Film Poster
During
the 1970s demographics had a major effect on which films were made,
how they were shown, and even the value of movie collectibles.
The giant baby-boom generation was moving into its early marriage and child-bearing years and it was moving out of the cities in droves, creating what has come to be known as the suburbia of crabgrass America. Urban movie houses - both cinema palaces and humble neighborhood theaters - closed in the hundreds.
Instead a new type of movie showcase, the multiplex, housing numerous small screening areas, appeared in the center of immense parking lots that covered paved-over farm land. This generation on the move had a new place to see movies and they wanted to see a new kind of movie.
The Hollywood moguls were at a loss as to how to satisfy this changing audience, until there arose a cadre of young and exciting new talent, in the form of such directors as George Lucas, Frances Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg, to fill the vacuum.
As for collecting, the new theaters were configured to display only one-sheets, but the printing presses kept running and the result is a glut of never-used inserts, half-sheets, three-sheets, and lobby cards for 1970s titles.
The giant baby-boom generation was moving into its early marriage and child-bearing years and it was moving out of the cities in droves, creating what has come to be known as the suburbia of crabgrass America. Urban movie houses - both cinema palaces and humble neighborhood theaters - closed in the hundreds.
Instead a new type of movie showcase, the multiplex, housing numerous small screening areas, appeared in the center of immense parking lots that covered paved-over farm land. This generation on the move had a new place to see movies and they wanted to see a new kind of movie.
The Hollywood moguls were at a loss as to how to satisfy this changing audience, until there arose a cadre of young and exciting new talent, in the form of such directors as George Lucas, Frances Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg, to fill the vacuum.
As for collecting, the new theaters were configured to display only one-sheets, but the printing presses kept running and the result is a glut of never-used inserts, half-sheets, three-sheets, and lobby cards for 1970s titles.
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| film Poster |
Arriving
in the middle of the decade,
Taxi Driver
not only captures the dark underside of the 1970s, but also marks the
transition from the Hollywood of cigar-chomping studio bosses to the
new breed of producers/directors who had almost total control of
their work. Made under the pre-'70s studio system the film would have
displayed none of the brutal self-revelation portrayed by such newly
emerging stars as De Niro and Foster Guy Peellaert's one-sheet is a
collector's favorite, and is an example of the long string of fine
advertising graphics for films by Martin Scorsese, who, along with
several other film-aficionados -muted- directors, is an avid
movie-poster collector
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| film Poster |
This one-sheet is much like
The Sting (1973)
itself: a well- crafted evocation of an earlier era. Designed by the
late Richard Amsel, it could be a cover from a 1920s
Saturday Evening Post.
In the 1970s illustrators and video collagists such as Terry Gilliam
often found inspiration in the graphic art of the past. Updating
earlier pop culture imagery was thought very cutting-edge 30 years
ago, and film posters and a handful of consumer ads were among the
first manifestations of this "new" trend.
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| film Poster |
Two
new genres were created to attract audiences to the dwindling number
of urban theaters: exploitation (Truck
Stop Women,
1974, is typical) and blaxploitation. Hundreds of these were made,
and the formula even percolated up into mainstream production (as in
the Terminator
and
Rambo
series).
An often overlooked sub-category is the sexploitation film, and a small group of dealers and collectors specialize in these posters. Made for outside display, they are much less daring than the films.
An often overlooked sub-category is the sexploitation film, and a small group of dealers and collectors specialize in these posters. Made for outside display, they are much less daring than the films.
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| film Poster |
Jaws
was the first film to demonstrate the power of the multiplex as a
money machine, as its immense success meant it could be shown on
several screens at once. It was also responsible for the revival of a
venerated Hollywood tradition, the sequel, and led to a run on Roman
numerals for the marquees of new U.S. films such as
Airport, Alien,
and
Halloween
(hence the industry joke "Rambo IV, audience 0.")
Jaws
also spawned its own world of collectibles.
As its success was a surprise, any per-release material (press handouts, photo-sets) or early merchandise (games, beach towels, etc.) is desirable, but the quantities of items produced as the sequels proliferated have taken a bite out of their value.
As its success was a surprise, any per-release material (press handouts, photo-sets) or early merchandise (games, beach towels, etc.) is desirable, but the quantities of items produced as the sequels proliferated have taken a bite out of their value.
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| film Poster |
I'n
a moment of auction madness this 1978 advance poster for
Grease
once sold for $ 1,200.£900 (Auction results are often far out of line
with the prices quoted from dealers' catalogs and websites). While
that might be excessive, it still routinely sells for several hundred
dollars more than its companion, the regular release poster, which
features a saccharine close-up of John Travolta and Olivia
Newton-John.
The higher price is attributable not only to the usual relative scarcity of advances, but also the clean graphic look of this one sheet and the manner in which it captures the retro feeling that the film, part of the 1970s nostalgia trend, was meant to project.
The higher price is attributable not only to the usual relative scarcity of advances, but also the clean graphic look of this one sheet and the manner in which it captures the retro feeling that the film, part of the 1970s nostalgia trend, was meant to project.
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