Sergio Leone’s 1968 epic Once Upon A Time In The West is one of the all-time classic Westerns. By this point, Leone was confident enough in his own style and talent to carefully and slowly build lengthy sequences without dialogue or music and only natural sounds – stretching the tension out to the point of…
Othello
This is a Belgian poster for Orson Welles’ 1952 adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Othello. Othello was a labour of love for Welles. He shot it on location in Europe over a period of 3 years, frequently having to shut down production having run out of money. Welles part-funded the movie himself, taking on other…
Midnight Cowboy
This poster for 1969’s MIdnight Cowboy is one of the more unique pieces I have in my collection. Midnight Cowboy is one of the most iconic movies of its era. It depicts the unlikely friendship of 2 loser hucksters in a seedy and desperate New York City – male prostitute Joe Buck, as played by…
Superman
Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman was the first major superhero movie of the modern era, and is still the benchmark by which all Superman movies are judged. I remember going to the movies to see this on the back of the promise of the tag-line: “You’ll believe a man can fly.” The special effects, whilst cutting…
Kiss Of The Vampire
Kiss Of The Vampire is one of my favourite Hammer horror movies, even though it does not feature either Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing. I watched it again recently on YouTube and it really holds up well. It takes the basic set-up template of a great many vampire movies (ie a young couple break down…
Firefox
I doubt even the most avid Clint Eastwood fan would claim Firefox was one of his better movies. I remember buying this US one-sheet at a film memorabilia fair in Nottingham before the movie had been released in the UK. From the poster it looks promising, with a great image and tag-line….but that’s about as…
Torn Curtain
Here are a pair of posters for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1966 thriller Torn Curtain. Like several of Hitch’s later movies, Torn Curtain is rather uneven, old-fashioned and boring in places. I saw it years again on TV and have not revisited it since. Stars Paul Newman and Julie Andrews try hard, but don’t have much chemistry…
Scarface
Here are two very different posters for two very different versions of Scarface. The original 1932 movie is a terrific and hugely influential gangster picture chronicling the rise and fall of Italian immigrant Chicago gangster Tony played by Paul Muni. Directed by the great Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hughes, the movie faced multiple…
Summer Storm / Magnificent Obsession
Here are two very old posters for movies directed by Douglas Sirk. Now, I must admit I am not particularly familiar with Sirk, beyond him being name-checked in the 50s-style diner scene in Pulp Fiction (where a “Douglas Sirk Steak, bloody as hell” is on the menu). Sirk was active predominantly in the 50s and…
A Fistful Of Dollars
Here are an interesting pair of posters for the Belgian release of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western classic A Fistful Of Dollars. The first poster is from the first release in 1964 and is interesting because while it name-checks star Clint Eastwood (in his first leading role), the image is that of a generic cowboy, with…