The Amityville Horror: James Brolin’s Corduroy Jacket and Cargo Pants
James Brolin and Margot Kidder in The Amityville Horror (1979)
Vitals
James Brolin as George Lutz, surveyor and stepdad
Long Island, New York, Fall 1975
Film: The Amityville Horror
Release Date: July 27, 1979
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Men’s Costumes: Richard Butz
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Fifty years ago next month, George Lutz and his family moved into 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville on the south shore of Long Island. Amity, as you know, means friendship (as the mayor in Jaws has made clear), but there’s nothing friendly about the paranormal activity that drove the Lutz family from that Dutch Colonial Revival house after only 28 days.
Though the veracity of the events have been called into question (and, I believe, generally debunked), they remain in the forefront of public consciousness thanks to Jay Anson’s 1977 book The Amityville Horror and its subsequent film adaptations—the best-known and best-regarded of which being the 1979 horror thriller of the same name starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder as George and Kathy Lutz.
What’d He Wear?
James Brolin cycles through a simple, hardy wardrobe as the everyman George Lutz, no stranger to workwear given his work as a land surveyor. Before he devolves into more than a week wearing the same dirty layered thermal T-shirts with his cargo pants and boots, a more optimistic George brings Kathy to meet the house’s realtor, dressed in a corduroy jacket that falls comfortably among their autumnal surroundings.
The thigh-length jacket is made from a tan medium-wale corduroy, cut like a heavy shirt-jacket that incorporates the safari-inspired styling which informed much of men’s 1970s sportswear. The front placket features five brown woven leather buttons up to mid-chest, with the jacket’s wide collar designed to be worn open-neck. The shoulders are detailed with military-inspired epaulets that have matching buttons fastening them near the neck. The set-in sleeves are finished with plain cuffs, and there are double vents. Two patch pockets over the chest are covered with pointed flaps which also have matching woven buttons to close.
George’s pale-gray sweater appears to be either 100% cotton or a cotton-acrylic blend, with a stockinette-stitch body contrasted by a 2×2 rib-knit crew-neck, cuffs, and hem.
George tours the house in the same beige cotton cargo pants he would continue wearing with an increasingly dirty gray thermal long-sleeved T-shirt through most of The Amityville Horror. These flat-front trousers have a medium-low rise to Brolin’s waist, where he holds them up with a black leather belt. The squared patch pockets high on each thigh are covered with single-button squared flaps and more integrated into maintaining a smooth-leg silhouette than the baggier, bellows-pocket trousers popular a generation ago that gave cargo pants a bad name. George’s trousers also have quarter-top side pockets and set-in back pockets covered with single-button squared flaps. The bottoms are plain-hemmed.
George maintains the rugged overtones of his sporty corduroy jacket, broken-in sweater, and cargo pants with his hiking boots, crafted from brown roughout leather uppers that are derby-laced through nickel D-rings and Goodyear-welted on black rubber lug soles. He wears them with tall gray boot socks.
In addition to the gold wedding band on his left ring finger, George wears a stainless steel dive watch on a black leather strap. With its black bezel insert and black dial with its luminous non-numeric hour indices and 3 o’clock date window, the watch resembles the contemporary Rolex Submariner Date ref. 1680, though the silhouette and logo clearly differ—more likely a 1970s contemporary from Citizen or the like.
The men’s costumes in The Amityville Horror are credited to Richard Butz, whose last name coincidentally rhymes with James Brolin’s protagonist George Lutz.
How to Get the Look
James Brolin and Margot Kidder in The Amityville Horror (1979)
George Lutz looks stylishly suburban when scoping out his family’s new home-to-be in Amityville, clad in a tan corduroy shacket, gray sweater, cargo pants, and hiking boots that would look just as ruggedly comfortable a half-century later.
- Tan medium-wale corduroy thigh-length shirt-jacket with wide open collar, five woven-button placket, shoulder epaulets, two patch chest pockets with single-button pointed flaps, plain cuffs, and double vents
- Pale-gray stockinette-stitch cotton (or cotton-blend) sweater with ribbed crew-neck, cuffs, and hem
- Beige cotton flat-front cargo pants with belt loops, quarter-top side pockets, single-button flapped back pockets, single-button flapped thigh pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black leather belt
- Brown roughout leather hiking boots with derby-laced nickel D-ring eyelets, Goodyear welt, and black rubber lug soles
- Gray boot socks
- Gold wedding ring
- Stainless steel dive watch with black bezel insert, black dial with 3 o’clock date window, and black leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie and Jay Anson’s bestselling source book.
And if you like the idea of a Brolin wearing a work-ready tan jacket with cargo pants and rugged boots in a horror movie, read my recent post about James’ son Josh in Weapons!
The Quote
Houses don’t have memories.
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Amityville is such an odd series, later it just becomes about objects from the house that people end up buying that lead to catastrophic consequences. 2 is honestly the best of the series and is far better than the 1st one. The less said about 3D the better.
I always loved James Brolin’s clothes in Amityville. Super cozy and practical clothes for raking the yard or cracking up over flies and hellhounds.
The cargo pants in particular look unique but also common for the era. And he never stops wearing them, as the depression caused by his haunted house sinks in.