Gunfight at The Alamo Drafthouse

The state of the contemporary movie-poster is dire; it seems like more posters are being produced for films (for an example, check out all the posters for "Where the Wild Things Are"), but the art direction that goes into them is less than inspired. The fall-back position, the least common denominator for the studios, are a photo-shopped cluster of movie-star heads that say little about the movie, its content or its style (check out the galaxy of posters for this Summer's "Star Trek"). For someone like me that reveled in the work of Bob Peak, Tom Jung, Saul Bass, Frank McCarthy, Bob McGuiness, Howard Terpning, Frank Frazetta, and Richard Amsel, the flood of dismal posters littering movie theaters is too many courses of a bland meal.

But deep in the heart of Texas (the college town/artists' enclave/state capitol of Austin) there is a place where movie poster makers are artists first and press agents second, and that is in the funky movie palaces owned by The Alamo Drafthouse, that still display a showman's glee in presentation.

Including posters. Good 'un's.

Herewith, some unfamiliar posters for some familiar westerns: