He is the man with no first name (at least one that I could find!) and goes by the nom de plume, P. Franco. But what’s more important is that this Italian illustrator mastered the movie poster art of the spaghetti western (no relation, of course, to Franco-American, maker of SpaghettiO’s).
Although Franco’s credits are chock full of Italian B-movie shoot ’em-ups, much like his poster buds, Symeoni and Gasparri — he also drew a few Hollywood classics, such as Dirty Harry and The Seven Year Itch.
Rodolfo Gasparri, the Italian stallion movie poster artist, was featured last year for his badass Django sheets — but this guy also had a softer side as he drew up many Italian romances and melodramas, as well.
But never trust an artist who likes guns because you never know when his/her dark side might come out!
Not to be confused with the 1980s foreign film, Cinema Paradiso, here are a couple movie posters celebrating some other Italian beauties (the one on the left is by Sandro Symeoni)…
SPOILER ALERT: The clip below features the touching ending of Cinema Paradiso, so in case you haven’t seen it, please be forewarned. On the other hand, it still is worth watching even if you haven’t seen the movie — but it just probably won’t be that touching.
We’ve heard of the great Tarantino, but what about Ezio Tarantelli? This illustrious Italian artist created a whole slew of “bella” foglios and locandinas for lots of 60s and 70s B-movies (much like Sandro Symeoni and Antonio Mos), including many spaghetti westerns — and he also had an inglorious basterd poster of his own design called Bastardo Vamos A Matar!
Okay, don’t get too excited because this is just a simple tribute to movie posters with hands, including a few classics by such poster design legends as John Alvin (E.T.) and Saul Bass (The Man With The Golden Arm, In Harm’s Way, and Phase IV).
Wanna see some world-class takes on a classic movie poster? Let’s look at Blow Up, the 1960’s sexy swinging mod movie directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, with a soundtrack by early Herbie Hancock.
With help from Georges Kerfyser (French), Ercole Brini (Italian) and Waldemar Swierzy (Polish), this movie poster knows how to make love to the camera!
One of the most popular movie posters — but not so much the movie — is the 1967 European biker romance flick, Girl On A Motorcycle. Haven’t seen the film, but the posters certainly look like a bit of a tease!
Although it’s not Steve McQueen’s finest film, these worldly movie posters for the 1964 romancer, Love With The Proper Stranger, certainly make my heart flutter — especially the Italian foglio by Ercole Brini (bottom left) and the Boris Grinsson Frenchie (bottom right).
If the drawing styles of Toulouse Lautrec and Osvaldo Venturi were to meet up in a dark alley, then you might come out smelling like a rose with the bright watercolory beauties of Italian movie poster artist, Ercole Brini.
From The Bicycle Thief to Blow-Up, his romantic paintings posters added a touch of elegance to whomever was appearing in them — especially his striking, sophisticated portraits of women — as Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren would surely attest. And just his name sounds like one of today’s fashion world gurus…Georgio Armani, Henri Bendel…Ercole Brini! (via DominiqueBesson and MoviePosterDB)
Movie Poster Museum 