Poster for Clooney's “The American” Makes Us Weak in the Knees

George Clooney's first film of 2010, "The American," got a poster yesterday, and it packs a ton of promise for a '60s- or '70s'-style thriller.

With its burnt amber background, clean text, and Clooney atilt over a woman's face and overall starkness, the poster evokes some classics like "Blow-Up," "Bullitt," "Easy Rider," "Get Carter," "Klute," "Magnum Force" and "The Conversation," which seems to also share a similar psychological sensibility.

"The American," based on Martin Booth's novel "A Very Private Gentlemen," stars Clooney as an assassin hiding out in a small Italian village who falls a beautiful woman while awaiting an assignment. He eventually tells his handlers he wants out -- "Consider it your last assignment, you won't even have to pull the trigger," a voice on the phone assures him.

Former music video director Anton Corbijn, who earned high praise for his debut feature film, "Control," about Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, is behind the camera, working from a script by Rowan Jofffe, the man who penned "28 Weeks Later."

The story sounds like your standard "aging killer coming to grips with his life" story, but judging from the trailer and with Corbijn directing and Clooney rocking his "Michael Clayton" vibe, we've got hopes for it being genre film done right.

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