100 Years of Awesome Movie Posters

I find movie posters cool. They’re attractive, of course, as that’s the whole point. But they can stir memories, emotions, even adrenaline. So I love it when producers make the effort to get a good poster made for their film, instead of simply slapping together some of the stars’ faces on it so people will buy tickets. This week I looked for what I thought would be the most memorable, beautiful, creative, and or iconic posters for each decade and put them in groups of 3. Keep in mind, this isn’t a “greatest movies” list. The focus is on the posters.

1920’s — For me, this decade doesn’t have very many memorable posters (Perhaps you might have some ideas?), but the following are at least very recognizable to me. The first two being posters I think look awesome, the third being memorable because of how horrifying it looks.

Metropolis (1927); The Kid (1922); Un chien andalou (1929, aka An Andalusian Dog)

1930’s — This might just be the easiest decade to choose the top 3, mostly because the three are also the most iconic movies of the decade as well. Gone with the Wind is probably the most beautiful poster. And I have to admit that the King Kong poster below wasn’t the main movie poster, which would make it more recognizable. I chose this one because I find it looks cooler than the other. And even though the Wizard of Oz poster looks good, it’s pretty basic. It’s mainly here because 1) it’s so iconic and recognizable and 2) Toto in the letter O. Good choice.

Gone with the Wind (1939); The Wizard of Oz (1939); King Kong (1933)

1940’s — Gotta love movies like Casablanca that seem to win at everything. One of the most loved movies, most respected actors, memorable lines and music, and a great movie poster. The other movies I haven’t seen, but the posters are great!

Casablanca (1942); The Red Shoes (1948); Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

1950’s — I haven’t seen Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and it seems like a bizarre title and image. But it hardly matters in this case. That poster rocks. And, of course, the other two are both movie classics with posters that are often cited as being great when people talk about this subject. (Yes, I’m not the only crazy one. People DO talk about this.)

Dial M for Murder (1954); Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958); Vertigo (1958)

1960’s — 2001: A Space Odyssey is another movie with a main poster that isn’t as good as the secondary one pictured below. The main one has a drawn depiction of a set piece that often drew awe from audiences, but that didn’t translate well to the poster for me. This one is so much better. But even with how iconic the Graduate image is, my favourite of these 3 is definitely The Italian Job.

The Graduate (1967); The Italian Job (1969); 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) *And special shout out to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), which is also a pretty iconic one.

1970’s — I think we all know the clear winner here:

Jaws (1975)

However, I think you’ll agree that this decade also has 3 other clear winners in this category:

A Clockwork Orange (1971); Halloween (1978); Mean Streets (1973)

1980’s — Again, we have another clear champion. Perhaps the winner of the entire century:

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

And, yet again, we have three other posters that are pretty amazing as well. Some may point to Raiders of the Lost Ark or Empire Strikes Back as winners in this category, and though I would mostly agree, their posters don’t have the uniqueness and creativity that Airplane and Evil Dead do.

Back to the Future (1985); Airplane! (1980); The Evil Dead (1981) *And special shout out to Batman (1989). Going with the simple logo with a black background is something I wish more movies would do.

1990’s — Correct me if I’m wrong, but for both iconic and well-made movie posters, these 3 have got to be the best for the 90’s:

Pulp Fiction (1994); Forrest Gump (1994); Schindler’s List(1993)

However, here are 3 more that, to me, are every bit as good:

The Truman Show (1998); The Shawshank Redemption (1994); Showgirls (1995)

2000’s — I realize that I’ve placed two of my favourite movies in the top 3 pictured below, but I believe there’s a strong case for these to be the best of that decade considering all the criteria listed at the first of this post.

Almost Famous (2000); The Dark Knight (2008); There Will Be Blood (2007)

And three more from the 2000’s you may have forgotten or missed:

Lord of War (2005); High Fidelity (2000); Moon (2009)

And because it was a decade full of great posters, here’s 3 more:

Thank You for Smoking(2005); Cabin Fever (2002); Hard Candy (2005)

2010’s — I am in awe of how good the poster for It is. It took me a while to figure out what was holding the balloon. But then I could make out that it was an arm, then I looked into the red balloon itself and… wow. Just love it.

It (2017); Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014); Parasite (2019)

And 3 more:

The Birth of a Nation (2016); The Cabin in the Woods (2011); Scream 4 (2011)

2020’s — Admittedly, it’s quite early in this present decade, but there have been a lot of cool ones so far. Consider the following:

The Batman (2022); Tesla (2020); The Story of Film: A New Generation (2021; the secondary poster for this one is awesome too btw!)

Vengeance (2022); Stanleyville (2021); Ammonite (2020)

And just in case you’re wondering why I didn’t include Promising Young Woman, that’s because I saved that one for the end. This movie has 3 posters that are so so great. Here they are: 

Promising Young Woman (2020)

And, of course, our three nominees are all great, but I didn’t include them at the risk of being redundant. Not that I don’t often do that or anything.

Congratulations The Lobster. This is your week.

And the Oscar goes to…

Best Actress:

Lily James as Debora in Baby Driver

Best Actor: Colin Farrell as David in The Lobster

Best Quote: “We all have these different versions of ourselves competing to be the real us.” — Michael C. Hall as George in Christine

Just a few honourable mentions to throw out here: Poltergeist (1982); Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991); Fury (2014); The Nightmare Before Christmas(1993); The Silence of the Lambs (1991); Wall-E (2008); Jurassic Park (1993);Adaptation (2002); Office Space (1999);High-Rise (2015); Inherent Vice (2014); Memento(2000); Alien (1979, which really should have been listed as an easy 2nd place for the 70’s. My bad.)