Live and Let Die 1973

Robert McGinnis made this poster for 'Live and Let Die', and right away, I’m drawn to how he balances chaos and control, much like the film, right? The way McGinnis uses color is interesting. He's not afraid of the loud stuff - oranges, reds, those acid yellows - but then he grounds it with these cool blues and blacks, giving the whole thing a kind of stylish edge. There's this one blast of orange behind Roger Moore that seems to be both a burst of energy and a kind of looming threat, its form is nebulous, like a cloud or explosion. The paint handling is smooth, but I suspect this was made in one go, from start to finish; the marks and images don’t seem overworked. It reminds me a bit of some of the pulp artists, that sense of taking high and low culture and smashing them together. McGinnis wasn’t trying to make some profound statement. It’s about capturing a mood, an era, the sheer fun of it all. And that, in itself, is a kind of statement, isn't it?