The next promotional artwork in my ranking of the domestic posters from the James Bond film series used several different styles and images during its promotion in the United States.
12. You Only Live Twice
The marketing department for You Only Live Twice either couldn't make a final decision on which drawing they wanted to go with or the advertising direction was to lambaste moviegoers with multiple elements of the film's action and sex appeal.
The first poster, labeled U.S. One-Sheet Style A, can be seen above. It has a lot going on with an inverted Bond walking along a catwalk-like ladder high above a fiery pit with helicopters and rockets buzzing around him. This poster, the first of three that were considered the theatrical posters used to promote the film, is an exciting one and does an excellent job of giving the viewer an idea of what to expect in the movie.
The following is the U.S. One-Sheet Style B.
This one also uses the helicopters from the previous poster, but includes a fan-favorite gadget from the quartermaster, or Q. The gyrocopter, named Little Nellie in the film, has become one of the iconic vehicles from the 007 series. And like so many other photos from the posters of James Bond movies, Sean Connery, playing the British secret agent, plays it super cool in his trademark pose, not even bothering to steer Little Nellie for fear he might be perceived as less dapper than what audiences had come to expect of their favorite spy.
The final domestic theatrical poster, the U.S. One-Sheet Style C, played up the sensual tastes of Bond movies.
Bond is found in a bathtub surrounded by beautiful Japanese women, being bathed, among other things that are assumed with the way some of those women are rubbing up against him. Not wanting to forget that this is an action film, the artist included a woman, seen on the far right, bathing Bond's firearm. That campy bit of detail makes me laugh every time I see it.
Probably my favorite poster for You Only Live Twice is the U.S. One-Sheet Advance. The page is mostly taken up with popular images from the previous four adventures with the only new artwork being the film's title and Bond taking to his "cool as a cucumber" pose at the bottom holding an astronaut's helmet. While the poster doesn't do much in the way of promoting the upcoming movie, it is a nice collection piece for the first five films of, what was at that point, one of the most popular series ever.
Another reason I like all of the You Only Live Twice posters is the tagline "This man (Sean Connery) IS James Bond." The story behind that tagline is an unofficial Bond movie was being released the same year as You Only Live Twice and it starred major names like David Niven, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Orson Wells, William Holden, and Deborah Kerr. It even included former Bond girl Ursula Andress. The rival movie was Casino Royale, which was the only Ian Fleming book that the producers at Eon didn't have the rights to film in the official series at that time. Promoters of You Only Live Twice wanted to let audiences know that even though they had a choice of which James Bond to see that year, their version was the one they knew and loved.
It turns out they didn't need to do much to remind audiences which was the better series as the spoof version of Casino Royale, five directors later, turned out to be a hot mess. It is widely considered to be chaotic and unfunny.
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