Movie: "The Omega Man"
Year: 1971
Rated: PG
Genre: Action / Adventure
Directed by: Boris Sagal
Writing credits: John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington

Reviewer: Max Burbank
Posted: 1/2/2008

Plot: Dr. Robert Neville (Heston) seems to be the last survivor of a World War waged with Biological weapons. Unless you count the nocturnal, albino, psychotic Ludite "Family" that come out every night and try to kill him. If the world had ended in 1971, this is what it might have looked like.

Review: One part seventies time capsule, one part dystopic action flick, “The Omega Man” is one bad ass movie you need to rent and watch in the dark. For my money, Chuck Heston could kick the shit out of Arnold, Sylvester, The Rock or any other action hero who’s come along since. He’d sweat and bruise and bleed and die before he was done, but he’d win because he was a man, a human man just like you and me but much, much, much tougher.

Early in the movie before you even know what the hell is going on, Heston tools around deserted downtown LA and eventually treats himself to a screening of Michael Wadley’s “Woodstock” documentary that had only come out a year beforehand. Chuck sits alone in the theater laughing as he lip syncs the dialog of a hippie dippie interviewee spouting all sorts of flower power drivel. He’s memorized a paragraph about peace and love saving the world because he’s watched it over and over and in the one, economical movie moment you know the two things you need to, the world is totally over and Chuck has gone nearly as crazy as a shit house rat. And then he spends too much time getting maudlin, gets back to his house after sundown and the monsters have come out!

Luckily they won’t touch anything higher tech than a bow and arrow since they blame science for the end of the world and Chuck is pretty ok with his machine gun, grenades and car as weapons, so he gets inside, fires up the generator and turns on the spotlights, which the mutant albinos don’t like any better than sunlight.

I was nine years old when I saw this flick, and had just moved out of my brother’s bedroom. I came home after seeing it, moved back into his room and was twelve before I moved out again.

This is the second movie adaptation of the book “I am Legend” by the great Richard Matheson. The first, “The Last Man on Earth” (1964) starred Vincent Price. It was very true to the book, but had a budget of about $7.00 and it’s teeth grindingly slow. I haven’t seen the Wil Smith mega budget treatment that just came out so I won’t comment except to say that though I like the Fresh Prince, he ain’t no Moses.

Overall rating:
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)