The Omega Man (1971) Like Jack Finney's novel, "The Body Snatchers", Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" will probably get remade every 40 years or so......chances are subsequent generations will each get their very own movie version of the story.
Film producers simply cannot resist Matheson's primal tale of the last man left on a post apocalyptic Earth...... waging a one man war against the rest of the populace who've been transformed by a pandemic into nocturnal vampire-zombie creatures.
First up was 1964's "The Last Man On Earth" with Vincent Price......an ultra cheap, crudely put together Italian movie.....
Next up came "The Omega Man".....and even though starring big, big big movie star Charlton Heston, Warner Brothers didn't spend much more on it than American International coughed up for "The Last Man On Earth"......(at least shooting it in color and Panavision rendered 'Omega' way more watchable than the mostly stillborn "Last Man...")
Before George Lucas returned rousing happy endings to cinema with "Star Wars", science fiction movies in the 70's were almost always dystopian downers. The message......the future's a dead end and we're all gonna die horribly.....munch your popcorn while you still can.....
In 'Omega', Russia and China have nuked it out, with collateral damage unleashing toxic bacteria. So anyone left alive (and there's not many) are now psychotic albino zombies. The 'Zalbinos' as I'll call them, feature white eyeballs, white hair, leprous eruptions on their faces and lurk about in Spirit Halloween Shop Mad Monk costumes......resembling overgrown 'Star Wars' Jawas.
The Zalbinos have become a medieval cult under the Trump-like guidance of their leader Mathias (Anthony Zerbe), who used to be the TV anchorman reporting on all the oncoming catastrophes. (So now we know where Sean Hannity will end up when Armageddon befalls us....)
Our stalwart Last Man On Earth is of course the ever clench-jawed Chuck Heston. He's Doctor Neville, a former military scientist who patrols the deserted Los Angeles streets, hunting and machine-gunning Zalbinos, When not offing the Zs, he delivers, to amuse himself, a snarky monologue on the sorry state of things......(...."there's never a cop around when you need one....")
But wait! More human survivors surface, including a beautiful young black woman (Rosalind Cash), a med student (a rare sympathetic, non-sleazy role for Paul Koslo) and a whole group of kids. Neville creates a serum from his own blood to help cure one of them, a teen who's well on his way to Zalbino-hood......but the violent battles with Mathias and his Mad Monks ultimately takes their toll.....
This is, after all, pre-Star Wars, pure 1970's 'we're-all-going-to-Hell' science fiction, so the climax here is tragically pre-ordained, but with a smidge of hope and uplift.
Compared to all the monumental, mega-budgeted epics that defined Charlton Heston's career, his appearance in the fast 'n cheap "The Omega Man" makes him look like he's slumming for some quick cash.......(in fact, he'd go on to star in other slapdash little movies like "Skyjacked" and the even more dystopian "Soyland Green")
Still, as modest as it is, the film's never boring and the script by John and Joyce Corrington livens it up some more with bursts of snappy patter. And if you're searching for a prime example of science fiction filmmaking of the 1970's (prior to the 'Star Wars' avalanche, which changed everything), this one's worth checking out. 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2).
P.S......no, I'm not forgetting the third film version of Matheson's book, finally using its actual title, the 2007 Will Smith behemoth "I Am Legend" I barely remember a thing about it except its over reliance (as do all today's sci-fi films) on CGI. I'll need to catch up with it again to do a post......and in no way do I count, as a remake, the wretched "I Am Omega" from the 'mockbuster' Asylum outfit, churned out to cash in on the Smith film. See that one strictly at your own risk......
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