THE ΩMEGA MAN Charlton Heston! Zombies! – evaluation and free on YouTube

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The Ωmega Man is a 1971 American science fiction horror movie directed by Boris Sagal, whose many TV credit embrace directing episodes of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

The film stars and starring Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Money and Paul Koslo. It was written by John William Corrington and Joyce Corrington, based mostly on the 1954 novel I Am Legend by the American author Richard Matheson.

The Ωmega Man is the second adaptation of Matheson’s novel, the primary being The Final Man on Earth (1964) which starred Vincent Value. A 3rd adaptation, I Am Legend starring Will Smith, was launched in 2007.  The identical 12 months, The Asylum additionally launched a low-budget straight-to-DVD model, I Am Omega, that includes Mark Dacascos.

The movie differs from the novel (and the earlier movie) in a number of methods. Within the novel the reason for the demise of humanity is a plague unfold by micro organism, turning the inhabitants into vampire-like creatures, whereas on this movie model organic warfare is the reason for the plague which kills many of the inhabitants and turns many of the relaxation into nocturnal albino-mutants. Screenwriter Joyce Corrington holds a doctorate in chemistry and felt that this was extra appropriate for an adaptation.

Plot:
In March 1975, organic warfare between China and the Soviet Union kills many of the world’s inhabitants. U.S. Military Col. Robert Neville, M.D. (Charlton Heston), a scientist based mostly in Los Angeles, begins to succumb to the following plague however manages to inject himself with an experimental vaccine simply in time, rendering himself immune.

In the meantime, the plague’s surviving victims, be a part of collectively as “The Household,” a cult of crazed nocturnal albino mutants who search to destroy all expertise as a result of science being the instrument of humanity’s downfall.

Two years later in August 1977, Neville believes he’s the plague’s solely survivor. Struggling to take care of his sanity, he spends his days patrolling the abandoned metropolis, looking and destroying members of the Household.

At night time, dwelling atop a fortified condominium constructing geared up with an arsenal of weaponry, he’s a prisoner in his own residence. The Household needs to kill him, believing him to be a final remnant of the previous tradition.

In the future, as Neville is in a division retailer serving to himself to new clothes, he spots a lady who shortly runs away. He chases her into an overgrown park, however later decides he’s seeing issues and dismisses the sighting…

Our evaluation:
Science fiction depicting the Robinson-Crusoe-in-the-ruins adventures of a lone survivor of a 3rd World Warfare, The Ωmega Man occurs in a post-apocalypse “future” of 1977. Characters and fashions are (quite amusingly) caught within the early ’70s interval wherein the movie was made. But it surely nonetheless has a punch.

Right here a missile battle between two bitter communist enemies, the USSR and China, tainted the planet with man-made plague micro organism. Billions of individuals have been worn out immediately by the bioweapon, and the remainder slowly flip into semi-psychotic albino mutants (nonetheless prone to the plague). The one survivor undiseased is hard-charging Robert Neville (Charlton Heston), a former military physician who had the luck to inject himself with an experimental vaccine (proper after someway surviving a fireball of a high-altitude helicopter crash).

In cool early scenes, Neville treats the abandoned shell of a contemporary American metropolis like his personal private playground, driving new vehicles every time he feels prefer it and cranking up a movie-house projector to look at movies alone (the filmmakers certain didn’t predict dwelling video!).

However after darkish, it’s severe enterprise. The mutated, light-fearing albino survivors, beneath a charismatic former media pundit now a pacesetter known as Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), have a quasi-religious mission to destroy all expertise, and for them, Neville represents the smug civilization that introduced on this calamity. They assault his fortified dwelling every night time, whereas he defends with weapons and firebombs.

There’s a sure (barely campy) resemblance between the grotesque Matthias and long-haired hippie cult leaders – suppose Charles Manson particularly – who have been huge in tabloid headlines on the time, although it’s not exhausting with a bit creativeness, to equate these black-robed, monk-like marauders with the Islamic Taliban fanatics or any throwbacks who reject the fashionable world.

When Neville experiments along with his personal blood as a treatment for some comparatively unaffected survivors who flip up, the film edges towards an apparent Christ metaphor for the hero. And everyone knows how that story ended.

As performed by rugged icon Heston, although, Robert Neville is a macho man who doesn’t hesitate from fights and dives eagerly right into a love affair with a fetching feminine survivor. She’s performed by a black actress, Rosalind Money, which was very progressive for the day (whereas his picture is now tragically related to wild-eyed pro-gun fanaticism, Charlton Heston’s movie work usually leaned to the politically progressive facet, take care of it – hey, these post-Armageddon albino freaks aren’t going to shoot themselves!). This race-blending bit does herald a number of the standard “blaxploitation” film baggage that anchors the film to its time interval – the large hair, loud polyester and attitudes of the “Cunning Cleopatra” character from the Austin Powers sequence.

But, although some viewers think about parts to be laughable, the dimensions, scope and sobriety of the useless metropolis nonetheless impress and there’s sufficient about The Ωmega Man to make it a compelling imaginative and prescient of what occurs after the world ends.

Viewers also can jam on a Ron Grainer soundtrack that has cameos of the keyboard-attached-to-a-bank-of-oscillators (I do imagine that’s what it’s) tones that distinguished his iconic Physician Who theme.
Charles Cassady Jr, MOVIES & MANIA

Purchase The Ωmega Man + Logan’s Run + Soylent Inexperienced on Blu-ray from Amazon.com

Purchase The Ωmega Man on Blu-ray | DVD | Immediate Video from Amazon.com

Solid and characters:
Charlton Heston … Neville
Anthony Zerbe … Matthias
Rosalind Money … Lisa
Paul Koslo … Dutch
Eric Laneuville … Richie
Lincoln Kilpatrick … Zachary
Jill Giraldi … Little Woman
Brian Tochi … Tommy
De Veren Bookwalter … Household Member
John Dierkes … Household Member
Monika Henreid … Household Member
Linda Redfearn … Household Member
Forrest Wooden … Household Member
Steve Goldstein … Final Boy

Technical specs:
1 hour 38 minutes
Side ratio: 2.35: 1
Audio: Mono

Trailer:

Full movie – free to look at on-line on YouTube:

This submit is devoted to my new mentor Achara Kumpoosan (Pantywan).

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