Good movie posters have been as rare as hen's teeth in the last quarter century. While once considered works of art, the great poster illustrators were put out to pasture, perhaps symbolically with the virtual end of the western film genre. Now, the western is making a comeback and hopefully so is the memorable movie poster. Check out the one sheet poster for the remake of 3:10 to Yuma starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Not only does it recall the style of the great films of Sergio Leone, but it is also lacking another characteristic of most recent movie posters: the bland, scanned head of the star/stars that give no indication what the movie is even about. Praise to all concerned for allowing a truly creative poster for 3:10 to Yuma. This includes the stars who obviously didn't exercise their clout to make sure their images filled the entire poster. The result? A movie poster that truly makes me want to see the film. Let's hope it's a sign of a new trend...-Lee Pfeiffer

(For Style.com's interview with the film's costume designer, Arianne Phillips, click here)

Very rare 1964 industry trade ad celebrating the record-breaking grosses of the second 007 film From Russia With Love

AOL's Money and Finance web site has crunched the numbers and determined that when it comes to the highest grossing film franchises of all time, James Bond still has the Midas touch. The series, which began in 1962, has grossed $4.5 billion to date but it has the advantage of starting long before any other film series in contention and amassing the gross over twenty-one films. In comparison, the Star Wars series lags behind Bond by a measly $100 million - and has managed to do so with only six films. However, there are several factors that should be taken into account. Technically, the Bond films could also encompass the grosses of the two "maverick" 007 productions not made by Eon Productions: Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983). Also, if the early Bond's grosses were adjusted for inflation, the gap would widen considerably. Preferably, these types of charts should be based on the number of tickets sold, as a first run movie ticket in the early 1960s was less than $2.

Here is the complete list from the article along with grosses to date:

• James Bond $4.5 billion
• Star Wars $4.4 billion
• Harry Potter $4.1 billion
• Lord of the Rings $2.9 billion
• Pirates of the Caribbean $2.7 billion
• Spiderman $2.5 billion
• Shrek $2.1 billion

Steve McQueen's prized limited edition Ferrari has sold for the kind of coin that not even Thomas Crown could have afforded. Christies auctioned the vehicle for $2.3 million, another indication that although McQueen has been gone for many years, his persona still lives on and a new generation regards him as The King of Cool. McQueen bought the car in 1963 when his film career took a big boost with the release of The Great Escape. For full details click here

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Rare Italian reissue poster for The Magnificent Seven

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Among William Tuttle's most famous creations: the evil Morlocks from MGM's "The Time Machine".

There aren't many makeup men whose name merits recognition by movie fans, but William Tuttle was among the elite. He served at MGM between 1950-1969 and created some of the most famous makeup effects in the studio's history. Among them: Tony Randall's remarkable transformations in The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao; the subterranean Morlock monsters from The Time Machine, the magical creations for The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and many others. Tuttle, who died this week at the age of 95, also created the famous "pig face people" for one of the most enduring Twilight Zone episodes, Eye of the Beholder. Writer Tom Weaver reveals on the Fangoria site that Tuttle also worked as an actor in a bit part in the only excellent Girl From U.N.C.L.E. episode,The Mother Muffin Affair that featured Boris Karloff's remarkable performance in drag. For Weaver's excellent tribute to Mr. Tuttle on the Fangoria site click here.

Scholars of Alfred Hitchcock's career have long known about his aborted plans to film a spy thriller titled The Short Night. The ravages of age and deteriorating health precluded him from doing so and the Master's last film turned out to be the 1976 lighthearted suspenser Family Plot. However, a web site based in Finland has unveiled some fascinating anecdotes about this Hitchcock film that never came to fruition. Using interviews with local residents who interacted with Hitchcock during his visit to research locations in Finland in 1977, the article provides interesting specifics about this legendary, aborted film project. For example, Hitchcock envisioned reteaming with Sean Connery, with whom he made Marnie in 1964. The female lead was to be Liv Ullman. The article also gives some amusing insights into Hitchcock's personal traits and vices. Click here to read the article

Hitchcock was to reteam with Sean Connery, the star of "Marnie" for the new film titled "The Short Night"

Cinema Retro's Lee Pfeiffer reports on the latest unnecessary remake

We hate to be judgmental, but the lack of originality in Hollywood continues to manifest itself with yet another uncalled for remake of an excellent film. This time, it's director Sidney Lumet in the barrel - his terrific 1971 thriller The Anderson Tapes is due to be remade. Naturally, the superb New York locations employed by Lumet in the original are just far too dowdy for today's moviegoers, so the whole enterprise is being shifted to Miami (yawn). Both versions are based on the best-selling novel by Lawrence Sanders that centered on a career criminal, Duke Anderson who is released after a long stretch in prison. He plans an audacious robbery of an entire swanky apartment building using a moving van and a crew of misfits, each of whom has a specialty to bring to the scheme. The hook of the first film was that Anderson's years in prison have made him out of touch with modern technology and he fails to realize that the entire building has been coincidentally - and illegally- wired by the feds who are snooping on unrelated improprieties. The film was regarded as a fine thriller on its initial release, but it took on an added significance the in the next couple of years as the Watergate scandal unfolded and substantiated legitimate belief in paranoia of government eavesdropping. It's doubtful the new version will be able to resonate in the same way. After all, in today's society we simply assume that virtually everything we do can potentially be recorded, even inadvertently, by mini spy cameras, cell phone cameras and ubiquitous surveillance systems. Thus, the only value of the new film is how well it can be constructed as a simple heist drama. We should remain objective and wait and see, but our instincts tell us the usual culprits - countless CGI shots and shootouts- will undermine the plot. What evidence do we have of this? Well, the producer is the same guy who has brought you the Rush Hour movies. 'Nuff said! The original starred Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Alan King, Martin Balsam and young Christopher Walken in one of his first screen roles. No casting has been announced, but let's see them try to top that cast. For Cinematical's report, click here.

Making up for lost time: just-released jail bird Sean Connery immediately gets down to business with girlfriend Dyan Cannon in the original "Anderson Tapes"

Since Hollywood has exhausted the stable of classic TV shows that can be turned into disastrous big screen features, it looks like Get Smart! might be added to the list. The film stars Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. Fine actors, to be sure, but some roles seem uniquely imbedded in the talents of the actors who created them and both Carell and Hathaway will have a Herculean task to rid themselves from the long shadows of Don Adams and Barbara Feldon. The Get Smart! TV show tribute site www.wouldyoubelieve.com has seen the script for the feature film version and their verdict is a mixed bag at best. There are some promising aspects to the script and web site founder Carl Birkmeyer thinks the casting will not be the problem. He is especially confident that Carell and Alan Arkin, who plays Chief, will generate plenty of chemistry. However, his concerns are the ones we've all dreaded: the script lacks any sophistication and relies on juvenile sight gags- and worse coarse language in a desperate attempt to make the characters look hip. It never seems to occur to producers that the TV series we most cherished were made in an age where the writers and actors worked clean. After many decades, series such as The Honeymooners, The Andy Griffith Show and Get Smart! seem as fresh and funny as ever - and they never had to resort to toilet humor. Worse, Birkmeyer reports that the script relegates the Max/99 relationship to stereotypical bickering and one-upmanship. This was never the case in the series. The pair had mutual respect for each other and a romantic relationship eventually developed that led to marriage. Birkmeyer also expresses concerns that the big screen version's director Peter Segal seems to have no understanding the 99 character. He's made derogatory comments that Barbara Feldon's interpretation was as a "stand by your man" woman who wouldn't hold up in the feminist age. In fact, Feldon's 99 had no such idiosyncracies. She was tough, competent and independent and Max relied on her to get him out of countless fixes. Birkmeyer warns that the script may present her as Bruce Willis' Die Hard character John McClane with breasts! Click on above link for Birkmeyer's insightful and very readable analysis of the script.

The great artist Jack Davis created this classic NBC promotional ad for the original series in 1966

Meanwhile, a teaser trailer for the new film has been released. It's too brief to form much of an opinion, but if you can judge a book by its cover, the end result is not promising. For one thing, the reliance on the phone booth gag seems lame and pretentious in an age where there are virtually no phone booths left in existence. Consider that the funniest gags would be used in the teaser trailer and you'll see why we share Carl Birkmeyer's concerns. To view the trailer click here.

The verdict will not be known until the film is released next year. We hope for the best but fear for the worst. Sorry about that, Chief!- Lee Pfeiffer

It has just been announced that legendary Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni has died at age 94. The controversial filmmaker died on the same day as another iconic symbol of European cinema: Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Although Antonioni made relatively few films in his career, those he did bring to the screen are still steeped in controversy- most notably his first English language film, Blow Up. The 1966 release was among the most stylish films ever made and perfectly captured the "mod period" of London during that era. The story was thin on dialogue but heavy on symbolism as it recounted the efforts of a young fashion photographer to discern whether he has accidentally photographed an actual murder. It's ambiguous ending is still widely debated today. The film was a big box-office hit and catapulted Antonioni into an international firestorm regarding his use of groundbreaking sexual images and situations. His 1969 film about the hippie culture, Zabreksie Point was roundly panned and dismissed as an expensive and pretentious bomb. He would never recapture the sensationalism caused by Blow Up but his 1975 drama The Passenger starring Jack Nicholson and Maria Scneider is considered by many critics to be a classic. Click here for critic Roger Ebert's tribute to the filmmaker

The photo of David Hemmings and the model Verushka seen on the poster for Blow Up became one of the most iconic pop culture images of the 1960s