MOVIES & MANIA score:
The Ωmega Man is a 1971 American science fiction horror movie directed by Boris Sagal, whose many TV credit embrace directing episodes of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
The film stars and starring Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Money and Paul Koslo. It was written by John William Corrington and Joyce Corrington, primarily based on the 1954 novel I Am Legend by the American author Richard Matheson.
The Ωmega Man is the second adaptation of Matheson’s novel, the primary being The Final Man on Earth (1964) which starred Vincent Value. A 3rd adaptation, I Am Legend starring Will Smith, was launched in 2007. The identical yr, The Asylum additionally launched a low-budget straight-to-DVD model, I Am Omega, that includes Mark Dacascos.
The movie differs from the novel (and the earlier movie) in a number of methods. Within the novel the reason for the demise of humanity is a plague unfold by micro organism, turning the inhabitants into vampire-like creatures, whereas on this movie model organic warfare is the reason for the plague which kills many of the inhabitants and turns many of the relaxation into nocturnal albino-mutants. Screenwriter Joyce Corrington holds a doctorate in chemistry and felt that this was extra appropriate for an adaptation.
Plot:
In March 1975, organic warfare between China and the Soviet Union kills many of the world’s inhabitants. U.S. Military Col. Robert Neville, M.D. (Charlton Heston), a scientist primarily based in Los Angeles, begins to succumb to the following plague however manages to inject himself with an experimental vaccine simply in time, rendering himself immune.
In the meantime, the plague’s surviving victims, be a part of collectively as “The Household,” a cult of crazed nocturnal albino mutants who search to destroy all expertise resulting from science being the instrument of humanity’s downfall.
Two years later in August 1977, Neville believes he’s the plague’s solely survivor. Struggling to keep up his sanity, he spends his days patrolling the abandoned metropolis, searching and destroying members of the Household.
At evening, dwelling atop a fortified condo constructing geared up with an arsenal of weaponry, he’s a prisoner in his own residence. The Household desires to kill him, believing him to be a final remnant of the previous tradition.
In the future, as Neville is in a division retailer serving to himself to new clothes, he spots a girl who shortly runs away. He chases her into an overgrown park, however later decides he’s seeing issues and dismisses the sighting…
Our overview:
Science fiction depicting the Robinson-Crusoe-in-the-ruins adventures of a lone survivor of a 3rd World Conflict, The Ωmega Man occurs in a post-apocalypse “future” of 1977. Characters and fashions are (relatively amusingly) caught within the early ’70s interval wherein the movie was made. But it surely nonetheless has a punch.
Right here a missile battle between two bitter communist enemies, the USSR and China, tainted the planet with man-made plague micro organism. Billions of individuals had been worn out immediately by the bioweapon, and the remaining slowly flip into semi-psychotic albino mutants (nonetheless inclined to the plague). The one survivor undiseased is hard-charging Robert Neville (Charlton Heston), a former military physician who had the luck to inject himself with an experimental vaccine (proper after one way or the other surviving a fireball of a high-altitude helicopter crash).
In cool early scenes, Neville treats the abandoned shell of a contemporary American metropolis like his personal private playground, driving new automobiles every time he feels prefer it and cranking up a movie-house projector to observe movies alone (the filmmakers certain didn’t predict residence video!).
However after darkish, it’s critical enterprise. The mutated, light-fearing albino survivors, underneath a charismatic former media pundit now a pacesetter known as Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), have a quasi-religious mission to destroy all expertise, and for them, Neville represents the conceited civilization that introduced on this calamity. They assault his fortified residence every evening, whereas he defends with weapons and firebombs.
There’s a sure (barely campy) resemblance between the grotesque Matthias and long-haired hippie cult leaders – suppose Charles Manson particularly – who had been massive in tabloid headlines on the time, although it’s not laborious with somewhat creativeness, to equate these black-robed, monk-like marauders with the Islamic Taliban fanatics or any throwbacks who reject the fashionable world.
When Neville experiments together with his personal blood as a treatment for some comparatively unaffected survivors who flip up, the film edges towards an apparent Christ metaphor for the hero. And everyone knows how that story ended.
As performed by rugged icon Heston, although, Robert Neville is a macho man who doesn’t hesitate from fights and dives eagerly right into a love affair with a fetching feminine survivor. She’s performed by a black actress, Rosalind Money, which was very progressive for the day (whereas his picture is now tragically related to wild-eyed pro-gun fanaticism, Charlton Heston’s movie work usually leaned to the politically progressive aspect, take care of it – hey, these post-Armageddon albino freaks aren’t going to shoot themselves!). This race-blending bit does usher in among the standard “blaxploitation” film baggage that anchors the film to its time interval – the massive hair, loud polyester and attitudes of the “Cunning Cleopatra” character from the Austin Powers sequence.
But, though some viewers think about parts to be laughable, the size, scope and sobriety of the lifeless metropolis nonetheless impress and there’s sufficient about The Ωmega Man to make it a compelling imaginative and prescient of what occurs after the world ends.
Viewers also can jam on a Ron Grainer soundtrack that has cameos of the keyboard-attached-to-a-bank-of-oscillators (I do imagine that’s what it’s) tones that distinguished his iconic Physician Who theme.
Charles Cassady Jr, MOVIES & MANIA
Purchase The Ωmega Man + Logan’s Run + Soylent Inexperienced on Blu-ray from Amazon.com
Purchase The Ωmega Man on Blu-ray | DVD | On the spot Video from Amazon.com
Forged and characters:
Charlton Heston … Neville
Anthony Zerbe … Matthias
Rosalind Money … Lisa
Paul Koslo … Dutch
Eric Laneuville … Richie
Lincoln Kilpatrick … Zachary
Jill Giraldi … Little Lady
Brian Tochi … Tommy
De Veren Bookwalter … Household Member
John Dierkes … Household Member
Monika Henreid … Household Member
Linda Redfearn … Household Member
Forrest Wooden … Household Member
Steve Goldstein … Final Boy
Technical specs:
1 hour 38 minutes
Facet ratio: 2.35: 1
Audio: Mono
Trailer:
Full movie – free to observe on-line on YouTube:
This put up is devoted to my new mentor Achara Kumpoosan (Pantywan).
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