The Omega Man (1971) **

The Omega Man was the second feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel "I am Legend" and released seven years after the first film, The Last Man on Earth and would be remade again forty-three years later as I am Legend. I think this adaptation works the least of the three although I've tried to judge all three films separately. We are introduced to Colonel Dr. Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) who is driving through the streets of an empty San Francisco with a sub machine gun which he uses on anything that is still alive. For one this film is much more violent than its predecessor. Neville dispatches the nocturnal family who have been mutated by the biological warfare that has ravaged the Earth with brutal efficiency. Whereas Dr. Morgan of the previous film killed with a dispassionate need for survival, Dr. Neville kills with a sense of vengeance as he hunts for the Family by day. The Family, as led by Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), are anti-technological mutants using medieval weapons and rhetoric who see it as their primary mission to kill Neville as the last user of the wheel. The vampires in the previous film were a ragtag, disorganized bunch who sought Morgan as a source of food. The Family are capable of higher-rationale thought and see it as their mission from God to purge the world of all the evils that brought about the final judgment.

The anti-consumerism and philistine philosophy of the Family is pretty heavy-handed and tends to overshadow most of the scenes with Zerbe and Heston. Whereas the two could have engaged in a thought-provoking argument over whose philosophy could best serve the new world that needs to be forged, Matthias continues to ramble on about shunning all forms of military and modern technology while Neville pokes fun at their attire and deformities. Being under constant nightly onslaught by an outnumbering and organized force is a much more effective threat to the survival of the last man on earth rather than the stumbling vampires of the first film, but the simplistic nature of the characterization of the family with only Zerbe standing out from the crowd of the faceless masses and not even him being remotely interesting makes them all unforgettable and on the whole annoying villains.

Once Neville is finally caught by the Family, he is timely rescued by Dutch (Paul Koslo), the leader of a small group of survivors whose youth provides them with a temporary resistance to the bacteria which has killed the people of the earth. Neville also meets Lisa (Rosalind Cash) who will be his love interest through the second half of the film. Aside from the fact that Heston and Cash share no real chemistry, her introduction and their quick courtship serves merely as a plot necessity for her betrayal when she becomes one of the Family which would lead to the demise of Neville. Her brother Richie (Eric Laneuville), whose imminent transformation into a Family member was the reason Dutch's group sought out Neville, also has a hand in Neville's fatal end when he approaches the Family regarding Neville's potential cure out of an idealism to save them. While his intentions are noble he should already be well aware that the Family are killers and have shunned their past lives as humans. The only way to rectify his blunder is to blame his youthful foolishness.

The film does have it moments and is quite a thrilling journey. The Family do provide a more threatening and frightening menace to the proceedings and Neville's plight of being in constant survival mode is better highlighted because of this fact. Heston is also a more engaging presence that Vincent Price was in the previous film. He and Matthias are an interesting parallel as both of them believe that man contributed to their own damnation. In this regard Heston seems to be playing an extension of the character Colonel Taylor from the first two Planet of the Apes films. Towards the end of the film he discovers the nesting place of the family but decides to fore go his mission of vengeance and instead flee the city with Lisa and the others and start civilization anew. There are some gripping action scenes such as the Family's first attack on Neville and the motorcycle escape through the tunnels of Dodger stadium while evading the Family. The music score also gives some punch to the action scenes and a good signifier of when things are about to pick up. On the whole the film had a great premise but failed in several key aspects of its execution but still makes for enjoyable viewing.

Favorite moment: Neville's second capture by the Family has them invading his home with the help of Lisa who has recently turned into one of the Family. They make him watch as they destroy everything in his home that he holds dear from the artwork he has collected in an effort to protect it from the Family's mass burnings to his scientific equipment and samples which were to be used to help save the remnants of the human race. It's a sad scene as the Family are actually destroying their hope for a future and the chance at restoration to their old selves and the horror and sadness on Heston's face helps to convey the despair he feels as this last hold-out of the past is destroyed around him. It's a powerful scene that shows that emotions can be as just a powerful force as action sequences and if the rest of the film had as much as an emotional impact it would certainly have surpassed the original indeed.