Unique artwork on this British quad for the 1988 comedy caper film Midnight Run, which was painted by the British artist Brian Bysouth. In December I met and interviewed Brian and the resulting article can be read here.

Italian directors Franco Prosperi and Gualtiero Jacopetti are best known as the co-creators of the infamous Mondo Cane ‘shockumentary’, which consisted of a series of travelogue-style vignettes looking at strange cultural practices from around the world with the intention of shocking Western audiences. Made in 1962, the film had an emphasis on taboo subjects including sex, death, ritual killings and cannibalism, and it was such a success that it spawned a slew of sequels and copycat films, and created it’s own mondo genre of exploitation films. Despite being presented as genuine documentary footage, many of the scenes in mondo movies were clearly staged by the producers.

Mondo Candido, despite its title hinting at the previous shockumentaries in the series, is actually a fictional tale adapted from the popular satire Candide by the French author Voltaire. Unavailable on DVD and likely never shown on UK TV, it’s not a film I’m familiar with and there are a paucity of reviews on IMDb and other sites. One hints at the  broad outline of the film:

‘The plot concerns a very happy go lucky “skips everywhere with wild abandon” young man who falls madly in love with a princess. When he is caught in an inappropriate situation with her, he’s banned from the castle. Thus begins a quest to find his lady love and himself as he travels across a medieval landscape that becomes modern New York, Ireland and Israel. During the course of the journey he finds that all is not as happy and joyous as he once thought.’

Things apparently frequently take a turn into the surreal:

‘It starts off in period vein but then switches to more recent times and events (presumably for a greater political immediacy) – so that we see Candide & Co. involved with IRA bombings, Jewish freedom-fighters, even hippies; that said, it maintains a curious balance throughout of old and new: for instance, at one point Cunegonde is raped by a rocker dressed in a knight’s outfit(!) – which emerges to be perhaps the film’s comic/absurd highlight.’

It certainly sounds like an interesting watch and the full film is on YouTube should you be tempted.

This Japanese B2 poster clearly aims to emphasise the more violent, erotic elements of the film. Japan was one of only a handful of countries to release it theatrically in 1975.

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.

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 cable car fight over Rio de Janeiro, and a decent 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 is the Japanese B2 featuring artwork by the American artist Dan Goozee that was also used on the final Moonraker US one sheet and on the film’s posters in several other countries. Dan Goozee also worked on several other James Bond posters including the international advance one sheet for Moonraker, the artwork for Octopussy and two one sheets for A View to a Kill.

Other posters I’ve collected by Goozee can be seen here.

Charles Bronson stars as Vince Majestyk in this story of a Vietnam veteran turned melon farmer in a remote Colorado farm, who winds up having to deal with the wrath of a mobster after refusing to get involved in a labour racket. Al Lettieri stars as Frank Renda, a notorious hit man who Majestyk meets whilst spending a short time in prison for assault. During a prison bus breakout instigated by Renda’s accomplices Majestyk takes control of the bus and plans to hand the mobster into the police in exchange for a reward. Before this can happen Renda’s girlfriend Wiley (Lee Purcell) rescues him and escapes the clutches of the law. A revenge plan is set in motion but the mobster soon comes to realise he underestimated the skills of the melon farmer.

The term ‘melon farmer’ was infamously appropriated by editors who were tasked with removing the word ‘mother fucker’ from films to be shown on TV. Director Alex Cox actually supervised the TV recut of his 1984 film Repo Man and this is where the phrase was first used (he actually mentions it during this interview). It has its own entry on the Urban Dictionary website too.

I’m unsure who is responsible for the artwork on this US 30×40 so please get in touch if you have an idea.

The original trailer is on YouTube.

Charles Bronson stars as Vince Majestyk in this story of a Vietnam veteran turned melon farmer in a remote Colorado farm, who winds up having to deal with the wrath of a mobster after refusing to get involved in a labour racket. Al Lettieri stars as Frank Renda, a notorious hit man who Majestyk meets whilst spending a short time in prison for assault. During a prison bus breakout instigated by Renda’s accomplices Majestyk takes control of the bus and plans to hand the mobster into the police in exchange for a reward. Before this can happen Renda’s girlfriend Wiley (Lee Purcell) rescues him and escapes the clutches of the law. A revenge plan is set in motion but the mobster soon comes to realise he underestimated the skills of the melon farmer.

The term ‘melon farmer’ was infamously appropriated by editors who were tasked with removing the word ‘mother fucker’ from films to be shown on TV. Director Alex Cox actually supervised the TV recut of his 1984 film Repo Man and this is where the phrase was first used (he actually mentions it during this interview). It has its own entry on the Urban Dictionary website too.

An minor bit of trivia is that this poster is actually hanging inside the trailer owned by Budd (Michael Madsen), a character in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, and is clearly visible during the scene where The Bride (Uma Thurman) attacks Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) – click here to see a clip (spoilers abound).

The original trailer is on YouTube.

Artwork by the great Drew Struzan on this US one sheet for French director Jean-Jacques Annaud‘s 1986 medieval whodunnit, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater in one of his first major film roles. Based on the book by Italian novelist, semiotician, philosopher and critic Umberto Eco, the film focuses on the investigation of a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey by the monk William of Baskerville (Connery) aided by his novice Adso of Melk (Slater). The pair must race against time to prevent falsely accused suspects, including Ron Perlman‘s demented hunchback Salvatore, being punished at the hands of the inquisitor Bernardo Gui (F. Murray Abraham).

Struzan’s portrait of a balding Connery is absolutely spot on and easily on par with the one he did three years later for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. According to IMDb, the presence of the ugly characters in the film (and on the poster) is due to Annaud “casting the ugliest actors he could get because he wanted the characters to appear “real”, based on the men in the village where he lived. When he returned to his village, some of the men asked him if he really considered them to be as ugly as the actors, and he said, “Yes.”

Several other international posters for the film, including this German one, depict Connery looking extremely serious and glum.

To see the other posters I’ve collected by Struzan click here.

The original trailer is on YouTube.