Michael Blowhard writes:

Dear Blowhards --

Francis' recent mention of Eric Rohmer brought back memories of my early foreign-filmgoing years. Ah, what those films meant to me ...

And what their posters meant to me too -- in some cases, more than the films themselves. I've never been anything like the Rohmer fan many are. But the posters for some of his films -- now those I really, really liked. Paris; art; les vacances; l'amour ... Whatever the hell that was all about, I was eager to know more. Not long after, I went off to spend a schoolboy year in France. Coincidence? Je pense que non. I wonder if my parents suspected ...

Sadly, I have no idea who created these great, great posters. I'd like to credit him/her but can't. Sadly, too, the publicity piece for "Chloe" isn't the original poster but is instead the cover of the film's DVD box. But the poster was similar, I'm sure: I remember the girl (one of those French actrices who goes by one name, in this case Zouzou); I remember her nakedness and delight; and I remember that bed ... in the corner ... of that small apartment. Hey, could it really be that someone had rented an apartment strictly to have a place for making zee luvvv!?!?! Whew: Gettin' mighty sophisticated around here!

I own a couple of visual books on the theme of film posters: this one devoted to film posters of the '60s, and this one devoted to film posters from the '70s. They're well-done browses, and so evocative that you can almost hear the films' theme music, or at least the music that was used in their trailers.

Were your imaginations marked by any movie posters? Were the imaginations of any visitors? If anyone should care to send me reasonable-size jpg's (say, a maximum of 300 pixels high) of movie posters that made an impact on him/her, I'd get a kick out of putting the images up on the blog. The address to use is michael at 2blowhards dot you-know-what.

Best,

Michael

I caught the last 2/3 of Chloe in the Afternoon on TV once. What a great, great movie. Glad I'm not the only one to remember it.

Posted by: JT on February 10, 2005 09:54 AM

I think it's time for me to actually start researching DVD players....

Posted by: Tatyana on February 10, 2005 10:13 AM

I always thought the original Star Wars poster was a notable failure. They put Princess Leia on there in a slinky, seductive pose -- what a gross violation of all that movie stood for. Marketing group-think strikes again.

Posted by: Fred (aka Bleauhard de Chardin) on February 10, 2005 12:56 PM

JT -- Was it great? I haven't seen it in over 30 years. Certainly impressed me as a kid, though. Imagine being able to philosophize and have sex at the same time!

Tatyana -- A picnic, a little wine, some nice cheese ... Who needs cyberstuff?

Fred -- But Leia's slinky pose was the only thing I was looking forward to in "Star Wars." From my p-o-v, what a cheat that the movie was so sexless. I guess they tried to make it up to people in that awful third installment, dressing her up like a harem girl. Did the real "Star War" fans enjoy that? Or do real "Star Wars" fans like the basic sexlessness of the series? Makes me wonder about how much the age at which you get hooked by movies affects the nature of your interest in movies. I didn't see many as a kid, for instance, and got hooked instead (mostly by foreign movies) at adolescence. So my interest in movies as always had a lot to do with their erotic elements. But maybe kids who become moviefreaks at the age of 5 or 8 remain attached to what appealed to them at that age, which probably wouldn't include eroticism...

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on February 10, 2005 01:09 PM

Michael - are we talking about the same movie? Despite the cover art, I thought the movie was about NOT having sex. I put it on my Netflix list and will review it.

Posted by: JT on February 10, 2005 01:16 PM

JT -- Yes, but not-having-sex in the most erotic kind of philosophical way! It's all erotic, or at least it was in my adolescent imagination. I saw dismaying reviews of the Rohmer DVDs on Amazon -- apparently FoxLorber has done a dreadful job of putting them on DVD, using videotape-quality source material instead of actual prints. I'm avoiding looking at the movies again until better versions are available. Imagine "Claire's Knee" without that sparkle ...

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on February 10, 2005 01:35 PM

Speaking of picnics and absence of cyberstuff - what Blowhards of all ages think of checking out that much-advertised Orange Display @ Central Park, when it finally opens?
I mean - en masse sailing off your safe sofa dock and physically walking under the famed arches? To have a first-hand art experience?

Posted by: Tatyana on February 10, 2005 01:41 PM

Going way back there was a poster for The Man With The Golden Arm that had great impact: a crooked black arm on a yellow background. Go to Google Images. Very powerful.

Posted by: ricpic on February 10, 2005 02:09 PM

Interesting...for any female who got to watch both Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, I thought "Star Wars" had lots of sex! It's just that it's a chick flick, and because it had toy lasers, it sneaked past you guys! :)

The poster for "Breakfast at Tiffany's"---Audrey and her little black dress! I thought the poster for the movie "Blow Up" was riveting even though I saw it years after its release. And the head shot of Al Pacino as "Serpico" adorned my schoolgirl walls for years. And of course, Butch Casady and the Sundance Kid---still the two best looking men who ever lived---(hey--explain that evo-bio freaks. What does it mean that the two bestlooking men ever are now 67 and 80? Does the world end soon?). But the hand-drawn posters are sometimes amazing.

Posted by: annette on February 10, 2005 02:29 PM

Zouzou has a website and there's a movie being made about her.

http://zouzou.chez.tiscali.fr/

Zouzou

Posted by: John Emerson on February 10, 2005 10:49 PM

Her story is sad though not unusual. Key words: Brian Jones, heroin.

Posted by: John Emerson on February 11, 2005 10:09 AM






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