If any two films were different sides of the same coin, then The Omega Man and Silent Running would be the prime example.
For while the former dealt with the preservation of the ecological and evolutionary status quo in the aftermath of armageddon, the latter takes a very similar scenario ... Read review
Science fiction took a grim turn in the 1970s--the heyday of Agent Orange, nuclear peril ... more
and Watergate. Suddenly, most of our possible futures took on a "last man on Earth" flavour, withThe Omega Mantopping the doom-struck heap.Charlton Heston plays th...
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Science fiction took a grim turn in the 1970s--the heyday of Agent Orange, nuclear peril ... more
and Watergate. Suddenly, most of our possible futures took on a "last man on Earth" flavour, withThe Omega Mantopping the doom-struck heap.Charlton Heston plays th...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Welcome to the future. Biological war has decimated life on Earth. Los Angeles is a ... more
windswept ghost town where Robert Neville tools his convertible through sunlit streets foraging for supplies. And makes damn sure he gets undercover before sundown, whe...
Welcome to the future. Biological war has decimated life on Earth. Los Angeles is a ... more
windswept ghost town where Robert Neville tools his convertible through sunlit streets foraging for supplies. And makes damn sure he gets undercover before sundown, when other 'inhabitants' emerge.The Omega Man adapts Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend into a high-impact high-tension saga of a fate not so far removed from reality. Charlton Heston is Neville, fending off attacks by The Family, sinister neopeople spawned by the plague. He also becomes a man with a mission after meeting Lisa (Rosalind Cash), another uninfected survivor - and guardian of some healthy children representing our species' hope.
Science fiction took a grim turn in the 1970s--the heyday of Agent Orange, nuclear peril ... more
and Watergate. Suddenly, most of our possible futures took on a "last man on Earth" flavour, withThe Omega Mantopping the doom-struck heap.Charlton Heston plays the government researcher behind the ultimate biological weapon, a deadly plague that has ravaged humanity. There are two groups of survivors: a dwindling band of immune humans and an infected, psychopathic mob of light-hating quasi-vampires. The infected are led by Mathias, a clever, charismatic man set on destroying the last remnants of the civilisation that produced the plague. Heston has a vaccine--but he and the few remaining normals are outnumbered and outgunned. By day, he builds a makeshift version of the nuclear family (with Rosalind Cash as his afro-wearing, gun-toting little lady). They plan for the future while roaming freely through an empty urban landscape, taking what few pleasures life has left. By night, they defend themselves against the growing horde of plague victims. Both a bittersweet romance and a gothic cautionary tale,The Omega Manpaints a convincing portrait of hope and despair. It ain't pretty, but it's a great movie.--Grant Balfour
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Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Advantages: Minimalistic, intellgent approach, chilling scenario, Charlton Heston at his peak Disadvantages: Not apparently as good as the literary source material (I Am Legend), looks quite dated.
...films were different sides of the same coin, then The Omega Man and Silent Running would be the prime example.
For while the former dealt with the preservation of the ecological and evolutionary status quo in the aftermath of armageddon, the latter takes a very similar scenario but the battle is against the survivors who seek to purge the post apocolyptic world of all that they believe caused its downfall.
The end of ... ...theme in science fiction of the era. The second Planet Of The Apes film, made in 1968, introduced a horrendously scarred community of underground surivivors, mutated by radiation from an atom bomb.
The Omega Man - also, intruigingly, starring the unerringly heroic Charlton Heston - takes place in a near-future (1977, 6 years hence from the time of its release) blighted by germ warfare of the most calamitous nature.
If any two films were different sides of the same coin, then The Omega Man and Silent Running would be the prime example.
For while the former dealt with the preservation of the ecological and evolutionary status quo in the aftermath of armageddon, the latter takes a very similar scenario but the battle is against the survivors who seek to purge the post apocolyptic world of all that they believe caused its downfall.
The end of the world as we know it, at the hands of burgeoning nuclear and chemical warfare, was a recurring theme in science fiction of the era. The second Planet Of The Apes film, made in 1968, introduced a horrendously scarred community of underground surivivors, mutated by radiation from an atom bomb.
The Omega Man - also, intruigingly, starring the unerringly heroic Charlton Heston - takes place in a near-future (1977, 6 years hence from the time of its release) blighted by germ warfare of the most calamitous nature.
However, in keeping with the canny, understated narrative style of the times, the film does not spell out all this information at the beginning. It's nigh on impossible to conceive of any current movie which would refrain from hitting the audience near senseless with the chilling details of what's happened and how it all ended up that way.
The Omega Man chooses to introduce the pieces of the puzzle slowly, with the aid of well-timed flashbacks, made all the more effective because of their timing.
In its opening sequence, Heston is seen crusing around a sunny American city (could be New York, could be L.A.) in a convertible, to the strains of his 8-track car stereo. At this point, it's unclear just what is going on. A glimpse of the less-than-idyllic truth is first revealed with a sudden, jarring explosion of gunfire, the burning of rubber on tarmac. This could still be a cop movie, though, for all we know......but hold on - where exactly *is* everyone?
There's an eeire quality to these early deserted urban landscapes which draws you in, leaves you desperate to find out what on earth (quite literally) has happened. The audience is hooked, with nary a line of dialogue spoken nor any great song and dance required.
Why are the streets, shops and buildings completely empty? Why is this man apparently the only one about, tearing around in any car he chooses from vacated showrooms, pulling up at the movie theatre which is still showing the same film it did 5 years ago? More to the point, why does he need to carry a machine gun?
All these questions are answered, of course, and very satisfyingly so. The revelations concerning Heston's background, and how he came to avoid the fate of his fellow humans, is handled intelligently and provides the impetus for the second half of the film.
There's an ambiguity throughout much of the story, as his character's nemeses seek to undermine the assumptions to be drawn from what we are intially told and shown. To quote a line from late in the movie, "who is right and who is wrong?". Is this man (Heston) merely playing God, pathetically holding onto the ill-fated past by fashioning a solitary, fantasy lifestyle while all around him is either dead or diseased? Or are his intentions and actions noble and with the future of the Human Race at heart? Is he even alone, for that matter?
Like its cinematic soulmate Silent Running, it never shies away from thought-provoking commentary and cases its hopeful, humanitarian resolutions in an often bitter coating.
The Omega Man tackles the big issues of its generation, and of all generations, with a style that ensures itself a place in timeless film-making.
Advantages: Good 70's stuff. Disadvantages: Slightly dated of course.
You will be aware of the latest blockbuster movie called I am legend, and may know of a film from years ago, that someone said was similar. Well, the original film was called The Omega Man, and it was based on a book called "I am legend". The story is simple enough, one man (Charlton Heston) is the sole survivor of a germ war that either killed off the worlds entire population, or turned them into killer mutants called "The Family".
The modern version ... ...a very good copy, considering the Omega Man was 37 years ago, and the art of special effects has improved no end. Personally I actually prefer the original. It was gritty, '70s stuff, with Heston gunning down the baddies like there was no tomorrow. Actually there may not be if he didn't gun them down. Heston is known for his pro gun attitude, and has been quoted as saying you could "Take my weapon from my cold dead hand" I do realise this was a quote ...
smudgeybabes 03.02.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Omega Man (DVD)
Advantages: Good Premise, well filmed and enjoyable Disadvantages: dated and could have been better
...again its futuristic sci-fi where the world has gone wrong and only our hero Charlton Heston can save the day. I might add that I enjoyed the irony of "Mr National Rifle Association" running around shooting zombies and philosophising over how the world could have destroyed itself.
Heston is under the impression that he is the last human left alive, the only other creatures left dwelling the planet being mutated human beings, victims of a plague ... ...save himself but not the rest of mankind. That is until one day he sees a woman, Rosalind Cash, in a shop who is clearly not suffering from the plague as she does not look like Casper the ghost. He chases her but eventually he losses her and once again he is alone.
The mutants, rather like something from a Michael Jackson video only come out at night as light hurts their eyes so Heston spends the days looking for food and supplies then races home ...
gray001 22.02.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Omega Man (DVD)
Advantages: A perfectly adequate film in its own right Disadvantages: A crap adaptation of a classic sci-fi text
...than it is. Having read the amazing source novel by Richard Matheson, "I Am Legend", the night before, I was eager to see how it had been transferred to the screen. Not very well, is my conclusion.
As with the book, the "last man on Earth"(TM) on Earth is called Robert Neville...and that's pretty much it. Pretty much everything else has been bastardised for a Seventies' audience. Gone is the ordinary hero, struggling for survival against his own ... ...grimly for an antidote for the plague that has wiped out most human life. What we get instead is Charlton Heston (obviously unaware that he has been typecast as a nihilistic antihero/action-man after his turn in Planet of the Apes), crashing his sports car by day and talking to himself. You never root for him, just feel indifferent.
Gone is the tiny little house with boards on the windows as Neville's only defense against the bloodthirsty vampires, ...
MonkeyboyUK 20.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Omega Man (DVD)
Advantages: Good Story, novel idea Disadvantages: Over the top on costumes....
This film from the seventies, was the writers attempt at trying to show mankind what could happen if the cold war didn't stop in time. This film is about germ warfare and not nuclear war as one would imagine when you talk about the cold war. Based on the book by Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend", this adaptation, is not as good as I feel it could have been, but never the less Charlton Heston plays a very good part. Directed by Boris Sagal (Mosquito ... ...is the only person who is not infected by the biological germ used in the Worlds briefest of Wars. Within days of the use of the weapon, millions die. Neville survives by scavenging in the day and returning to his penthouse flat which is barricaded and heavily protected from the 'Family' at sun down. The 'Family' led by zealot named Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), are the citizens at different stages of the biological disease left behind after the attack. ...
pc2308 18.05.2007 (17.05.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Omega Man (DVD)
Advantages: chuck is awesome Disadvantages: too few extras
...it's sheer brilliance. made in the 70's good old Charlton Heston and his Doc Savage chin and chest just rob Chuck in every scene. The film is so silly now it's just a case of watching it without trying to involve your brain in any way at all. Chuck dying at the end of the film I totally forgot about (I told you it contained spoilers!) all the scenes of newscasters and scientists on television stank of romero's "Dead" movies so I can see how the book ... ...been re-cut or included all the cut scenes (like the now infamous woman in crypt on the cutting room floor). It would have been nice to see the context those scenes were in.
We got a tiny thing about "making of Omega Man" which was really bad and didn't add to the DVD in the slightest. Can't someone ask Charlton to get off his gun toting backside and make a few commentaries. No-one should even consider re-making this. Like Logans Run (HERESY!) certain ...
atytyut2434 17.07.2008
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Advantages: Chilling, different, thought provoking and British Disadvantages: Plot holes, shaky camera work, violent
This film is apparently based on the cult 60s movie 'The OmegaMan'. It is directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave) and written by Alex Garland (The Beach). The DVD cover has the quote "The best British Horror film for 30 years" which sounds impressive until you try to identify another British horror film from the last 30 years (yes - OK, there is 'Dog Soldiers' which has some passing similarity to this film). But really I would put it more into the Sci-fi category even though horror is something it has plenty of.
The film opens with a scene in a laboratory showing a chimpanzee strapped to a table being forced to watch TV footage of horror and violence. Then a group of animal liberationists break in and discover many other chimps in cages. A lab technician comes in and pleads with the liberationists not to free ...
The Omega Man is the last man alive in a biologically decimated future world. He crusades to keep himself alive and to fend off a diseased pack of neo-vampires...
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
WARNER HOME VIDEO; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Release date
29/09/2003
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
D 011210
Barcode
7321900112109
Languages
Main Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Introduction - By Joyce H Carrington - Screenwriter, Featurette - 1. THE LAST MAN ALIVE: THE OMEGA MAN, 2. CHARLTON HESTON: SCIENCE FICTION LEGEND, Theatrical Trailers
DVD Description
In the aftermath of a bacteriological war, the future of mankind hangs in the balance. Only a chosen few have survived the mutating effects of germ warfare unharmed. A small enclave of healthy, stalwart resistors has formed a camp where, for the moment, they live peacefully. The other human survivors are terribly disfigured mutants referred to as the "Family" who walk the earth at night in search of prey. Charlton Heston plays the last man alive in this chilling classic, gathering supplies by day from a deserted Los Angeles whose streets are strewn with the post-apocalyptic flotsam of the super-funky '70s. Based on Richard Matheson's novel I AM LEGEND made before as THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) with Vincent Price.
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