The Omega Man

‘It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine’, is a line from the R.E.M. song and in the case of the film under consideration here a fairly fitting motto. The film is the 1971 cult classic, ‘The Omega Man’. Only a year before the release of this flick Heston blew up the planet earth in ‘Beneath the Planet of the Apes’ so he is a man used to apocalypse. In this film he doesn’t cause the end of the work, instead he has survived it. It is popularly believed that the story this movie was based on was ‘I am Legend’ by Richard Matherson in 1954. There are elements here that are in common with that tale of the last man on earth battling vampires. There is also evidence that the source material for ‘Omega Man’ was actually George R. Stewart’s 1949 book ‘Earth Abides’. Instead of the vampires in the Matherson novel the Stewart story was about a plague that has left only one man fighting the contagious and almost feral victims. There was a previous version made in 1964 called ‘The Last Man on Earth’ staring Vincent Price that was closer to the Matherson novel and a new film with Will Smith directly linked with the name ‘I am Legend’. To anyone that has taken the time to read the Matherson novel none of the films do credit to it.

With any great science fiction the reader, or viewer, as the case may be, can read a lot into the story. Matherson has stated that he wanted to create a vampire story but over the years the social and political structure of the world has changed and the universal elements of Matherson’s and Stewart’s work have provided a scaffold for new interpretations. More recently vampire stories have taken on the slant of being a disease transmitted by contact with blood. This, of course, is a direct result of the growing epidemic of AIDS. This would also lean heavily towards the Stewart novel. In 1971 AIDS was still over a decade away. The prevalent fear for most people was the heating up of the cold war. In ‘Omega Man’ the plague was a result of biological warfare between the U.S.S.R. and communist China. It nicely left the United States as being part of the end of mankind although the whole world’s population was destroyed. This film also played upon the remnants of the fear of technology. While scientific advances have made most lives better there was still a group of people that believed that technology would ultimately be our downfall of our species.

The film was directed by Boris Sagal who had most of his career directing television episode. This is not necessarily a bad thing since those shows included some of the best like ‘Man from U.N.C.L.E.’, ‘Columbo’ and ‘Night Gallery’. His style is typical of the seventies with fast cuts and rapid pacing. The script was written by ‘John William Corrington’ who also penned ‘Battle for the Planet of the Apes’, ‘Boxcar Bertha’ and ‘Killer Bees’. In a little twist of fate he credited for some concepts for the script of the 2007 version ‘I am Legend’. His script here is so loosely based on the Matherson novel that there is little wonder that there is still some discussion about whether it was actually the source of the story. Together Sagal and Corrington provide a solid action Sci-Fi that made not be the best around but it remains a solid cult classic.

As the film opens Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) is driving around the deserted streets of Los Angles in a sporty red convertible. It puts an eight track cartridge into the car’s player and enjoys some slow jazz. If you do not know what an eight track was ask your parents. They probably have one deep in the inner reaches of their closet. When he spots a shadowy figure in the window of one of the buildings he stops and blasts at it with a machine gun, typical day in LA. One of his tires blows out and he abandons the car and just picks a new one up at the nearest car lot. This is California without traffic so we know it is a science fiction. Neville makes a stop at a movie theater with ‘Woodstock’ on the marquee. He sets up the projector and watches, mouthing the dialogue. When he gets out he notices that it is getting dark and he rushes back to his fortified home to prepare for another night. Every night a group of albinos lay siege to his home, chanting, mocking and using a crude catapult to fling fiery objects at the Neville residence. He responds with the fifty caliber machine gun nest he build on his terrace, just what every gun loving American would have. It turns out that the albinos are the ‘Family’, a group of people affected by a pandemic unleashed by a war between Russia and China. They are extremely photosensitive and wear home spun hooded cloaks and sunglasses even at night. Their leader is Matthias (Anthony Zerbe) a former newsman now the leader of the neo-Luddite cult. They blame technology for the fall of civilization and feel it is their holy mission to remove all traces of it from the planet; Neville represents the embodiment of that evil. Neville is actually a good choice. He was a military man working on biological weapons and survived the plague because he was developing a vaccination before the end. He managed to inject himself but it was too late to help others.

In the second act of the film Neville is captured by the Family, given a mock trial and found guilty. He is taken to Dodger Stadium where he was to be burnt at the stake. Just before the torches are touched to the pyre Neville is rescued by a group of people that look normal. He is taken to their remote hiding place where he discovers that although the disease hasn’t killed them they are beginning to show signs of its progress. One ray of hope comes to Neville when he notices the number of children in the camp. He figures that it would take too long to replicate his original vaccination but he can make a serum out of his own blood. He winds up with an interracial love interest in the person of Lisa (Rosalind Cash), still a big thing back in1971. he tries out his serum on her teenaged brother Richie (Eric Laneuville) who is about to turn to the albino form. He is cured but before they have too much time to celebrate the Family comes back in the picture.

The movie is admittedly very dated but remains a good piece of entertainment. It would be interesting to have a triple feature night with this one; ‘The Last Man on Earth’ and ‘I am Legend’ just to compare the three variations on a theme. It would help a lot if you read the Matherson book to see how the story should be told.

This film has a bit of history on DVD with Warner Brothers. The release set for 2001 was cancelled but after the Will Smith flick was announced Warner brothers came out with a release in May of 2007 followed by a re-release in November. That release was also made in both Blu-ray and HD-DVD. There was also a now discontinued version in 2003 that is still floating around so check the UPC number before you buy. All of the 2007 releases include a commentary track featuring Eric Laneuville, Paul Koslo and writer John William Corrington. There is a vintage featurette with Heston chatting with an anthropologist about the character of Neville and an essay on the science fiction flicks done by Heston. This is not great but remains solid and fun watch.

Posted 02/17/08