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Personally, the period of film history between the late sixties and early eighties, with its radical changes, has always inspired curiosity in me. Regarding the posters of the era, it seems like in the sixties, photographic posters slowly started to emerge and became highly prominent in the seventies, but still coexisted with drawn posters, though the drawing style had changed since the sixties. I couldn't easily describe in words what the differences were, but the style was certainly different, likely influenced by the styles of the most prominent illustrators of the day, people like Bob Peak or Richard Amsel.
It also seems to me that white backgrounds were very prominent in the sixties, but they were slowly dropped throughout the seventies, and by the eighties, the backgrounds of posters were much more colorful.
Also, certain "modern" typefaces started to emerge, with less of a drawn, wavy feel. The rectangular, blocky typeface of 1984's Tightrope is very eighties, I think. I can see something like it being present in seventies posters (though I can't recall a specific example at the moment), but not the sixties.
Toward the end of the seventies and the beginning of the eighties, that typeface we can now see in the logo of the Stranger Things TV series became common, particularly in horror films like Halloween III and Children of the Corn.
The size and arrangement of the images and credits also changed after the sixties. The poster of 1970's Rio Lobo is an example of a very typical seventies' poster arrangement. Big photographic image, small section dedicated to the logo and credits at the bottom.
Even the style of taglines has evolved over the years. The Rio Lobo poster reads "Give 'em hell, John." For some reason that strikes me as very representative of the era, with the tagline "speaking" directly to John Wayne. Back in the sixties and fifties, I think posters often had taglines in the vein of "the most exciting screen entertainment you'll see", but they were slowly dropped as the years went along. In the seventies, posters could also have long texts describing the subject matter of the film.
On a related note, I was looking at the evolution of the Warner Bros. logo in that same era. Interesting how it went from a very colorful and detailed logo in the early sixties, to the stark minimalism of the W7 (Warner Bros. - Seven Arts) logo in the late sixties, and temporarily back to an old-fashioned logo in the Kinney years, before settling for a decade on another minimalistic logo, with a very modern typeface (once again, not wavy or curvy, and without serifs).
I'd love to hear other people's thoughts and contributions on the subject in any part of film history. Art styles are in constant flux, but it's a subtle enough process that it takes a few years before noticing a changing trend.
That's cool! Don't own any vintage posters myself, but I sure wouldn't mind owning a few eventually.
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You bring up something very interesting here @mattjoes! I'm a graphic designer, so this is of real interest to me. Your observations re. posters are very in line with what I've noticed as well.
White and otherwise single-coloured backgrounds are indeed very prominent in 60's/70's poster artwork (at least in what I've seen (examples below)).
These were just some of the first examples I could find while googling 60's/70's posters. As you see, there's a mix of photographic imagery and illustrations; the often white background is very prominent, there's both hand-drawn typography (often used for comedy film posters), and sans serifs. I get the impression the hand-drawn titles became more out of fashion by somewhere in the 70's, but I might be wrong.
The biggest "change" in my view is between the 70's and the 80's though. You still see posters with white and single-coloured backgrounds, but a full image/illustration looks more prominent than before. Illustrated posters seems to have become less common, and the illustrated posters of the era seems to be very realistic and airbrushed.
Personally, I'm very much a fan of the illustrated posters of the 60's/early 70's, with single-coloured backgrounds. They always look good as a framed piece of art.
The evolution of the Warner Bros. logo is really interesting. The first one (and other similar variations of it) is the one we instantly recognise, but the W7 and the minimalistic 70's one are my favourites (the latter made by Saul Bass I believe). I've never read up why they actually changed the logo, but it would be interesting to read about.
I didn't know Bass had done the Warner logo. Both minimalistic logos are cool, and certainly striking coming after the more traditional logos.
@mattjoes I tried to find a bit more info on the Saul Bass Warner Bros. logo, but couldn't find that much. This comment on logodesignlove.com was probably the most informative:
It looks like it might have been a practical solution as much as an aesthetic one for Warner Bros. to use that particular logo. That only makes it a better logo in my view.
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Forgot to add in my previous post that there is something really interesting with the illustrated posters of the 80's. The realism of the illustrations, the details, the airbrushed effects and the colours are all elements I find really appealing.
Dvd get difrent color
I love the minimalistic The High Sun poster as well. There's something about silhouettes that's just so… effective. As for the Terminator: Dark Fate cover – is there a particular reason why the colours are different between the two formats?
1958
I have watched many 50's and 60's British cinema this year, George Baker appeared in many films. Not including Bond I first became aware of him as Inspector Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries starting in the 1980's.
Nice find, @Thunderfinger! A Bond connection (besides the title and George Baker): Sylvia Syms appeared in several episodes of The Saint.
The Man Behind History’s Most Iconic Movie Posters, From Breakfast at Tiffany’s to James Bond
Never heard of that film before, actually!
I see it's directed by Larry Cohen, who wrote the story for three episodes of Columbo – one of which (Any Old Port in a Storm) featured Donald Pleasence as the killer.
Interesting! I must add it to my films to watch list.
I watched this as a kid, I remember random naked women sun bathing on high rises.
Haha, I wonder if it's a film that is so bad it's good!
Sold! :-D
Finnish poster (I think), for The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
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Anyone seen these two films before?
Have heard of Assignment K, but not the second one.
That second poster is a cracker though!
Nice posters, @Gerard! Have you watched these two films?
It certainly is, @Mathis1! Love the composition and the sharp colours. Wonder if the film is as good as the poster. I watched the trailer for Assignment K a while back. It's definitely a film I want to watch at some point.
Thanks for sharing @Resurrection! I'll be taking screenshots from this one, and read up on all the films I didn't recognise from these clips! :-)
HD 50th anniversary , x-mas '69.....Ive an autograph she wrote during summer '68 when it was being filmed in Garrison , NY :D
Yes indeed. Both classics. Now, a few french swashbucklers :
That's a nice poster, @Tracy! Love the illustration, and the typography is great as well.
I must add them to my list then, @Gerard!
Love the poster artworks artworks too. That first one looks familiar; is it a well-known Alain Delon film?