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Tom Jung, an underappreciated artist


Sandor
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Drew Struzan gets a lot of credit (and deservingly) for his great filmposter artwork, but Tom Jung has been responsible for some of my favorite poster artwork. However; his name isn't very familiar and (for example) he has no page in Wikipedia. He did great work on The Sand Pebbles, The Omen, at least one James Bond film and a classic for 1978's The Lord Of The Rings.

However; I deeply love his artwork for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back (his re-issue Jedi poster is one of his least inspired...)

star_wars_poster.jpg

Movie-Poster-Star-Wars-5-The-Empire-Strikes-Back.jpg

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LOL, Roald. On this forum you always have these lengthy fallow periods punctuated by sudden bursts of activity. I do like this poster a lot, although Luke still looks like farm boy Luke (i.e., 1977 Mark Hamill).

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By the way, what does the "least inspired" Jedi poster look like?

EDIT: re-linked the Star Wars poster.

This is Tom Jung's Jedi poster:

Movie%2021.jpg

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By the way, what does the "least inspired" Jedi poster look like?

EDIT: re-linked the Star Wars poster.

This is Tom Jung's (second) Jedi poster:

Movie%2021.jpg

The characters look incredibly bored. (Cheer up, guys, the second Death Star is blowing up over your heads!)

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I've never seen that poster in my life. I'd say blowing up the Death Star gives away the movie, but it really looks more complete than the second Death Star, so it could be misconstrued as showing the first Death Star being blown up.

As for least-inspired, I thought you meant the hand(s) holding up the lit saber for ROTJ. I always thought that poster was boring.

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My favorite poster for the first SW is his. They used it for the Fox video release of the movie, which was the first time I owned it. C-3PO and Leia don't look right though. Leia's body is perfectly exaggerated like Luke, but it doesn't look like Carrie Fisher.

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As for least-inspired, I thought you meant the hand(s) holding up the lit saber for ROTJ. I always thought that poster was boring.

return_of_the_jedi_ver1.jpg

Well, Wojo, it's better than Jung's poster. The official poster is dark and lightsaber-ish. Jung's poster is just plain bad.

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As for least-inspired, I thought you meant the hand(s) holding up the lit saber for ROTJ. I always thought that poster was boring.

return_of_the_jedi_ver1.jpg

Well, Wojo, it's better than Jung's poster. The official poster is dark and lightsaber-ish. Jung's poster is just plain bad.

Actually, I think Jung also made the teaser poster for Jedi with the lightsaber.

EDIT: No, Jung did not make the lightsaber-poster.

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It's certainly lightsaber-ish and effective for touting the movie. You shouldn't confuse a poster of a lightsaber with a teaser for something else. But that first poster you give above is so classic that I think it's the definitive Star Wars poster. And I think it's compelled me to go listen to my 1997 Anthology now.

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Yes, the first one is absolutely the definite one (albeit not very true to the film) but I've always been fond of the re-release poster too.

star_wars_one_sheet_movie_poster_l.jpg

Alex

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I definitely like the Star Wars poster, to me that is the poster that comes to mind when I think Star Wars...despite Luke being incredibly jacked and Leia looking like she just stepped off the set of some Conan the Barbarian type movie. Can't say I like the ESB poster too much...Vader's contorted leg just looks....wrong.

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despite Luke being incredibly jacked and Leia looking like she just stepped off the set of some Conan the Barbarian type movie.

Not to mention Han looks more like Nick Nolte then Harrison Ford.

But it does have something special.

I love the TESB poster.

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LOL, Roald. On this forum you always have these lengthy fallow periods punctuated by sudden bursts of activity. I do like this poster a lot, although Luke still looks like farm boy Luke (i.e., 1977 Mark Hamill).

Everytime I'm convinced Roald must be dead....he pops up again.

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Well, this is my favorite Jedi poster by far, by Kazuhiko Sano (designed by Christopher Werner):

0151.jpg

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Yes, the first one is absolutely the definite one (albeit not very true to the film) but I've always been fond of the re-release poster too.

star_wars_one_sheet_movie_poster_l.jpg

Alex

yes ,because John Williams' bold credit

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Well, this is my favorite Jedi poster by far, by Kazuhiko Sano (designed by Christopher Werner):

0151.jpg

Ah yes. The cover art for the tragically bad Return of the Jedi game for the Nintendo Game Boy. Wonderful poster nevertheless.

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I always thought the Roger Kastel piece captured the tone of the film so very well.

Star_Wars-empire_L-01.jpg

It must have been interesting seeing that poster before the film was released. "What, Han and Leia!?"

By the way, I was always curious to know...I have heard that Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back received mixed reviews during its initial release, is that true?

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Yes, the first one is absolutely the definite one (albeit not very true to the film) but I've always been fond of the re-release poster too.

star_wars_one_sheet_movie_poster_l.jpg

Alex

yes ,because John Williams' bold credit

Yes, and also because the colors and 'lichting' are very similar to the film.

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despite Luke being incredibly jacked and Leia looking like she just stepped off the set of some Conan the Barbarian type movie.

Not to mention Han looks more like Nick Nolte then Harrison Ford.

I actually meant the very first image in this thread. :thumbup: The re-release poster is pretty good too though

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Hi Roald! :thumbup:

The characters look incredibly bored. (Cheer up, guys, the second Death Star is blowing up over your heads!)

Well they looked and acted bored in the film so I think the artist did his job.

By the way, I was always curious to know...I have heard that Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back received mixed reviews during its initial release, is that true?

No it was well received.

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Star_Wars-empire_L-01.jpg

It must have been interesting seeing that poster before the film was released. "What, Han and Leia!?"

It blew my mind. I remember staring at this artwork in the newspaper ad before seeing the movie. Kastel's style is so dreamlike, and really plays on the fantasy aspect. I love it.

Here's Jung's Raiders poster concept:

2991259576_d60e60cf81_o.png

God, I miss painting and illustration.

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The characters look incredibly bored. (Cheer up, guys, the second Death Star is blowing up over your heads!)

Well they looked and acted bored in the film so I think the artist did his job.

Hamill brought his 'A' game, although I admit that doesn't say terribly much. He certainly wasn't any worse than he was in either of the previous films.

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No it was well received.

This is only partially true.

Back in the early 80's Empire was considered a critical succes, but not overwhelmingly so.

To illustrate: just prior to the release of Jedi, Time Magazine did a great article on Lucas and ROTJ. It said this about Empire:

(Jedi is not as good as Star Wars), but it is better than Empire which suffered from a hectic, muddled pace.

They put that statement in a fairly objective manner as if it was the general consensus at the time. If Empire was the great film it is now back in 1983, Time's description of the film would not have been printed.

I do however feel Empire is a fantastic film and should be a model for all sequels.

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No it was well received.

This is only partially true.

Back in the early 80's Empire was considered a critical succes, but not overwhelmingly so.

To illustrate: just prior to the release of Jedi, Time Magazine did a great article on Lucas and ROTJ. It said this about Empire:

(Jedi is not as good as Star Wars), but it is better than Empire which suffered from a hectic, muddled pace.

They put that statement in a fairly objective manner as if it was the general consensus at the time. If Empire was the great film it is now back in 1983, Time's description of the film would not have been printed.

Vincent Canby's review of Empire in The New York Times was pretty scathing, as well.

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It did indeed.

Which reminds me, It's been 5 years or so since my last viewing of TESB.

Karol

Five years, eh?

Well, congratulations! There's still a whole new version of the movie waiting for you! It even has Ian McDiarmid! Truly, this must be the definitive version, right? Right? ... Please?

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Plus, looking at the original Star Wars poster, it seems the artist's job was to make it look better than it really was.

Yea, like surely viewers won't notice that the film doesn't feature hundreds of X-Wings wouldnt they? :lol:

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Plus, looking at the original Star Wars poster, it seems the artist's job was to make it look better than it really was.

Yea, like surely viewers won't notice that the film doesn't feature hundreds of X-Wings wouldnt they? :lol:

I saw the amount of X-Wings on the poster before I went in, but strangely enough, I didn't mind that there were only about 10 or so. The poster lied big time and yet I went out of the theater thinking it was a great movie. That's what greatness does, you are so grateful for it that you not only forgive the flaws but also the lies.

Alex

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Five years, eh?

Well, congratulations! There's still a whole new version of the movie waiting for you! It even has Ian McDiarmid! Truly, this must be the definitive version, right? Right? ... Please?

I'm still waiting for the definitive-definitve-definitive 40 DVD's edition. You know, like the Blade Runner release. Where you can watch all the versions of SW, with each sound mix getting a separate disc. :lol:

Karol

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Well, despite Blade Runner having 5 discs, I'm still waiting for a 'restored' Theatrical Cut version (instead of a remastered one). I think it's unfair that the Final Cut is the only version that received full treatment. I mean, the old versions now look like antique relics compared to The Final Cut!

Alex

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Plus, looking at the original Star Wars poster, it seems the artist's job was to make it look better than it really was.

Yea, like surely viewers won't notice that the film doesn't feature hundreds of X-Wings wouldnt they? :lol:

Forget the overwhelming number of X-Wings. Surely savvy moviegoers noticed that Carrie Fisher wasn't permitted to display the rack or as much leg as the idealized movie poster showed.

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