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…
Coogan’s Bluff / House Of Cards
Spot the difference? This is an interesting example of movie poster artists copying each other… Both Coogan’s Bluff and House of Cards were released in 1968. I’m unsure which one went to market first, but you can bet that one of these artists got lazy and simply copied the design of the other poster. The…
High Plains Drifter / Pale Rider
These are two mythical Westerns from Clint Eastwood, both of which essentially have the same conceit – the Clint character is the reincarnation of a dead lawman murdered by bandits, who returns to deliver justice to the perpetrators. High Plains Drifter was the first Western Clint directed himself, and the influence of Sergio Leone looms…
Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact was the point when the Dirty Harry series lost it for me. I love the first two movies in the series, but after 1973’s Magnum Force, the quality of each film dipped and the character of Harry became progressively both more reactionary and all-conquering – with the movies differentiated as much by the…
Where Eagles Dare
“Broadsword calling Danny Boy…” If those words jump out at you then, like me, you’ve probably sat through Where Eagles Dare multiple times. It remains one of the very best WWII “men on a mission’ movies – terrific action sequence, a twisty (and admittedly somewhat ridiculous) plot, plus great chemistry between Richard Burton’s verbose British…
The Outlaw Josey Wales
I’ve always been a big Clint Eastwood fan. This is my favourite Clint western, and one of my favourite poster images from his films. The movie is a redemption story, some say a Vietnam war allegory, of a farmer who becomes an outlaw when his family is murdered. He then makes a long journey…
Tightrope
Guilty pleasure time: I have a soft spot for this moody 1984 Clint Eastwood noir thriller. I remember the UK reviews at the time were not particularly kind (“Trite rope” was the headline on one I recall). Tightrope is far from perfect, but I think its one of Clint’s better films from the 80s…
Spaghetti Western soundtracks
These are my original vinyl copies of some of the most memorable and distinctive soundtracks ever, created by Italian maestro Ennio Morricone, who sadly passed away at the age of 91 recently. Morricone composed all the music for this Sergio Leone ‘spaghetti western’ trilogy and many more classic movies. Even if you have never…
Dirty Harry / Magnum Force
This was the first movie poster I ever bought. I remember it distinctly as I bought it when Pinewood Film Studios had their first (and as far as I know only) open day back in 1977. I persuaded (ok forced) my mum and dad to take me and we spent the day touring the various sound…