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Apocalypse Now & Again
Monday Sep 26, 2005.
By Joel Wicklund
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Straddling a shaky line somewhere between guilty pleasure and legitimate sci-fi classic, "The Omega Man" (1971) is one of those movies permanently imprinted on my memory. I could not count how many times I saw this film on television as a kid and its images of shrouded, vampire-like mutants are iconic to me, even as its weaknesses have become more apparent as I've grown older. "The Omega Man" is embedded enough in the pop culture consciousness to have received the high honor of a parody on "The Simpsons" (the "Homega Man" segment of one of the show's great Halloween episodes), but despite some glaringly dated qualities and the typically stilted performance of Charlton Heston in the lead, the film holds up as a pretty exciting, post-apocalyptic yarn. Heston plays a military scientist who believes he is the last normal man alive following an outbreak of germ warfare that has devastated the planet. Living in his well-guarded penthouse apartment, he spends his days either gathering the necessities of life from desolate stores and gas stations or hunting down "the family," the organized army of plague-carrying mutants who can only come out at night. The albino-skinned "family" members are not true vampires. They don't seek blood, just the extinction of the last normal humans. Led by a messianic, former TV news anchor (Anthony Zerbe), they are committed to obliterating the remnants of technology and past history and re-building the world in back-to-basics fashion. Heston eventually discovers a small band of other survivors unaffected by the plague, including tough-talking Lisa, played by Rosalind Cash with the full "black power" fashion and lingo of the times. They quickly go from apprehensive partners to lovers to Adam and Eve figureheads for a new world. But Lisa's infected brother Richie and the ongoing threat of the "family" stand as obstacles to their planned nirvana. Director Boris Sagal spent the bulk of his career in television and "The Omega Man" has much of the look and feel of '70s TV. But it's good '70s TV: efficient, with a strong narrative pull and a couple of well-staged action scenes. Heston is, well, Heston. He grimaces, flashes his confident toothy grin, and delivers some pithy wisdom with his standard theatrical machismo. As in "Planet of the Apes," he also manages to be shirtless for much of the movie. Apparently, in the years before steroid-sculpted action stars, Heston's healthy but now average-looking physique had some drawing power at the box office. Cash offers a more interesting portrayal. Though saddled with some lame dialogue, she is effectively tough and tender as the love interest. Though she appeared in a couple of "blaxploitation" films, Cash was known for refusing to play stereotyped roles, and you can see where Lisa, a strong black woman in an interracial romance, would have been a pretty brave choice for an actress at that time, especially one making only her second feature film. Racial matters are thick in other areas of the film as well, particularly in exchanges between "family" leader Matthias (Zerbe excels in the sinister role) and his lieutenant Zachary (Lincoln Kilpatrick). The film's overall politics are a bit messier. One can easily read it as an endorsement of rugged individualism, with future National Rifle Association president Heston seeming to fare better on his own than after joining up with the others. The use of "the family" might also be a loaded term, making people think of Charles Manson's "family" of murderers and their appalling perversion of hippie culture ideals. On the other hand, liberals can see the whole film as a bleak portrait of global confrontation gone horribly wrong and Cash's group of survivors as the promise of a leftist commune. In the end though, this is a movie where popcorn probably matters a lot more than politics. Even with its dramatic and generational pitfalls, it remains highly entertaining escapism. Warner Brothers' DVD of "The Omega Man" features a high-quality transfer of the film, an original theatrical trailer, a vintage studio promotional film, and some filmographies. There is also a very brief introduction featuring interviews with co-screenwriter Joyce Corrington and cast members Eric Laneuville and Paul Koslo.They all make interesting comments, leaving the viewer wishing for a longer documentary segment involving more principals. Though a lesser film in almost every regard, "The Last Man on Earth" (1964) makes for a good double-bill with "The Omega Man," based as it is on the same source novel ("I Am Legend" by famed fantasy author and frequent "Twilight Zone" scribe Richard Matheson). Following the same basic plot structure, "The Last Man on Earth" has more traditional vampires. Though still post-plague mutants, hero Vincent Price must pound stakes through their hearts to kill them and hangs garlic and mirrors to hold them at bay. A somewhat sluggish, awkwardly dubbed U.S.–Italian co-production, the film will hold some interest for horror buffs. The lumbering vampire armies pounding at Price's door immediately bring George Romero's classic "Night of the Living Dead" to mind, making one curious if Romero borrowed a bit of imagery from the earlier film. The film's strongest attribute, however, is Price. Best known for his wonderful (if sometimes hammy) theatricality, Price could tone it down when needed and he does so beautifully for this bleak story. He plays the title character with believable weariness and heartbreak, overcoming the film's simplistic dialogue. Whereas Heston seems barely changed by the discovery of humans after two years alone, Price seems appropriately uplifted by the mere arrival of a dog. A public domain warhorse, "The Last Man Alive" is available on dozens of cheap-o labels. Surprisingly, Alpha Video (a company that dominates the public domain market) secured a print far superior to most of the scratchy, soft transfers in their library. The film not only looks sharp and clear, but it is properly letterboxed for its CinemaScope dimensions. Most other labels offer badly cropped prints made for early television showings. Hardly essential for any collection, Alpha's "Last Man Alive" DVD is so affordable (retailing at $5.95 or less) that Vincent Price buffs may want to skip the rental and just add this one to their shelf.
Films featured in DVDetours™ may be difficult to find at many video stores but are widely available from some of the online rental services, such as Netflix, Green Cine, QwikFliks and Blockbuster Online. Inventories vary from company to company and DVDetours has no connection to any of these services. © 2005 Joel Wicklund
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