The Omega Man movie storyline. Two years after much of humankind was destroyed in a global war with biological weapons, Dr. Robert Neville leads a solitary existence in Los Angeles. Those humans that do remain are pigment-less albino creatures that roam the night destroying what remnants that may exist of the previous civilization. Neville, who had worked on an antidote to the virus, is one of their main targets.
By day, he searches for their nests while they sleep. He comes across a small band of survivors, mostly children, but which includes two adults. Having injected himself with his experimental serum several years before, Neville in fact may carry the immunities needed to reverse the creatures’ condition. The only question is whether he can survive their constant attacks long enough to prove it.
The Omega Man (stylized as The Ωmega Man) is a 1971 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston as a survivor of a global pandemic. It was written by John William Corrington and Joyce Corrington, based on the 1954 novel I Am Legend by the American writer Richard Matheson. The film’s producer, Walter Seltzer, went on to work with Heston again in the dystopian science-fiction film Soylent Green in 1973.
The Omega Man is the second adaptation of Matheson’s novel. The first was The Last Man on Earth (1964) which starred Vincent Price. A third adaptation, I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, was released in 2007.
The film differs from the novel (and the previous film) in several ways. In the novel, humanity is destroyed by a bacterial plague spread by bats and mosquitoes which turns the population into vampire-like creatures, whereas in this film version, biological warfare is the cause of the plague which kills most of the population and turns most of the rest into nocturnal albino-mutants. Screenwriter Joyce Corrington holds a doctorate in chemistry and felt that this was more suitable for an adaptation.
In Charlton Heston’s autobiography, In the Arena: An Autobiography, he mentioned that the “crucifixion” scene with Neville was not in the original script. It was decided, as it turns out, that it fit quite well into the storyline and was subsequently left in.
The film takes place in Los Angeles, California, and as part of the plot, the city is supposed to be void of human activity except for Neville. Several tricks were used to make the city appear deserted. This objective was accomplished in part by simply filming on a Sunday morning in the center of LA’s business district, which, in late-1970, was essentially devoid of pedestrian movement early on weekend mornings. Despite careful planning by the film crew, bystanders were captured on film in the distance, and moving cars appear briefly in the background during some scenes.
The Omega Man (1971)
Directed by: Boris Sagal
Starring: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo, Eric Laneuville, Lincoln Kilpatrick, Jill Giraldi, Anna Aries, Brian Tochi, Monika Henreid, Linda Redfearn
Screenplay by: John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Russell Metty
Film Editing by: William H. Ziegler
Set Decoration by: William L. Kuehl
Art Direction by: Art Loel, Walter M. Simonds
Music by: Ron Grainer
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: August 1, 1971
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