Ken Van Wagner

Unlike my previous entry about the iconic Godzilla, when discussing the late Charlton Heston, there is no one “defining” role you can place the actor in. Depending on what phase of his long career is the point of discussion, he was either regarded as a strong actor who fit the bill nicely when playing larger-than life characters, a liberal of the late fifties who supported civil rights and social causes or later post-Watergate as a conservative curmudgeon whose world view was through the narrow lens of the growing neocon movement and the NRA. Whatever the case, it cannot be stated that the man as an actor let down his audience when performing, even if his range was less expansive than some of his contemporaries. Curiously, although known in the fifties as playing biblical or historical characters from centuries earlier, it was in the late sixties and early seventies that his roles shifted to more science fiction subjects. In particular, three films from this period had Heston’s character portrayed as a cynical everyman, bemused by the situations he was forced into against his will; the 1968 Planet of the Apes, The 1973 Soylent Green, and the film in discussion The Omega Man from 1971

Circa 1955: Seriously, he liked to be called “Chuck?” This is not the face of a Chuck.

How will the world end? That depends on how one defines “end.” If talking about the end of the planet itself, that’s likely a few billion years down the road; not much concern to humanity since we’ll be long gone as a species by then (that is not to say our intelligence, or what we arrogantly believe is human intelligence won’t somehow survive to that point through A.I. or interplanetary travel even if its original source is extinct.) If discussing extinction events for life however, then one has to determine if it means the end of all life, some life, or in the usual case for most apocalyptic science fiction all human life. Stories of humanity’s downfall likely existed even before the advent of written history, but in most cases it was due to supernatural causes, with the usual culprit being someone (or someone’s) angering whatever deity was involved, with the deity wielding judgement using global destruction as punishment. This fear of divine retribution has become so ingrained that to this day, millions still believe we are living in the “end times,” which has apparently lasted for the past four to five millenniums!

During the Age of Enlightenment however, as scientific reasoning started Western Europe on a path towards modernization, the idea of an apocalypse didn’t fade away; rather the source of causes of disaster began to shift away from strictly supernatural providence to more “natural” events. It could still be considered “Judgement Day” by a higher power, but rather than a nebulous idea of divinely smote extinction, specific events could now be cited; earthquakes, vulcanism, disease, starvation, etc. As the nineteenth century progressed, two other factors started to be more defined as potential causes of human extinction-warfare, and extraterrestrial events such as meteoric impacts. With the twentieth century, two world wars and the discovery and use of nuclear weapons at the conclusion of the second, the idea of the end of humanity took on a very real dimension; for the first time humans had the technological means to end their own species in a matter of hours, or at least destroy modern civilization, a situation we have lived with for almost three-quarters of a century. A few decades later, the scientific discovery that long before modern humans, Earth had gone through several sudden mass extinctions (everyone’s favorite being the end of non-avian dinosaurs) some almost certainly caused or aided by impacts from comets or meteors, has changed the view that modern man was immune to such extraterrestrial events.  Far from being taboo, the subject of human survival in a post-apocalyptic future has been a very popular genre in a variety of media to the present day.

In 1954, author Richard Matheson had written what eventually became his best known work, I am Legend. Like many of his contemporaries of the post-war period, Matheson’s work was influenced by the fear of scientific and military technology that put the destruction of civilization as a very-real possibility.  I am Legend is set in a near future where through human folly, a man-made plague created as a biological weapon has decimated the population of earth leaving one man, Robert Neville, as the sole uninfected survivor. While he is not the only human left, the remaining remnants are mutated by the virus, becoming vampire-like undead who can only walk freely at night. This story has been directly adapted for the movies on at least three occasions, and has been “borrowed” for a whole genre of similar themed films and television shows too numerous to mention. However, since the theme of my thread was on films I saw on hot sultry nights that were actually set in the heat of summer, the version of Matheson’s story that stuck to me like glue was the Heston version from 1971 The Omega Man. Like most adaptations from written works, it does differ in some very significant details, but the basic theme of the plight of a man alone pitted against those who seek to destroy him still keeps its roots in I am Legend. Unlike my two previous entries, The Omega Man was only a modest-budgeted production, but it was certainly a cut above the many quickie horror films that were churned out for grind-house viewing at the time.

Actually a more interesting book cover than most of the movie posters I’ve seen for this film. I like how it juxtaposes Heston’s character of Neville with his main antagonist Mathias rather than simply showing anonymous mutants surrounding the star.

So you may ask, what is it about this film that resonates with me? While The War of the Worlds provided spectacle as humanity was under onslaught during “a pleasant summer season” and Gojira/Godzilla King of the Monsters had the brooding atmosphere of oppressive menace with a monster that symbolized the threat of nuclear weapons, The Omega Man, a film not filled with dazzling special effects, instead captivated me by its characters. If the movie had simply been about the last person left and his struggle for survival and sanity in a post-apocalyptic future, it might have been entertaining enough, and for the first ten minutes of the film this is how it seems to play out. As a first time viewer when I saw this film late one summer night on television in the early seventies, I was unfamiliar with Matheson’s book or its first film adaptation The Last Man on Earth from 1964.  So I was caught completely off-guard when the source of Neville’s apprehension suddenly ambushed him as he was pulling into his garage after high-tailing it home in his “car of the day” Mustang convertible. The sudden appearance of the sinister hooded figures trying to kill Neville put a whole new twist to what I thought up until then was a modern variation of Robinson Crusoe. Neville wasn’t alone; except as the target of the other “survivors” who were the last remnants of a population decimated by a man-made plague.

August 1977 – Two years since the global disaster of biological warfare between the Soviet Union and China, Los Angeles is now a deserted ghost town, where the last conflict of humanity is being played out. Neville, the sole recipient of an experimental vaccine he developed that made him immune to the plague is pitted against “the Family-” those still alive in the third and final stages of the disease and dying off either slowly by attrition or quickly due to Neville’s bullets.  Led by the charismatic Jonathan Mathias played with conviction by Anthony Zerbe, the Family is a throwback to the pre-Industrial Age of the twelfth century, when blasphemy and heresy were sought out and punished in Europe by Church-sponsored Inquisitions. Although the Family as a whole seeks to destroy Neville, it is truly Mathias and his lieutenant Brother Zachary (Lincoln Kilpatrick) who harbor a fanatical grudge against the car-driving, jazz-playing, gun-toting, military scientist. Interestingly, while both men want to see the end of Neville, their motives are different. Mathias, a former television news anchor whose mind has become unhinged by the effects of the disease, manifests a Messiah complex. Once reporting about the end of civilization while it occurred but now afflicted by the “punishment,” his mission is a holy crusade to destroy what he believes obsolete and evil, considering Neville the symbol of the very plague which caused humanity’s downfall. Zachary, on the other hand, hates Neville not only because of his not showing any signs of the disease, but as an African-American resents the Caucasian Neville living in his fortified penthouse or as Zachary succinctly put it, “honky paradise.” Unlike Mathias who considers any technology more advanced than medieval level evil, Zachary is more than willing to resort to using the same weapons that Neville has to even the odds on what I suspect is a more personal score, as to him Neville represents the oppression of the Man that was ongoing long before the plague struck.

I guess it was fortunate for Neville that Mathias led the Family; if it were up to Zachary it would have played out more like Assault on Precinct 13! As for Mathias, it was his good fortune for the Family to have access to old Hollywood props; otherwise it would be hard to explain how a group of sickly city dwellers managed to design and build a medieval catapult!

The situation has been a stalemate for over two years; Neville resigned to his existence as a self-appointed executioner as he holds no hope that any “normal” people still exist, preferring to live in his home in spite of being surrounded by enemies seeking to kill him. Unafflicted, only Neville is free to roam the city during the daylight hours while the diseased Family is forced to remain in darkness. Unable to endure the sun due to the debilitating effects of the plague that have rendered them deathly pale, sore-riddled and light-sensitive, Mathias and his followers are not true vampires, but are considered vermin by Neville whose sole motivation is to hunt down and kill the wretches. Once night falls however, he has no choice but to hole up in his apartment as Mathias and his people stalk the streets, too numerous in numbers to attempt open combat even with superior weapons.

The dichotomy between these opposing sides is nicely framed with a flashback expository sequence where the viewer sees both Neville and Mathias already taking sides; Neville working at a remote facility in a desperate attempt to develop a vaccine against the weaponized disease, while Mathias’s reporting devolves from objective broadcasting to an increasingly pessimistic and subjective editorial where he states on air to a watching Neville, “We were warned of Judgement. Well, here it is…here…now…in the form of billions of microscopic bacilli. This is the End…” It took me a long time to realize that Mathias’s former profession is exactly why he was the perfect foil for Neville, as it would make sense that to people struck down by the disease, Mathias would be a face and personality they would recognize and listen to, even as they did to his broadcasts before the collapse of civilization. Anthony Zerbe was perfectly cast as his voice was a soothing yet eerie tonic for someone who exuded charm tinged with the madness of a zealot. As bookends to the flashback sequence, we see both Neville and Mathias from their points of view-Neville fighting to hold onto his sanity by surrounding himself with both artistic and scientific objects to give his life meaning and focus, his only “companion” a bust of Julius Caesar that he holds one-sided conversations with. Meanwhile, Mathias and his Family nightly taunt Neville, burning books and other articles of civilization while calling him out until he’s goading into spraying gunfire at them.

This situation could continue indefinitely until Neville exhausts his resources, or the last of the Family die off. However, one day while making his rounds of the deserted city, after turning up old unburied corpses and a Family member recently dead of the plague, he stumbles across something else-a woman hiding in a department store who appears “normal.” Not quite believing himself, Neville gives chase but is unable to locate the woman. Deciding to stop for a drink after convincing himself his mind was playing tricks on him, he momentarily lets down his guard to explore a dark wine cellar, only to fall victim to an ambush by Family members. At the mercy of the merciless, Neville is put on trial in a court where Mathias passes judgement; with his fate already decided-as a technological “heretic” Neville is to be burned alive.

Interestingly, at least Mathias was willing to hear Neville out; almost as though he needed someone who he could match wits with, even if he was confident of his own righteousness. The only time a chink appears in his charm is when Neville tasks him to explain why the Family doesn’t try to seek a cure, to which Mathias snaps “There is NONE!” as though admitting to himself he knows they are all doomed to die of the plague.

In keeping with their beliefs in the failure of technology, the Family loads Neville onto a tumbril (again it begs the question, was it made by the Family or found on some deserted studio backlot?- maybe best not to dwell on this too deeply, nor the question of where the Family found all those black-hooded robes in post-apocalypse LA?) and haul him off to Dodger Stadium to be burned alive along with various books and pieces of junk left over from civilization. A very nineteen seventies soundtrack by the under-appreciated Ron Grainger adds tremendously to the overall scene, as it seems Neville is doomed, his posture reminiscent of the Crucifixion (not a coincidence, as is seen later!) Unexpectedly after more than two years, the stadium lights suddenly blaze, the glare driving Mathias and the Family to cower under their robes helplessly. A lone figure suddenly sprints across the field and cuts Neville’s bonds, forcing the dazed scientist at gunpoint off field before the brief reprieve of the lights is gone and the Family realizes their guest of honor is missing! At this point, the “imaginary” woman Neville saw earlier that day suddenly appears brandishing a gun, ordering the bemused Neville to an underground locker where she and her companion “Dutch” have stashed a motorcycle, apparently in preparation for a quick getaway. Luckily (due to seeing a few stashed earlier in Neville’s garage) Neville is skilled enough in his cycling to outmaneuver the Family even with the woman Lisa (Rosalind Cash) riding as passenger, with help from Dutch (Paul Koslo) throwing phosphorous grenades that momentarily blind the pursuing cultists before making their escape into the city outskirts.

Once reaching their destination, Lisa reveals to Neville that Dutch and her weren’t the only ones unafflicted by the plague. A handful of teens and younger children who have managed to escape the clutches of the Family live in the hills overlooking the city, all of them infected, but fortunately showing no overt symptoms of the plague save one – Lisa’s teenaged brother Ritchie (Eric Laneuville) who is on the verge of “turning.” This then was the purpose of Neville’s rescue – Dutch, a former med school student is aware of Neville’s research in bio warfare, knows that Ritchie and the others’ survival depends on getting Neville to help. Neville admits to the others that he alone is immune to the plague, but the possibility exists that a serum could be produced from his blood antibodies. Because he has the equipment to attempt to cure Ritchie in his apartment, they decide to move Ritchie with Lisa along to assist, while Dutch remains with the children. Not unexpectedly, Lisa and Neville begin to grow close, providing an interesting take as their interracial relationship was one of the earliest portrayed in mainstream feature films. Over the course of a week progress is slow, but eventually the teenager shows signs of recovery – Neville’s blood serum is indeed a cure! Feeling exuberant at the news, Neville and Lisa plan to join the others and leave the city, realizing that along with himself, Ritchie can also provide antibodies to further help inoculate the rest of the group.

Neville tried his shot at passing his antibodies to Lisa in a more intimate manner at first.

Lisa convinces Neville that she needs to make a last shopping trip before they all leave the city (which actually makes sense since they have no idea where they’re headed except away from LA, and Walmarts weren’t as ubiquitous back in 1971!) Neville is reluctant to let her leave, but Lisa assures him she’ll stay safe. Meanwhile Ritchie, now cured, questions Neville’s desire to leave the city and abandon the Family members to a slow death. Ritchie believes that if he can be cured, Mathias and his followers at least deserve a chance to be offered the serum. Neville, unable to reconcile his animosity towards the plague-ridden Family, has no desire to attempt to help them, considering them too far gone from humanity to be worth saving. While Neville leaves his apartment to tell Dutch of the success of the serum, Ritchie decides to take matters in his own hands and makes a vain effort to convince Mathias to accept the cure. This goes as well as expected-Mathias, his mind warped by the disease, is convinced Ritchie’s offer is nothing but a trick, that the teen is Neville’s spy.

Neville returning home, finds the note Ritchie left stating his intentions. Fearing the worst, Neville dons his military regalia and armed for bear, makes a hasty beeline after Ritchie. Earlier, the teenager had revealed to Neville where the Family holed up during the day-a place Neville had been seeking in vain for over two years. Arriving after dark, Neville finds the lair empty-except for the body of Ritchie, murdered by the Family.

I always thought “Oh my God,” was to Charlton Heston what “I’ll be back” was to Schwarzenegger! No one else could deliver an OMG like Chuck!

Frantic and now fearful of the Family out in numbers, Neville makes his way back to his apartment, dodging barricades the Family has set up in his way. He encounters resistance, but takes care of things in typical Neville fashion before making it to the safety of his garage.

“I can’t abide these Jawas. Disgusting creatures.”

The electricity is on, so Neville is unsuspecting as he takes the elevator up to his penthouse. Greeted to a dark apartment lit only by candles. Neville calls out to Lisa. He is given a nasty turn when the woman he has fallen in love with steps out of the shadows, pale and cloaked. Lisa it seems, succumbed to the disease while she was out shopping. But she is not alone-under the spell of Mathias, she has let the Family and its leader into Neville’s stronghold. Once again at the mercy of the merciless, Neville is forced to watch while Mathias and his brethren “cleanse” Neville’s apartment with all the finesse that a 1970’s rock group would treat a hotel room.

Nowadays it would have been Mathias stamping on a smartphone! Oh the humanity!

It appears Mathias is the winner here, having taken Lisa into his fold, and Neville all but beaten. Yet Neville’s luck still holds for a moment; he overpowers Mathias and uses the cult leader as a human shield while he makes his getaway with a feebly resisting Lisa and his only bottle of serum that somehow escaped destruction. Unfortunately time is not on his side, as it is still too dark to safely leave, but seeing no other choice attempts to make a break for it. Lisa, still under Mathias’s spell, is compelled to hesitate in the shadows as Mathias stands on the apartment balcony calling out to her hauntingly. Neville, his gun jammed, futilely calls Lisa into the light, but to no avail. Mathias takes that moment of hesitation to hurl a spear Zachary had left on the balcony in a failed assassination attempt on Neville. Surprisingly for a city newsman, Mathias’s aim is true, and mortally wounds Neville as Lisa laments that she’s part of the Family now. That morning, Dutch and the children drive into the city to find Neville near-death, but conscious enough to pass along the bottle of serum and gesture to retrieve the now-torpid Lisa. Seeing this last act to the finish, Neville dies, his body now assuming a true crucifixion posture that made the point of him “saving the world by sacrificing himself” a little heavy-handed by even 1970’s standards. Nevertheless, the movie ends on an uncertain note-does the serum Neville retrieve still have the ability to cure Lisa? And without Neville, will Dutch be able to successfully treat the others?

This movie is firmly set in the seventies, but as a time capsule of that era, it reveals aspects that make it work in a way I didn’t find compelling in the 2007 remake I am Legend. Due to the limitations of special effects of the time, the Family couldn’t be rendered like the hyperactive mute CGI monsters of the later film, so instead the menace they projected was the fear of outsiders, of those different from “normal” which swung both ways. As the film was made during the latter years of the hippie movement, and the war in Viet Nam still raging, the portrayal of the Family as cultists rejecting modern society darkly mirrored the apprehension and mistrust “the silent majority” had towards the counterculture movement. At the same time, with the real-life horror of Charles Manson and the murders committed by his “family” only two years earlier combined with news-making extreme groups like the Weathermen and others, it seemed that anarchy and violence were becoming commonplace in an America that was deeply divided on political and moral issues. Neville sees Mathias and the Family as barbarians, worthy of nothing but extermination; however the Family’s numerous attempts on his life provide the very reason for his thinking. A longer film might have delved deeper into the psychology behind the conflict between Neville and Mathias; for instance did Neville at first attempt to negotiate peacefully, or did the deadly conflict begin as soon as the majority of plague victims died off? Neville provides a rationalization to Dutch as to why he remains in the city, but even Dutch and Lisa view Neville warily at first; why stay in the city hunting down the Family when he could have easily left for more peaceful surroundings? As for Mathias, I can forgive his lack of rational due to the effects of the disease, but his hypocrisy is glaring in that he wants to erase history, yet he and his followers remain in the very place that is nothing but a reminder of the “evils” of the old world. Why not leave the city and found a commune or at least admit that some technology (like sunglasses!) is a good thing.

However its flaws, The Omega Man is still compelling to me, and fascinating as even though set in the nineteen seventies, some of the same issues persist to this day. We may not be as fearful of World War III, but the threat of pandemics either man-made or otherwise is still among us, along with a resurgence in nationalism that emphasizes the threat and fear of the “other” as enemies. Although these films were created for entertainment, the best of them still can entertain and give the viewer pause to contemplate; and this is why I think all of the films in discussion are worthy of viewing.

I realize here it is now at the end of November, when I meant this post to be about “summer movies.” You’ll have to forgive my delay, for one my site was down for a couple of weeks. Second, the films I discuss I like to see in the best format possible, and I realized after I had begun writing this post that I did not have a Blu Ray version of this film! Thankfully that situation is now remedied, and I can say the Warner Bros. transfer manages to give the film a crisp look considering the source material is over forty years old. The soundtrack by Ron Grainger is regrettably not in stereo, but stereo versions of the music alone do exist and sound excellent.

EDIT: August 6th 2020

How eerie is it that life imitates art. Covid-19 is still claiming victims, but people are surviving; even so, we have a terrible lesson to learn about how incredibly quickly a small hotspot can travel round the world in a scant ten months! Thankfully no one has decided to don black hooded robes- yet…

This wraps up my posts about summer movies set in the summer, as I have to take the next few weeks to get my next novel Eye of Ra: Bravo’s Child ready for the holiday release! I will return with a new topic as soon as I can!

Happy Holidays! – Ken

All images used under Fair Use