It might be easy to take them for granted sometimes, but posters can play a large role in both a film’s marketing before release, and a film’s status – iconic or otherwise – after release. A great poster doesn’t always equal a great movie, and there are plenty of very good movies that have forgettable posters. But some posters go above and beyond, and really stand out from the crowd, and it is admittedly often the case that being tied to a classic movie helps the poster (and vice versa).
Because there are more posters than movies out there (some titles have multiple/alternate posters, after all), it’s hard to properly address and pay tribute to all the great ones. As such, what follows intends to collect some of the greatest movie posters of all time and rank them, beginning with the great and ending with the greatest. With some exceptions, the following will tend to prioritize original posters for the movies in question, both for consistency’s sake and because, generally, you can’t beat the originals.
30 ‘Brazil’ (1985)
Poster by Bill Garland
Brazil is a particularly dark piece of science fiction, with a protagonist who battles bureaucracy on a daily basis while escaping into fantasy worlds. Eventually, things get a good deal more complicated, and the movie itself goes kind of mad. Reality collapses, potential conspiracies are revealed, and viewers will likely become exhausted… but in a good way. That’s kind of the point and all.
The poster for Brazil does a good job of communicating some of this. The wings and suit of armor are shown in some of the dream sequences the protagonist has, and the huge number of drawers going into the background foreshadows the futile battle against overwhelming bureaucratic nonsense. It also looks striking and eye-catching like any good poster needs to, and the font/use of pink for the title is also a bold choice that pays off.
29 ‘Eyes Without a Face’ (1960)
Directed by Georges Franju
If you’re after a somewhat unconventional horror/thriller film, something like Eyes Without a Face should scratch the itch. Despite its age, it’s still genuinely quite unnerving and continually eerie, telling the story of a man driven mad after causing an accident that leaves his daughter’s face severely disfigured. For much of the film, she has the appearance of the startling figure on the poster, wearing a mask that covers everything but her eyes.
The horror comes in thanks to the fact that the father kidnaps other girls and tries to remove their faces so he can restore his daughter’s looks, with unsettling suspense sequences and tragedy ensuing. It’s a film with a good reputation, but it almost doesn’t need it when Eyes Without a Face has such a notably creepy poster; one that, once seen with your eyes (with or without face), proves hard to forget.
28 ‘Amadeus’ (1984)
Poster by Peter Sís
Though Amadeus is technically a Best Picture-winning historical/biographical film, it doesn’t entirely focus on historical accuracy throughout. Instead, it retells events relating to the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, suggesting the pair had a rivalry of a mostly one-sided nature, and that the latter played a part in the tragedy that befell the former.
It is a grand and rather theatrical film, with a runtime of about 160 minutes or approximately three hours, depending on which cut you watch. The emotions it deals with are broad and dramatic; jealousy plays a huge part, as does the drive to create perfect art and make a legacy for oneself. The figure on the poster of Amadeus references a mask worn at a handful of points in the film (by a couple of different characters), but it plus the figure wearing it look both ominous and almost beckoning on the poster. The poster works to capture both the film’s epic qualities and its rather dark, sinister story.
27 ‘The Evil Dead’ (1981)
Directed by Sam Raimi
The Evil Dead gets pretty gory and intense at times, with the poster hinting at such things in a way that’s tasteful by horror movie poster standards. There’s not much to it except a young woman struggling in what looks like a desolate space, seemingly half-buried and being pulled further downwards by a hand that wants her to be fully buried. The imagery does also hint, somewhat, at what has ended up being The Evil Dead‘s most controversial scene.
Then, you watch the film, and it is indeed about not one, but several young people who are forced to survive against demons while staying at a cabin in the woods. The blueness of the poster does establish the relatively dark and dingy feel of The Evil Dead, but notably leaves out the color red, in turn making it more of a surprise when the film turns out to be as gruesome and blood-drenched as B-movies get.
26 ‘Beau Travail’ (1999)
Directed by Claire Denis
There are almost too many great movies from 1999 to count, with Beau Travail being one of the best, albeit one that’s overshadowed to some extent by the more mass-appeal blockbusters of that year. In contrast, Beau Travail is very much an arthouse affair, playing out like a slow, contemplative, and character-focused film about an officer in the French Foreign Legion having some complex feelings about a new recruit.
Beau Travail explores masculinity, repressed feelings, and identity in a way that feels brutally honest and sometimes quite mysterious. There’s a lot that can be read from the film, but it doesn’t always make things obvious, in typical arthouse fashion. The poster is appropriately suggestive of the blank slate approach, asking one to place meaning on what might at first be bare. It also catches the eye, and the lack of a discernible face represents how many of the male characters in the film hide their emotions, and keep their faces blank in a way that’s only slightly less literal.
25 ‘Jaws’ (1975)
Poster by Roger Kastel
There are plenty of great “man vs. creature” movies out there, but few resonate quite like the original Jaws. This was the film that made Steven Spielberg a household name, and arguably kicked off the idea of what a blockbuster movie was. The plot’s simplicity was one of its greatest strengths, with three men going on a deadly mission to kill a giant shark that had been terrorizing their coastal town. The straightforward nature of Jaws’ premise is reflected beautifully in its instantly striking poster.
Well, the title helps as well, and on the poster in question, those four letters spelling out a single word appear bold against a white background, the color of the letters blood-red. Below the title swims a single figure, and below the swimmer looms a considerably larger shark barreling straight towards her. It encapsulates the film’s opening sequence perfectly, and given that sequence establishes the tone for the entire movie perfectly, it’s pretty easy to call the poster for Jaws essentially perfect.
24 ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979)
Poster by Bob Peak
Few filmmakers have ever had as great a decade as Francis Ford Coppola did in the 1970s. Between 1972 and 1974, three movies of his were released, with two winning Best Picture at the Oscars – The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974) – and the other – 1974’s The Conversation – winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Anticipation was naturally high to see how his next film, Apocalypse Now, would turn out, so it probably didn’t even need a poster to help with that anticipation.
Still, Apocalypse Now nevertheless had an eye-catching one that suits the nightmarish, surreal, and oftentimes violent nature of the film itself. There are a couple of well-recognized posters for the film, owing to its multiple re-releases and re-edits, but they’re generally characterized by a shot of helicopters silhouetted against an orange or red sun, with some adding in the ominous faces of protagonist Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) and antagonist Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) for good measure.
23 ‘Badlands’ (1973)
Directed by Terrence Malick
Condensing the essence of a Terrence Malick film into a single poster would be a daunting task, especially if one wanted to do something other than simply feature a beautiful frame from the film in question with some text superimposed over it. Given how beautiful and dreamlike Malick’s films are, such an approach would still work well, but it’s always good to see something like the distinctive poster for Badlands – Malick’s feature debut as a director – try something different and succeed.
Badlands is a movie about a young couple going on the run from the law after a murder, in the process committing more… but unlike Bonnie and Clyde, it’s only the man (Martin Sheen) who does the real criminal stuff, and not the young woman (Sissy Spacek). The dynamic is reflected in the poster, which also looks visually bold and emblematic of the film’s overall look without being a specific frame from Badlands. It’s regrettably difficult to find the name of the person responsible for this poster (it seems to happen sometimes, perhaps speaking to how under-appreciated poster illustrators/designers are), but it’s nevertheless a great one worth singling out.
22 ‘Scarface’ (1983)
Poster by John Alvin
Look, most of the time, when a poster simply lists the title, the name of the lead actor, and an image of said actor, it can get the job done without being too remarkable. For as iconic as The Godfather is, its poster – which still looks good – is simply a shot from the film emphasizing Marlon Brando, telling potential audience members that there’s a crime movie with Brando in it (that’s probably enough for some). But when it comes to something like Scarface’s poster, you have to appreciate the extra effort.
It’s the stylization that’s everything with the poster for Scarface, with its use of black and white for the image and bold red text for the title and name of its lead actor: the legendary Al Pacino. There’s a reason this poster is one of those definitive ones forever tied with college dorms, but beyond it being a movie often loved by young film buffs, it is also just a fantastically designed poster. It says to you: “Al Pacino is in this, he has a cool name, and he has a gun. You should watch this.” And you’ll probably internally reply: “Okay.”
21 ‘King Kong’ (1933)
Poster by Glenn Cravath
It’s wild to think that King Kong has been a series for more than nine decades at this point, with the original classic film featuring the giant ape coming out in 1933. This was a decade when posters were generally pretty straightforward, and tended to rely on simply showing headshots of the actors who’d appear, and many of them were kind of cluttered/text-heavy, too. This does help the poster for King Kong stand out, which feels a little more stylized and overall unique.
The King Kong poster featuring the titular character atop the Empire State Building may effectively give away the film’s bold climax, but it definitely leaves an impression. It’s taller than most posters in a way that serves to emphasize Kong’s size, as well as how high up he is, with the poster also highlighting his conflict with humanity and his strange love for a young woman named Ann (Fay Wray). It’s a timeless movie, and thereby it’s fitting that it has a timeless poster that still holds up.
20 ‘La Dolce Vita’ (1960)
Poster by Giorgio Olivetti
La Dolce Vita may be one of the best movies of the 1960s, but it could also be one of the hardest from that decade to effectively summarize. It’s a movie that goes for almost three hours, and is distinctively episodic in structure, with the central character being a detached journalist who travels around Rome, constantly seeking a good scoop and perhaps, one day, true love. It doesn’t have a clear and easily defined narrative, so summing up all La Dolce Vita has to offer on a single poster might’ve been challenging.
Giorgio Olivetti instead opted to focus on just one segment of the epic-length La Dolce Vita: the iconic scenes featuring Anita Ekberg as Sylvia, a Swedish-American actress visiting Rome. She does end up stealing the film, thanks to her charisma and beauty, and so she’s prominently featured on the poster for the film, with the protagonist – played by Marcello Mastroianni – appearing in the shadows behind her. It’s simple and eye-catching, and though it can only highlight one of the film’s numerous segments, it undoubtedly highlights it well.
19 ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)
Poster by James Verdesoto
Quentin Tarantino has made a career out of making stylish, unique, and oftentimes darkly funny movies, with 1994’s Pulp Fiction being arguably his most iconic and widely loved. It’s a crime movie that blends several different storylines together, with these being told out of chronological order while occasionally overlapping, all serving as loving homages to pulp magazines and old-school crime novels/films, hence the title.
The poster of Pulp Fiction also feels like it specifically homages such stories from decades past, with it being designed to look as though it could be the cover of a related book. Uma Thurman’s character – the only one shown on the poster – is also reading what looks like a magazine that shares the movie’s name, in essence highlighting the meta/referential nature of the film itself. It’s a great film with a great poster, though it’s been the subject of some controversy, with Firooz Zahedi claiming he should be credited instead of James Verdesoto.
18 ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ (1961)
Poster by Robert McGinnis
While Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a movie that hasn’t aged perfectly by any means, its poster has held up considerably well, remaining eye-catching and bold more than 60 years on from the film’s release. It’s a movie that’s all about Audrey Hepburn, and how stylish she could be, which is why she’s front and center on the poster. The core design of the poster largely remains the same, though some also highlight the film’s romance elements by having the main couple embracing in the background.
Either way, the key takeaway from Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ poster is that Hepburn is in the movie, she will look timelessly beautiful, and a cute cat will also be featured. It sells the movie pretty well, all things considered, and its charm is matched by the elements of the film that are still compelling – some of the humor, the romance, and the fashion. As for the things in Breakfast at Tiffany’s that are less than great… well, they’re not on the poster, so they can be ignored until you actually watch the movie (a Mickey Rooney-free re-edit would honestly go a long way to making the film better).
17 ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968)
Poster by Robert McCall
Stanley Kubrick‘s stellar filmography is complemented by numerous eye-catching and iconic posters, with 2001: A Space Odyssey being both one of his greatest films and having one of the best posters within said filmography. The film is a space exploration/sci-fi movie which most others released in its wake are compared to, though its ambition is often unmatched, given it spans an immense amount of time and aims to convey various stages of human evolution in under 2.5 hours.
Despite its forward-thinking qualities, it somehow feels fitting that the poster for 2001: A Space Odyssey feels a little more old-school, with an illustration of one of the film’s most iconic images: that of Space Station 5. It perfectly captures the magnitude and ambition of the film it’s attached to, and looks just as striking as the memorable sequence it serves as a representation of. The poster works as an awe-inspiring piece of art that nevertheless only shows a glimpse of all the sights found within Kubrick’s sci-fi epic.
16 ‘Rocky’ (1976)
Directed by John G. Avildsen
There are a couple of similar posters often seen for the original Rocky, with the variations making it difficult to track down one person who can be given credit for them. Stylistically, they’re similar to the aforementioned Scarface poster, making use of striking black and white colors and bold text up the top. One well-known variation depicts a silhouette of Rocky Balboa and love interest Adrian holding hands, while the arguably better-known version has him standing atop the staircase to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
This latter poster utilizes the same strategy as the La Dolce Vita poster, emphasizing one of the film’s most iconic elements in a visually distinct and eye-catching way. And the simplicity works, partly because Rocky is a fairly simple yet utterly satisfying underdog sports movie, with the titular character appearing triumphant in the poster, even if he’s shown to be a relatively small part of said poster. The image suggests he’s standing up to the world, in a sense, and striving to defy the odds, which is indeed what he aims to do throughout the movie itself.
15 ‘The Thing’ (1982)
Poster by Drew Struzan
The Thing is a terrifying and very violent R-rated horror movie, with its poster helping to imply the former without suggesting the latter, perhaps helping its more gruesome scenes to have a greater impact within the actual film. The 1980s classic combines body horror with eerie sci-fi elements to perfect effect, having a story that centers on a group of researchers in Antarctica fighting for their lives after coming into contact with a vicious and shape-shifting alien creature.
Beyond the gore, much of the terror in The Thing comes from the fact that the antagonist can almost perfectly mimic human beings and therefore blend in, which is reflected exceptionally well in the poster. Just who the ominous-looking person is on the poster isn’t clear, with their identity entirely obscured by what seems to be a blinding white light. It’s not a scene that happens in the film by any means, but it encapsulates both the paranoia and nail-biting suspense of The Thing perfectly.
14 ‘Sullivan’s Travels’ (1941)
Poster by Maurice Kallis
One of the best releases of the 1940s, Sullivan’s Travels nonetheless might still represent one of those rare instances where the poster is even better than the movie it’s attached to. The film is about a movie director named John L. Sullivan (played by Joel McCrea) deliberately living life as someone without a home or other possessions in the hope that it’ll inspire him to make better, more authentic films, though the poster emphasizes a character known only “The Girl,” played by Veronica Lake.
Lake had a relatively brief career in Hollywood, and an ultimately tragic life, though she was a big name in the early 1940s and was well-known for her iconic “peek-a-boo” hairstyle. The illustration of her likeness on the poster for Sullivan’s Travels certainly catches the eye, with its bold yellow background and tagline also playing a part. It’s a poster that keeps things simple and utilizes Lake’s star power at the time well.
Sullivan’s Travels
- Release Date
- December 29, 1941
- Director
- Preston Sturges
- Actors
- Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Margaret Hayes, Porter Hall, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore
- Run Time
- 90 minutes
13 ‘Halloween’ (1978)
Poster by Robert Gleason
While it could sound like a bold claim, it may well be the case that horror movies tend to have more iconic posters than any other genre of movies out there. That’s not to say all horror movie posters are automatically great or even good, but there are countless beloved ones. The blunt, strong emotion-heavy nature of the horror genre just translates well to bold, memorable images placed on posters, and the wonderful straightforwardness of the original Halloween‘s poster, for example, demonstrates this excellently.
A slasher movie classic that helped establish John Carpenter as a great director and Jamie Lee Curtis as a star, Halloween is all about a dangerous individual breaking out of a psychiatric hospital and going on a murderous rampage during the titular holiday. The poster uses one of the most recognizable icons of Halloween – a jack-o’-lantern – and pairs it with a hand holding a knife, all against a pitch-black background. The title’s Halloween, there’s a carved pumpkin, and a scary-looking knife. What more do you need to know?
12 ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ (1959)
Poster by Saul Bass
Saul Bass is a name you’ll see pop up quite often while looking over memorable and widely praised movie posters. Bass also designed title sequences for films and made corporate logos, too, and while he might not have designed as many posters as you’d expect, his unmistakable style has proved extremely influential. He designed his first movie posters in the 1950s, with one of his greatest early works being for the acclaimed 1959 courtroom drama/thrillerAnatomy of a Murder.
Bass could always boil down a movie’s overall mood or feeling to its bare essentials, and represent it with seemingly simple silhouette figures and a limited color palette. Anatomy of a Murder‘s poster looks simple at first, but the figure it depicts is made up of various pieces, suggesting the film will be intricately made and also likely mysterious, given the lack of information present in the poster. It’s hard to put into words why it works to catch the eye, but it undoubtedly does, and is one of Bass’s best efforts.
11 ‘The Fly’ (1986)
Poster by Richard Mahon
Science fiction doesn’t get much scarier than it does in The Fly, which is a movie all about a science experiment gone horribly wrong. It stars Jeff Goldblum as a scientist named Seth Brundle, and the film begins with him showing a journalist (played by Geena Davis) how he’s on the cusp of creating a device that can teleport objects and living things. Regrettably, when he decides to eventually test the machine on himself, things take a turn for the worse.
The Fly shows Brundle’s slow transformation from a human to a fly-like creature, with each scene more terrifying and grotesque than the last. It’s another horror movie with a simple yet striking poster, being a summation of how Brundle is part-man, part-fly for much of the film, though obscuring too much detail. It captures the tone of the movie well, while also depicting in a plain and straightforward manner just what’s going to go down, and stands as an amazing horror film poster as a result.
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