For some time now, I've had friendly communications with writer and author Mark O'Connell, whose lovely book WATCHING SKIES: STAR WARS, SPIELBERG AND US really captures the geeky zeitgeist and homespun nostalgia that grew from fantasy and genre films of the 1970s and 80s. He's a wonderful writer, and while we've yet to meet face to face -- Mark's based in the UK -- hearing his story made me feel as though I found something of a kindred spirit. We share similar passions for movies and writing. We also both grew up as gay, misfit geeks...long, long before being a gay, misfit geek was considered cool
When Mark reached out to me about an article he was planning for YAHOO MOVIES on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK's 40th anniversary, I jumped at the chance. He asked me for just a few comments on Amsel's two RAIDERS posters. Naturally, I opted for a short novella instead.
You can read Mark's YAHOO MOVIES article here. While the Amsel mention is brief, I'm grateful it's there. The artist's contribution is an important part of the film's legacy.
I was rather tickled to be described in the article as Amsel's "archivist and biographer". It's certainly not an official title I ever gave myself. Then again, after more than 13 years of work, research, heartache, and investment, perhaps it is an accurate one.
And as for the discarded novella I wrote? I reworked it into another blog post.
On a final note, now that June 12th is upon us, and we're all nearly "raided" out from both the years and the mileage, it's nice to see Indiana Jones' silhouette appear in this official 40th anniversary logo. Clearly taken from Amsel's portrait of the character as featured in the 1982 rerelease poster, it illustrates just how iconic the pose and composition were, thanks to Amsel's keen eyes.
However, for the life of me, I simply can not comprehend why the marketing powers that be would possibly redo the "RAIDERS" lettering in the iconic title. It's clumsy, awkward, and completely unnecessary.
For the untrained eye, here's the original logo in it's proper glory. See how the letters are cleanly aligned at top?
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