The Illustrated Man (film)
Encyclopedia
The Illustrated Man is a 1969 American science fiction film directed by Jack Smight
and starring Rod Steiger
. The film is based on three short stories from the 1951 collection The Illustrated Man
by Ray Bradbury
: "The Veldt
", "The Long Rain
", and "The Last Night of the World". The film was not well-received by critics and audiences.
he has on his body. The stories were about alternate reality (The Veldt), a mysterious planet (The Long Rain) and the end of the world (The Last Night of the World). Steiger is accompanied by a dog and meets a traveler who listens to each tale. The tie in prologue tells of how the title character came to be after encountering a magical woman named Felicia (Claire Bloom
) in a large house.
's collection of the same name
. Howard B. Kreitsek wrote the screenplay that encompassed the stories "The Veldt", "The Long Rain", and "The Last Night of the World", Jack Smight
directed the film. Bradbury was not consulted for the adaptation. The author sold story rights to the film in December 1967 for $85,000, but he did not sell the film rights. Since the collection included eighteen short stories, Smight chose three stories and used the carnival sideshow freak who appeared in the collection's prologue and epilogue as the film's primary narrative. As the freak, the director cast Rod Steiger
, whom he had known since the 1950s.
wrote, "Responsibility for the failure of The Illustrated Man must rest with Director Jack Smight. He has committed every possible error of style and taste, including the inexcusable fault of letting Steiger chew up every piece of scenery in sight."
Vincent Canby
of The New York Times
wrote, "Mr. Kreitsek's screenplay is unsharp, without focus, working into and out of the hallucinations with great awkwardness." Canby found the film to have "moments of eerie beauty" but believed that the director was limited by the screenplay. The critic said, "Everything remains foetus-like and underdeveloped, although shrouded in misty pretentions of grandeur." Echoing Canby, Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
wrote, "Smight's confused, wandering film never does quite come to terms with what it wants to be." Ebert pointed out the film's weaknesses to be of acting and of character but did not find them to be fatal. He believed that film's major flaw was "inadequate attention" to the audience's expectations, distracting it with logic and lack of logic in the film's three stories. He concluded, "And so the film finally doesn't work for the same reason that comic Westerns usually fail: Because it's risky to fool around with a genre unless you know what you're doing."
When The Illustrated Man was released on DVD in 2006, a retrospective review of the film wrote that the counterculture of the 1960s
was evident in the film and that its depiction of the future did not age well.
to remake The Illustrated Man, and screenwriter Alex Tse
was hired to write the screenplay. The remake has yet to be produced.
Jack Smight
Jack Smight was an American theatre and film director.Smight was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and went to school with future actor Peter Graves...
and starring Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
. The film is based on three short stories from the 1951 collection The Illustrated Man
The Illustrated Man
The Illustrated Man is a 1951 book of eighteen science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury that explores the nature of mankind. While none of the stories has a plot or character connection with the next, a recurring theme is the conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of...
by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
: "The Veldt
The Veldt
"The Veldt" is a short story written by Ray Bradbury that was published originally as "The World the Children Made" in the September 23, 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, later republished in the anthology The Illustrated Man in 1951...
", "The Long Rain
The Long Rain
"The Long Rain" is a short story by science fiction author Ray Bradbury. This story was originally published in 1950 by Love Romances Publishing Co., Inc.-Plot summary:The first paragraph reads as follows:The rain continued...
", and "The Last Night of the World". The film was not well-received by critics and audiences.
Plot
Set in the backroads of America, the film told three of Bradbury's stories set in the future, with Steiger as the man telling the tales for each tattooTattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
he has on his body. The stories were about alternate reality (The Veldt), a mysterious planet (The Long Rain) and the end of the world (The Last Night of the World). Steiger is accompanied by a dog and meets a traveler who listens to each tale. The tie in prologue tells of how the title character came to be after encountering a magical woman named Felicia (Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
) in a large house.
Production
The Illustrated Man comprises three science fiction short stories from Ray BradburyRay Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's collection of the same name
The Illustrated Man
The Illustrated Man is a 1951 book of eighteen science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury that explores the nature of mankind. While none of the stories has a plot or character connection with the next, a recurring theme is the conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of...
. Howard B. Kreitsek wrote the screenplay that encompassed the stories "The Veldt", "The Long Rain", and "The Last Night of the World", Jack Smight
Jack Smight
Jack Smight was an American theatre and film director.Smight was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and went to school with future actor Peter Graves...
directed the film. Bradbury was not consulted for the adaptation. The author sold story rights to the film in December 1967 for $85,000, but he did not sell the film rights. Since the collection included eighteen short stories, Smight chose three stories and used the carnival sideshow freak who appeared in the collection's prologue and epilogue as the film's primary narrative. As the freak, the director cast Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
, whom he had known since the 1950s.
Cast
- Rod SteigerRod SteigerRodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
... Carl - Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
... Felicia - Robert DrivasRobert DrivasRobert Drivas was an American actor and theatre director.Drivas was born Robert Choromokos in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Hariklia and James Peter Choromokos. Drivas studied at the University of Chicago and the University of Miami...
... Willie - Don DubbinsDon DubbinsDon Dubbins , originally Donald Dubbins, was an American actor of film and television who in his early career usually played younger military roles, particularly in such classic pictures as From Here to Eternity and The Caine Mutiny...
... Pickard - Jason EversJason EversJason Evers was an American actor.Evers was born Herb Evers in New York City, New York. After quitting high school to join the United States Army, Evers was so inspired by stars like John Wayne that he decided to try acting...
... Simmons - Tim Weldon ... John
- Christine Matchett ... Anna
Reception
The Illustrated Man was considered a critical and financial failure. TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
wrote, "Responsibility for the failure of The Illustrated Man must rest with Director Jack Smight. He has committed every possible error of style and taste, including the inexcusable fault of letting Steiger chew up every piece of scenery in sight."
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote, "Mr. Kreitsek's screenplay is unsharp, without focus, working into and out of the hallucinations with great awkwardness." Canby found the film to have "moments of eerie beauty" but believed that the director was limited by the screenplay. The critic said, "Everything remains foetus-like and underdeveloped, although shrouded in misty pretentions of grandeur." Echoing Canby, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
wrote, "Smight's confused, wandering film never does quite come to terms with what it wants to be." Ebert pointed out the film's weaknesses to be of acting and of character but did not find them to be fatal. He believed that film's major flaw was "inadequate attention" to the audience's expectations, distracting it with logic and lack of logic in the film's three stories. He concluded, "And so the film finally doesn't work for the same reason that comic Westerns usually fail: Because it's risky to fool around with a genre unless you know what you're doing."
When The Illustrated Man was released on DVD in 2006, a retrospective review of the film wrote that the counterculture of the 1960s
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
was evident in the film and that its depiction of the future did not age well.
Remake
In August 2007, Warner Bros. hired director Zack SnyderZack Snyder
Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. After making his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead, he gained wide recognition with the 2007 box office hit 300, adapted from writer-artist Frank Miller's Dark Horse Comics...
to remake The Illustrated Man, and screenwriter Alex Tse
Alex Tse
Alex R. Tse is an American screenwriter who grew up in San Francisco and attended Emerson College in Boston. His first script to be produced was Sucker Free City, a Showtime television movie directed by Spike Lee and released in 2004...
was hired to write the screenplay. The remake has yet to be produced.