Typophile

slab serif from The Natural

ralphsmouse

I got to staring at the poster for the Robert Redford movie The Natural.

I've never seen this particular slab serif before.

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natural.jpg35.66 KB

The image seems to be from one of the original posters for the movie, which was released in 1984.
I suspect it is lettering adapted from a monoline slab serif font such as Rockford. The oversize bowl on the R and the ski jump leg could have been added to evoke a nostalgic retro/deco mood.
At least I have not seen the combination in a digital or pre-digital monoline slab serif font.
There is at least one digital font inspired by Rockford that has a ski jump leg on the R similar to the lettering:


The lettering is in red and the font in black.
It's Sanchez Slab, using the alt R.
Don

Thanks!

Sanchez is a pretty good match.

You brought up a good point about the nostalgic touch on the R.

This being from the pre-digital age, I applaud whoever put all that work into doing a one-off.

You're welcome.
Don

Following Don's suggestion of Sanchez, Trend Slab, coming from the same foundry Latinotype, could also be an interesting substitute. X-height looks closer to your original sample, only needs /R leg to be tweaked.

Ah, great suggestion Ryuk, very close match!

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