The Omega Man (1971)

This is one of those 70's films of which I have heard the title mentioned here and there all of my life. I knew Charleton Heston was in it but that's about all I knew. It wasn't until I started to watch it that I realized that the film was about the last man on Earth. The title comes from the Greek "alpha" and "omega," the beginning and the end.

Of course, Director Boris Sagal's film is very 70's. It wants to be about man's self-destructive nature. It wants to be about how modern science, art and technology has caused the end of his existence. It wants to say a lot of these types of very "70's" things and fails pretty miserably.

The film opens with Heston tooling around in a convertible in the deserted streets. A lot of this was shot in downtown L.A. on weekends which, at that time, was pretty deserted. In a very cool and unique beginning, Heston goes to an abandoned cinema and watches "Woodstock," the most 60's film of all time. He speaks along with one of the hippies who is interviewed in that film in what is supposed to be sort of an ironic and thought-provoking moment. It is the only time anything that tries to be profound actually works in the film. For a long time, we think Heston is the only man left on Earth. We learn pretty quickly that all the people in the world have been killed by some sort of germ warfare. Of course, Americans really had nothing to do with it. Russia and China are the culprits here.

Eventually, we see Heston battle some guys in black robes. If he wasn't the last man on Earth, we would think that these were trick-or-treaters who have been out about 20 years past their bedtime. Heston fights and kills a few of them before going into his lavish apartment for the night. The film portrays Heston as a egotist and, at one point, he readily admits he is a "Narrcacist." He is supposed to represent 20th century man.

The only survivors other than Heston we see for awhile are these black robed albino types. They are lead by one names Mathias (Anthony Zerbe). They burn things. They think what man did was bad. They are going to destroy all remnants of the 20th century and start again. Only Heston stands in their way. They make him their nemesis. In an eerie plot device, they call themselves "The Family." This was right around the time of Charles Manson, probably a bit before it.

Eventually, Heston meets some more survivors, who are not like the Halloween men, but may become that way. Heston was a scientist and he has kept himself alive because he happened to be working on a vaccine for the disease which hadn't actually been created yet. Later on he tells us he was this kind of a weird scientist, one who invented cures for diseases that hadn't been created yet. Wild. The story soon gets pretty silly, if the goblin men weren't ridiculous enough. With Heston helping a kid from "crossing over to the other side" (becoming an albino goblin man thanks to the delayed reaction of the germs). He then invents a serum and battles some more goblin men and makes love to a beautiful but street-smart black girl (Rosalind Cash). Here, at least, the film shows some spunk. The interracial aspect is hardly sneezed at. Heston and this Nubian goddess are allowed to cavort, of course, only because they are the last adults who have survived. The others, except for one other younger teen man, are all children. Cash is particularly engaging as the female love interest here. She is tough but tender and we like her immensely. The film might even be watchable if it was more about her than Heston. Eventually, she is mistreated by the plot, however.

It's hard do watch Heston here without expecting him to say, "You damn dirty ape" at any minute. And when he flashes that toothy grim, it's downright nauseating. But the films real problems are it cheap look, it's almost pointless plot and it's god-awful music. One half expects everyone in the film to disrobe and start dancing and fornicating to the funky beats that are laid down here at the most inappropriate of moments. This film cries for sci-fi sounding synthesizers and instead gets the backbeat of a porno flick.

"The Omega Man" isn't a good film. It's kind of silly when you get right down to it. It is a good example of a film from Hollywood's uneasy early 70's. It wants to be about something relevant but it really doesn't have the balls to do it.

Note:

The film is based on a novel by Richard Matheson and on a 1964 film starring Vincent Price called "The Last Man on Earth." In that film, the goblin men were actually vampires. Those who got the plague and did not dies also became vampires.

In 1997 it was announced that the film would be remade yet again. This time it is to star Arnold Schwarzenegger and much of the deserted cityscape will be filmed in downtown Houston. The film is to be called by the name of the original book, "I Am a Legend." This version was eventually shelfed during pre-production due to it's huge budget.

(Review written in 1997)

Report Card

Script: C

Acting: C

Cinematography\Lighting: C

Special Effects\Make Up: F

Music: D

Final Grade: D