The Harder They Come movie poster
A 1973 poster for the reggae classic film The Harder They Come, starring Jimmy Cliff. The title treatment is set in Zipper, a Letraset classic. The curved type with Jimmy Cliff’s name looks to be photographically adjusted to better conform to the curve. Note the slight trapezoidal tapering towards the bottom of the letters. Compare the C, M, and Y glyphs in the name and title. The top quote on the poster is set in Helvetica and Bookman Bold Italic Swash, with the credit line set in Stymie. The quote uses hanging punctuation well! Trade Gothic shows up in small print at the bottom. The film critic quotes are typed on a typewriter. The border is a scotch rule (thick-thin-thick style) that could have been made using a dry-transfer process (not the slight misalignment where the curved corner meets the straight line. Letraset catalogs don’t show this style of border.
This poster is the “Style B” of the poster and differs significantly from the other promotional posters for the film, which are done in the blaxploitation style. The bottom left corner of the poster is meant for the placement of the details of the local theater screening the film.
Detail of the main title’s type treatment. You can make out the faint sun shape made out of Ben Day dots (or done using a dry transfer tone) in the background. Trade Gothic is used for the “Roger Corman presents...” credit line.
1 Comment on “The Harder They Come movie poster”
Thank you, Sasha!
I used the opportunity to finalize my draft about one of the other, blaxploitation-style posters you mention. Its artwork originated with the sleeve designed by CCS and John Bryant for the soundtrack album by Island Records. The primary typeface is another Letraset classic, Bottleneck: