The Omega Man

For the coin counterfeiter, see The Omega Man (counterfeiter).

The Ωmega Man
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Boris Sagal
Written by	Richard Matheson (novel I Am Legend) John William Corrington Joyce H. Corrington
Produced by	Walter Seltzer
Starring	Charlton Heston Anthony Zerbe Paul Koslo Rosalind Cash Eric Laneuville
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	August 1, 1971 (U.S. release)
Running time	98 min
Language	English

The Ωmega Man (1971), directed by Boris Sagal, is a science fiction film, featuring Charlton Heston, based on the novel I Am Legend (1954) by Richard Matheson. 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. 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 a fourth, I Am Omega, featuring Mark Dacascos, was also released in 2007.

Plot

The story occurs in 1977, two years after biological warfare between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union kills most of the world's human population with biological weaponry (the escalation is shown in flashback and the date March 1975 is indicated by a tattered calendar). U.S. Army Colonel Robert Neville, M.D. (Charlton Heston) — a military scientist — begins to succumb to the plague, and moments before death, in desperation he vaccinates himself against the plague with experimental vaccine 93-B71, which renders him immune.

In Los Angeles, several hundred biologically resistant albinos calling themselves "The Family" survive the plague - however, they have become deranged, violent, nocturnal, photophobic mutants, and the plague has provoked psychoses and delusions of grandeur. Despite being resistant, members of The Family are dying, perhaps because the plague is mutating.

The Family's leader is Jonathan Matthias (Anthony Zerbe) — a popular Los Angeles television news anchorman whom the plague has transformed into a dangerous, rhetoric-spewing psychotic. He and The Family believe that the war - and their diseased state - is the direct result of science. Therefore, The Family has become Ludditic. Clad in black robes, they use medieval imagery and only the most primitive technologies, including torches, bows, arrows and catapults, to destroy every vestige of science and technology they can find. They see Dr. Neville as a "user of the wheel" - the last remnant of the culture of science they seek to erase - and make it their goal to see him dead.

Col. Neville lives atop a fortified apartment building equipped with an arsenal (Smith & Wesson M76 submachine gun, infrared sight-equipped Browning Automatic Rifle, satchel charges, and a rack of many other guns). By day, he scavenges for supplies while searching for The Family’s nest among the deserted city's buildings. At night, Neville illuminates his building and the surrounding area with floodlights to deter The Family's attempts to kill him, but they still clamor outside, burning books and other cultural artifacts, taunting and attacking Neville whenever they can.

One day, the Family capture Neville in a wine cellar. After a summary trial, he is found guilty of heresy, and is sentenced to an auto de fe and nearly burned at the stake in the center of Dodger Stadium. He is rescued by a woman he'd earlier seen while on patrol. The woman is part of a group of unmutated survivors not immune to the plague; although infected, their youth has given them some resistance to the disease, maintaining them at a pre-albino stage. Nevertheless, given enough time, they may succumb to mutation, becoming one of The Family. Neville is amazed and gratified to find that some of the survivors include very young children, and has a brief relationship with an older member of the group, Lisa (Rosalind Cash). Later, one of the young children, Jill, asks Neville if he is God.

Neville realizes that even if it were 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 Matthias and The Family to die on their own.

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, the idealistic and naive Richie goes to The Family to try to convince them to take the serum as well. Matthias refuses to believe that Neville would try to help them and accuses Richie of being sent by Neville to harm them, and has Richie murdered. Neville later finds a note Richie left about going to talk to The Family, and discovers Richie strung up where The Family left him. Neville, caught outside after dark, is stalled in his attempts to reach home but manages to fight off the Family.

During this, Lisa unexpectedly changes into a nocturnal and betrays Neville by giving The Family access to Neville's bunker-apartment. Returning home, Neville is confronted by Matthias, who forces him to watch as his home is destroyed by The Family. Neville manages to break free and once outside, 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. The final scene shows the human survivors departing in a Land Rover after the dying Neville gives them a flask of blood serum, presumably with which to restore humanity. Shortly after he gives them the serum, Neville dies in a fountain, symbollically posed in the traditional position of the crucified Christ.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes shows the film as having mixed reviews, with a score of 59%. Howard Thompson gave a mostly negative review in The New York Times, saying "the climax is as florid and phony as it can be."

References in Popular Culture

• The film is extensively referenced in the Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror VIII".

External links

• The Omega Man at IMDb
• The Ωmega Man at AllMovie