Photo Opportunity #70 The Gauntlet Rare Greek Poster
It’s probably fair to say that artwork for Clint’s fan favourite The Gauntlet (1977) didn’t really vary too much from country to country – with perhaps the exception of Japan, but they were always ahead of the game when it came to alternative designs.
It’s for this reason I have decided to go with a poster design for February’s Photo Opportunity – something we rarely do here. It’s our No 2 Davy Triumph who recently discovered this gem – a release poster from Greece – again, something we see very few examples of.
What makes this poster a bit special, is the fact that instead of just making the regular artwork the main focus of the design – instead the Greek publicity department also chose to use one of the rare publicity photos taken for the film. I always loved these photos and often wondered why they wasn’t used more?
The photo features Clint’s character handcuffed to Sandra Locke while holding his police gun, the Smith & Wesson Model 66 revolver.
The image used on the poster is a drawing rather than the photo it is based upon (both versions were produced – both the photos and the drawing alternative). What is curious on the poster is that the drawn image of the gun seems to have been altered – and instead of the snub nose model used in the film, it now looks as if it was adapted to resemble the .44 Magnum used by Clint in the Dirty Harry movies. A clear example of squeezing the publicity to try and draw on the Dirty Harry success.
Regardless of this, I think the poster really works well, it’s just nice to see something different used on a Gauntlet poster. The poster is rarely seen and measures 11.81" x 15.75" – not a huge size poster by any means – and I’m afraid I don’t know enough about the Greek poster market to know if it came in any variant sizes.
