Retro Stud: Muscle Movie Posters from Around the World

Let's face it, sex sells. Posters that teem with muscle-rippling heroes in skimpy loincloths, frail beauties in diaphanous gowns, pointy-bearded tyrants, and evil queens with heavy makeup and beehive hairdos were all classic lures that used to tempt patrons into theaters to see the sword-and-sandal movies of forty years ago. The posters advertising the films were every bit as dramatic and alluring as the movies themselves, and theater patrons lined up to SEE these "surging spectacles of savagery and sex!" Studio marketing departments learned quickly how to keep the public interested in this distinctive genre. Retro Stud displays beautifully reproduced artwork from around the world—replete with the sly sexuality and lithographed excitement that was typical of these posters.