has a point collar, front placket, and button cuffs.

Higgins wears a brown geometric tonal-printed tie that pulls together the tawny tones through his suit and shirt.

In contrast to his more traditional tailoring, Higgins wears the futuristic-looking Hamilton Pulsar P2, considered the world’s first successful mass-produced digital watch after it was jointly developed in the early 1970s by American companies Hamilton Watch and ElectoData. This quartz-powered watch gained its spy movie credentials when Roger Moore wore one for his debut as James Bond in Live and Let Die, two years before Robertson sported his in Three Days of the Condor.

The Pulsar P2’s stainless steel 39mm case looks futuristic, though the watch’s functionality is limited to displaying the time on its black LED display—which we see Higgins doing the previous day when coordinating Turner’s fateful meeting with his section chief Wicks (Michael Kane) behind the Ansonia Hotel. He wears it on the stock three-piece link bracelet and clasp, which encloses the magnet used to set the time.

Unlike the conservative gray trilby and dark overcoat that Higgins wore over his navy suit to check in with his superiors, he harmonizes with the sportier tweed suit by wearing a fur-collared topcoat and velvet trilby. This hat is covered in a soft light-brown velvet, detailed with a matching braided band around the base of the pinched crown, and a short, self-edged brim.

The knee-length coat has a soft stone-colored shell, tightly woven with a soft finish suggestive of a luxurious wool like cashmere. This meshes with the plush brown fur facing the collar and revers which frame Higgins’ neck—and which Joe Turner rudely crushes with his work boots when searching Higgins in the back of Kathy’s Bronco! The short yet dense pile with its silky-smooth luster suggests mink.

These lapels roll to a narrow 6×3 arrangement of tan horn 4-hole buttons, with an additional button under the right side of the collar. The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with a single ornamental button at each cuff. The back of the coat splits with a long single vent up to Robertson’s waist. The set-in hip pockets are covered with wide rectangular flaps.

Higgins continues wearing the same coat on the third and final day when greeting Condor outside the New York Times building, though he’s changed into a warmer brown worsted suit, the aforementioned brown cap-toe oxfords, and darker brown gloves than the lighter copper-shaded three-point gloves he had worn with his tweed suit.

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How to Get the Look

In that brief window of the ’70s when fur-collared coats were considered de rigueur for stylish and successful professionals (rather than pimps!), Higgins wears his with authority, pairing the plush outerwear with an appropriately sporty tweed suit and velvet trilby—perfectly seasonal against Three Days of the Condor‘s backdrop of New York at Christmastime.

• Heathered tan, gold, and gray twill-woven tweed suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, long double vents
  • Flat-front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale-ecru cotton poplin shirt with point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Brown geometric tonal-print silk tie
• Black leather plain-toe slip-on ankle boots
• Stone-colored cashmere knee-length coat with mink fur-covered lapels, narrow 6×3-button double-breasted front, straight flapped hip pockets, single-button cuffs, and long single vent
• Light-brown velvet short-brimmed trilby with braided band and self-edged brim
• Brown leather three-point gloves
• Hamilton Pulsar P2 stainless-cased digital watch on steel three-piece link bracelet

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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The Quote

You poor, dumb son of a bitch. You’ve done more damage than you know.