TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Catangro
After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Deanna
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
wes-connors
Skinny-dipping hitch-hiker Robert Drivas (as Willie) meets older, angst-ridden Rod Steiger (as Carl) in the California countryside. Upset because his body is nearly covered with tattoos, Mr. Steiger plans to kill the woman responsible - "skin illustrator" Claire Bloom (as Felicia). If you look at Steiger's tattoos, they tell stories and come alive. But if you look at the bare spot on Steiger's back, you may see a nightmarish future. We meet Ms. Bloom in a flashback, then Mr. Drivas admires Steiger's body art long enough to take us to a possible futures stories. This attempt to tie together a few of Ray Bradbury's original stories seems to be making a universal and penetrating point, then doesn't.**** The Illustrated Man (3/26/69) Jack Smight ~ Rod Steiger, Robert Drivas, Claire Bloom, Don Dubbins
misterfepo
I recently saw this on TCM April 19th, 2012. I haven't seen it in at least 20 years and wanted to see if I saw anything redeeming in it that I didn't notice before. There was absolutely nothing here to change my mind and it still is a ponderous film. Rod Steiger just wasn't right for the part and just because one uses futuristic backgrounds doesn't make a film science fiction. Science fiction can be in the past, present and obviously the future, but it's the idea that counts, the feeling. None of the stories offered any wonder, only depressing clichéd vignettes and endings. Even the "reality" portions of the film were torture to watch. So now I'm good until 2032!
Psalm 52
I saw this recently and it appeared muddled in its story-telling. There were parts I re-watched, and the ending just didn't deliver. Then I spoke w/ a female friend who knows Bradbury's writing style and she explained sections of the story that made me re-evaluate this film and arrive at the conclusion that this is a worthwhile adaptation. The Illustrated Man's body art tells stories that happened and that are-about-to-happen, hence the ending in which the young male traveler eyes the one non-inked area and foresees his own fate. My favorite sequence is when the Illustrated Man is in the woman's house after she's finished putting art on his body and she is no where in sight so he goes outside and when he turns to re-enter the house ... well, watch it yourself ... the image of what happens to said house is way kewl!
Ithiliensranger
The power of a movie is how well it sticks with you. This one I saw at a drive-in back in 1970, and though I only considered it average at the time, one scene stuck with me through the years. The setting in rural depression-era United States helps set the mood of the meeting of a young drifter and a hardened hobo.Recently I acquired a used VHS tape of it and watched it through, and I remember why it stuck with me so well and so long. Not always well done, but yet it has power. The character Carl, well portrayed by the acting of Rod Steiger, starts to tell stories, and they take the young Willie, portrayed by Robert Drivas, on a wild mental ride that changes both their lives. I recommend it highly, and hope one day it will be out on DVD.
