If you’ve got HBO, make sure to set your TV/Tivo tonight to I Knew It Was You, a short documentary about the life of 1970’s character actor, John Cazale. Although his brief career was cut short by cancer, his résumé is a time capsule of film classics. Not to mention, he was engaged to Meryl Streep before his untimely death.
Milton Glaser is one of the most famous graphic designers alive today and created the I LOVE NY logo, New York Magazine, and a whole slew of rock and political posters alike. But he did very few movie posters, other than Next Stop Greenwich Village, which The Auteurs wrote about last year.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan originally released a poster in 1989 with Jason slashing through an I LOVE NY poster — but that version was later recalled by Paramount for copyright infringement (of Glaser’s work). If you’re interested in learning more about the man and his work, you can check out the recent documentary, Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight.
Al Hirschfeld was perhaps the most famous caricaturist in American life, known especially for his light, comical black-and-white portraits of Broadway theatre stars prior to his death in 2003. But during the 1930’s and 40’s, he got his start working on movie posters and did quite a number of them featuring The Marx Bros. His career was so illustrious in fact that in 1996, they even made an Oscar-nominated documentary about him called The Line King!
Ever wondered who created the posters for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and Ben Hur? Reynold Brown, that’s who! Most people remember him as one of Roger Corman’s go-to-guys doing cheesy monster movie posters for AIP back in the day — but this fella drew more than just teenage werewolves and killer sea creatures. From Cat On A Hot Tin Roof to Spartacus to, yes, Love Slaves of the Amazon, this popular artist will be remembered for many years to come.
You can preview his book here at The Illustrated Press…
And here’s part 2 from his PBS documentary, The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters (you can watch the whole thing on YouTube, but I started at part 2 when he arrives in Hollywood)…
You know you must be pretty good if they make a documentary about you. And that’s exactly what they did with Robert McGinnis.
Famous for his iconic James Bond movie posters, McGinnis was also great at drawing the ladies. Apparently, he was so detailed that he once even requested Sophia Loren’s dress be sent to his studio to complete the poster for Arabesque.
Check out the trailer for Painting the Last Rose of Summer…
You used to only be able to get these classic Bruce Weber posters for $300+ on eBay, but now you can get cheap reproductions at Moviegoods!
Here’s a clip of Weber’s heartbreaking doc on jazz legend, Chet Baker…
Everybody has an 
Movie Poster Museum 