The Omega Man (1971)

October 03, 2009

Netflix Stream, Seattle, WA

* / ****

By Scott Muoio

Scenery chewing macho man Charlton Heston is “the last man alive” in the horrifically dull, endlessly absurd The Omega Man.

The plot involves a post-apocalyptic earth reeling from germ warfare that results in the extinction of nearly every living thing. The only survivor is Heston’s Colonel Robert Neville, M.D., his survival the result of a vaccine he was working on before mankind’s fall. Lucky him.

Taunting Neville’s every move is “The Family,” pale faced, light sensitive mutant humans led by an idiotic buffoon named Matthias (Anthony Zerbe). Wearing cheap Halloween cloaks and talking in some sort of pseudo high English, these homicidal maniacs believe technology led to the world’s collapse and hence will stop at nothing to eradicate Neville and his “science and art loving ways.”

You would think with merely floodlights protecting his easily sieged apartment that after two years of attempts The Family would eventually get Neville. Not so. With rickety catapults and rubber arrows their best offense these dopes are doomed to failure. Yet even when fortune shines their way and they finally get their hands on Neville, a preposterous Family court hearing and a superfluously asinine empty football stadium sacrificial ceremony again leads them astray… and, of course, introduces us to a gnarly band of survivors that speak in a decidedly hilarious late ‘60s jive. Oh, dear.

While The Omega Man’s story is obviously crap, it is its technical guffaws that push it over the edge.

A glut of unnecessary and distracting zooms passes for cinematography. The aforementioned ridiculous late ‘60s vibe, which also includes polyester suits, out of place porno style music, and a macho “Doomsday… so what?” attitude permeates every frame. Lots of laughable chase, rescue, and fight scenes certainly don’t help. An array of tangential connecting interludes and a ridiculous love story only makes things drag even more. And then there’s the whole fear of technology gimmick the script uses to supposedly carry the story. A fable of mankind’s technological irresponsibility this is not, but rather an impossibly phony and hokey travesty that appears to have neither the budget nor the smarts to pull off anything resembling ominous, important, or even charismatic.

No wonder Hestons’ Neville drank so much liquor as he paced his apartment: to be in a movie this bad you ought to be drunk. But alas, I suspect being drunk won’t be enough to save a viewer from the agony of watching The Omega Man.

Director: Boris Sagal

Producer: Walter Seltzer

Writer: Richard Matheson (novel I Am Legend), John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington

Starring: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Paul Koslo, Rosalind Cash, Eric Laneuville

Original Music: Ron Grainier

Cinematographer: Russell Metty

Editor: William Ziegler