Prince of the City is a Sidney Lumet film from 1981 about New York police officer Daniel Ciello (Treat Williams) delving into his own city’s police corruption. Vincent Pacella’s Collegiate is used for the title. Memphis Light is used for supporting text.
The font used for the tagline at the top is an interesting one, too. Frutiger famously introduced a novel numbering system for his seminal sans, Univers. The first of the two digits defines the weight, while the second one defines the width – with even numbers used for italics. There is 75 (Black), 76 (Black Italic), and 67 (Condensed Bold) – but no 77 (Condensed Black).
The famous diagram with the 21 original styles of Univers arranged in a table. A Univers 77 would sit to the right of 76 and below 67. Image: Ampersand Press Lab (CC BY-NC)
That fact is even mentioned on the German Wikipedia page about font styles: “no such thing as Univers 77”. Well, that’s true for the original series by Deberny & Peignot. It doesn’t take into account the imaginative makers of phototype adaptations. In their 1978 catalog, Castcraft shows a Univers 77. It’s this apocryphal addition to the Univers series that’s used for “A cop is turning. Nobody’s safe.”
1 Comment on “Prince of the City movie poster and soundtrack cover”
Thank you, Garrison. First documented Use for Pacella Collegiate!
The font used for the tagline at the top is an interesting one, too. Frutiger famously introduced a novel numbering system for his seminal sans, Univers. The first of the two digits defines the weight, while the second one defines the width – with even numbers used for italics. There is 75 (Black), 76 (Black Italic), and 67 (Condensed Bold) – but no 77 (Condensed Black).
That fact is even mentioned on the German Wikipedia page about font styles: “no such thing as Univers 77”. Well, that’s true for the original series by Deberny & Peignot. It doesn’t take into account the imaginative makers of phototype adaptations. In their 1978 catalog, Castcraft shows a Univers 77. It’s this apocryphal addition to the Univers series that’s used for “A cop is turning. Nobody’s safe.”