David Lynch’s 1984 version of Dune is widely recognised to be something of a disaster. The producers probably thought they were investing in the new Star Wars. What they got was weird and incomprehensible beyond belief. Lynch himself subsequently disowned the movie and whilst it has become something of a cult, campy favourite, my memory…
Gunfight In Abilene / Incident At Phantom Hill
Sometimes a movie poster should simply be appreciated as a work of art, irrespective of the qualities of the movie itself. I have never seen either Gunfight in Abilene nor Incident At Phantom Hill and am highly unlikely to ever do so. They are both obscure Westerns from the mid-60s. But I am writing about…
Farewell My Lovely / The Long Goodbye
Here are a pair of posters for very different interpretations of Raymond Chandler’s classic private eye tough guy Philip Marlowe. The most famous incarnation of Marlowe is of course Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep, although former song-and-dance man Dick Powell’s surprisingly tough Marlowe in Murder My Sweet (an adaptation of Farewell My Lovely) runs…
Skyfall
Skyfall is one of my absolute favourite James Bond movies, and my favourite post-Connery Bond by a mile. Having seen this originally in the cinema I subsequently ended up watching it many times on long-haul flights, and it really bears up well to multiple viewings. It is probably the best-looking of all the Bond movies,…
Halloween / Halloween II
The original Halloween was and still is my most terrifying experience in a cinema, for reasons that only partly relate to the film itself. True, John Carpenter’s 1978 original is a masterpiece of horror cinema. He practically invented the whole slasher genre, and unwittingly ushered in a slew of inferior imitations. I saw Halloween…
The Misfits
The Misfits, Marilyn Monroe’s final film, was written for her by her (ex) husband, the great American playwright Arthur Miller. Monroe stars alongside fellow greats Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift, and the movie has a poignant sadness about it seeing movie stars past their prime playing characters past theirs, and knowing it too. Gable died…
Gloria / The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie
I must admit I was never much of a fan of John Cassavetes’ movies. These, however, are two of his more commercial efforts. Cassavetes made his living as a character actor (in The Dirty Dozen and Rosemary’s Baby amongst others), but his passion was directing. HIs movies were usually low budget and partially self-financed. They have…
North Sea Hijack
Roger Moore made North Sea Hijack immediately after Moonraker, and this poster very knowingly apes the classic “Bond with gun” pose. This is somewhat ironic, as Moore very much plays against type here – portraying a bearded, eccentric cat-loving anti-terrorism expert, who goes by the name of Rufus Excalibur ffolkes! From memory, I think the character…
Young Frankenstein / High Anxiety
I’m not much of a Mel Brooks fan, but these French posters showcase two of his better attempts at spoofing beloved genres. Personally, I didn’t find Young Frankenstein particularly funny, but I must admit it is a wonderful pastiche of the original Universal monster movies. Its black and white photography, in particular, really captures the…
Purple Rain
I saw Purple Rain at the press screening in Norwich before anyone other than diehard fans had ever hear of Prince. I thought his acting was quite dreadful, and the plot is pure cliche, but it was apparent that he had a charisma about him. Plus, of course, all the songs and stage performances were…