THE OMEGA MAN

Directed by Boris Sagal
Written by John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington
Based on the novel "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson
1971

Post-apocalyptic movies are Cinegeek's favorite sub-genre and typically fall under horror (DAWN OF THE DEAD), science fiction (THE QUIET EARTH), or straight drama (THE DAY AFTER). THE OMEGA MAN has a smattering of all three with an emphasis on horror elements, elements leftover from the Matheson novella, which was about a plague of vampires and Robert Neville's attempts to defeat or cure the rampaging, blood-craving minions.

With the film, the Corrington writers and director Sagal take a different road, dispensing the blatant vampire mythology altogether and instilling a post-apocalyptic return of the surviving"family" back to the "old ways," debunking and abolishing the destructive disease that is modern technology, which was the cause of World War III and the subsequent use of germ warfare and eventual nuclear fallout. The "family" are infected humans who suffer from sun blindness, albinism and bleeding, oozing syphilitic sores. Headed up Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), "family" members are garbed in hooded, black cloaks and wear shades to block out light. Matthias, who in a previous life was a television newscaster, has the "family" convinced that modern technology was responsible for the downfall of man and the only way to survive is by adopting archaic lifestyle methods, which are positively Amish. Their weapons consist of spears and catapult systems that heave fire balls. They're stength is in numbers. They refer to each other as "brethren," "my brother," or "my sister."

Robert Neville (Charlton Heston), on the other hand, lives in a three story brownstone blockaded by a remote control garage, an elevator and barbed wire wrapped around his balcony. He is armed with countless handguns and machine guns. Neville also developed a serum that can cure the disease but, by the time he was getting it to market, the world broke out in the plague.

Neville - seemingly the only man without the disease, hence the "last" man or "omega" man - only ventures out of his fortress during daylight hours. He spends his days searching for the "family nest," driving a variety of cars or watching the documentary film WOODSTOCK at a neighborhood theater. Neville has seen WOODSTOCK so many times that he talks with the characters on screen. THE OMEGA MAN takes place in 1977 - seven years after the release of WOODSTOCK, a film expounding three days of music, peace and love - a sentiment cut short by germ warfare and the inability for humanity to truly embrace one another in this violent, nighttime world Neville has been subjected to.

Never too sentimental, the WOODSTOCK scene is poignant all the same - sad, in fact -considering Neville would have been part of the dreaded "establishment" that the Woodstock kids railed so resolutely against - Neville, the ultra-conservative, adopting hippie values in hindsight, if not too late - the destruction deed has been done.

By chance, during a day of searching for mutant nests, Neville runs into Lisa (Rosalind Cash) in a department store and, to his delight, she hasn't "turned." He chases her but loses her until the next night when Neville is captured by Matthias and his band. Lisa and her partner, Dutch (the ubiquitous Paul Koslo) rescue Neville in a feat of machine gun mayhem and motorcycle daring-do and bring him to their compound (reminiscent of a commune), which is overrun with kids, with one, named Richie (Eric Laneuville), who is "turning." Richie is Lisa's brother, so Neville comes up with the idea of transfusing his blood into Richie - blood that can work as a serum.

The Neville Serum works and Richie comes back with a head full of ideas about saving the family from their wretched existence. Richie sneaks out and confronts Matthias and the family with his ideas and they want none of them. In the meantime, Lisa goes shopping and starts to turn while Neville packs up supplies to get back to the commune. Upon discovering Lisa has turned, Neville grabs her, with a jar full of serum, and bolts. Matthias, who is now inside Neville's fortress, emerges on the balconey with a spear - and throws it, piercing Neville in the chest. Neville falls back into a fountain (where, conveniently he assumes a Christ-on-the-cross position), and drops the jar of serum in the red water.

Daylight breaks and Dutch and the kids find a dying Neville and Lisa, crouching next to the fountain, hiding her eyes. Dutch grabs the jar of serum, wraps Lisa and they head out of the city.

THE OMEGA MAN does not suffer from its decidedly downbeat ending - in fact, the hero needs to die to elevate the emotional response of Lisa, Dutch, the kids, and the audience. Plus the "died for our sins" symbolism hangs over the proceedings nicely since Neville - though he developed a potential serum just as plague broke - may have also been involved with the development of the germ warfare weapons of mass destruction. Flashbacks point to Neville's guilt - both from the standpoint of development and "too late" consequences.

Made today (and there's been talk of doing so for years - at one time with Arnold Schwarzeneggar), the hero would wreak pyrotechnical vengeance, beating the viewer into CGI submission. Director Sagal opts low-tech - machine gun bursts, fireball explosions and Gordon Bau's eerie make-up artistry that has family faces washed out in powder, pinkish sores, and creepy contact lenses, all of which still shocks without resorting to the cartooning of creatures so prevalent in movies today.

For a desolate Los Angeles - some eye-in-the sky shots are jaw dropping in their scope, block after block without a sign of humanity as far as the screen can hold - Sagal filmed when the streets of L.A. were devoid of people. Sagal shot these awe inspiring aerial scenes at dawn, literally praying nobody would show up in the picture besides a singular Heston. The film is punctuated by Ron Grainer's lush and memorable musical score - as much a character in the film as Neville, Matthias, Lisa and Dutch.

THE OMEGA MAN, 1968's PLANET OF THE APES and 1973's SOYLENT GREEN, make for an excellent apocalyptic trilogy - and, happily, all star Heston as, basically, the same character.