The Illustrated Man (1969) (Blu-ray Review)

The Illustrated Man (1969) (Blu-ray Review)
Directed By: Jack Smight
Starring: Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom, Robert Drivas
Rated: PG/Region: A/2:40/1080p/Number of disc: 1
Available from Warner Bros.

A good-natured drifter meets a tattooed man whose “skin illustrations” inspire terrifying visions.

Well, it appears to be arthouse time in Warner’s Archive Blu-ray release of The Illustrated Man. I admit I didn’t read anything about it heading into, as I wanted to be surprised. I didn’t know what kind of movie I was getting myself into and let me tell you after having now watched it, it is an odd one. A young man minding his own business runs across another man who has “illustrations” all over him. Not only does he get highly pissed when those illustrations are called tattoos, but he’s looking for the woman who put them there so he can kill her. The beef of it all is when he tells the stories of certain illustrations we are then taken into the story with him and the boy always playing roles in the story with the woman who made the marks also there. This is where it gets a little trippy and perhaps a little too confusing for its own good.

I like a good mind tripping movie as much as the next guy, but I’m not sure I was always smelling what they were cooking here in this film. I admit I was interested at first but when things seem to just be dragging their feet a bit too much I started to turn away a bit from the movie. I’m sure it is an impressive film for the time creative wise and is more or less just a little dated now, but I wish there was more of a substance to the plot than just the randomness we get. The movie comes to Blu-ray looking miles better than it had before when compared to the vintage footage from the vintage making-of feature, so if you dig this one already you’ll love this release. If you haven’t seen this one before then take it from me, this might be a bit too odd for its own good.

Extras

– Vintage Featurette: “Tattooed Steiger”
– Theatrical Trailer

Quality of Transfer: 88%