The Ωmega Man (1971) is an English language science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and released in 1971. Starring Charlton Heston, it is based on the novel I Am Legend (1954) by American writer Richard Matheson.[1] The screenplay is by John William and Joyce Corrington, and it was filmed in Technicolor with monaural sound, for a running time of 98 minutes.[2] This story first was filmed as The Last Man on Earth (1964) featuring Vincent Price. A third adaptation of the novel, I Am Legend featuring Will Smith, was released in 2007, and an unofficial fourth, I Am Omega, featuring Mark Dacascos, was also released in 2007 (though neither Matheson's name or novel were credited as source material for this version).
The film differs considerably from the novel insofar as in the novel the cause of the demise of humanity is a plague from mosquitoes who have in turn contracted it from vampires, whereas in the film biological warfare is the cause of the plague.
Plot
In March 1975, biological warfare between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union kills most of the world's human population. U.S. Army Colonel Robert Neville, M.D. (Charlton Heston) - a military scientist - begins to succumb to the plague, but vaccinates himself just in time, rendering himself immune. The plague's surviving victims, meanwhile, join together as "The Family" - a cult of nocturnal homicidal mutants with plague-induced albinism who seek to destroy the last vestiges of technological society.
Two years later, Neville believes himself to be the plague's only survivor. He spends his days hunting down and destroying members of The Family. At night, living atop a fortified apartment building equipped with an arsenal of military-style automatic firearms and explosives (including a Smith & Wesson M76 submachine gun, infrared sight-equipped Browning Automatic Rifle, satchel charges, etc.), he is a prisoner in his own home. The Family seeks to destroy him, believing him to be a last remainder of the old culture.
One day, The Family captures Neville in a wine cellar. After a summary trial he is found guilty of heresy by Jonathan Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), leader of The Family. Neville is sentenced to an auto de fe and nearly burned at the stake in the center of Dodger Stadium. He is rescued by Lisa (Rosalind Cash), a woman he'd earlier seen while on patrol, and Dutch (Paul Koslo), a former pre-med student familiar with Neville's work who had planned to apply to a bio-warfare lab as part of his post med-school training.
Lisa and Dutch are part of a group of unmutated survivors; although infected, their youth has given them some resistance to the disease and its symptoms are slow to manifest. Nevertheless, given enough time, they will succumb to mutation and become as members of The Family. Neville is amazed and gratified to find that some of the survivors include very young children. Neville later engages in a brief relationship with Lisa.
Neville realizes that even if it is possible to duplicate the original vaccine, it would take years to salvage humanity. However, he believes it may be possible to extend his immunity to others by creating a serum derived from his blood. If the serum works, Neville and Lisa plan to leave the ravaged city with the rest of the survivors and start a new life in the wilderness, leaving The Family behind to die.
Neville is successful in creating the serum and administers it to Lisa's teenage brother Richie (Eric Laneuville) who is on the verge of the advanced mutant stage of the plague. Once cured, Richie (insisting that members of The Family are also human) goes to The Family to try to convince them to take the serum. Matthias refuses to believe that Neville would try to help them, accuses Richie of being sent by Neville to harm them and has Richie executed. Neville discovers Richie’s body strung up where The Family murdered him, left as bait to draw Neville outside after dark. Enraged, Neville is caught outside and stalled in his attempts to reach home but manages to fight off The Family.
Meanwhile, Lisa unexpectedly changes into a nocturnal and betrays Neville by giving The Family access to his bunker. Returning home, Neville is confronted by Matthias, who forces him to watch as The Family destroys his home and sets it afire. Neville breaks free and, once outside with Lisa, he turns and raises his sub-machine gun to shoot Matthias, who is looking down from the balcony. The gun jams, giving Matthias enough time to hurl a spear at Neville, mortally wounding him. It's assumed that Matthias and The Family choose to stay inside Neville's home as it continues to burn. Lisa claims to be part of The Family, but stays by the fountain with Neville until dawn.
The final scene shows the human survivors led by Dutch, departing in a Land Rover. They discover a dying Neville, who hands Dutch a flask of blood serum, presumably with which to restore humanity. Shortly after handing over the serum Neville dies in a fountain, symbolically posed in the traditional position of the crucified Christ. Dutch takes Lisa and the survivors away as they leave the city for good.
Reception
The reviews website Rotten Tomatoes shows the film as having mixed reviews, with a score of 59%.[3] Howard Thompson gave a mostly negative review in The New York Times, saying "the climax is as florid and phony as it can be."[4]
References in popular culture
- In the video game Fallout 3 there are a group of humans who drink blood, known as "The Family".
- On their 1995 album Astro Creep 2000, the heavy metal band White Zombie recorded a song called "Creature of the Wheel", whose title references the film and include audio clips from the movie.
- In the 1983 Movie Strange Brew, In The Beginning, where they show their movie, Bob spots a mutant in the forbidden zone. Bob states "I was kinda like a one man force, eh?, like Charlton Heston in Omega Man, did you see it? It was Beauty"
- There´s a Character on the anime Kinnikuman called Omegaman . He was likely named after the movie
References
- Bernier, Michelle (2009). Charlton Heston: An Incredible Life: Revised Edition. Createspace.
External links
