The Omega Man

Plot synopsis:
A science fiction thriller based on the 1954 novel "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson.Set in 1977, two years after biological warfare wiped out the entire world population, except for Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) and a few that have been mutated into light-sensitive flesh-eating psychopathic zombies who are partially blind. Convinced by their fanatic leader, former news broadcaster Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), that Neville personifies the twin evils of science and militarism. Neville remains safely barricaded in his elegant, downtown penthouse apartment, where he has hoarded food, liquor and fuel normalcy in spite of the catastrophe around him, Neville patrols the city by day, carrying a machine gun and recording any sign of the mutants' activity in hopes of finding and destroying them. After another evening of fighting off attacks led by Matthias and his cohort Zachary, Neville searches downtown in hope of tracking them down. Attempting to suppress his constant anxiety, Neville "shops" in a clothing store and is startled when he sees a young black woman attempting to blend in with the store mannequins. Neville chases the woman, but she escapes by running into a park. Exhausted, Neville trudges into a bar and hearing a noise, descends into the darkened wine cellar where he is attacked by a group of mutants who take him to Matthias. Matthias condemns Neville for not being one of his "family" because he is not infected and declares him "obsolete". Neville maintains that the mutants should organize and attempt to find a cure, but Matthias and the others declare Neville guilty and carry him outside to a cart where he is driven to an area just outside of the stadium. Lashing Neville to a tree, Matthias exhorts his followers to burn the scientist as the bodies of the the dead were burned after initial contamination. Suddenly the stadium lights come one, forcing the mutants to collapse in an effort to cover their sensitive eyes and skin. An unmutated young man appears and cuts Neville free, then guides him away to the tunnels under the stadium where they are joined by the young woman Neville saw in the store. The woman forces Neville at gunpoint to drive her on a motorbike through the stadium and away from the recovering mutants.At dawn, the couple arrives at a house at the base of the mountains where Neville is stunned to meet a few healthy children. The young man joins the group and introduces himself as Dutch and the woman as Lisa. Dutch tells Neville that he is familiar with his work, as he was a graduate student in biochemistry before the disaster. Dutch explains that neither he nor Lisa and the children understand why they have not been afflicted with the plague, but admits that most of them have a mild sensitivity to light. Lisa and Dutch then tell Neville that they have brought him to examine one of the young people, Richie, who has shown signs of plague. After examining the boy, Neville shocks Lisa and Dutch when he reveals that he is immune to the plague due to a vaccination he developed and took just as the war reached its peak. Heartened when Neville suggests that his blood could be used to make a serum, Dutch and Lisa agrees to let Neville take Richie back to town where Neville has access to laboratories. At Neville's penthouse, he administers the last remaining vaccination to Richie. That evening, Neville treats Lisa to Dinner, but they are interrupted by a power outage caused Neville's failure to refuel the generators. While Neville goes to the basement to restore power, Zachary scales the building to the penthouse balcony. Neville restores the lights and returns in time to kill Zachary just as he is about to attack Lisa. Neville and Lisa spend the night together and the next morning, Neville notes that Richie's condition is much improved. Taking Lisa to a laboratory, Neville draws his own blood and sets about making a serum he hopes will work. Pleased, Lisa offers to spend the afternoon gathering supplies for them and Neville returns to his penthouse to find a nearly-recovered Richie. When Neville tells Richie about the serum, the boy expresses happiness that everyone will soon "return to normal". Neville explains that the mutants may be too far along in the illness to be saved and should be left dying. Dismayed, Richie criticizes the scientist for his hypocrisy and abruptly reveals that mutants hideout is the city civic center.Later, Neville goes to the mountains to report Richie's recovery and the serum development to Dutch, who agrees to join Neville and Lisa the following day. Upon returning to town, Neville finds a note from Richie declaring he has gone to confront the mutants to find out if they are as cynical as Neville. The scientist hurries to the civic center where he finds Richie brutally murdered. At dusk, as Lisa returns to the penthouse she runs into a torchlight parade by the mutants and, showing signs of the illness, joins them and lets them in at Neville apartment. Back at the penthouse, Neville is confronted by Matthias, a dazed Lisa and several mutants who destroy his belongings. Neville succeeds in breaking free and, using a large knife, threatens Matthias. Grabbing Lisa, Neville flees outside, but when Matthias calls to Lisa from the balcony, she is confused and breaks away from Neville. As Neville's machine gun jams, Matthias sees the spear dropped by Zachary and hurls it at Neville, impaling in him in the chest. The following morning, Dutch arrives with the children and is horrified to find Neville bleeding to death. Before dying, Neville gives Dutch the serum bottle and urges him to take the collapsed Lisa and the children away to start anew.

Tags: comedy, murder, cult, violence, flashback, good versus evil, insanity, humor, revenge, blaxploitation

Review:
Suddenly, story material that would never have been tackled by the major studios prior to this time was emerging.'The Omega Man' was of course an adaptation of Matheson's novel and is a second film version of it.
Yes there are distant cars in the back of that zoom out at the top of the film but these guys didn't have computers did they?Anyway, Heston looks amusingly dated in the role of Neville wearing his safari jacket and skintight tracksuit while he prowls the 'deserted' streets.
But the lesser parts can be enjoyed as early 70's camp.Even with its faults, "The Omega Man" is a great Sci-fi movie.
Charlton Heston found his definitive role here, as the last man on earth, a scientist fighting a single handed battle against hundreds of mutant creatures of the night.
A movie that provokes, entertains, and combines scorching social issues with rip-roaring adventure, THE OMEGA MAN is Heston's best.
Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, so the "Omega" Man is a round-a-bout way of saying The "Last" Man. Indeed, this violent science fiction actioner is a remake of a 1964 movie called The Last Man On Earth; in this version Charlton Heston assumes the role played by Vincent Price in the earlier film.
It is a depressing - and in many ways thought-provoking - story set in a future where the human population has been wiped out.Robert Neville (Heston) is the only remaining survivor of a worldwide plague, other than a race of vampiric mutants who come out at night.
The mutants are led by Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), formerly a TV newsreader, now an anti-technology crusader who encourages his followers to destroy the scientific and technological items they find, as he blames meddling scientists for ultimately decimating the world's population.What's so chilling about The Omega Man is that Neville is gradually shown to be the real "mutant".
But, in spite of all that, The Omega Man remains a worthwhile sci-fi actioner and another cult flick in the Charlton Heston "shock sci-fi" canon (see also Planet of the Apes '68 and Soylent Green '73)..
In my opinion, it is one of the best Apocalyptic Sci-Fi movies of the 70's (together with 'Soylent Green'), when the world had the cold war to threaten and the population had a great fear of a biological weapons.
Add to that worthwhile ending a legendary Ron Grainer (Dr. Who, The Prisoner) soundtrack and some very quotable dialogue ("Thanks alot, you cheating bastard") and THE OMEGA MAN rounds itself out into a very memorable movie.Unfortunately, Warner Bros.
The Omega Man. Despite the ridiculous plot, this shows what a very strong pair of actors (Heston and Zerbe) and a very visually arresting director (Boris Sagal), and a strong musical talent (Ron Grainer) can do, to say the least of Richard Matheson who is an acknowledged wizard in the field of paranoid science fiction (a particular genre).The film is gut-wrenching on many levels and is one of my top 20 films.
Heston does the loner better than any other actor.Grainer, who scored the remarkable score for McGoohan's Prisoner series, is in fine form, with an excellent score.Sagal's visuals are absolutely gripping.Zerbe is the perfect antagonist and shows that his TV persona works perfectly on the silver screen.If you get the movie, turn the lights down and watch it at night.
A great flick, one in a line of Charlton Heston post-apocalyptic movies.
Great period detail and Charlton Heston in fine form.There have been rumors of a remake/revision of the film (actually of  the source novel, "I Am Legend," by Richard Matheson).
All this is done with a montage of stock footage of bomb tests,missile launches,voice overs warning of "Bacillus carrying warheads!" and bit later, we learn that "Jonathan Matthias" was once a news commentator as things went to Hell, as the plague takes full effect with scenes of overcrowded hospitals, people dropping on the street, and him on TV talking to dead viewers about "Judgement day".
Some, however,we learn, it takes longer and they wind up as light sensitive,albino zombies, with the now insane- "Matthias" the guru of at least the Los Angeles area ones, battling Robert Neville, the last plague-free man on the planet.
The "Easter" reference would not be the film's only "Christ" allegory.)The film has a tremendous Ron Grainer opening score, and positively drips everything 70's-fashions, expressions,cars and including nods to blaxploitation films of the time and managing to portray Heston's Neville as "The Man...on his own"It became a seemingly terribly dated film after the Cold War ended in 1989, (kind of like The Day After became of it's time) and many people chortled at the idea of a biological war.
Quick-paced & tense with good supporting performances from Paul Koslo as "Dutch" & Rosalind Cash as "Lisa" Dated now it is, but still stands the test of time as a truly great 70's sci-fi & if you haven't seen it, then you are in for a treat.
One of my all time favourite movies, starring my favourite actor Charlton Heston, what can I say about this film other than magnificent, it is even more entertaining than Richard Matheson's excellent 'I am Legend' upon which it is based.
Some reviewers feel this film to be campy and dated, but I heartily disagree, these reviewers are obviously shallow minded snobs, reared on awful modern cgi nightmares.In the movie Heston delivers a great performance as Robert Neville the last man on earth, talking to himself, hearing phones ringing on the edge of sanity.
Chuck's usual dialogue (no-one says "My God" like Heston), Chuck's teeth, 47-year-old Chuck running a mile in 3 minutes 50 seconds (evil mutants I can accept, but this really is unbelievable!), Chuck nonchalantly playing chess with a bust of Napoleon while Matthias catapults fireballs at his balcony, NRA president Chuck picking off evil zombie mutants with a BIG gun, ex-Moses Chuck dying for our sins in crucifixion pose whilst saving the world etc.
HINT HINT, IMDb...get the soundtrack listings!!!There are two types of people in this world: those who like Heston/Omega Man, and those that don't.
A vampiric cult called The Family the result of biological warfare, lay siege to the refuge of the last man left alive in a dead post-apocalyptic city.This is the second cinematic outing for the Richard Matheson  novel I Am Legend with Charlton Heston as Robert Neville immune to the plague & fighting for survival.
This is an entertaining film if not on a par with some of Hestons other sci-fi movies such as Planet Of The Apes & Soylent Green.
Then the film goes down familiar action movie routes with The Family a bizarre religious anti-technology cult & Nevilles attempts to combat their attacks.The Omega Man doesn't have as much depth amongst the action as Planet Of The Apes but has a great & tangible sense of isolation.
As an Army scientist named Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) , who had immunized himself, is practically alone in the city of Los Angeles, except for a group of albino-like survivors .
But Neville isn't the sole survivor , early appear a few survivors, an African-American woman named Lisa (Rosalind Cash , though the producer wanted Diahann Carroll for the role).Omega Man's spectacular adaptation with top notch performance by Charlton Heston .
Strong intrigue and suspense with considerable violence based on novel by Richard Matheson , which is also the basis for the film ¨The last Man on Earth¨ directed by Sidney Salkow , starred by Vincent Price and a modern version ¨I am legend¨ by Francis Lawrence with Will Smith and Alice Braga .
Time hasn't been all that kind to this film, and it seems a bit croaky all these years later, but c'mon, Charlton Heston fighting albino bikers has gotta be worth SOMETHING!
Its flaws aside, this is a powerful story about a man under siege who finds a reason to live, and not just to survive.Certainly there are aspects to the movie that may be off-putting to modern viewers--the early-70s fashions, the too-good in-studio lighting, Neville's insistence on calling his female partner "baby"--but after Beyonce Knowles's "Foxxy Cleopatra," at least Rosalind Cash's "Black Power diva" Lisa is funky fresh again.
The movies I saw during my formative years will always, no matter how good or bad, be special to me, and "The Omega Man" will forever rank as one of my all-time favorite movies, right up there with "Silent Running" and "Voyage Into Space.".
Charlton Heston was quoted to say that "Omega Man" was one of his favorite films to work.
In one of his best performances, Charlton Heston carries the first 15 minutes of the movie virtally alone, creating a portrait of a man who has gone just slightly crazy in order to cope with a radically changed world.
Based on Richard Matheson's " I Am Legend" and a remake of Vincent Price's "The Last Man On Earth",  this film is my all-time favorite.
"The Omega Man"  portrays vividly a post germ warfare world and it's inhabitants who include Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) , a military scientist that manages to vaccinate himself against "The Plague" and a group of psychotic, light sensitive, sub-humans.
This group of mutants is led by a man named Matthias (Anthony Zerbe) who convinces his followers that along with the forbidden technology he uses, Neville is responsible for their current physical condition and thus, must pay with his life.I found that the movie manages to stay interesting the whole way through.
Yeah, I don't know where to begin, but I'll tell you this: if you want to waste your money and time watching a movie that defiles cinema, really insults the hell out of it, please, check out Omega Man. It's not the worst movie ever made, but it's no Ed Wood movie, either.And to think that this movie is "based" (yeah right) on I Am Legend, a novel that should've been brought straight over, vampires and all.
but, on the other hand, it suits the movie perfectly, so maybe he got it right after all?In my mind the ONLY reason to watch this film - other than to get wrecked and have a good laugh at its expense - is for the views of downtown Los Angeles ca.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, "The Omega Man" is uniquely entertaining.Germ warfare has ravaged the world, eliminating all life on earth.
To be honest, this story is better told in "The Last Man On Earth", with Vincent Price (see my review on that film), but given the fact that Heston is a bit better actor, and there is a lot more action in this version, I'll have to give this one the nod.
Like Heston's other Science Fiction movie the Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man has an unexpected ending that will probably surprise most fans of the genre!.
The second film version of Richard Matheson's classic novel "I Am Legend' stars Charlton Heston as a badass Robert Neville who machine guns his way through post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, killing as many mutants as he can.
It's fun for what it is: a '70s action movie with some sci-fi and horror elements and, most importantly, Charlton Heston manning it up for all the world to admire..
Very well done, much better than the original with Vincent Price.Some observations:Until I saw the uncut version I never noticed things like working street lights in the opening credits (years after the germ war killed almost everyone), the body lying in the street near the armored car (not decomposed) and the motorcycle guys jacket with the hand on the back with the raised middle finger.Neville's home base was located amongst abandoned buildings up against it on both sides.
The Omega Man, along with another Heston film round the same time, Soylent Green, is one of the worst made films I have ever seen in my life.
I'm a big fan of Granier's work for Steptoe & Son, Dr. Who, The Prisoner, etc., but his score for The Omega man is simply atrocious; it's as though he was scoring for a completely different film altogether, as well as different scenes.As a campy, low budget, Sci-Fi B film, The Omega Man is entertaining enough because of its star, Charleton Heston, and because of the interesting story that it tells, but don't expect much more than terrible effects, terrible acting, terrible directing, and terrible music.
It is worth mentioning that I am Legend is estimated to have enjoyed a budget at least 10 times as great as Omega Man's.Omega Man is a good example of the semi-experimental tangents of late 1960s/early 1970s Hollywood film-making.
Charlton Heston plays scientist Robert Neville and is similar to Price's character but this time he has guns!
A Sci-Fi cult drama of the beginning of the 70's, "The Omega Man" (98 minutes), was directed by Boris Sagal based on the novel "I Am Legend", of Richard Matheson.
Not a perfect movie realistically, but this was during Heston's post-PLANET OF THE APES phase, where he did some pretty good work; and THE OMEGA MAN does work most of the time..
Being a Charlton Heston fan (as a result of the first two PLANET OF THE APES films), I found myself first in line the Wednesday THE OMEGA MAN opened.
This film is a bit muddled philosophically: there are some half-hearted attempts to "question" Heston's morality, like a scene where a kid says "Sometimes you scare me more than The Family", yet he's clearly the one to root for, the only hope of humanity, and at the end he's set up as a Christ figure.
this is the second filmed version of Richard Matheson's novel,I am Legend,the first being The Last Man on Earth,starring Vincent price,and the third bearing the same title as the novel and,starring Will Smith.i really enjoyed the first version,and pretty much hated the third version.this version is,much closer to the third version,in terms of my opinion of it.i found a lot of this movie lame,lacking in any real excitement.the acting was pretty poor(though Heston wasn't too bad).i also felt the movie was a bit too talky at times,and there is no real air of mystery to the story.having said that,there was one good thing about it.this one had a plot,(as slow as it was)which i felt the third one didn't.it was just this side of boring,for the most part,occasionally slipping over into the area of boredom.i was able to get through it.but i wouldn't care if i never saw it again.it just really didn't anything for me.my vote for The Omega Man is a 3/10.
Take a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, add a red convertible with one of the finest character actors of his era, Charlton Heston, driving it, add a machine gun, show him cruising down the boulevard and then abruptly coming to a stop and firing off a burst of gunfire at a shadowy mutant in a building window, and you have the start of a classic sci-fi action thriller.Charlton Heston portrays Doctor Robert Neville, an ex-Army doctor who was working on a vaccine for a virus caused by biological weapons employed in a final war in which the remaining survivors are reduced to half-human, psychotic mutants known as the Family.
This is 1970's and they didn't have the luxury of the technology of the recent version: I am Legend, which despite the clever special effects, I found The Omega Man far superior!Charlton Hestons' wardrobe was dated, even camp looking, but once again, this was the 1970's!
But for people who have spent time alone, they may identify with Heston's Robert Nevill character, which makes the film thought provoking considering todays climate of terrorism.The scenes of empty streets, and and empty Los Angelas send a chill up your spine, and remember, this was made 30years + before 28days later and similar films of todays genre!The films a classic and is in the same genre of Hestons other sci-fi classics such as Soilent Green and Planet of the Apes, all films made even better, because of the stature of Charlton Hestons big screen presence!Watch it!
Not to say I didn't like the movie -- I did -- but it seemed silly when guys in robes would jump out of nowhere and cocktail-inspired fight music would pick up.Charlton Heston is a good leading actor, as evidenced by not just this film, but also "Soylent Green" and "Ten Commandments" and "Planet of the Apes".
Maybe in 1971 times were different, but an old man with saggy chest muscles does not seem like something a lot of people would want to look at.There is an obvious Luddite theme in this film, with a cult that is anti-technology of any kind.
What might the human reaction be to something like what is depicted in The Omega Man.Still though the religious symbolism with Heston as a Christlike figure gets way too heavy handed at times.
Adaptation of Richard Matheson's book "I Am Legend", previously filmed as "The Last Man on Earth" with Vincent Price, features Charlton Heston as seemingly the last healthy man left on the planet.
Army doctor Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) is immune to the plague and has to fight the Family every night who want to kill him.
Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) stars in an adaptation of Richard Matheson's science fiction novel, I Am Legend.Set in an apocalyptic world after germ warfare between China and Russia, Neville is the last man on earth after receiving a serum that enabled him to survive.He roams desolate Los Angeles by day, talking to himself.
Despite some mistakes, The Omega Man is still a great action film.
Charlton Heston gives a great performance as the last man on earth, and his enemies are also played very well.
I have to say that Chuck Heston's made some great movies in the 70's when he was no longer the true matinee type and Omega Man is likely my favourite.