Review of The Omega Man (1971) by Jonathan S — 20 Jan 2010
TERRIFIED ME BEYOND REASON when I was 5years old. The Family and THEIR EYES!!! THE FAMILY Terrorized me all through the entire 90+ minutes of the film and just at the end I got so scared I turned the tv off in front of my brother (aged 9).
In those days you had to wait for the tv to heat-back-up when you turned it of and on and my brother missed the end of the movie. ha ha ha ha.
not so funny an incident in May of 1976, though.
Of course people today call it a "typical 70s flick" and contemporary reviewers would see it as a "B-Movie" that goes no where.
HOWEVER, when you see The Right Movie at Precisely The Right Time in your life, it sticks with you forever.
I love the music and have both soundtracks (the 1999 version and the 2006 version):
PIANO and guitar for LISA'S THEME.
RICHIE has full orchestra.
A "WATER BELL" is used for shocking parts.
And THE OMEGA MAN'S theme is brassy and melancholy.
Unlike what ROGER EBERT says, THE FAMILY is not a bunch of "disorganized ghouls." THE FAMILY is a post-apocalyptic mutated-sect of people led by a charismatic leader named Mathias.
Charlton Heston is Neville who serves as a Messianic figure to the "non-tertiary-staged" humans.
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No, its not "better than the book;" THE OMEGA MAN is different from "the book" and has been updated to reflect the ongoing conflicts occurring in 1971 AMERICA:
BLACK POWER was still strong after Matin Luther King's assissation 2 years before the film's release.
THE CHARLES MANSON FAMILY similar to homicidal THE FAMILY in THE OMEGA MAN had recently slaughtered SHARON TATE a year before principle-photography.
THE VIETNAM CONFLICT had gone into "POST-TET OFFENSIVE" by THE OMEGA MAN'S production.
Kids today only can see THE OMEGA MAN as a typical '70s flick because the kids of today were born in the mid-eighties and early-1990s.
Oh boy here we go again: KIDS TODAY have no clue what it was like 40 and 50 years ago--pre-STAR WARS, pre-cell phone, pre-internet (as we know it today), pre-dvd, pre-blu-ray.
"a typical 70s flick" like THE OMEGA MAN of course would fail with audiences of today.
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But . . . I AM LEGEND with WILL SMITH is further from "the book" than THE OMEGA MAN.
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH with VINCENT PRICE is the best adaption yet suffers severely from low production values.
THE OMEGA MAN rules!!!!!!
This review of The Omega Man (1971) was written by Jonathan S on 20 Jan 2010.
The Omega Man has generally received mixed reviews.
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