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.
35. ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1968)
Poster by Philip Gips
Rosemary’s Babyis up thereamong the greatest movies of all time, and it’s especially worthy of classic status when it comes to looking at the horror genre more specifically. It’s a deliberately paced movie about a young woman who begins to have fears surrounding her recent pregnancy, and some of the strange ways her new neighbors have been acting around her.
The poster forRosemary’s Babyexpertly captures the sort ofunease and dread inherent to the film, with that murky green color already inspiring a faint sense of nausea. The titular Rosemary looks catatonic (or maybe even dead) in the background, and then there’s the baby carriage silhouetted in front of her, though it’s unnervingly too far away, and too dark, to see what’s in there. On a very primal level, the poster serves to make you know more or less what kind of horror you’re in for, should you choose to watchRosemary’s Baby.
Rosemary’s Baby
34. ‘Fargo’ (1996)
Directed by Joel Coen
Inspiring a TV series of the same name, and itself beingone of the best movies of the 1990s,Fargosees theCoen brothersat their very best. It tells a dark and sometimes funny story about a criminal scheme that spirals disastrously out of control, with everyone dooming themselves more and more with every passing scene. Eventually, everyone’s put out of their misery when a police officer swoops in and pretty much single-handedly saves the day.
It’s not what happens, but how it happens, that makesFargogreat. As for the poster,it’s eye-catching without being overly flashy. It evokes a sense of comfort and warmth while also contrasting that with coldness(the color white standing in for snow) and violence. And that’s in line with the energy of the film; it’s fun and surprisingly easy to watch, but it’s not without its grim and grisly moments, either.
33. ‘Dial M for Murder’ (1954)
Poster by Bill Gold
As you might guess from the title,Dial M for Murdergets pretty dark, even byAlfred Hitchcock’s standards. It sees him very much in his wheelhouse, directing a polished and suspenseful crime/thriller that still holds up. But for as good as the film is, its poster might be even better, and not just because it visually represents what would have to be the movie’s most memorable sequence.
It matches the title perfectly, and the bright red contrasting with the blond hair?That’s unfiltered Hitchcock right there, just in an image.Dial M for Murder’s poster foreshadows the sort of thriller this is: bold visually, high-stakes, and unafraid to deal with, you know, murder. The title itself also does some of the heavy lifting, because it’s a catchy one, and it feels good to say.
Dial M for Murder
32. ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ (1982)
Poster by John Alvin
Good oldE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, you know? It’s widely beloved, andone of Steven Spielberg’s very best films, but it’s so well-known and celebrated that it’s possible to take it for granted. It’s seemingly always been there, at least if you’re under a certain age, holding up as one of those movies that inspires intense emotions regardless of how old you are when you watch (or revisit) it.
And, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the magic captured in the film is similarly there in the poster. The silhouette of abike flying against the moon is the most striking image ofE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and so repurposing it for the poster was a no-brainer. There’s that sense of wonder and adventure there that you get in the film itself, and the image also promises something out of the ordinary, which the film, of course, delivers in spades.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
31. ‘Chinatown’ (1974)
Poster by Jim Pearsall
Chinatownis a pitch-perfect film noir throwback/update, tellinga thrilling story within a period setting. It goes back to the 1930s, evoking that time well but, at the same time, also forwarding certain noir tropes and conventions, twisting that whole film movement into something even darker and more intense than noir films of old.
The poster, in turn, has certain noir-ish qualities to it (especially all the smoke and the outfitJack Nicholson’s character is depicted wearing), but then there are some odd additions that give it an almost surreal feel; namely, that face looming in the background.It’s bright and visually striking, but also conveys a more than slight sense of unease, emphasizing darkness while also being colorful… which can also be said aboutChinatown’s imagery, and the way it contrasts, at times, with the exceptionally dark story at hand.
30. ‘Brazil’ (1985)
Poster by Bill Garland
Brazilis aparticularly 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 forBrazildoes 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, andthe huge number of drawers going into the background foreshadows the futile battleagainst 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.
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
29. ‘Eyes Without a Face’ (1960)
Directed by Georges Franju
If you’re after a somewhatunconventional horror/thriller film, something likeEyes Without a Faceshould 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 whenEyes Without a Facehassuch a notably creepy poster; one that, once seen with your eyes (with or without face), proves hard to forget.
Eyes Without a Face
A disfigured young woman is confined to her father’s secluded mansion, where he, a once-renowned plastic surgeon, attempts to restore her beauty through illicit surgeries. Driven by guilt and desperation, he captures subjects to create the perfect mask for his daughter, spiraling into madness and terror.
28. ‘Amadeus’ (1984)
Poster by Peter Sís
ThoughAmadeusis technicallya Best Picture-winning historical/biographical film, it doesn’t entirely focus on historical accuracy throughout. Instead, it retells events relating to the lives ofWolfgang Amadeus MozartandAntonio 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 artand make a legacy for oneself. The figure on the poster ofAmadeusreferences 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.
Directed by Sam Raimi
The Evil Deadgets 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 beingThe 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 ofThe 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.
The Evil Dead
26. ‘Beau Travail’ (1999)
Directed by Claire Denis
There are almost too manygreat movies from 1999to count, withBeau Travailbeing one of the best, albeit one that’s overshadowed to some extent by the more mass-appealing blockbusters of that year. In contrast,Beau Travailis 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 Travailexplores 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 howmany of the male characters in the film hide their emotions, and keep their faces blankin a way that’s only slightly less literal.
