The Omega Man - A masterpiece after all these years.

Charlton Heston is one my very favorite actors. I know a lot of young people today either don't know who he is, or don't seem to be a fan of him due to his rightwing conservative viewpoints.

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It seems that we've become quite a liberal country, and that's perfectly fine with me. I'm not a very political guy.... but I don't think the fact that Charlton Heston was president of the NRA or that he publicly advocated his belief in gun rights should have anything to do with whether or not you enjoy his movies.

Charlton Heston has been in quite a few movies. I think I counted something like 58. I really would like to go through and watch each and every one of those movies, but for now I am pretty much relegated to what I call the Charleston Heston Trifecta.

Those consist of Planet of the Apes which is pretty universally considered to be Charlton Heston's best movie. I do agree with that assessment.

Next up is Soylent Green which is a very important movie because it really put the idea out there that the government might actually be holding some very important information from us, and reinforcing the idea that we are nothing more than sheep. Don't miss seeing this one.

Finally we are left with The Omega Man. This is a really interesting movie. I wouldn't rate it nearly as high as Planet of the Apes or Soylent Green but I still think anyone that has any interest in Charlton Heston and his movie career really needs to see the movie The Omega Man.

Now looking at the cover for the movie, one can't help but wonder if they didn't go a little overboard with the tagline there. It's a bit wordy.

The World Is Dead. One Survivor. Then The Others. Crawling In Darkness. The Strangest Sect Of All. Hunting The Last Man On Earth.

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The Omega Man is an interesting beast. It's based on a book written by Richard Matheson in 1954 called I Am Legend.

I think most people are more familiar with the 2007 version starring Will Smith. That is also a good movie. However, it is quite different than The Omega Man.

One thing that comes into my mind every time I see this is why did they rename it?

To be honest I'm not really sure because I think I Am Legend sounds a lot better than The Omega Man.

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In a nutshell, Robert Neville is basically the last person on the planet. Or at least he thinks that he is. He is the last person that has fully functioning DNA that hasn't changed, or isn't in the process of changing into something else.

A single man that goes about his business watching movies, and staying shut inside his house when it's night time because there are a group of what are essentially vampires that call themselves The Family that run around trying to kill him.

This is where I Am Legend and The Omega Man really differ. The Family which are kind of like vampires, are fully functional thinking beings that are completely capable of engaging in conversations and having fully conceived thought processes.

They are basically people that just can't see in the light. People with really strange eyes that are infected with a disease and that are no longer fond of technology, so they constantly try to destroy it at every single turn.

To them, Robert Neville as the epitome of technology.... so they want to wipe him out. Honestly they don't seem to be trying very hard, because he is not in any kind of a fortress. He's simply in a second level hotel room.

When this movie first came out it apparently didn't get very good reviews, and I think that has a lot to do with it. Robert Neville in this movie is not really locked up in a place where he cannot be accessed by these vampires.

It really makes you wonder how he's capable of sleeping at night considering that they are shown climbing up the walls of his hotel all the time, calling his name out, throwing fire bombs at him, and essentially showing him that they're eventually going to destroy the man. It seems like he would be really easy to get.

I don't understand that about the movie.

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Robert Neville doesn't want to bow down to The Family though. He tells himself that he's not going to leave his room and find a better fortress, because that's where he likes to stay.

He travels around during the day despite the fact that these things are everywhere, because they sleep during the day and he just tries to live his life normally.

It never really shows him actively working on any kind of a cure for the creatures either. This is another difference between The Omega Man and I Am Legend.

In this movie Robert Neville seems to just be kind of barely getting by. He even hears things like telephones ringing, and apparently has multiple hallucinations because he is in the process of losing his mind.

He doesn't even have a dog to keep him company.

I think in just about every movie that Charlton Heston plays he comes across as a real badass. If you are tired of Charlton Heston in his badass role then you probably should not watch this movie.

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Now just like in the other movie, Robert Neville eventually does find other people. However, in The Omega Man those people are all in the process of turning into vampires already.

You are never sure when somebody is going to turn or not. Robert Neville has to take a sample of his own blood in order to create cure so that he can fix the survivors so that they don't turn.

He has no interest in saving any of the original vampires known as The Family though. This is kind of troubling given that we are already shown that The Family are completely conscious beings that have conversations and are intelligent.

They seem to just be people that can't see in the light, but other than that they are pretty much completely normal beings.

Not cool, Robert.

One other thing about this movie given that came out in 1971 is the awesome seventies vibe.

That's right, it's pretty obvious that this movie came out in the 1970s. You can see that sweet afro on Lisa, his new found love interest.

It looks like they're about to go to a disco and why wouldn't they? That's something you totally would do in 1971 and I love it.

If you're looking for a nostalgic movie about the 1970s then The Omega Man is a pretty good place to start.

If you're looking for a really good movie about sort of vampires that can't see in the light, then The Omega Man is the movie for you.

If you're looking for a great movie starring Charlton Heston in the role of a badass then The Omega Man is definitely the movie for you.

However, if you're looking for great special effects and realistic zombie vampires then you're probably better off sticking with something like I Am Legend.

I personally believe that The Omega Man belongs in any collection for people that like older movies.

If you love Charlton Heston, then this is a great movie for you, but other than that if you're a fan of action that you might not love this movie.