Robin Johnson

The final design for the movie poster retains the two overlapping askew rectangles from the poster side of the double-sided poster. That poster had a black rectangle over a purple rectangle over a red background; here it’s changed to yellow over blue over white. The colorized collage of Nicky and Pammy remains, but Pammy’s head has been lowered in relation to Nicky’s, and Nicky’s right shoulder and arm have been removed, and her collar shortened, to make room. The button with Johnny’s face has been placed on Nicky’s left lapel. It’s the same colorization job, with Nicky’s blue eyes and a ton of eye shadow, although there’s less contrast and there isn’t as much detail in the hair.

The round splotch of vivid fuschia with its outer drops turning to musical notes (which started as a cloud of red-orange smoke with its outer edges turning to notes) is now a streak of red paint whose splatters are just splatters.

The logo is exactly the same, just a little faded-looking in comparison because of the lowered contrast.

The tagline, “In the heart of Times Square a poor girl becomes famous, a rich girl becomes courageous and both become friends,” … well, they had to say something. It seems momentous until you start to think about what it actually says. It is literally what happens, but it’s not exactly what the movie is about.

Finally, the fantastic strips of DYMO label tape from the double-sided poster have become a clear italic sans-serif font on strips of fuschia (gotta have that fuschia somewhere). It looks great if you don’t have the original idea to compare it with. They sacrificed the design for the sake of clarity (it is easier to read), which is always the way, and is usually the right decision. Although… it is a watering down of the marketing towards a New Wave audience, to market the film more to a mass audience, and in hindsight we all know how well that worked.