Review of The Omega Man (1971) by Hugo S — 15 Mar 2008

THE OMEGA MAN (1971).

Directed by Boris Sagal.

Starring Charleston Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind CashIt all began with a nuclear war, then the plague came and killed almost the entire population of Earth. Colonel Robert Neville survived using one of his experimental vaccine at the last minute. Now, many years later in wander around the city during the day, looking Matthias and his people. Those are other type of survivors, they are sick, they cant go outside under the sunlight and they are radical. At night, when they come out, its their turn to try to catch Neville. Is he really the last man onn Earth ?The omega Man is an earlier adaptation of Ricahrd Matheson's I Am Legend, but this one being made in the early 70's looks very naive and often silly. Some scenes are laughable and Charleston Heston is pretty much ridiculous doing his monologues alone, trying to pretend he is dailoguing with someone else but his performance lacks conviction.The «survivors» look like albinos and when they attack Neville, the fights almost look like those in the old Batman TV show from the 60's.The Omega Man has an interesting premise with some interesting flashbacks but it seems to never go for what it should really be about and concentrate on being an action film with some, Im guessing, scary moments for the time. Its not that bad, but it could have easily been better. The soundtrack is pretty good though, and the wide shot of the empty city are quite impressive, since they couldnt do that with computer back then. It lacks the introspective qualitites that the Will Smith version has, even if it tries hard, it seems to never rise.