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Top List Thursdays – Top ten Drew Struzan movie posters

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Struzan SW

We live in an age of the great Hollywood blockbuster. A time where a hundred million dollars or more is used to furnish a flick with state of the art special effects. Why then, can’t we have equally impressive movie posters. Instead of A1 sheets that capture the majesty of these tentpole films, we get the usual teal and orange combo for a generic poster. There used to be a man with skills of legend in another Hollywood golden age. His name was Drew Struzan, and he cranked out poster after poster, creating masterpieces for the masses. Here then, are just a few of his best pieces.

  • Masters of the Universe

MOTU

Masters of the Universe is a turkey of a movie, a big budget epic with hammy acting and even bigger muscles. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, make no mistake, and to this day I still love reciting the Skeletor speech when Mormons come knocking on my door. So how did Hollywood manage to sucker an entire generation of kids into seeing this train wreck? With pure skillz that paid the billz on the movie poster via Struzan of course.

  • Big trouble in little China

big trouble

I don’t think words can even accurately describe the sheer awesomeness of this poster. Big Trouble in Little China may star Kurt Russell, but this is essentially the Chuck Norris of movie posters.

  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

gl0807221731202417

Towards the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, you could sense that the end was near for the era of the Struzan movie poster. The man had left a stamp on Hollywood, and an inspired generation who carried on his style and legacy. But one of his final posters for a big screen film would be for the very first Harry Potter flick. And it was one hell of a piece of art with which to kick off that franchise.

  • Blade Runner

Blade Runner

You ask anyone about Blade Runner, and most of them still have no idea what the moral of the story was at the end. It’s a great film, make no mistake, and balacning human identity, existentialism, Japanese sushi restaurants and thigh-fu was no easy task. Now ask a movie poster artist to put all of that onto a single sheet, and most of them would quickly jump off the nearest bridge instead. But once again, Struzan nailed it.

  • Indiana Jones

Good ol’ Indina Jones. For me, it wasn’t seeing that trademark fedora or whip that sold me on a new Indy flick. It was those magnificent posters from Struzan, dotting the walls of my local cinema auditorium of juxtaposed images. Just seeing Indy on a 2D format, with a glint of danger in his eye and a cocksure smirk made me ready to go on a new adventure. Where nothing could possibly go wrong in any of his three movies. NOTHING.

  • Hellboy

Hellboy

Less is more, Hollywood will often tell you. They’ll craft a poster which just hints at the larger than life characters coming your way. And then you’ll get this piece of art which should be in the Louvre, busting down that door and flooding the studio with light. Red means stop for awesome in my book.

  • Star Wars

Choosing your favourite Star Wars poster is much like choosing which testicle you’d like to keep should you ever find yourself in an oddly specific predicament. And even though two-thirds of the prequel trilogy has resulted in a bunch of memories that people would love to forget, the one light side of the Force here was that Lucas managed to drag Struzan back to do the posters for his new flicks. Hell, the man even managed to paint Jar Jar Binks onto a canvas without punching a hole through it. Now that’s real talent.

  • Back to the Future

Most artists get a bit of flak when they recycle the same image several times. But not the Struzanator. He didn’t just re-use an image for the Back To The Future Trilogy. He amplified them. He added to them, took them up to 88MPH and created iconic images. Where we’re going, we don’t need no standard movie posters!

  • Hook

hook

As a kid, Hook terrified me. There in front of you, was the dandiest man possible, decked out like Jan Van Riebeek fanart and with a hand that you would not want to have confused when you needed to wipe your arse after sitting on a toilet. He looked ludicrous. And yet, he was bloody terrifying. And Struzan captured that.

  • The Cannonball Run

cannonball_run

You’ve seen the future, the past and science fiction dominate the work that Struzan created. But he wasn’t always the summer blockbuster go-to guy. Folks forget that he started with simpler films first, before hitting the big time. But out of all those posters, his Cannonball Run splash page has to be my favourite. It’s a goofy film, but Struzan somehow manages to capture not only the fun of that illegal race, but the characters of each entrant as well and throw them together into one great layout. Maximum speed my ass, this poster will always be legendary to me.

Last Updated: May 22, 2014

10 Comments

  1. EPIC

    Reply

  2. Norm

    May 22, 2014 at 15:05

    I loved how the Back to The Future posters kind of ‘added on’ to one another.
    I am still a big fan of the Star Wars ones.

    Reply

  3. Jedi JJ

    May 22, 2014 at 15:16

    Excellent.
    I would give my left (insert word here) to have an original Revenge of the Jedi poster.

    Reply

    • Weanerdog

      May 22, 2014 at 15:45

      I have one, but you ain’t getting it for nutting. I also have the other two 🙂 and a Luke Skywalker replica light saber (thanks once again Spliced Magazine).

      Reply

      • Jedi JJ

        May 22, 2014 at 16:04

        Say what? Wow dude. That’s a tough one to find.

        Reply

        • Weanerdog

          May 22, 2014 at 16:14

          Got them in the States about 20 years ago for I think $10 a pop.

          Reply

          • Jedi JJ

            May 22, 2014 at 16:16

            Lucky bastard

  4. Ultimo_Cleric N7

    May 22, 2014 at 16:43

    Dem feels

    Reply

  5. RinceofFuturePast

    May 23, 2014 at 08:41

    That Hook poster just brought back many horrific memories. Damn you Twinkerbell, DAMN YOU!

    Reply

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