Saul Bass

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q536884: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as craft. The films the hosts said they worked on, which the two lists below run through too: Around the World in 80 Days (1956); Anatomy of a Murder (1959); Spartacus (1960); The Cardinal (1963); Planet of the Apes (2001); Advise and Consent.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Planet of the Apes (1968): 2 lines

  1. contrast (inversion) · through Planet of the Apes (2001), which they worked on as title designer (compared to Apes opening credits): Planet of the Apes ⇒ Planet of the Apes (the host's read). The remake opens on a loud, leafy backlot set while the original opens in an empty desert with no apes for a long stretch.
    “They totally invert the original movie where the original movie starts in the middle of nowhere.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:53:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage) · through Planet of the Apes (2001), which they worked on as title designer (compared to Apes opening credits): Planet of the Apes ⇒ Planet of the Apes (the host's read). Burton's ending tries to outdo the Statue of Liberty reveal of the original.
    “Because they're trying to outdo the reveal of like the Statue of Liberty at the end.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Incredible Hulk · 0:39:14 · Griffin or David (0.30 sure it was them)

Dogville shorts (1930s-40s live-action dog shorts): 1 line

  1. industry (studio instinct) · through Planet of the Apes (2001), which they worked on as title designer (compared to Apes opening credits): Dogville shorts (1930s-40s live-action dog shorts) ⇒ Planet of the Apes (the host's read). Fox just wanted apes doing human things, like the old Dogville shorts with dogs at restaurant tables.
    “And it feels like Fox just wanted to make that.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:12:43 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)

Steven Spielberg: 1 line

  1. unmapped (led to restoration) · through Spartacus (1960), which they worked on as title designer; pre-production look and location scouting: Steven Spielberg ⇒ Spartacus (the host's read). Spielberg talked Kubrick into letting the film be restored and re-released.
    “and Spielberg knew him then. and was like, well, they're, you know, the American cinema tech or whoever wants to do this.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:01:51 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Gladiator (2000): 3 lines

  1. lineage (riff / imitation) · through Spartacus (1960), which they worked on as title designer; pre-production look and location scouting: Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read). Richard, seeing Spartacus for the first time, says it is the main thing Gladiator riffs on.
    “this is really the main thing the gladiators are riffing on.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:03:34 · Richard Lawson (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. people (casting approach) · through Spartacus (1960), which they worked on as title designer; pre-production look and location scouting: Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read). Gladiator, like Spartacus, is loaded with supporting actors who are thespian gems, which the speaker says Scott recognized.
    “as Ridley Scott recognized about this movie, is like loaded up with supporting actors who are like just thespian gems.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:33:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (scene reused) · through Spartacus (1960), which they worked on as title designer; pre-production look and location scouting: Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read). The trident thrown into the stands in Spartacus is in Gladiator too, with Russell Crowe doing it.
    “that's literally in Gladiator.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:14:49 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Airplane! (1980): 1 line

  1. unmapped (reference) · through Spartacus (1960), which they worked on as title designer; pre-production look and location scouting: Spartacus ⇒ Airplane! (the host's read). The Spartacus bath-scene joke is the joke in Airplane and it still works.
    “there's a reason that it's it's the fucking joke in airplane and that the joke still works so well.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:44:12 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Bear City (SNL digital short): 1 line

  1. unmapped (parody) · through Planet of the Apes (2001), which they worked on as title designer (compared to Apes opening credits): Planet of the Apes ⇒ Bear City (SNL digital short) (the host's read). An SNL short riffs on Apes with bears who just wear human clothes and mimic humans, like the apes keeping the Lincoln Memorial.
    “they were riff on Plan of the Apes, where the bears got smart and they decided to kill all the humans.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:24:42 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Clueless (1995): 1 line

  1. unmapped (reference) · through Spartacus (1960), which they worked on as title designer; pre-production look and location scouting: Spartacus ⇒ Clueless (the host's read). Richard knew Spartacus mostly through the Clueless clip (and Community jokes) before watching it.
    “to have heard about this movie mostly through Clueless, but also just joked about in community for years”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:43:58 · Richard Lawson (0.60 sure it was them)

Dell Comics: 1 line

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through Spartacus (1960), which they worked on as title designer; pre-production look and location scouting: Spartacus ⇒ Dell Comics (the host's read). Spartacus got a Dell Comics color adaptation, like a tie-in of its era.
    “that this had a Dell comics color adaptation”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:59:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Craft (7) everyone in craft

What was said about them, by kind

craft (4)

  1. craft (visual comparison): Planet of the Apes → Saul Bass. The opening title shots of helmets feel like Saul Bass.
    “feels very salt bass to me.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:52:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft): Anatomy of a Murder → Saul Bass. Bass made the indelible opening title sequence.
    “Saul Bass, the great title sequence creator”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:48:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. craft (poster design): Saul Bass → Advise and Consent. Advise and Consent has a Saul Bass poster.
    “It does have a badass soul bass poster”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Lolita with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 2:10:22 · unknown (0.00 sure it was them)
  4. craft (craft): Around the World in 80 Days → Saul Bass. A speaker who watched only the five-minute opening sequence compares it to an early Saul Bass title sequence.
    “It's like an early Saul Bass sequence.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory with Sarah Marshall (Ad-Free) · 1:51:00 · Sarah Marshall (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Saul Bass: Bass pushed opening credits to be part of the film instead of projected on the closed curtain.
    “before him opening credits would often just be projected on the closed curtains”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:03:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)