Film Posters Of The 60′s

• 9th Apr 2011

Edited by: Tony Nourmand and Graham Marsh

Time for the decade that really saw movements start mature in the film world.  Our ideas started to expand with the works of Kubrick (Dr Strangelove and 2001 anyone?), but we also started to get our modern day action heroes like James Bond. We were introduced more so to the likes of McQueen, Hoffman, Eastwood, Romero, The Rat Pack, Dirty Dozens and Daleks!

War, Westerns and drama started to show its ugly and sometimes bloody side. If it is the obvious but arty you are looking for then The Graduate is right there near the start with that famous leg in frame with Dustin Hoffman in the background watching on. Bell De Jour has a couple of prints that don’t leave too much to the imagination either.

Less obvious is a set of Paul Newman posters including Cool Hand Luke (which doesn’t tell the viewer much about the film at all), but leading to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid which gives away the final frame of the film!

There are some character art cards for For A few Dollar More for the three main leads. These are interesting as they are the equivalent of what we get frrom big Hollywood projects of today that like to release character posters for films in a lead up to release.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Andy Warhol flicks feature male and female nudity. The Brits get down to earth with the likes of Malcolm McDowell and Terrance Stamp.There is also a beautifully simple photo art for Downhill Racer that has been a favourite of mine for a while.

Horror seems to have gotten psychological on us with Psycho, Black Sunday, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? and Peeping Tom.

Guns become big motifs in the likes of Point Blank, The Ipcress File and even to an extent with The Italian Job (which I still say is a mis-match for the film). But then the same can be said for Fantastic Voyage. A nude Raquel Welch may be nice, but what does it have to do with the film about being miniaturised and injected into a dying man’s body. So plenty of mis-conception going on here. But there is plenty of room left for Batman, Bond, Epics, Hepburn, and Hippies. Let’s not forget the Hippies for a 60’s book!

http://www.reelposter.com/books.php

Steven Hurst