A man who has a body almost completely covered in tattoos is searching for the woman who cursed him with the "skin illustrations". Each tattoo reveals a bizarre story, which is experienced by staring at the scene depicted. When the illustrated man meets a fellow tramp on the road a strange voyage begins.
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1 out of 10 ... only because I can't give a zero, or better yet, negative. The characters repeat the same statements over and over and over, the stories are completely butchered ("The Last Night of the World" isn't even recognizable - none of this crud about killing children or a 'World Forum' was in the actual story.) Couldn't they have replaced it with "The Man" or "The Fire Balloons" or any of the other stories? Two out of the three stories -about half the running time- were literally painful to watch.You never see the illustrations move - the one thing you do see them do is a crappy superimposition effect. And using the stupid fire as a visual motif got annoying fast."Artiness" gone completely wrong.Uuughhh.
Saw this movie years ago late one night on telly when I was about 12 and watched again recently. Glad to say it stood up to expectation, a personal all time fave. Considering it was made in 1969 it was well ahead of its time. One of the few book adaptations that actually worked. The sets, props and characters were still impressive, even though the moog soundtrack gets a bit irritating at times, but it was the late 60's. A great dark and twisted way to present a selection of Bradbury stories which would be a big ask for any film maker to pull off without a lot of flack from the sci-fi purists. With todays movie technology would like to see a remake of this film, particularly the Long Rain and the Veld. Steiger was on top form in this film, who hated snakes and the woman who made his life a living hell...'When I fiiind her, I gonna keeeel her.'
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!
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.
