In a scene deleted from A View to a Kill near the Chevron Richmond Refinery dock in the San Francisco bay, fisherman in boats are protesting Zorin’s pumping because it’s killing crabs. James Bond is undercover and dressed to blend in with the fishermen to get a closer look at Zorin’s operation.
James Bond has never looked more American in this scene, and he must have had help from CIA agent Chuck Lee — played by David Yip — in picking out or acquiring these clothes. Every item that Bond is wearing successfully marks him as an American.
This is one of the most un-Bondian disguises the character has ever worn, though unlike the clown suit in the previous film Octopussy, there’s no question that this disguise is perfect for the mission. Bond, who usually tries to disguise himself in his favoured styles, may look shockingly out of character in this outfit, but it works for the scene. It’s one of very few times where Bond truly blends in with a crowd, unless Roger Moore happens to also be wearing his usual Italian loafers here.
For a base layer to keep warm on the boat, Bond is wearing a white crew-neck undershirt. Realistically, the shirt looks aged and worn. It’s not a stark white but slightly yellowed to show that it has experienced sweat and grime. Seeing Roger Moore in an undershirt is quite unusual and helps make him look believably American in this disguise.
Over the undershirt Bond wears a lightweight cotton plaid shirt in maroon, blue and white. It is detailed with a point collar and white buttons, though the rest of the shirt cannot be seen. Most likely it has two breast pockets, following the typical conventions of American sport shirts. Neither shirt’s details nor fit looks like those made by Moore’s usual shirtmaker Frank Foster, so this is likely a ready-to-wear piece purchased for this scene. Bond wears the top few buttons of the shirt open to show off his t-shirt, and he tucks it into his jeans.
The classic mid-blue denim jeans have a medium-high rise and straight leg. These are the most unusual part of the outfit for Bond, who one might expect to wear something like tan cotton drill five-pocket trousers instead.
Over everything, Bond wears a tan cotton jacket. The jacket has a zip front, buttoned slash pockets and cuffs at the ends of the sleeves. There is a shield-shaped logo on the left chest.
To top off the outfit, Bond wears a light-blue denim baseball cap with the Chevron logo emblazoned on the front. The crown has a white button on the top and vents with white grommets.
A shot from Omega’s No Time to Die trailer shows Daniel Craig in a baseball cap, so it’s possible we will finally be seeing Bond in a baseball cap in a film.
Roger Moore does not make this outfit look cool. To make such an outfit look cool would take a tough American type like Clint Eastwood. Roger Moore being about 57 years old and known for being a sophisticated Englishman makes it almost difficult to take him seriously dressed like this, though the fact that the outfit is perfect for the scene helps tremendously.
Shield logo? Gant, perhaps?
I was thinking Daniel Cremieux as a possibility.
It’s not either one of them. The logo may represent the brand of jacket, or it may be a company jacket.
…Grampa??
Thanks for covering this, Matt as I’ve been waiting age to see this post surface! AVTAK must be the Bond move where Bond was in disguise on the most occasions either in name or appearance. I can’t really add much to your accurate summing up of the outfit and the context. Jeans and such quintessentially American apparel don’t work at all for Bond but make this a very convincing get-up for the scene in question. All this said, it’s probably because this image is so starkly at odds with the established Bond image, especially Roger Moore’s interpretation, that I think the producers probably made the right decision in omitting it from the final cut.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that Roger was wearing a pair of brown Ferragamo loafers with this outfit. He kept the jeans because I have seen him wear them with such shoes and the leather blouson and blue sports shirt, in stills between filming on this movie.
It is difficult to picture Roger in a pair of L.L. Bean boots, isn’t it?
I’m not familiar with that outfitters beyond the name and had to look them up! True though he wore trainers earlier in AVTAK and obviously ski boots and climbing shoes in various Bond movies.
Hi David, I think this is the best disguise Moore or Bond has ever worn. He perfectly fits in to his surroundings and doesn’t draw attention to himself at all. Though he looks nothing like Bond or what we expect Bond to look like in a casual setting. I think he would have stood out even wearing the dark brown leather blouson and oxford sports shirt and mid blue jeans. blue jeans was such a common casual look in films in the middle 1980’s. Chevy Chase wore famously the same year a Lakers cap, navy polo shirt, taupe blouson jacket and blue Levi 501’s in Fletch. It’s an outfit that really doesn’t age in the U.S, but it suits the preppie American Chase to a T where it looks completely out of place worn by the then 57 year old suave, English and sophisticated Roger Moore.
Absolutely true. The leather jacket with the jeans would have looked too neat and expensive for a situation which is basically a bunch of middle aged men wearing older clothes. For these guys, a leather jacket like that would have been what we used to call in Ireland “sunday best” clothes. The fact that Roger would have blown his cover completely by conversing with these guys we will have to just gloss over, I guess!
Not much else I can say that you didn’t already, Matt.
It’s a masterful disguise, and he doesn’t look like someone trying to fit in, he simply fits in. Is it anything I want Bond to wear? No. But it’s a disguise. I don’t particularly want Bond to wear a clown suit either, but that was a disguise too, and I will defend that scene until my dying day as being relevant to the plot and is my favourite Moore moment. I have no problem with this outfit from a plot perspective.
I noticed a great shot on Douglashayward.com (https://douglashayward.com/blogs/portfolio/the-bespoke-process) It looks like this jacket. Could it be?
You’re going to laugh at this. That is a cotton twill that was made by Wested Leather last year for Bond Suits reader E.O. as a preliminary fitting for a bespoke leather blouson. E.O. had Wested replicate the leather jacket they made for Roger Moore for A View to a Kill. The current owners of the Hayward brand took that photo from E.O.’s Instagram (@inspiredbybond) without his permission.
Wow!!! That’s naughty. Very naughty
Excellent appropriate disguise, and Moore looks pretty comfortable in it. I actually quite like the outfit ahah