The Omega Man
The Omega Man
In 1971 The Omega Man brought Richard Matheson's 1954 novel to the big screen for the second time. This version of the story made in the post Vietnam War America, finds the deadly plague caused by man rather than by nature, as the plague that wipes out humanity is caused by germ-warfare. The Omega Man was directed by Boris Sagal with a screenplay written by John and Joyce Corrington, based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.
The Omega Man stars Charlton Heston as Robert Neville, Anthony Zerbe as Jonathan Matthias, Rosalind Cash as Lisa, Paul Koslo as Dutch, and Eric Laneuville as Richie. This might be one of Charlton Heston's best science-fiction roles ranking up there with Planet Of The Apes and Soylent Green. Though Charlton Heston is guilty of his typical "overacting", it works well in this role, as a man who has taken up talking to himself because he is the only person left in the world that can still exist in the world of the light.
The world of the I Am Legend, including the version told in Omega Man, is a world where during the day live's Robert Neville, and at night is the world of the mutated creatures caused by the "plague". In the original story I Am Legend, as well as in The Last Man On Earth, those infected in the pandemic, who do not die become vampiric creatures of the night, and in Omega Man they just become a cult more closely related to those in Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, but rather than mutated by radiation, they are mutated by the "plague". In Omega Man the cult of the infected are led by Matthias, and as Neville hunts them during the day they hunt him at night. They refer to Neville as "the creature of the wheel" because of his clinging to the old ways of humanity, and the using of civilizations tools that led to the war that caused the "plague". This film is also the inspiration of the White Zombie song Creature Of The Wheel, which uses sound clips from the film.
It is interesting how this film was shot, to create the look and the feel of Los Angeles as an abandoned city, they shot on Sundays when the business district was mostly abandoned. Though if you do look really closely there are a few scenes where you can catch a glimpse of a car moving in the background, or the occasional person walking in the background, because they obviously couldn't shut down the city for the film, and CG effects were not really a thing yet, and even editing out people in the background was a technology that wasn't available yet, so it is really impressive that they were able to pull of the effect for the film. This film was also ground breaking as being one of the first major films to have an onscreen interracial romantic relationship, including one of the first onscreen passionate kisses of a white and black cast members. Part of that is that the writers of the screen play felt it was important that Lisa be played by a black woman, because she felt that it was important to show support for the black power movement that was happening in the world at the time. Charlton Heston actually sought the advice of an anthropologist in preparing to play the character of Neville, to make the character more authentic. The film also met with a little controversy because of some of the religious symbolism, for example when one of the kids asks if Neville is God, he doesn't actually answer the question, giving a hint that he might actually see himself as being a god because of his creating the vaccine. Also the end of the film symbolizes that Neville is a Christ-like figure.
The Omega Man was distributed by Warner Brothers, and was a box office success bringing in four million dollars. The film was met with mixed reviews by the critics, and even on modern film rating websites like Rotten Tomatoes it sees mixed reviews. Some consider the film a great classic, for example acclaimed film director Tim Burton considers it among one of his favourite films, and also it became the subject of songs like the one I mention by White Zombie. I personally love this film, yes, sure, there is some typical overacting by Charlton Heston, but really that is to be expected from him, and maybe why some of us like his films so much, like would Planet of the Apes or Soylent Green have worked so well and become such well remembered and loved films if it wasn't for Charlton Heston's overacting. There are some great memorable lines and scenes in this film, and it is definitely one of my favourite sci-fi/horror films of the 1970s. I like how in The Last Man On Earth with Vincent Price there was this dark eeriness to it, and just an over all creepy tone, and with Omega Man we see bright colours and more of an action tone, with much more humour and one liners mixed in, it was a different film for a different time, even though there was less than a decade separating the two films. The Last Man On Earth was much more rooted in the classic horror of the 1960s, and The Omega Mas is very much a product of the post Vietnam War era of the 1970s. I think if the film was remade today it would be much different, which we will see for ourselves in my next review. If you have not yet seen this classic film, I highly recommend it, I do definitely feel like this is a must-see film.
The Omega Man stars Charlton Heston as Robert Neville, Anthony Zerbe as Jonathan Matthias, Rosalind Cash as Lisa, Paul Koslo as Dutch, and Eric Laneuville as Richie. This might be one of Charlton Heston's best science-fiction roles ranking up there with Planet Of The Apes and Soylent Green. Though Charlton Heston is guilty of his typical "overacting", it works well in this role, as a man who has taken up talking to himself because he is the only person left in the world that can still exist in the world of the light.
The world of the I Am Legend, including the version told in Omega Man, is a world where during the day live's Robert Neville, and at night is the world of the mutated creatures caused by the "plague". In the original story I Am Legend, as well as in The Last Man On Earth, those infected in the pandemic, who do not die become vampiric creatures of the night, and in Omega Man they just become a cult more closely related to those in Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, but rather than mutated by radiation, they are mutated by the "plague". In Omega Man the cult of the infected are led by Matthias, and as Neville hunts them during the day they hunt him at night. They refer to Neville as "the creature of the wheel" because of his clinging to the old ways of humanity, and the using of civilizations tools that led to the war that caused the "plague". This film is also the inspiration of the White Zombie song Creature Of The Wheel, which uses sound clips from the film.
It is interesting how this film was shot, to create the look and the feel of Los Angeles as an abandoned city, they shot on Sundays when the business district was mostly abandoned. Though if you do look really closely there are a few scenes where you can catch a glimpse of a car moving in the background, or the occasional person walking in the background, because they obviously couldn't shut down the city for the film, and CG effects were not really a thing yet, and even editing out people in the background was a technology that wasn't available yet, so it is really impressive that they were able to pull of the effect for the film. This film was also ground breaking as being one of the first major films to have an onscreen interracial romantic relationship, including one of the first onscreen passionate kisses of a white and black cast members. Part of that is that the writers of the screen play felt it was important that Lisa be played by a black woman, because she felt that it was important to show support for the black power movement that was happening in the world at the time. Charlton Heston actually sought the advice of an anthropologist in preparing to play the character of Neville, to make the character more authentic. The film also met with a little controversy because of some of the religious symbolism, for example when one of the kids asks if Neville is God, he doesn't actually answer the question, giving a hint that he might actually see himself as being a god because of his creating the vaccine. Also the end of the film symbolizes that Neville is a Christ-like figure.
Here is the White Zombie song Creature Of The Wheel, that is about The Omega Man and features sound clips from the film. I do not own the rights to this song, and I make no profits from the sharing of it, basically I just encourage you to support great art that is rooted in the horror genre. So I encourage you to go buy the album Astro-Creep:2000 by White Zombie if you are a fan of horror films, as it has a lot of great songs inspired by the horror genre!
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