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The Movie Poster: Four Men Who DON'T Look Like the Four Leads

posted 6 years ago by ecarle (14979)
4 replies | jump to latest

"Rio Conchos" has a movie poster that, in certain ways, captures the epic flavor of the picture: the sense that, rather than a "routine oater," this is some sort of Big Action Movie about a Big Action Adventure...with a stupendous climax at the end that smacks more of James Bond than John Wayne.

Even the lettering of "RIO CONCHOS" is in that "monumental" granite style of Ben-Hur.

But here's the odd thing: though Rio Conchos is about "four men on a mission"(Defeated Confederate Richard Boone, Union officer turned Cavalryman Stuart Whitman, African-American Cavalryman Jim Brown and "wily" Mexican lover-knife thrower Tony Franciosa), for my money none of the four men pictured on the poster looks remotely like any of the four male stars of the film.

Why'd they do that?

Perhaps, in 1964, it was considered a risk to put the African-American Jim Brown on the poster, nor perhaps Tony Franciosa as a Mexican...and the rest of the drawing followed suit.

Perhaps, in order to pose the Four Anonymous Men of the Poster in their "action postions," trying to get the faces and bodies to match the four leads was just too hard to do.

In any event, its a strange poster. Very good in communicating the epic action of the film, very bad in communicating the charismatic personalities of its four very-well-cast leads.

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

I return to note that one of the men -- third from the left -- looks kinda/sorta like Richard Boone. Moustache. But the clothes and slender body type are different. One other guy seems to be wearing Stuart Whitman's shirt, but looks nothing like him. Matches for Brown(of course) and Franciosa simply aren't there.

[–] whynotwriteme (7122) 6 years ago

To me, the men on the poster represent the actors in the order of the names: Whitman on the right, who looks least like the real man. Boone in the middle and Franciosa on the left with the rifle and the sombrero on his back.

I doubt it was considered risky to put an African American on a movie poster in 1964. Brown just didn't have high enough billing. If they were afraid to put him on the poster, why would he be on a lobby card? http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/27/b70-13823

Anyway, great to see people posting on this board. 60s epic westerns are the best and this is right at the top of the list.

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

Thank you for the response! I'll take your point on Jim Brown and I am looking at the poster in a new light.

Rio Conchos is a great "pop classic" to me. I think it has a surreal, "epic" quality that really pays off with a spectacular, tragic finale...and about one final minute of image and music(the great Jerry Goldsmith) that says "you are at the end of a great story...it mattered."

It was very rare indeed for Richard Boone to get top billing in something of this caliber. I think I most delight in his scenes opposite Tony Franciosa -- they are the two "cool" rogues of the film, and extremely charismatic(even as TV and not movies ended up their main venue.) The final scene between Boone and Franciosa is an "end of second act surprise" and, I've always found, rather moving in terms of summing up the relationship between the two men.

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

OK, I blew up the picture of the poster and really stared at it.

And it looks like the poster reasonably "captures" each of the four stars, even Jim Brown, maybe.

Brown's character is smaller than the three "billed stars" and in the background, and, arguably recognizable as black.

The three other men are lined up in the order of their billing, with Whitman to the left, Boone in the middle(moustache) and Franciosa indeed with a sombrero hanging from the back of his neck. Nobody looks EXACTLY like the real actors, but I see a one-for-one match-up now.

I will also note this:

In the movie opening credits, Boone is clearly billed first, alone on the screen, followed by Whitman, then Franciosa. (They are "above the title" -- Jim Brown gets the first nod after the title, he appears on screen with his screen credit, always a good move.)

In the poster, reading left to right, WHITMAN is first, but Boone in second position is HIGHER than Whitman. This is the "equal billing" given to Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in The Towering Inferno and...I think it still favors the first name on the left. Still, interesting to see that Whitman and Boone needed the kind of special credit handling that Newman and McQueen would need.

This happened more than you would think. On the movie poster for "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," James Stewart comes first before John Wayne. In the movie -- John Wayne's is the first name on screen(and justifiably so, he was paid more than twice what Stewart was paid.)

I think it was said(by Tony Curtis) that he and Jack Lemmon traded top billing in ads and on screen for The Great Race...but I've always/only seen Lemmon's name first.