The Omega Man (1971)

Director: Boris Sagal

Writers: Richard Matheson, John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington

Starring: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo, Eric Laneuville, Lincoln Kilpatrick, Jill Giraldi, Anna Aries, Brian Tochi, DeVeren Bookwalter, John Dierkes, Monika Henreid, Linda Redfearn, Forrest Wood, Steve Goldstein

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Pray for the last man alive. Because he's not alone.

Plot: 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.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

It can't be said enough.  Charlton Heston was a mutha-fuckin' badass in the 1970s. He didn't even need bullets.  All he had to do was point the gun and say 'bang' and the bad guys would drop dead.

"Bang!"

[thump]

What a man!  He's got charisma and in spades.  He's probably the best reason to watch this.  It's good sci-fi and I really dug how little dialogue there was in the first third of the film.  Heston just tears it up killing the mutants and doing his daily rituals of gathering supplies and drinking fine whiskey from his penthouse apartment, looking down on the mutants at night and thinking of how amazing it is to be the manliest man on the planet and it's too bad there aren't any babes around to score with and flex his manhood. All he's got is the satisfaction of killing mutants and talking to mannequins.  It's a fun film with a dated music score and clothing but that's kind of expected considering when it was made. It would have been amazing if it didn't have that mod vibe to it (which includes the clothing, music, etc).  Of the film versions of Matheson's story,  I prefer THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) to this one but it's still fun.  Someday I'll get around to the latest version, I AM LEGEND (2007) although I'm not exactly in a hurry for it.  Chuck Heston's not in it.