The Big Lebowski (1998) movie posters

The typographic choices used in and around the 1990s cult movie The Big Lebowski are not exactly consistent: the original U.S. poster and campaign feature stretched Sabon, and the opening titles pair Magneto and Mesquite. The film’s promotion in Europe had a common denominator, though: it’s Banco.

Roger Excoffon’s inclined all-caps typeface with letterforms that look like they were made with a window puller appears on posters from both main campaigns.

One shows Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski with a reflection of his psychedelic patterned rug in his sunglasses, a title in golden yellow Banco, and the tagline “They figured he was a lazy time wasting slacker. They were right”. The concept and image is by Cassie Ramsay Anderson, with photography by Nels Israelson. The typography is uncredited. The campaign was launched in France, the Netherlands, and Germany, among other countries.

The other one focuses on the mutilated foot of Aimee Mann, who plays the girlfriend of German nihilist Franz, and features the tagline “Her life was in their hands. Now her toe is in the mail.” Banco is here shown in green – picking up the color of Bunny Lebowski’s nail polish – with a very 1990s emboss effect. This campaign was developed by TEA – The Entertainment Agency for the British market.