Carl Reiner has passed away at age 98. The New York native who served in WWII and then went on to become a comedy icon, had a varied career and many achievements that were often behind the cameras. He gained fame as a member of Sid Caesar's ensemble on his legendary 1950s TV series "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour". Reiner was usually happy to play the straight man in skits that help revolutionize the world of comedy. With his good friend Mel Brooks, who wrote for Caesar's shows, he created the concept of the 2,000 Year-Old Man, which found Reiner interviewing the elderly Jewish guy, played by Brooks. The concept started informally when the duo would improvise acts at social gatherings, but when they finally released the 2,000 Year-Old Man as a comedy album, it sold over a million copies and institutionalized Jewish humor for a generation of American comedians. In the 1960s, Reiner turned the concept for a failed TV sitcom in which he starred into a major hit as "The Dick Van Dyke Show". The series made Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore beloved TV icons. The show ran from 1961 to 1966 and was still a top-ratings earner when Van Dyke chose to quit in order to pursue a career in feature films.
Reiner began to find success as a movie director, a career he began in 1967 with his semi-autobiographical film "Enter Laughing". His 1969 film "The Comic" about the rise and fall of an obnoxious silent screen icon starred Dick Van Dyke. The ambitious film has built a cult following but was a flop upon its release because of its downbeat premise. His 1970 comedy "Where's Poppa?" was controversial because of its cynical content but "Oh, God!" starring George Burns was a major hit, as was "The Jerk", a concept of producer David V. Picker's that launched Steve Martin's career as a leading man.
Reiner had a rare leading man role in a feature film with the smash hit "The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!" in 1966 but, in general, he was satisfied playing supporting roles in movies and TV programs. He played key roles in the "Oceans Eleven" films starring George Clooney, which were derived from the original 1960 Rat Pack classic.
Reiner, the father of acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner, was married for 65 years to his wife Estelle Lebost, who passed away in 2008. He remained close friends with fellow comedy icons Mel Brooks and Norman Lear.
Ray
Bradbury’s excellent 1951 short story anthology, The Illustrated Man, is
one of the author’s most revered works. It contains eighteen tales loosely
framed by a narrator who meets a carnival sideshow freak covered in tattoos
that “tell storiesâ€â€”and each entry in the book illustrates one of the tattoos.
“Don’t
you call them tattoos!†Rod Steiger belligerently yells at the
protagonist of the 1969 film adaptation. “They are skin ill-us-tra-TIONS!†Steiger
emotes in his inimitable scenery-chewing way.
And
there is the crux of why The Illustrated Man, which was adapted by
co-producer Howard B. Kreitsek, doesn’t work too well. Steiger, who plays
“Carl,†the illustrated man, had a checkered career marked by many brilliant
performances… but also, perhaps, more eccentric and over-the-top ones. His good
screen appearances (On the Waterfront, Oklahoma!, The Pawnbroker,
Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, among others) are truly
excellent, and Heat of the Night earned him an Oscar for Best Actor. But
then there is No Way to Treat a Lady, Waterloo, and Lolly-Madonna
XXX. Steiger’s performance in The Illustrated Man probably falls
into the latter category, although he has his moments.
The
time is the 1930s (judging from the automobile seen at the beginning). Willie
(Robert Drivas) is hitchhiking his way west and stops at a lake for a swim and
campout. Carl, the illustrated man, happens to be doing the same. The pair
meet, and Carl is unreasonably confrontational and unfriendly, and yet the two
men settle down to share coffee (actually, Carl takes it without asking). Then
Carl reveals his illustrated body to the shocked Willie and begins to tell his
story of how a witch from the future named Felicia (Claire Bloom, Steiger’s
wife at the time) entranced him and proceeded to tattoo his entire body (sorry,
illustrate his body). Three tales from Bradbury’s anthology are then
enacted. “The Veldt†is in the future, and it features both Steiger and Bloom
as a married couple with two children who play in a virtual reality “nurseryâ€
that reproduces realistic places… in this case an African veldt occupied by
hungry lions. “The Long Rain†features Steiger with three other astronauts on
Venus, where it’s constantly raining. They’re lost and attempting to find a
“sun dome†for shelter, but the men begin to go nuts. “The Last Night of the
World†again presents Steiger and Bloom as a married couple who learn that the
world will end overnight, so the population has decided to end the lives of
their children so that they won’t suffer. There are, of course, twists in all
three tales.
There
is much to admire about the film. Steiger’s “illustrationsâ€â€”the makeup and
design—are truly magnificent, and kudos should be awarded to the technicians
responsible. Jerry Goldsmith’s eerily beautiful score creates a melancholic
mood that is quite effective. Bloom is good, charismatic, believable, and
gorgeous. Where the movie falls short is in the inelegant writing, clumsy direction,
and in Steiger’s odd performance. Sometimes his line readings are just… strange.
Maybe that was intentional, but instead of coming off “other worldly,†it’s
more like campy bad acting.
This
viewer remembers seeing the film in 1969 as a young teen and being taken with
the storytelling and mood. It also seemed to be very “adult†(there are flashes
of nudity) and was rated “M†at the time (for Mature audiences), a designation
later replaced by PG. In those days, the “M†could often lie somewhere between
today’s PG and R in terms of sex and violence. Ah, the good old days.
Warner
Archive’s new Blu-ray (produced on demand when ordered) looks sharp and clear
in its widescreen glory. A short featurette on the creation of Steiger’s makeup
and illustrations, and the theatrical trailer, are included as supplements.
The
Illustrated Man may
not be a perfect Ray Bradbury adaptation, but any Bradbury on screen is better
than none.
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