Jason Munn’s minimalist movie poster remakes from The Rolling Roadshow Tour are now on sale for $50 smackers. Get ’em while they’re hot!
(Btw, these copies for sale on Munn’s website are Artists Proofs with an edition of 30 each — if you’re into that kinda thang!)
What do you know? Just last week, we featured the beautiful Italian movie posters by Symeoni and Gasparri from the 1960s spaghetti western, Django — and now comes word that Quentin Tarantino has just finished his latest script, Django Unchained, which will surely be a bloody, modern Southern-ized update on the much-heralded, though little-seen classic…
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.
His name sounds Spanish, but Antonio MOS, aka Mario De Berardinis, is one of the “mos” underrated Italian movie poster designers. Although his credits are mos-ly B-movies, his illustrations and unusual close-up style are mos decidedly A-list as seen below…
That lovable peacenik, Al Capone, once said in The Untouchables, “They say you can get further with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word.” Well, you wouldn’t know it by this post, but I’m actually an anti-gun advocate — except, of course, when it comes to the movies! Hypocritical? Definitely. But the (phallic?) symbol of the gun seems to be a universal theme everywhere in the world of movie posters.
So if you like these mean machine sheets, then you might like my other pals, Django, Dillinger, and the Twins.
The Meansheets Poster Shop has a few more posters for sale on Etsy…
Ever hear the one about the Polish actress who wanted to be a movie star? Yeah, she slept with the screenwriter!
Okay, so maybe that kind of old school Hollywood humor isn’t for everybody — but yesterday I mentioned the Polish poster artist, Jan Mlodozeniec (1929-2000), and he is definitely no joke. From the early 1950’s through the 80’s, Mr. Mlodozeniec designed a good majority of the movie posters for the most popular Polish and American films that played in his homeland. From Barbarella to Gremlins, Mlodozeniec’s vivid understanding of color once even compared him to Matisse. So even if you don’t like off-color jokes, at least we all can enjoy the bright, beautiful world of Jan Mlodozeniec…
While Clint Eastwood became the king of the Spaghetti Westerns, there was also another Italian badass by the name of Franco Nero who starred in a bunch of Django movies and was the poster boy for a bunch of really cool Italian posters. Would’ve loved to have seen ol’ Franco and Clint in a shootout!
My personal favorite is the Tempo di Massacro (aka The Brute and the Beast) by Italian artist, Sandro Symeoni (top, middle), but then again, the Django (bottom) by Rodolfo Gasparri ain’t bad either.
Dang, who knew Glenn Ford could be so sexy? I always remember him as the creepy doc in the 80’s schlockfest, Happy Birthday To Me — but he sure do look good in a cowboy hat, don’t he? I think these Italian movie posters for Jubal (1956) will back me up on that.
Btw, the top left and bottom versions were done by none other than Alfredo Capitani of the infamous BCM Studio — but of course, he could make anyone look good!
Movie Poster Museum 