The Omega Man (1971)
WB DVD (region 1, 4)
d. Boris Sagal; pr. Walter Seltzer; scr. Joyce H. & William H. Corrington; novel. Richard Matheson; ph. Russell Metty; m. Ron Grainer; ed. William H. Ziegler; cast. Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo, Lincoln Kilpatrick (98 mins)
Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend is one of the most highly regarded horror novels of the C20th century.
Its influence on genre cinema is not to be underestimated, as it was clearly an inspiration for the seminal George Romero film of Night of the Living Dead. Indeed, the first screen version of the novel, The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price in the lead, is a sadly neglected precursor to the psychological and visceral desolation that would characterize modern horror films since Romero. Nevertheless The Last Man on Earth was unfortunately dismissed by most critics and Matheson’s property when reacquired was yet again rewritten and readapted, this time for Hollywood and Charlton Heston in The Omega Man, a film which ties more into the oddly popular wave of science fiction dystopias that characterized the early 1970s and indeed many of which – Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes and the underrated Soylent Green (the real dystopic masterpiece of the period) – starred Charlton Heston. Like these films, The Omega Man is un-relievedly pessimistic (as have reportedly been many of director Boris Sagal’s films): the apocalypse is ambiguously not wholly dreaded but is instead an almost inevitable reckoning – the time in which humanity must confront the worst in itself. This almost Biblical under-text characterizes the dystopic trend in which The Omega Man stands proudly.
Charlton Heston plays the last “man” in Los Angeles, the apparent sole survivor of an outbreak of biological warfare that has devastated the planet. He lives in an ornate house, venturing by day into the desolate, corpse-strewn city in a pathological desire to hunt down and exterminate the albino, half-blind, diseased and psychotic victims of the plague that still cling to a semblance of life.
These victims have organized themselves into a quasi-religious cult, referring to themselves aptly (for the Manson era in which the film was made) as “the family”, headed by former newscaster Anthony Zerbe (who was earlier well cast opposite Heston for brief scenes in the Western Will Penny). Zerbe considers Heston a throwback to a world that has been purged and wants to kill him so that society can begin anew. Heston in turn considers these survivors to be sub-human vermin and has dedicated his remaining life to destroying them – in effect validating his belief that he is the last pure survivor. However, one day whilst strolling through a department store, he sees (or thinks he sees) a woman (Rosalind Cash) and chases her into a park. She proves elusive and he soon feels that he may have been hallucinating. On returning to his pursuit of the cultists he is captured and put on trial. When set to be executed, however, he finds that he may indeed have a newfound responsibility to preserve life and head a “real” family.
Whilst many fans have lamented the film’s decision to treat the plague survivors as crazed cultists (complete with black robes) rather than vampires as they were in the novel, the film of The Omega Man succeeds remarkably well in its depiction of Heston’s monstrous narcissism.
His house is indeed adorned with television screens, all offering views of himself – and, as made clear in a number of slyly amusing references, his sexuality has adapted itself to his solitariness and his corresponding belief in his own superiority. He pursues the survivors with such loathing because to him they are contaminated, impure and thus inferior. Although the film does not parallel this fascistic narcissism to Nazism as directly as did The Last Man on Earth, it does make Heston into at best a morally ambiguous figure with almost justifiable delusions of self-importance and at worst a psychopathic and monstrous mass murderer devoid of any sense of pity. He has been driven almost mad by his isolation, and is shown to hallucinate regularly (hearing telephones and replying forcefully to voices only he hears). His awareness of his mental state though, remains a question throughout the film. The irony is that in his hopelessness, he cannot forget the past whilst it is the cultists who seek a visionary future, however abhorrent that too may be. There is ultimately no alternative to madness in this bleak film, despite the promises of the ending.
The Omega Man is American genre cinema’s most resonant depiction of a narcissistic psychosis. In the end, Heston even validates his own martyr complex, ending the film posed like Christ – the potential savior of what’s left of post-apocalyptic humankind.
His actions in the film systematically allow him to indulge in a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. It is, for him, a religious destiny and self-validation, the paradoxical desire of one man who has become a virtual exterminator to be a benevolent savior: it is this gulf that the film considers the irony of Heston’s narcissism. Yet, it is both the irreconcilable dilemma of Heston’s character and the basis for the character’s status as apocalyptic myth – a legend in his own mind. The film is aware of Heston’s tentative hold on sanity and charts how circumstances rather than offer him a chance to return to such merely push him further into a psychotic but inevitable martyr complex. In the move from killer to savior, the film manages a tremendous, most fascinating irony, for there is always the hope that this last specimen of “pure” humanity may find some redemption and true family after all. Perhaps it is his final quest for purpose and significance that makes him a pathetic and pitiable figure despite the Messianic validation the film offers him. The sad thing is that he is mad, belonging only to the awful world he has in part made for himself: a most ironic depiction of martyrdom.
DVD DETAILS:
VISION
The 16:9 enhanced widescreen visual transfer on this DVD is one of surprising clarity and resolution for a film of this age. It has an excellent sense of a deserted city, with Heston driving down streets with abandon, breaking only to fire his machine gun at shadows. Much of the film concerns the lifestyle of a man totally alone and often has a behavioral intensity that is most provocative. The use of the telephoto zoom lens nicely emphasizes the sense of isolation. There is a revealing moment in a darkened cinema where Heston sits alone and watches the movie Woodstock, knowing every word of this hymn to peace that proved futile. Such heavy ironies work well here. Flashbacks to the outbreak of a Sino-Soviet war give an indication of the past and the course of human devastation that Heston simply cannot put behind him. Costumes are well used, with Heston taking the finest clothes and living in luxury whilst the communal cultists dress in black robes and live in despair and desolation, yet fully convinced of their own visionary destiny. The irony and pathos in this situation is remarkably sustained in the film, and contextualized by the flashbacks. Director Sagal’s compositions slyly suggest Heston’s entrapment in this world. The sense of safe daylight and dangerous night is also well sustained. In the transfer, blacks are deep, shadows menacing and with only minimal frame edge problems.
SOUND
The sound transfer is Dolby Digital mono only but is fine, clear, crisp and seems enhanced and fleshed out by the transfer process. The opening begins with an amusing use of elevator music broken by abrupt gunfire, then returning to that music as if a violently psychotic break from reality has been affected. These are tellingly subjective moments of explosive paroxysm and are kept to a minimum but serve well to underlie the unfolding examination of psychosis and self-absorption. The score is wonderfully evocative, finely melancholic and mournful – one of the best accompaniments for a so-called genre movie. Hallucinogenic moments are sparsely but effectively used (the sounds of telephones ringing reveal Heston’s lonely desire for communication as do his responses to imagined voices) although would have been truly harrowing in a home-theatre enhancement. Much is made of Heston talking to himself, in love with his own voice by now perhaps. Details are snappish when needed although the frequent use of the score signals a curious intention on the part of the filmmakers to avoid the silence that would surely go with such extreme solitude as is depicted here. That point aside, the film manages a convincing authenticity and uses the score to underlie the pathos of the predicament and to hint at Heston’s hallucinatory experiences. The transfer serves this well, as good perhaps as mono will allow.
SPECIAL FEATURES
There are a few special features on offer, including an original trailer and a cast and crew list (but without biographies or filmographies). There is also an introduction to the film by co-writer Joyce Corrington and actors Paul Koslo and Eric Laneuville which relates why the vampirism theme of Matheson’s novel was changed (a decision that many of the novel’s admirers have always lamented despite the qualities of the film itself), explores the irony of the killer-as-martyr theme and also mentions the film’s then-pioneering thematic treatment, and indeed visualization, of miscegenation. The featurette titled “The Last Man Alive – The Omega Man” is a brief promotional documentary from the time of the film’s original release: it is narrated by Heston and offers much about his decision to consult a noted anthropologist for added insight into the character. In it, Heston admits that he was drawn to the project for its questioning of whether or not the character was aware of his own sanity. In addition is a very brief text essay titled “Charlton Heston – Science Fiction Legend” which mentions the actor’s 1970s science-fiction work but scarcely probes this fascinating body of work (which included the first two Planet of the Apes films and Soylent Green). Incidentally, there were plans since the early 1990s for this film to be remade (Ridley Scott was rumored to be linked to it at one stage), eventually resulting in 2007's I am Legend with Will Smith.
