For this week’s column, I spoke to Dawn Baillie, who is responsible for, or who has collaborated on, some of the most iconic American movie posters of the last four decades, from The Silence of the Lambs (1991) to Barbie (2023). Her work is currently the focus of an extraordinary ongoing exhibition at Poster House in New York City.
I asked her if she would humor me by selecting her top ten movie posters of all time, now a tradition for this column. She most graciously accepted the challenge. Baillie’s top ten and comments are listed below in descending order. She explained that these are all posters she “refers to often,” and presents her selection with the caveat that she could easily list 50 more.
DAWN BAILLIE’S TOP TEN FAVORITE MOVIE POSTERS
1. USA one-sheet by Erik Nitsche for All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, USA, 1950)
When we talk about encapsulating a film’s premise in one image, this is a literal way to do that: visual storytelling! This poster is essentially a movie trailer in a still format. Beautiful whimsical design literally guides your eyes around the page. I love the colors, the treatment, the graphics, the style. The legendary Erik Nitsche designed this. He is known for his work for General Dynamics and his incredible work in information graphics.
2. USA one-sheet by Saul Bass for Love in the Afternoon (Billy Wilder, USA, 1957)
How do you convey a plot without images from the film?
This poster by Saul Bass is a wonderful concept. The simplicity of the graphics make for a quick read. There’s the use of contrast and the use of color to give clues to just enough plot. The shade is a blackout shade further reinforcing it’s the afternoon; I love the playful pinks behind the shade.
When thinking about what to convey about a film in one image, you want to break down your themes and find out what is left that can be illustrated with the most simplicity.
3. USA one-sheet by Arsen Roje for M*A*S*H (Robert Altman, USA, 1970)
This pre-Photoshop beauty does a lot of storytelling without using an image from the film. Irreverent, surreal, sexy. You can glean what kind of cinematic experience the film poster is promising by enjoying this icon. Wobbly shoes and all.
4. USA one-sheet by Arsen Roje, creative directed by Phil Gipps for Diener Hauser Greenthal, for Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, USA, 1971)
Made by the same artist who made M*A*S*H. Surrealism is really influencing this era, and it is beautiful what it brings to film posters. Surrealism in graphic design, a hint of storytelling, a bit of actor recognition, simple centered formal typography with just a hint of personality completes this amazing work.
5. USA one-sheet by Bill Gold for The Exorcist (William Friedkin, USA, 1973)
Bill Gold, a genius who used violet, and a tiny image. And negative space. And explained what an exorcist was (in a long-ass copyline), if you really needed to know.
6. USA one-sheet for The Jerk (Carl Reiner, USA, 1979)
I don’t know who designed this. It’s not a great design. But I reference this silly poster ALL. THE. TIME.... I used this layout for Miss Congeniality.
7. USA one-sheet by Peter Bemis, illustrated by Marvin Mattelson, for After Hours (Martin Scorsese, USA, 1985)
Another surreal concept that illustrates the premise of the film. Cool use of cobalt blue (!) and a logo I tried to emulate on Road House. I refer to this often with my team when we are trying to boil down a theme to one simple concept.
8. USA one-sheet by Tracy Weston for Sid & Nancy (Alex Cox, UK, 1986)
This is a beautiful example of high-low design. Treating this subject matter with dignity and grace and gold. And using a frame from the film as the basis is gorgeous. I love all of the design elements: the boxes in the billing block, the spaced out pedigree. Every part of this poster is lovingly designed and tended to.
9. USA one-sheet by Rod Dyer for Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, USA/Canada, 1991)
I love a conceptual poster. And here we have a classic. Clean, surreal. Just the best thing ever. I wish I thought of it.
10. USA teaser poster by AV Print for Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, USA, 2022)
If there was ever a poster I was envious of, it’s this.
The Anatomy of a Movie Poster: The Work of Dawn Baillie runs through September 8. Many thanks to Dawn.
In the Movie Poster of the Week archives, you can find previous top ten selections from Scott Bendall, Maks Bereski, Nathan Gelgud, Midnight Marauder, Vasilis Marmatakis, Jay Shaw, Sam Smith, Akiko Stehrenberger, and Antonio Stella.