I believe this to be the US re-release one sheet for Joe Dante’s 1987 sci-fi comedy in which Dennis Quaid plays a test pilot who is shrunk to miniature size and accidentally injected into the body of Martin Short. The film is definitely one of the high points in the myriad of high-concept films of the 1980s and I rate it as one of Joe Dante’s best films.
It’s definitely not from the time of the first release and the text ‘Inner’s out again… for the millions who are going to love it’ leads me to believe the film may have been given a wider release, perhaps a few months after it first opened. If anyone knows this for sure please get in touch.
The artwork is by one of my favourite American artists, Dan Goozee, and the other posters I’ve collected by him can be seen here.
To see the other posters I have collected for Innerspace click here. The original trailer is on YouTube.
Although considered by most Bond fans to be one of the weakest of the series, I know I’m not the only one to have a soft spot for Moonraker, Roger Moore‘s fifth outing as James Bond. Thanks to endless TV showings during the 1980s and early 1990s I’ve probably seen this more than any other in the series and, like Live and Let Die, it had a huge impression on my young mind.
Looking at it through the cynical fog of adulthood it’s easy to sneer at the camp script, supremely daft action sequences (motorised Gondola anyone?) and painfully obvious attempt to cash in on the success of Star Wars (a very common theme amongst films released in its wake). The film is probably the quintessential outing for Moore as Bond and only he could have pulled it off as well as he did, particularly when it comes to the hokey script and madcap action.
The film features several memorable sequences, including a stunning cable car fight over Rio de Janeiro, and a memorable bad guy in Richard Kiel‘s inimitable ‘Jaws’ who used to scare me senseless as a kid. Also notable is John Barry‘s soundtrack, which marked a departure from his previous Bond work by mainly using strings instead of the typical brass. The film also features one of the most (literally) eyebrow-raising character names in the form of Dr Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) and one of the best/worst sign-offs of the entire series:
Sir Frederick Gray, Minister of Defence: My God, what’s Bond doing?
Q: I think he’s attempting re-entry, sir.
This particular poster is the advance international one sheet with artwork by Dan Goozee who is responsible for several other Bond posters, including the US one sheet. Other posters I’ve collected by him can be seen here.
This version has the phrase ‘Blasting off in June!’ at the bottom, but I also have one which says ‘Blasting off This Summer’ – see the last photos for images of it. I know there is also at least one other alternative version that has the phrase ‘Blasting off Soon’ (image taken from emovieposter.com).
The original trailer for the film is on YouTube.
Legendary German film maker Werner Herzog wrote and directed this brilliant, stylish homage to the 1922 Dracula adaptation, ‘Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens’. F. W. Murnau‘s seminal silent classic was actually filmed without permission from Bram Stoker‘s estate and had a number of minor details changed in attempt to avoid infringing copyright. Their attempts were unsuccessful and Stoker’s widow filed a lawsuit that resulted in the film being withdrawn and most of the prints being destroyed. Luckily, a handful survived and the film was able to be properly restored and saved from total loss.
Frequent Herzog collaborator (and occasional adversary) Klaus Kinski stars as Count Dracula (changed from the Count Orlok of Murnau’s verison), the undead vampire who travels to Germany from Transylvania. He intends to prey upon Lucy (Isabelle Adjani), the wife of Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) from whom the Count purchased real-estate deeds before locking him in his castle. Jonathan manages to escape and heads home in hot pursuit of the evil vampire to save Lucy from an undead fate. Herzog’s version is particularly notable for the way it portrays the classic Count as a weary, unloved character who is struggling with the idea of immortality and is disgusted with the predatory side of himself. This was in stark contrast to many of the Dracula adaptations that had been made since Murnau’s original.
Unusually, the studio (20th Century Fox) requested that Herzog film each scene with dialogue twice (in German and English, spoken by the same actors) so that two versions of the film could be constructed with the idea that the English one would appeal more to Western audiences. Today most fans prefer the German version as the actors are clearly more comfortable speaking in their native language and the acting is thus more natural.
This Japanese poster features elements of the fantastic American one sheet, which was painted by David Palladini, and is one of the best posters of the 1970s, in my opinion. In the place of the illustration of Count Dracula is a striking image of the gorgeous Adjani and two smaller photos featuring the Harkers and Dracula.
The original trailer is on YouTube.
An iconic design on this poster for the US release of Paul Verhoeven‘s sci-fi masterpiece, Robocop. Set in a dystopian future Detroit where organised crime is rampant and the city is close to financial ruin, the mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products enters into an agreement with the city to run the police force and plans to introduce a robotic enforcer to work alongside the human officers. When tests with a weaponised droid called ED-209 go awry and an OCP junior executive is killed, the chairman agrees to back the plans of Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer), another OCP executive with designs for a cyborg (half-man, half-machine) cop.
Shortly after, veteran officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is brutally attacked and effectively killed on his first patrol at a new precinct and Morton sees him as the perfect candidate for his Robocop program. OCP quickly goes about transforming his ravaged body into the future of law enforcement, but when he reawakens Murphy initially struggles with his transformation and loss of his family. Soon he sets about avenging his ‘death’ at the hands of crime boss Clarence Bodicker (an unforgettable performance from Kurtwood Smith) and attacks the corruption that is destroying Detroit, which leads all the way to the boardroom of OCP.
This one sheet was designed by the Los Angeles based marketing company B.D. Fox Independent, who have been working on film posters for over 35 years, creating some truly iconic images, including Halloween and The Fly. The brilliant, photo-realistic artwork was painted by the American artist Mike Bryan. In March 2014 the original painting was sold at auction (reaching almost $48k) and it was accompanied by a letter by the artist and that can be read here.
