"Duel at Diablo", Original Release Japanese Movie Poster 1966, STB Size (51x145cm) O416
Size: STB / 20 × 57 in (51 × 145 cm)
Country / Studio: Japan / United Artists release
Format: Tall 2‑panel “tatekan” printed for outdoor cinema stands – survivors are rare.
Film & context
Ralph Nelson’s hard‑edged cavalry western pairs James Garner and Sidney Poitier in one of the decade’s most modern, revisionist takes on the genre. By the mid‑1960s, the West had been reimagined worldwide—American revisionism (e.g., Major Dundee, The Wild Bunch) met the Italian “Spaghetti” wave led by Leone. Japan embraced both, helped by the earlier cross‑pollination with samurai cinema (Kurosawa’s Yojimbo → Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars). Posters like this STB rode that craze and were mounted like mini billboards outside theaters and at transit hubs—most were discarded, making originals scarce.
Design highlights
A stacked, diagonal triple‑portrait of the leads in full action poses conveys movement the moment you step into the lobby. The tall red headline at right shouts:
“The Western is reborn! Raw cruelty and razor‑sharp action—riding the hot wind across the great wilderness, that excitement returns!!”
Small callouts by each figure sketch their character types (the loner, the gun hand with a past), a very Japanese marketing touch. Deep salmon ground and iced gunmetal retouching make the firearms pop against the pastel sky—classic mid‑60s Japanese color work.
Condition
Excellent and Original Unrestored with the expected light handling; presents superbly when framed. Please examine images—this is the exact piece offered.
Authentication
Guaranteed original; Certificate of Authenticity included.
About STB (Tatekan) posters
STBs are tall, two‑sheet verticals (c. 51 × 145 cm) printed on thin stock and designed to be posted outdoors on purpose‑built wooden stands at cinemas and busy transit approaches. They functioned as mini billboards; because they were exposed to weather and changed frequently, most were discarded. Original survivors are ultra‑rare, especially for Spaghetti Westerns at the height of their Japanese popularity.
