The Omega Man

For the coin counterfeiter, see The Omega Man (counterfeiter). For the manga and anime character, see Omegaman.

The Ωmega Man
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Boris Sagal
Screenplay by	John William Corrington Joyce H. Corrington
Produced by	Walter Seltzer
Starring	Charlton Heston Anthony Zerbe Paul Koslo Rosalind Cash Eric Laneuville
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Music by	Ron Grainer
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	August 1, 1971 (1971-08-01)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English

The Ωmega Man is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the novel I Am Legend (1954) by American writer Richard Matheson. The screenplay is by John William and Joyce Corrington, and it was filmed in Technicolor with monaural sound, with a running time of 98 minutes. The story was first 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 an unofficial fourth, I Am Omega, featuring Mark Dacascos, was also released in 2007 (though neither Matheson's name or novel were credited as source material for this version).

As multiple reviewers have noted, the film differs from its source in several ways including the basic premise. In the novel the cause of the demise of humanity is a plague spread by mosquitoes, whereas in the film human biological warfare is the cause. One reviewer speculated this may have been due to one of the screenwriters having a doctorate in chemistry.

Plot

In March 1975, biological warfare between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union kills most of the world's human population. U.S. Army Colonel Robert Neville, M.D. (Charlton Heston), a military scientist based in Los Angeles, California, begins to succumb to the plague but vaccinates himself with an experimental and yet-to-be-tested vaccine just in time, rendering himself immune. The plague's surviving victims, meanwhile, join together as "The Family," a cult of nocturnal homicidal mutants with plague-induced albinism who seek to destroy the last vestiges of technological society.

Two years later, Neville believes himself to be the plague's only survivor. He spends his days hunting down and destroying members of The Family. At night, living atop a fortified apartment building equipped with an arsenal of military-style automatic firearms and explosives (such as a Smith & Wesson M76 submachine gun, infrared sight-equipped Browning Automatic Rifle, and satchel charges), he is a prisoner in his own home. The Family seeks to destroy him, believing him to be a last remnant of the old culture.

One day, The Family captures Neville in a wine cellar. After a summary trial he is found guilty of heresy by Jonathan Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), who was a television news reporter before the calamity and is now leader of The Family. Neville is sentenced to death and nearly burned at the stake in the center of Dodger Stadium. He is rescued by Lisa (Rosalind Cash), a woman he had earlier seen while on patrol, and Dutch (Paul Koslo), a former pre-med student familiar with Neville's work who had planned to apply to a bio-warfare lab as part of his post med-school training.

Lisa and Dutch are part of a group of unmutated survivors; although infected, their youth has given them some resistance to the disease and its symptoms are slow to manifest. Nevertheless, given enough time, they will succumb to mutation and become as members of The Family. Neville is amazed and gratified to find that some of the survivors include very young children. Neville later engages in a brief relationship with Lisa.

Neville realizes that even if it is 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 The Family behind to die.

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, Richie (insisting that members of The Family are also human) goes to The Family to try to convince them to take the serum. Matthias refuses to believe that Neville would try to help them, accuses Richie of being sent by Neville to harm them and has Richie executed. Neville discovers Richie’s body strung up where The Family murdered him, left as bait to draw Neville outside after dark. Enraged, Neville is caught outside and stalled in his attempts to reach home but manages to fight off The Family, even after his car is forced off the road.

Meanwhile, Lisa unexpectedly changes into a nocturnal and betrays Neville by giving The Family access to his bunker. Returning home, Neville is confronted by Matthias, who forces him to watch as The Family destroys his home and sets it afire. Neville breaks free and, once outside with Lisa, 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. It is assumed that Matthias and The Family choose to stay inside Neville's home as it continues to burn. Lisa claims to be part of The Family, but stays by the fountain with Neville until dawn.

The final scene shows the human survivors led by Dutch, departing in a Land Rover. They discover a dying Neville, who hands Dutch a flask of blood serum, presumably with which to restore humanity. Shortly after handing over the serum Neville dies in a fountain, symbolically posed in the traditional position of the crucified Christ. Dutch takes Lisa and the survivors away as they leave the city for good, leaving the Family to die, as Neville planned.

Reception

The reviews website 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."

Director Tim Burton claims this to be one of his favorite films.

Deleted scene

The script for The Omega Man contains a scene where Lisa goes to visit her parents grave. Unknown to Neville, Lisa is pregnant and she goes to seek comfort from her deceased parents before they leave the city forever. While Lisa is talking to her parents grave she hears a sound and investigates a crypt, in it she spots a female Family member depositing a dead new born mutant baby. Lisa can see the mother's grief and empathizes with the woman's loss despite them being on different sides. Lisa believes that all children, including her unborn baby, will suffer the same fate. Later, Lisa returns to Neville and tells him of the woman in the crypt. Neville asks Lisa if she "took care" of things and Lisa responds that since she may be a grieving parent in a few months, she will not kill a grief-stricken mother. Neville is shocked at first but then embraces Lisa.

While the scene was cut from the final film, the credit for "Woman in Cemetery Crypt" remained.

See also

• Wight or Wight (disambiguation)

  The 'nocturnals' of The Omega Man bare some resemblance to the fantasy/horror undead creature, the wight, such as it appears in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game (D&D wight), which itself was inspired by the Barrow-wight of J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth and other early literature (Wight).

External links

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