Japanese

Cool as ever, squinting into the sun on his motorcycle, Steve McQueen is the main attraction on this full bleed photomontage poster for the first Japanese release of Bruce Brown’s infectious 1971 motorsport documentary On Any Sunday. Following the worldwide success of his seminal surf documentary The Endless Summer, Brown set out to capture the sport of motorcycling, its various disciplines and the free-spirited community shaping it, following stars of the sport including Malcolm Smith, Meet Lawwill and David Aldana. As a keen motorcyclist himself, McQueen not only agreed to feature in the film, but provided financial backing through his company Solar Productions. Acquiring impressive footage over thousands of miles using makeshift high-speed and helmet cameras in challenging conditions, Brown’s directorial artistry was evident. Film critic Roger Ebert applauded the documentary for doing “for motorcycle racing what ‘The Endless Summer’ did for surfing.” Widely regarded as the greatest motorcycle documentary ever made, On Any Sunday received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature and went a long way towards changing the perception of motorcyclists, as well as inspiring a new generation of fanatics.

Condition

Very good (B+)

Not backed. Soft undulation and two partial horizontal creases from being lightly tri-folded at one time. Light edge wear including two tiny 0.18in. tears to right edge. Small ding at McQueen's chin. Some darkening to edges. Image and colours otherwise excellent.