Back in the 1960’s, Rod Steiger was considered one of the top actors in Hollywood.  He would receive an Academy Award for Best Actor for “In the Heat of the Night” (1967.)  But for me, that wasn’t his best performance.  Steiger would also be nominated for “On the Waterfront” (1954) and “The Pawnbroker” (1965).

When you watch the taxicab scene from “On the Waterfront”, watch Rod Steiger.  He is told by his brother Terry Malloy (Brando) how his own brother sold him out.  The look, the reaction.  He knows every word of it is true and it destroys him.

In “The Pawnbroker”, Steiger is Sol Nazerman, a survivor of the Holocaust.  He is an empty shell of a man.  Others try to reach him, but he’s untouchable.  There are many outstanding scenes.  For me, the best is when he’s asked “Why are your people so good at business?”

Lee Marvin would somehow win the Oscar for “Cat Ballou”, a comedy-western.  Proof positive the Academy is insane.

After winning an Oscar in 1968, Rod Steiger could pretty much pick and choose any role he wanted.  His next three films:  “No Way to Treat a Lady”, “The Sergeant” and “The Illustrated Man” were chancy, gutsy performances.

In “No Way to Treat a Lady”, Rod plays a psychopathic strangler who kills old ladies that remind him of his mother.  It’s a superb thriller except for the cop-out ending.  Based on a novel by William Goldman.

“The Sergeant” chronicles how Steiger (as Master Sergeant Albert Callan) tries to take over a young man’s life. (John Phillip Law as Pvt. Swanson.)   A closeted homosexual, his character weeps, tries to kiss the object of his affection and then says, “I didn’t do that.”   Critics trashed the movie, but few actors would have the guts to play it back in the 1960’s.

“The Illustrated Man” is an anthology held together by the lead character (Steiger as Carl) who tells his story to a young drifter (Robert Drivas as Willie.)  Claire Bloom (then Steiger’s wife) is the mysterious women named Felicia who goes “Back into the future”.    As Carl says, “She went back into her house and took the whole blessed thing with her.”

Carl’s stories are told through his tattoos (“Skin illustrations”, he insists.)  The plot eludes to reincarnation.  The same characters reappear through our life, over and over again.

“The Illustrated Man” is a flawed, but fascinating film, noteworthy for its score (Jerry Goldsmith) and a dog Carl carries around in a bag.  (Pogo as “Peke”.)

Rod Steiger’s career would take a nosedive with the box-office failure aptly titled “Waterloo” (1970.)  In ’71, he replaced Eli Wallach as Tuco in “Duck, You Sucker”.  (A semi-sequel to “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” – directed by Sergio Leone.  It flopped.  Like many actors, Rod Steiger suffered from clinical depression.  Being regarded as one of the world’s great actors, then seeing it crumble from a series of bad movies and a divorce from Claire Bloom was a shame.  He would make several comebacks in “The Amityville Horror” (1979) and “The Specialist” (1994.)

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