Monday 25 March 2013

CLASSIC ART: DARK SIDE RISING...


Darth Vader makes his formidable presence felt, backed up by shockwaves of Stormtroopers and TIE bombers, in Tom Jung's cleverly constructed, and now iconic, poster work for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in 1980.

In his The Making of The Empire Strikes Back book, author J.W. Rinzler, states that it would be several months before this poster mades its debut in cinemas, after the Gone with the Wind style poster handled by Roger Kastel. That is actually incorrect in relation to the UK. At its London Royal Premiere in May,  the Jung poster art was used as the focal image atop the ODEON Leicester Square cinema building (I saw the film there in its opening week), and the poster could also be found in select London Underground stations (I also recall varying versions of Kastel's poster appearing at Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road, in particular).

With thanks to Steve McGarrigle: The Empire Strikes Back Premier - Odeon Leicester Sq 1980 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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