The Omega Man
1971 Directed by Boris Sagal
Synopsis
Robert Neville, a doctor, due to an experimental vaccine, is the only survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. The plague caused by the war has killed everyone else except for a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people calling themselves "The Family". The plague has caused them to become sensitive to light, as well as homicidally psychotic.
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Early scenes with Charlton Heston roaming through an abandoned Los Angeles machine-gunning albinos are terrific. I can't think of a better actor than Heston to convey this kind of solitude because he doesn't play up the sadness or the poignancy of it - it almost seems like he enjoys being alone, until you realize that's impossible, and that he sits through Woodstock for the 800th time and plays chess with a dummy because he doesn't have anything better to do (by the way, is there a more potent cultural stew than Charlton Heston sitting in an empty movie theater lip-syncing Woodstock and wielding a rifle? We're all just people, maaan).
The movie falters a bit when it comes to the…
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Charlton Heston as post apocalyptic gun Jesus.
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Okay, so Matthias and The Brotherhood represent the militant counter-culture; somewhere along the lines of the Black Panthers or the Yippies.
And Chuck Heston is the everyday Joe. Sure, maybe he likes his whiskey, but he ain't no hophead!
So that makes Rosalind Cash and her sect the baby-boomer-peace-hippies who used to be normies, but now they're infected with the horrible ideas of those long-haired freaks. They'll turn into shiftless layabouts any day unless Chuck can save them!
All muddled politics aside, The Omega Man is still a lot of fun. Funny to think the interracial kiss was such a big fucking deal at the time.
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Me la perdí en sus numerosas emisiones televisivas y ahora casi me alegro. Charlton Heston en plan macho alfa, descamisandose cada dos por tres y haciendo méritos ya para presidente de la asociación nacional del rifle.
Rosalind Cash poco aporta a la película aparte de varios desnudos semigratuitos y cubrir la cuota de minorías étnicas, que debía ser lo que tocaba en el 71.
Y todo ese tufillo pseudohippie antibelicista pero no, ... cuesta entenderla hasta en su época.
Decir que esta película puede tener algo que ver con la maravillosa novela de Matheson sería un insulto. -
"Build coffins, that's all you'll need."
This did drag in parts but it has some cool moments and a pretty funky score.
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It's amazing to think that this is based on the same source material as Will Smith's "I Am Legend" film. They couldn't be more different in almost every way, which is an interesting statement on how different creative visions interpret the same material.
As usual, Charlton Heston plays a crazy man in a world he never made. As usual, it's really hard to root for him, as he's something of a dick. I'm not sure how much sense the plot makes, but Heston chews his way through it. The apocalypse was never so hairy and sweaty!
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Charlton Heston vs. albino religious zealots! This is the most fun (yet least accurate) adaptation of Matheson's I Am Legend.
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Early scenes with Charlton Heston roaming through an abandoned Los Angeles machine-gunning albinos are terrific. I can't think of a better actor than Heston to convey this kind of solitude because he doesn't play up the sadness or the poignancy of it - it almost seems like he enjoys being alone, until you realize that's impossible, and that he sits through Woodstock for the 800th time and plays chess with a dummy because he doesn't have anything better to do (by the way, is there a more potent cultural stew than Charlton Heston sitting in an empty movie theater lip-syncing Woodstock and wielding a rifle? We're all just people, maaan).
The movie falters a bit when it comes to the…
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Entertaining but ultimately pointless.
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Charlton Heston as post apocalyptic gun Jesus.
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La más conocida de las versiones de "Soy Leyenda", y la más alejada de la novela. Esta vez el Apocalipsis viene por una guerra nuclear, los "vampiros" son ahora mutantes de hábitos negros que luchan contra un Charlton Heston reconvertido en un reaccionario hombre de acción que se enfrenta valientemente a los invasores, masacrándolos con su rifle de asalto mientras busca desesperadamente una cura. La película me gusta y Charlton Heston me parece el mejor Neville que he visto, pero su Apocalipsis de cartón piedra y la estética setentera tiran un poco para atrás. El desenlace tiene un corte claramente mesiánico con un discurso pseudo-religioso un tanto extraño que hace de esta cinta una rareza que funciona como placer culpable.
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There's something about this film that i like, but it's certainly not the plot or the acting. It has a little something though.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Me la perdí en sus numerosas emisiones televisivas y ahora casi me alegro. Charlton Heston en plan macho alfa, descamisandose cada dos por tres y haciendo méritos ya para presidente de la asociación nacional del rifle.
Rosalind Cash poco aporta a la película aparte de varios desnudos semigratuitos y cubrir la cuota de minorías étnicas, que debía ser lo que tocaba en el 71.
Y todo ese tufillo pseudohippie antibelicista pero no, ... cuesta entenderla hasta en su época.
Decir que esta película puede tener algo que ver con la maravillosa novela de Matheson sería un insulto. -
Picked at random as part of our Sunday Film Club - knew nothing about the film, after watching, still not entirely sure about the film other than Charlton Heston runs about a lot shooting guns, which is what he does in every film.