This latest addition to my film poster collection arrived late last week after a rather lengthy detour at my old address (forgot to change my mailing address when I changed my billing address, ack). This raises the number in my collection to 11 (10 of which are original one-sheet posters, the movie art originally produced in conjunction with the film's release).My very first "official" film poster was Out of Africa, a Christmas present from my husband almost 10 years ago. I had several reprints in tatters from college days, but that was my first purchased original one-sheet. (I already had one-sheets of Ghost and Room With a View, but I'd picked them up in the lobby of Fresno's historic Tower Theatre because they were free and I was a college student who loved movies but had no idea that some people actual collected them.) I was hooked after that. Since then, I've acquired Contact (a reprint), Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Signs, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, The Mummy, Pan's Labyrinth and Lady in the Water. It's surprising how quickly some of them went up in value (one of them is actually selling for more than 20 times what I paid for it). Heh, but most of them are running about the same as my tastes don't always run with the critics.
This one took me awhile to aquire. I didn't see this film until a couple of years after it was released, and by the time I started searching for the poster, the number of originals out there were almost non-existent. I've been watching this particular one for a couple of months; it has a slight tear on the upper edge, which lowers its value. But nothing else was cropping up, so I snagged it. There's still several out there I'd love to have, but I haven't been able to locate or (more likely) afford them. Besides, wall space is now at a premium, heh.
What makes this film so special to me? I'm literally moved to tears by the ending every single time I watch it (and I've seen it almost a dozen times). And in spite of its sometimes raunchy humor (and it does have it), I find it contains one of the better images in film of the transforming power of love. For more on my ruminations, go here and here.
(Image: Columbia Pictures)