This is a rare vintage UNREAD and out of print copy of The Queer Movie Poster Book, by Jenni Olson (Author) and BRUCE VILANCH and published and distributed by Chronicle Books in 2004. This 128 page SOFTCOVER book measures XX. See photos for condition.

FROM THE UNDERGROUND TO THE OSCAR-WINNING, THE TITILLATING TO THE TASTEFUL, THE CAMPY TO THE HEARTFELT, THE QUEER MOVIE POSTER BOOK IS A CAPTIVATING VISUAL HISTORY OF THE BEST OF QUEER FILM CULTURE.

Queer-themed cinema has been around for decades, from low-budget underground movies to big studio films with marquee actors. But until the relatively recent acceptance and mainstreaming of queer culture, the films' primary marketing vehicles--the posters--historically deployed a range of strategies to convey, or winkingly allude to, films about the love that dare not speak its name. The first overview of its kind, The Queer Movie Poster Book traces the history of gay film vis-à-vis its often coded promotional art.
Sometimes alluring (Looking for Langston, Aimée & Jaguar), sometimes lurid (Windows, Cruising), the posters speak volumes about the social mores of the times and the struggle for GLBT recognition and equality. The Queer Movie Poster Book features over 150 examples of promotional art, encompasing Wallace Beery drag follies to the latest out-and-proud productions. More than just a great collection of film posters, the book turns a critical eye on the development and changing definitions of queer cinema itself, from the often heterosexually produced films with negative themes (loneliness, madness, and, often enough, suicide and punishment) to the emerging, independent, queer-produced film scene.

POSTERS FEATURED
101 Rent Boys (2000) 128-129
Adam & Yves (1974) 57
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) 74
Aimée & Jaguar (1999) 120-121
Am I Female? (1970) 39
Beautiful Thing (1996) 109
Beefcake (1999) 126-127
Before Night Falls (2000) 114-115
The Berlin Affair (1985) 96
Better Than Chocolate (1999) 122
Bijou (1972) 54
Bilitis (1977 50
Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (1998) 111
The Birdcage (1996) 76
Bound (1996) 117
Boys Don't Cry (1999) 76-77
The Boys in the Band (1970) 44-45
Boys in the Sand (1971) 54
The Brotherhood (1968) 25
Buddies (1985) 87
The Business of Fancydancing (2002) 104
By Hook or By Crook (2002) 80-81
Centurians of Rome (1981) 59
Chained Girls (1965) 34-35
The Children's Hour (1961) 29
The Christine Jorgensen Story (1970) 67
Chutney Popcorn (2000) 103
Come Undone [Presque rien] (2000) 128
Compulsion (1959) 19
The Consequence (Die Konsequenz (1979) 48
Cruising (1980) 84-85
Dear Jesse (1997) 110
Desert Hearts (1986) 95
A Different Story (1978) 64
Dona Herlinda and Her Son
[Doña Herlinda y su hijo] (1986) 88
Donna and Lisa (1969) 37
Drift (2000) 104
Edge of Seventeen (1998) 113
Fanny Hill Meets Lady Chatterly (1967) 36-37
Fire (1996) 118
Fire Island Fever (1979) 59
The Fluffer (2000) 127
Forbidden Love (1992) 115
Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971) 45
The Fourth Sex [Le quatrième sexe] (1961) 34
The Fox (1968) 30
The Gay Deceivers (1969) 25
Gendernauts (1999) 76
Get Bruce! (1999) 6
Get Real (1998) 112-113
The Girl (2000) 123
The Girl with Hungry Eyes (1967) 34
Glen or Glenda? (I Changed My Sex) (1953) 18
Go Fish (1994) 116
Happy Together (1997) 110
Head On (1998) 125
Heavy Equipment (1977) 58
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) 78-79
Hidden Pleasures [Los placeres ocultos] (1977) 47
High Art (1997) 118-119
The Hunger (1983) 94-95
I Want What I Want (1972) 67
In & Out (1997) 111
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in
Love (1995) 101
Just the Two of Us (1973) 40
The Killing of Sister George (1968) 30-31
The King (circa 1968) 37
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1984) 70-71
L'amour de femme (circa 1969) 38
La cage aux folles (1978) 70
La Fuga [The Escape] (1966) 29
La Poupée [The Doll; He, She or It] (1962) 66
Late Bloomers (1995) 116
Latin Boys Go to Hell (1997) 103
Law of Desire [La ley del deseo] (1987) 90
The Leather Boys (1964) 23
lianna (1983) 95
The Living End (1992) 109
Lonesome Cowboys (1967) 24
Longtime Companion (1991) 108
Looking For Langston (1988) 99
Maedchen in Uniform (1931) 16
Making Love (1982) 85
Men of the Midway (1970) 54
My Beautiful Laundrette (1986) 98
No Skin Off My Ass (1991) 108
Normal (2003) 81
Paris Is Burning (1991) 73
Park Theatre Program (1968) 52
Parting Glances (1986) 90
Partners (1982) 87
Personal Best (1982) 93
Pink Narcissus (1971) 56-57
Prick Up Your Ears (1987) 91
Princesa (2001) 79
Punks (2000) 104-105
Querelle (1983) 86-87
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1976) 68
Ruthie & Connie: Every Room in the
House (2002) 123
Salomé (1923) 15
Saturday Night at the Baths (1975) 64
Satyricon (1969) 27
Score (1973) 63
The Sergeant (1968) 26
Sex Is... (1993) 125
Sex Magic (1977) 58
Sex of the Stars [Le sexe des étoiles] (1993) 75
She Must Be Seeing Things (1987) 99
Show Me Love [Fucking Amäl] (1998) 120
The Sinners [Au royaume des cieux] (1952) 16-17
Some of My Best Friends Are... (1971) 46
Something for Everyone (1970) 61
Something Special (1986) 70
Song of the Loon (1970) 55
Staircase (1969) 28
Station to Station (1974) 58
Steam: The Turkish Bath [Hamam (1998) 127
Stonewall (1995) 101
A Strange Role [Herkulesfürdöi emlék] (1976) 68-69
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) 19
Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971) 62-63
Sweedie's Hero (1915) 14-15
That Tender Touch (1969) 39
Theatre VII Program (1969) 53
Therese and Isabelle (1968) 32
This Special Friendship [Les amités particuliéres] (1964) 23
Threesome (1970 61
The Times of Harvey Milk (1985) 88-89
Tongues United (1991) 100
Torch Song Trilogy (1988) 73
Venus Boyz (2001) 79
Vera (1986) 72-73
A Very Natural Thing (1974) 47
Victim (1961) 22
Virgin Machine (Die Jungenfravenmaschine] (1988) 115
The Watermelon Woman (1996) 102-103
The Wedding Banquet (1993) 100
We Do It (1970) 40-41
When Night Is Falling (1995) 117
Wigstock (1995) 75
Windows (1980) 92-93
Word Is Out (1978) 48-49

For gay men coming of age and coming out in the late '60s and early 70s, often the first images they saw of men being intimate together were in gay pornography. Watching some of the early gay adult classics today, one can feel a visceral sense of pleasure and pride in the portrayals of men cruising, kissing, touching, embracing, and enjoying each other sexually. These films were much more than just one-handed amusements.
The gay porn of the '60s and 70s served an important role in the shaping of gay identity and, ultimately, in the evolution of the gay rights movement.
The marketing materials for the gay porn of this era display an eagerness and naiveté reflective of the time. The genre evolved gradually over the years: it started with the posing-strap physique films of the '50s and
'60s and moved on to the full-frontal nudity and soft-core films of the late
'60s and eventually to the hard-core films of the '70s and beyond.
Most public exhibitions of these films happened at small gay cinemas and private clubs in larger cities (places such as the Park Theatre in Los Angeles and the Park-Miller and 55th Street Playhouse in New York City).
The earliest ads appeared on flyers circulated at gay bars, in gay news-papers, and eventually even in the big dailies like the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
The emergence of gay underground and gay independent film overlapped with the early days of gay porn. Many of the first gay-oriented movie theaters began by showing a combination of gay porn, gay underground films, and gay independent films; and some of the first gay indie films were made by gay porn directors such as Arthur Bressan, Pat Rocco, and Richard Fontaine. (For books that provide a more thorough overview of early gay porn production and exhibition, please see Jack Stevenson's Fleshpot and Kenneth Turan and Stephen Zito's Sinema.)

Filmmaker and historian Jenni Olson accounts for the varied spectrum of queer cinema by including sidebars treating dykesploitation films (typically made by straight men for straight men), early gay porn (an overlooked means to social liberation in its own right), and films with transgender themes (studded with pulled-from-the-headlines movies). Regardless of the films' origins, their posters can be complex visual documents, concealing as much as they reveal, steering toward their intended audience with buzz phrases ("…..the most untalked-about subject of our time!"), recurring picture tropes (a shirtless hunk), and not insignificant doses of pink and lavender.

From the earnest to the campy, the posters in The Queer Movie Poster Book constitute a vibrant feast of popular art and a valuable document of queer film culture.

Due to recent delivery issues with the USPS I now ship all items via Priority Mail. $100 of insurance is included in this price. I’m selling my collection of vintage 1960-1980s gay pulp paperback novels, pictorial & hardcore magazines, physique photography, magazines & artwork.