The role and impact of time on the arts is interesting. It is a fundamental foundation of much science fiction. When it comes to film, time is important in other respects. The timing or era of a movie's release may impact how audiences receive it. The passage of time may alter that initial impression for either the good or the bad. Each of these elements of time is brought to mind by the DVD release of The Illustrated Man, the 1969 film based on the book of the same name by Ray Bradbury.
The film seemed well timed at its release. Rod Steiger stars in the title role and is joined by his then-wife, Claire Bloom. Steiger was a hot commodity. He won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1967 (an award for which he was also nominated in 1965) for his role as Police Chief Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night. The Illustrated Man reached the theaters less than a year after 2001: A Space Odyssey grabbed critics and fans; however, it didn't fare well with audiences and even Bradbury panned it.
Today, The Illustrated Man also reflects its time. Not only do Steiger's body illustrations have a psychedelic feel and look, a documentary extra on the DVD shows how the crew strived for the illustrations to blend in with paisley furniture and backgrounds in the film. Paisley, of course, was amongst the hot designs flowing from 1967's so-called "Summer of Love." Director Jack Smight also seems to have wanted to push the envelope a bit, having Steiger, Bloom and co-star Robert Drivas all appear nude in the film. While filmed so as to avoid exposing any genitalia, it may have been a touch on the risqué side for mainstream theaters at the time.
The real core here, though, is that the focus of the film, like the science fiction short stories it excerpts from Bradbury's book, is an examination of the future as well as a man's past. For those unfamiliar with the work, Bradbury's book is a collection of 18 science fiction short stories. The canvas on which these stories are portrayed is a former carnival worker who, with the sole exception of an area near his left shoulder blade, is covered from neck to toe with illustrations. As the Illustrated Man makes clear both in the book and the film, these are not tattoos. To the contrary, the illustrations come to life as people stare at them and relate each of the stories in the book.
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