The Omega man will always be my favorite adaptation of the I Am Legend novel. Heston, Ron Grainer's score, the action and the time period it was made all make it a standout to me.
Dad took me and my younger brother to see this when it opened. Still one of my favorites, and in many ways really influenced my life. Being self reliant was a major theme in my mind.
I can relate to your thoughts re: self reliance. You might like the book "Earth Abides" by George Stewart. It begins in the 1950s and follows the life of the main character, who for a while is alone and then helps form a community. This was the book that got me thinking, "What do I do, if..."
A true cult classic & very much a guilty pleasure of mine...just a lot of fun to watch, every time. Very 70s & "Solid" soundtrack. The Omega Man is "Groovy Baby!!".
There was also an unofficial adaptation of I Am Legend produced by The Asylum titled I Am Omega. It's basically a combination of the Heston and Smith versions. After the Will Smith version was released in theaters I decided to buy the Richard Matheson book and actually found a first edition in a used book store that Matheson had signed with the date of the signature marked as 1964 when "The Last Man on Earth" was released.
Too bad he didn't live to play Nick Fury. Watch him in "True Lies" as the spy boss. Sam Jackson was good, but Heston was the comic book character come to life.
Minty mentioned the significance of the book's title, yet none of the three authorized film adaptations used it. I liked both the Vincent Price version and the Charlton Heston one, here. The Will Smith film was a big disappointment, because it used the title, but did not deliver the book's ending. The realization that the protagonist would become the bogeyman of legend for killing off earth's new inhabitants was so deliciously ironic. Why did no director use it?
The Omega Man goes down as the ONLY movie ever to creep me out as a small child. Granted, I was only 6 or 7 or so at the time I saw it, but it made an impression. I was allowed to stay up and watch the midnight showing of it on television. It was New Years eve, and there was a special broadcast of it. I wanted to see it, because I'd already loved the Planet of the Apes movies, and both had Charleton Heston in them. My grandmother allowed it, because apparently I had been pretty well behaved, and that was kinda rare. I guess she wanted to reinforce the fact that "good behavior = you get what you want" more often. Still, my age, combined with my imagination, actually kinda traumatized me when I saw this. However, with that said, no other movie since has done that. Not even The Exorcist or The Omen, and those movies send some people to therapy. I do love the movie, although I have spotted the "random cars and people" in the background. But that happens when you've seen a movie hundreds of times. I've bought it on several formats, DVD, Blu-Ray, and Digital. It's got that 70s charm about it, and nothing will ever replace that.
I’ve watched it over the years, since it’s release. Yet I didn’t see any of those cars or people - - but I will pay close attention, the next time that I watch it.
Ron Grainer may have written the Dr Who theme song, but it was actually produced and recorded by a woman named Delia Derbyshire, one of the pioneers of synth music. It’s actually a fascinating story of how she made the sounds and textures for the theme, which was quite revolutionary for the time.
The BBC produced a very interesting documentary about Delia Derbyshire, "An Adventure in Time and Space", several years ago. Of course it included her time in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop when she produced the Dr Who theme tune. I always think that, although Ron Grainer wrote the piece, it was the strange sounds effects that Delia employed that made it sound so amazing and otherworldly.
Grainer composed the soundtrack for The Prisoner. It's his emphasis upon weighty brass which makes his compositions stand out and rock. Nothing else sounds like him; it's my belief that it's his unique use of heavy, heavy, but well-arranged bass horn sections which set him apart from his contemporaries and put his works in big demand for both small and large screen projects.
Love this film.🥰 It changes a lot but the last man vibe an the amazing score make up for that. The Vincent price version IS the book. The less said about the Will Smith version the better.
That score had younger me holding a cassette player up to the speaker on the TV, just to get some of it! The cd release was magnificently mixed and I play that more often than I even watch the dvd! Anyway, Matheson also wrote "Bid Time Return" which was a massive hit when changed to "Somewhere In Time." Now THAT'S literary range right there!
It's like hearing nails on a chalkboard when "fiction" gets incorrectly inserted into "Mystery Science Theater 3000". I don't even think this is a "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" thing where a show gets a slight name change in a different region of the world. I think Minty just got the name wrong. At least he's consistent in using the same incorrect title.
Literally stopped the playback in yelled out loud "fiction??" Love his work, but LOL he literally said it as he showed the graphic that said mystery science theater 3000😂
I really like the Omega Man. Always thought it was really great and has some really good themes for it's time! Yes, I'll agree it's stuck in a particular time, and has not aged as well as other movies, but is a great classic.
Charleston Heston made indeed quite a shift from heroic Biblical figures in the 50s to tragic figures in the dystopian 70s scifi. And he's awesome and iconic in them all. Truly underrated. I'm amazed he didn't make a shift to self-aware camp, but I'm not complaining.
@@gregbors8364 I never cared for him in contemporary roles as he could come across as rather mannered. In historical epics, however, he was unmatched. No one else had such authority and presence.
@@pp312 I consider films like “The Ten Commandments” and “Ben Hur” to be high camp, so that probably also influences my opinion of Chuck’s career as an actor
Thanks for this Minty. Like Soylent Green, this is another of my favorite “end of civilization “ movies that seemed to be really popular back in my teenage days. And like Soylent Green, this movie also made an impression on my teenage years. Ha, made me kinda cynical and skeptical of government and big business, that I still carry with me today. Here’s another one from that time, “Silent Running”. Thanks for posting.
Soylent Green was a very important film, it is relevant to everything that has happened since it was made. Very prophetic film, even though we're not eating people, it deals with food engineering and climate change and even inflation and over population. Terrific film
I have always loved this movie, I dunno why, you can't tell it was directed by a TV director because it looks like a TV show. Great musical score, good message
Oh, Lordy! I remember my friend and I going from theatre to theatre following the Omega Man in its showings! In 1971, VCRs were still unknown, and the only way to watch a favorite film again and again was to do exactly that: scan the newspaper listings to find where it was playing and then go see it. We did that with Omega Man, then again in 1975 with Phantom of the Paradise. I have several Omega Man scripts, early and late versions. We were huge fans.
12:00 that's true, back in the 70's and 80's sundays everything was still closed and about the only things open were variety stores and gas stations. it was kind of nice actually.
@@gunfighterzero There WAS the issue though of if you're building a deck or whatever and you needed another box of deck screws and you were fubar because all the stores were closed. I remember I was repairing something on my boat and I needed ONE 1/4 20 nut. Do you think I could find one in my tool box? Nope. I was screwed. Couldn't finish the repair because all the hardware stores were closed. That's why now? I have like 2 boxes of 100 lol and boxes of 1/4 x 20 bolts in various lengths.....and 12 different wood screw lengths and and and...lol
@@muskokamike127 yea my dad stocked up material for 2 years before he retired from maintenance at GE, he died in 97 I stil have 90% of it but I don't make many trips to home depot 😁
I remember seeing this movie in a theater when I was a kid. I found it very frightening, especially the idea of the world, as was known, being totally wiped out. At that time we lived under the threat of a nuclear war hanging over our lives- at least here in the USA, so world ending threats were real to us. I can recall bombing drills we practiced in school. Yeah, like hiding under our desks would be of the slightest protection in event that a nuclear bomb was dropped. The Christ reference at the end did not go unnoticed either, I just never realized that Nevel died in the "Friends" fountain. Lol Ty for another fun look back at the entertainment of my youth.
As a child growing up in Los Angeles area, I remember the "Drop Drills" vividly. Actually, the fountain is different because in the center of it, is a concrete abstract sculpture. The crucifixion reference is shown also in the stadium where Neville is tied to a framework. After being rescued, Lisa frisks Neville for weapons, saying something like "Arms out! Like they're gonna crucify you!" and Neville replies "As a matter of fact, they were gonna roast me."
@@SMDoktorPepper Nope. There's always been guns in America. Something happened to society starting in the late 90s. The rise of the incel and the simp and Democrats are desperate to disarm their political enemies. Every tragedy that happens, is an opportunity for them to push their agenda.
I remember when I first got into film, and I rented The Omega Man, Planet of the Apes & The Last Man on Earth on one weekend. That made for a very surreal experience. All 3 about a man lost, searching for remnants of humanity. 2 of them based on Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend.”
There was also an adaptation starring Mark Dacascos called "I Am Omega" in 2007 that I believe went straight to video. . Also, the show you referenced being inspired by the movie was "Mystery Science Theater 3000", (aka MST3K) not "Mystery Science Fiction Theater 3000"
@@powerbadpowerbad Honestly I haven't seen it in years but I remember telling my Hubs that I liked parts of it better than "I Am Legend". I found a link for it online and will be watching again soon. czcams.com/video/mYH9dDorono/video.html
Thanks for this. I’m really enjoying your Charlton Heston retrospective. This is one of my all time favorite movies. I was too young to see it in the theater but not by much. I remember the TV spots for it though, back when they used to actually advertise movies on television. The spot focused on Heston driving through the stadium tunnels chased by torch wielding mutants. I was enthralled. When I saw it a few years later on late night TV it was a revelation. It’s one of the first movies I bought on VHS. I still have it. The 70’s was a great time for movies like this with Rollerball and Silent Running being favorites also.
Minty you need to do more of these videos on the "old" movies, the ones you have already done are great ! Am sure the research takes longer but we appreciate your effort a lot. Also I would suggest small series of videos, like on leading character, director, theme or genre. Am sure you have a good start already on a lot of those type of categories with your large catalogue of videos.
Unfortunately that exterior set is being torn this year as the Warner's Ranch lot was sold to developers redeveloping the lot. I was lucky enough to have worked on the lot in the early 2000's when WB animation was still using the old writers shacks. I got to walk around Neville's house and sat on the fountain he died in. On the lot there were loads of iconic TV building fronts, like the Walton's homestead and Samantha Steven's house from Bewitched. Quite magical standing in and near those places that I remembered from my childhood favorite TV shows. I was sad to hear that they were going to redevelop the lot.
It's been a favorite of mine for years - in fact, pretty much any of Chuck Heston's films are worth watching. The 10 Commandments is a staple around Easter.... Ben-Hur, Planet of the Apes, Soylent.... they are all just really good, enjoyable movies. Chuck was such a great actor that even here, in a bit of low-budget schlock; he still manages to turn in a good performance and helps elevate the movies' credibility.
"Dungeons and Dragons" (2000) was TOTAL CRAP.... But Jeremy Irons, I felt, REALLY put himself into the part. It was STILL CRAP because they gave him CRAP, but he would have been GREAT in a REAL "Dungeons and Dragons" movie. Only HE was trying to make a GREAT MOVIE. Everything in that movie should be thrown away except for keeping him in it, if it was possible to travel to back then and make that movie again.
I first saw The Omega Man on TV when I was about 12. I found it interesting, thought provoking, and scary in places. While not the biggest zombie or science fiction fan, I have always regarded this movie as quite good. I don't think it has aged well, but that doesn't bother me from recommending it to someone or seeing again myself. Charlton Heston was great in any movie of his that I have ever seen. He was one of the greatest actors of the 20th century.
Love..love..LOVE this movie as an all-time classic Sci-Fi as well as the music score...and thank YOU Minty for the great homage review of it. Learned several things.
As an Angelino, the barren streets downtown are because it's the financial district and there were no shopping centers back then. It's changed a bit as more residential high rises have emerged but even 10 years ago that area was dead on weekends. But other parts of LA were as busy as ever
'The Last man on Earth' with Vincent price is IMO the best version of this book ever made. Vincent price just brought a level of class to the role that has not been seen since. No insult to Charlton Heston, it is just his style was to bring that overly masculine 'a man's man' style, but for sheer class it is next to impossible to outdo Vincent Price. Even when he did Muppet show guest appearances, he couldn't help but bring that classy style with him.
When I first saw "The Omega Man" back in 1971, I fell in love with Ron Grainer's score, up there with Jerry Goldsmith's "Planet of the Apes" and Akira Ifukube's "Godzilla vs. the Thing". When I discovered that there was a CD in 2001, I became obsessed until I got it. Audio ambrosia...
This is a classic film and deserves more credit. Any film where you can refer to it in your life must be good. In lockdown in my part of the world when I was out with my dogs it was like the Omega man, just no one around and each time I would say this. Just one thing while watching your video it seems that in a world without people roof gardens still remain and are perfectly manicured.
Great review of one of my favorites! Thank you for including bits of the score, which works very well for this film. Your reviews are always well worth watching, and I look forward to new videos. Thanks!
Thank You Minty for coverage of both films, Soylent Green & The Omega Man. These 2 films were the BEST ( & still are) when I was a young dude! Appreciate all that you do.... keep up the good work!
The interracial composition of the film was important because, when the film was made, the United States was beginning the process of transitioning away from being an Apartheid nation. Interracial marriage was illegal in many places, interracial dating was scorned, and interracial children were scandalous. Understanding the historical context gives you better insight into why certain choices were made
Anthony Zerbe was also in the campy Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park (1978) he played the mad scientist/Amuzement Park owner Abner Deveraux. You should do a 10 things on that movie. lol
Thanks Mark, great presentation (and loved the self-reference!). This is one of your longer ones at 24 minutes or so, but it just flew by! I really do hope the 'mother at the cemetery' scene surfaces someday- I'd rebuy the Blu-Ray to get a chance to see. Appreciate you, Minty!
I love this movie especially the opening scenes when he's driving around the deserted streets of L.A.. I've wondered over the years how they were able to film those scenes. Who knew downtown L.A. was so deserted on weekends back in the 70s?
The original version of the Doctor Who theme was a combined effort from Delia Derbyshire and Dick Mills at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The compositional basis for the Doctor Who theme music was delivered to the Radiophonic Workshop in mid-1963 by composer Ron Grainer on a single sheet of A4 manuscript paper containing the basic melody and bassline parts of the theme.
This is is my favorite Charlton Heston SciFi movie. Is this how it starts? A trip to the laughing academy? No, you silly bastard, it starts with you asking yourself silly questions
I was so hoping this was going to be your next video! One of my all time favourite movies and movie scores! And all of the Brits out there will also know another famous TV show Grainer did the theme for, Tales Of The Unexpected
Minty, This is your best work yet. Saw this one in the theater back in the day (snuck as a kid in to my nightmare regret, oh well). You nailed it. Thank you so much.
I saw this film when it first came out (same with Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green). And I'm thrilled to have learned new things from you about a film that's one of my guilty pleasures. Tim Burton loves it? So cool! Deleted scene probably filmed? Amazing! Neville's house is still on the back lot? I'd love to see it! Also... Ron Granier's score ... especially the theme... is one of my favorite motion picture themes ever. I first heard his work when watching The Prisoner on TV. All around great video. I'm a new subscriber now!
Dude, I have been loving some of your movie selections lately. I'm such a fan of the older sci-fi movies. My favorites of this series in order: Last Man on Earth, Omega Man then I Am Legend. All really good.
I saw the appropriately edited television version of this in the mid 1970s when I was but a wee child. Oddly, when I saw the full version as an adult, I didn't think it gained all that much. The real impact of this movie comes from the concept and the look.
Great video Minty- thanks for doing it! During 1 summer I was hooked on watching classic sci-fi movies & watched this with Soylent Green the same weekend. I watched the Vincent Price version as well as Logan's Run & probably PotA (+ others) all around the same time. One of the tapes got stuck in my VCR because it was dirty & the rental place gave me a free rental & a usage of their head cleaner. Fun times...
Let's not forget Delia Derbyshire, who gave Grainer's written work it's iconic sound. I disagree, the book's ending is the whole point to the story. Unfortunately in both "The Omega Man" and "I Am Legend", we don't have the survivor cast that fell in between those infected who either died, or those that survived and were now quite mad - those that survived and were trying to regroup and reorganize to look toward the future (albeit affected by the plague which now redefined what it was to be human). But I saw "The Omega Man" as a kid (immediately read the book) and loved it. "I Am Legend" has an absolutely amazing first half, but for me, falls flat from the moment the CGI creatures show up, and the mom and her son show up, and the haven they make their way to shows up...
I think the haven was rewritten due to test audiences not liking the original ending. People don't like hopeless endings. Iirc, the dvd has the alternate endings.
@@Cenotaur1 @Cenotaur1 I agree. Neville discovers that the creatures aren't as mindless as he'd thought, and that maybe, like it or not, theirs was going to be the way forward. Either way they're made out to be creatures, with too sharp a disconnect from what they'd been; why would we take solace in their survival when we can't recognize ourselves in them. At least Matthias et al kept a connection with their humanity.
@@benefitthirteen Yes. The interaction between Neville and Matthias shows this. During the news broadcast of Jonathan Matthias, he says "We were warned..." and comments on humanity's inability to learn. Then, when Matthias tells Neville that the Family has found a way forward, Neville replies "So, there is a... light in the forest, after all." and Matthias responds "A guiding light, Mr. Neville." and speaks briefly of the Family's plans to rebuild. Neville replies (in the script, although I think it was cut from the film) "Build coffins. That's all you need."
I grew up watching this awesome movie, we used to play omega man in our backyard!! Charlton Heston is just badass in this movie!! He has the ultimate set up, cars,bikes,jeeps,guns,guns, guns, whiskey n food !! He is a real man, tells it how it is, not afraid to go out n fight, jokes, and uses the language a real man would!!! I am legend was a fucking joke compared to this awesome classic movie!!
Matheson actually wrote a true script for I am legend, as he hated the movies. He released the full script in book form, so if you want to read his, I guess true, version you can buy it. Also as a bit of trivia, the white zombie song, creature of the wheel used a huge sample of the speech Anthony Zerbe gave in the movie.
Star Trek's interracial kiss was in 1968. This was for TV. Omega Man was a movie with an interracial kiss released in 1971, but shot sometime earlier. Still great history and great job from Minty.
Besides Heston, the cast member I was most familiar with when I saw "The Omega Man" in the theatre was Eric Laneuville, who knew as "Larry" on the TV show "Room 222". I might have also recognized Anthony Zerbe from "Cool Hand Luke". Rosalind Cash was a completely new face to me (I see that IMDb's only earlier listing for her was a minor role in "Klute"), and even in the time she seemed a little too much the fashion-model type rather than the ass-kicking fighter the role called for. If they wanted a touch of "black power" for the character, I wonder how different the movie would have been if they'd chosen someone like Pam Grier instead.
Thanks you guys- I just watched this on some cable channel after seeing it for years through the 70s, 80s, 90s, & beyond, and for once it popped out that I'd seen the young kid before- thanks for the memory jogs. I loved "Room 222" and "The White Shadow" back in their days and easily recall Eric now.
Eric Laneuville also played Chuck Norris's son (!) in Force of One, and got his head stomped in by Bill Superfoot Wallace. Later when he was on St. Elsewhere he started directing and has had quite a career behind the camera... Anthony Zerbe was great as Mathias. He had starred with Heston previously in the western Will Penny.
OMEGA Man was the first Blu ray I ever owned. I was a big fan of Heston & the plot sounded fun & dark. I found it at a Best Buy for only $5 at the time & got it the same day as my original run PS3 (The FAT 60GB one that played PS1-PS3 games). Enjoyed it greatly, and got me into my Blu ray collecting as I couldn’t believe the picture quality for a movie of its age.
Have you seen the Secrets of the Incas? Made in 1953, it featured Heston as an adventurer in Peru, he was dressed eerily similar to Indiana Jones. Lucas definitely watched the film growing up.
Great content Minty. Any chance you could review on The Day the Earth Caught Fire and or Crack in the World. A couple of obscure but excellent British sci fi gems from the 1960s. Also No Blade of Grass from the 1970s
@@martinvegas1327 I know matey!! 🤣 I've just got a daft sense of humour... The full movie is on CZcams, it's on my to watch list... Secret of the Incas is on here too!! 👍
I remember a (very) old issue of Mad Magazine in which a man and his wife are walking through an airport and one of them is warning the other to not say anything that will cause problems with security. The question then comes up about the in-flight movie and one character says it's "The Omega Man" and the other blurts out, "Oh, that bomb?!?" -- and is immediately grabbed by airport security guards. (I also swear that the artwork in one of those old posters you showed makes the male lead look almost as much like Sean Connery as Charlton Heston!)
The Omega man will always be my favorite adaptation of the I Am Legend novel. Heston, Ron Grainer's score, the action and the time period it was made all make it a standout to me.
Dad took me and my younger brother to see this when it opened. Still one of my favorites, and in many ways really influenced my life. Being self reliant was a major theme in my mind.
Neville was a scavenger ...
I can relate to your thoughts re: self reliance. You might like the book "Earth Abides" by George Stewart. It begins in the 1950s and follows the life of the main character, who for a while is alone and then helps form a community. This was the book that got me thinking, "What do I do, if..."
A true cult classic & very much a guilty pleasure of mine...just a lot of fun to watch, every time. Very 70s & "Solid" soundtrack. The Omega Man is "Groovy Baby!!".
There was also an unofficial adaptation of I Am Legend produced by The Asylum titled I Am Omega. It's basically a combination of the Heston and Smith versions.
After the Will Smith version was released in theaters I decided to buy the Richard Matheson book and actually found a first edition in a used book store that Matheson had signed with the date of the signature marked as 1964 when "The Last Man on Earth" was released.
Sure I Am Legend and 28 day later borrowed from this
That is so cool.
@@eclark3849 you didn't pay close attention to this video did you sport?
Good on ya mate! Been looking for a first print copy of the movie for projector 📽 with syncing sound for Samhain here in Ireland.
Gods damn it!!
Now I'm going to have to dig through my bookshelf to see what edition my book is...
Rip Charlton Heston ❤️
Charlton Heston has portrayed many characters who are usually survivors of a conflict in a movie...he is a legend,indeed!
Hes a right wing gun toting madman.
I noticed that Charlton Heston was in alot of these apocalypse type movies in the early 1970's
Too bad he didn't live to play Nick Fury. Watch him in "True Lies" as the spy boss. Sam Jackson was good, but Heston was the comic book character come to life.
He usually dies at the end!
Minty mentioned the significance of the book's title, yet none of the three authorized film adaptations used it. I liked both the Vincent Price version and the Charlton Heston one, here. The Will Smith film was a big disappointment, because it used the title, but did not deliver the book's ending. The realization that the protagonist would become the bogeyman of legend for killing off earth's new inhabitants was so deliciously ironic. Why did no director use it?
The Omega Man goes down as the ONLY movie ever to creep me out as a small child. Granted, I was only 6 or 7 or so at the time I saw it, but it made an impression. I was allowed to stay up and watch the midnight showing of it on television. It was New Years eve, and there was a special broadcast of it. I wanted to see it, because I'd already loved the Planet of the Apes movies, and both had Charleton Heston in them. My grandmother allowed it, because apparently I had been pretty well behaved, and that was kinda rare. I guess she wanted to reinforce the fact that "good behavior = you get what you want" more often. Still, my age, combined with my imagination, actually kinda traumatized me when I saw this. However, with that said, no other movie since has done that. Not even The Exorcist or The Omen, and those movies send some people to therapy.
I do love the movie, although I have spotted the "random cars and people" in the background. But that happens when you've seen a movie hundreds of times. I've bought it on several formats, DVD, Blu-Ray, and Digital. It's got that 70s charm about it, and nothing will ever replace that.
I used it as a bedtime story. Years later my kids said it freaked them out, but I still love it.
I’ve watched it over the years, since it’s release. Yet I didn’t see any of those cars or people - - but I will pay close attention, the next time that I watch it.
Mine was night of the living dead. Had to been 9 when I seen it . Maybe going on 10
I saw it at the same age and had recurring nightmares of those cloaked figures for years.
I saw PotA on the big screen BEFORE seeing Omega man and I am with you: 1970s cinema was a magic time capsule. It's different today.
Ron Grainer may have written the Dr Who theme song, but it was actually produced and recorded by a woman named Delia Derbyshire, one of the pioneers of synth music. It’s actually a fascinating story of how she made the sounds and textures for the theme, which was quite revolutionary for the time.
It's strange you mention Dr Who, to some fans, the Family act like how the Fitzroy crowd fans want to change/distort the canon :p
The BBC produced a very interesting documentary about Delia Derbyshire, "An Adventure in Time and Space", several years ago. Of course it included her time in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop when she produced the Dr Who theme tune. I always think that, although Ron Grainer wrote the piece, it was the strange sounds effects that Delia employed that made it sound so amazing and otherworldly.
@@Steve-GM0HUU she was also featured in the movie Sisters With Transistors, which gives a broad overview of women in synthesis. Highly recommended.
yes true, scott
Grainer composed the soundtrack for The Prisoner. It's his emphasis upon weighty brass which makes his compositions stand out and rock. Nothing else sounds like him; it's my belief that it's his unique use of heavy, heavy, but well-arranged bass horn sections which set him apart from his contemporaries and put his works in big demand for both small and large screen projects.
Love this film.🥰 It changes a lot but the last man vibe an the amazing score make up for that. The Vincent price version IS the book. The less said about the Will Smith version the better.
That score had younger me holding a cassette player up to the speaker on the TV, just to get some of it! The cd release was magnificently mixed and I play that more often than I even watch the dvd! Anyway, Matheson also wrote "Bid Time Return" which was a massive hit when changed to "Somewhere In Time." Now THAT'S literary range right there!
Get Will’s name outta yo mouth! His version slaps!
@@gregbors8364 please... 🤮
Will Smith also took a crap on the Wild Wild West! One of my favorites growing up. His version was a mockery!
I agree, but the will smith one wins the feels category. Good girl Sam makes me want to cry everytime....
It's like hearing nails on a chalkboard when "fiction" gets incorrectly inserted into "Mystery Science Theater 3000". I don't even think this is a "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" thing where a show gets a slight name change in a different region of the world. I think Minty just got the name wrong. At least he's consistent in using the same incorrect title.
Literally stopped the playback in yelled out loud "fiction??"
Love his work, but LOL he literally said it as he showed the graphic that said mystery science theater 3000😂
I miss the 70’s !!! 🤗♥️
I really like the Omega Man. Always thought it was really great and has some really good themes for it's time! Yes, I'll agree it's stuck in a particular time, and has not aged as well as other movies, but is a great classic.
Bit like the original Planet of the Apes. What a great ending. It should have just stayed as that one movie lol
Omega Man is a masterpiece
This film Omega Man was FLY...... superb written mature storytelling style kept ah definite fast getta pace!!!🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍕💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙🍿
@@Pope6006Right on. You have great taste.
Charleston Heston made indeed quite a shift from heroic Biblical figures in the 50s to tragic figures in the dystopian 70s scifi. And he's awesome and iconic in them all. Truly underrated. I'm amazed he didn't make a shift to self-aware camp, but I'm not complaining.
Charlton, not "Charleston', which is a dance. Also, what is "self-aware camp"?
@@pp312 I think an example of that would be Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Last Action Hero or Marlon Brando in a lot of his 90s movies.
All his performances *are* camp. He’s the biggest scenery-chewer in history
@@gregbors8364 I never cared for him in contemporary roles as he could come across as rather mannered. In historical epics, however, he was unmatched. No one else had such authority and presence.
@@pp312 I consider films like “The Ten Commandments” and “Ben Hur” to be high camp, so that probably also influences my opinion of Chuck’s career as an actor
21:20 - I just LOVE that weird carousel-like music during Neville's final showdown with Mathias and his followers.
Thanks for this Minty.
Like Soylent Green, this is another of my favorite “end of civilization “ movies that seemed to be really popular back in my teenage days. And like Soylent Green, this movie also made an impression on my teenage years. Ha, made me kinda cynical and skeptical of government and big business, that I still carry with me today.
Here’s another one from that time, “Silent Running”. Thanks for posting.
Soylent Green was a very important film, it is relevant to everything that has happened since it was made. Very prophetic film, even though we're not eating people, it deals with food engineering and climate change and even inflation and over population. Terrific film
I have always loved this movie, I dunno why, you can't tell it was directed by a TV director because it looks like a TV show. Great musical score, good message
Oh, Lordy! I remember my friend and I going from theatre to theatre following the Omega Man in its showings! In 1971, VCRs were still unknown, and the only way to watch a favorite film again and again was to do exactly that: scan the newspaper listings to find where it was playing and then go see it. We did that with Omega Man, then again in 1975 with Phantom of the Paradise. I have several Omega Man scripts, early and late versions. We were huge fans.
12:00 that's true, back in the 70's and 80's sundays everything was still closed and about the only things open were variety stores and gas stations. it was kind of nice actually.
Sundays shops are closed to this day in parts of EU - Austria here.
I agree, more peaceful days
@@gunfighterzero There WAS the issue though of if you're building a deck or whatever and you needed another box of deck screws and you were fubar because all the stores were closed.
I remember I was repairing something on my boat and I needed ONE 1/4 20 nut. Do you think I could find one in my tool box? Nope. I was screwed. Couldn't finish the repair because all the hardware stores were closed.
That's why now? I have like 2 boxes of 100 lol and boxes of 1/4 x 20 bolts in various lengths.....and 12 different wood screw lengths and and and...lol
Anyone else remember "Blue Laws" ?
@@muskokamike127 yea my dad stocked up material for 2 years before he retired from maintenance at GE, he died in 97 I stil have 90% of it but I don't make many trips to home depot 😁
I remember seeing this movie in a theater when I was a kid. I found it very frightening, especially the idea of the world, as was known, being totally wiped out. At that time we lived under the threat of a nuclear war hanging over our lives- at least here in the USA, so world ending threats were real to us.
I can recall bombing drills we practiced in school. Yeah, like hiding under our desks would be of the slightest protection in event that a nuclear bomb was dropped.
The Christ reference at the end did not go unnoticed either, I just never realized that Nevel died in the "Friends" fountain. Lol
Ty for another fun look back at the entertainment of my youth.
As a child growing up in Los Angeles area, I remember the "Drop Drills" vividly. Actually, the fountain is different because in the center of it, is a concrete abstract sculpture. The crucifixion reference is shown also in the stadium where Neville is tied to a framework. After being rescued, Lisa frisks Neville for weapons, saying something like "Arms out! Like they're gonna crucify you!" and Neville replies "As a matter of fact, they were gonna roast me."
If Charlton Heston is in a movie you know it's going to be great... He is a legend.
also he was a member of the national rifle association.
@@garymeacham7353 He always fought for our civil rights, he also marched with Martin Luther King.
A truly awful person, who holds responsibility for all these mass shootings
@@SMDoktorPepper Nope. There's always been guns in America. Something happened to society starting in the late 90s. The rise of the incel and the simp and Democrats are desperate to disarm their political enemies. Every tragedy that happens, is an opportunity for them to push their agenda.
@@eldesgraciado6690 there were, under a well regulated militia..and boy, you are no militia. Your words alone mark you as a terrorist
One of my favorite movies of all time.
I loved omega man, dr who, and mst3k and never realized they were all connected. Great video!
I always liked Anthony Zerbe (Matthias) in this movie. A very under-rated actor in my opinion.
He was great in everything he did and had a distinctive face so you always knew it was him.
totally agree. a GREAT performance. Oscars should have noticed this.
Ebert commented on the odd way the Zombies talked in the movie but didn’t compliment it.
totally underrated
@@thebetazone-km6xhgreatness
I remember when I first got into film, and I rented The Omega Man, Planet of the Apes & The Last Man on Earth on one weekend. That made for a very surreal experience. All 3 about a man lost, searching for remnants of humanity. 2 of them based on Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend.”
Thank you. I am going to go watch The Last Man on Earth now.
You didn’t watch the Will Smith version to watch all of them at once.
All three looking for their destiny.
@@donna25871 he didn't miss much.
There was also an adaptation starring Mark Dacascos called "I Am Omega" in 2007 that I believe went straight to video. . Also, the show you referenced being inspired by the movie was "Mystery Science Theater 3000", (aka MST3K) not "Mystery Science Fiction Theater 3000"
That's what I was going to write. At least the "I am Omega" Part. Thank you
I have I Am Omega on dvd,still haven't watched the film.
@@powerbadpowerbad I liked it
@@Comfortdoll You did ??? Good,which parts were your favorite ???
@@powerbadpowerbad Honestly I haven't seen it in years but I remember telling my Hubs that I liked parts of it better than "I Am Legend". I found a link for it online and will be watching again soon. czcams.com/video/mYH9dDorono/video.html
Thanks for this. I’m really enjoying your Charlton Heston retrospective. This is one of my all time favorite movies. I was too young to see it in the theater but not by much. I remember the TV spots for it though, back when they used to actually advertise movies on television. The spot focused on Heston driving through the stadium tunnels chased by torch wielding mutants. I was enthralled. When I saw it a few years later on late night TV it was a revelation. It’s one of the first movies I bought on VHS. I still have it. The 70’s was a great time for movies like this with Rollerball and Silent Running being favorites also.
There's no 'Fiction' in Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Minty you need to do more of these videos on the "old" movies, the ones you have already done are great ! Am sure the research takes longer but we appreciate your effort a lot. Also I would suggest small series of videos, like on leading character, director, theme or genre. Am sure you have a good start already on a lot of those type of categories with your large catalogue of videos.
Unfortunately that exterior set is being torn this year as the Warner's Ranch lot was sold to developers redeveloping the lot. I was lucky enough to have worked on the lot in the early 2000's when WB animation was still using the old writers shacks. I got to walk around Neville's house and sat on the fountain he died in. On the lot there were loads of iconic TV building fronts, like the Walton's homestead and Samantha Steven's house from Bewitched. Quite magical standing in and near those places that I remembered from my childhood favorite TV shows. I was sad to hear that they were going to redevelop the lot.
"Tell me something, would you? Are you fellas really with the Internal Revenue Service."
Great review! This is my favourite version of the three cinematic productions. A really good film that I can watch again and again.
It's been a favorite of mine for years - in fact, pretty much any of Chuck Heston's films are worth watching. The 10 Commandments is a staple around Easter.... Ben-Hur, Planet of the Apes, Soylent.... they are all just really good, enjoyable movies. Chuck was such a great actor that even here, in a bit of low-budget schlock; he still manages to turn in a good performance and helps elevate the movies' credibility.
"Dungeons and Dragons" (2000) was TOTAL CRAP.... But Jeremy Irons, I felt, REALLY put himself into the part.
It was STILL CRAP because they gave him CRAP, but he would have been GREAT in a REAL "Dungeons and Dragons" movie. Only HE was trying to make a GREAT MOVIE.
Everything in that movie should be thrown away except for keeping him in it, if it was possible to travel to back then and make that movie again.
Man we need Ten Things You Didn't Know About The Hand That Rocks The Cradle!!!
I first saw The Omega Man on TV when I was about 12. I found it interesting, thought provoking, and scary in places. While not the biggest zombie or science fiction fan, I have always regarded this movie as quite good. I don't think it has aged well, but that doesn't bother me from recommending it to someone or seeing again myself. Charlton Heston was great in any movie of his that I have ever seen. He was one of the greatest actors of the 20th century.
Love you Minty, keep on making great vids man, helps me discover all sorts of gems from back in the day.
Love..love..LOVE this movie as an all-time classic Sci-Fi as well as the music score...and thank YOU Minty for the great homage review of it. Learned several things.
Long before zombie movies made me wonder how I'd handle an apocalypse, this one was my favorite!!
Yes I think it was the blueprint for lots of zombie movies
@@gunfighterzero night of the living dead was like 3 years ahead of this.
The obvious answer is that you handle them with an S&W M-76 9mm subgun, and a B A R with infrared projection sight!
@@jerrywoods4066 and?
As an Angelino, the barren streets downtown are because it's the financial district and there were no shopping centers back then. It's changed a bit as more residential high rises have emerged but even 10 years ago that area was dead on weekends. But other parts of LA were as busy as ever
And no tents on the street like now.
I remember seeing this on a small b&w TV, and my aunt referred to the albino muties as the blindmen.
Good memories
Was and still is one of my fave movies!
Another pretty good disaster movie of Heston's was a movie called Earthquake, released in 1974.
I liked that one, too.
I love that you’re looking at these old Heston movies. They are hidden gems.
'The Last man on Earth' with Vincent price is IMO the best version of this book ever made. Vincent price just brought a level of class to the role that has not been seen since. No insult to Charlton Heston, it is just his style was to bring that overly masculine 'a man's man' style, but for sheer class it is next to impossible to outdo Vincent Price. Even when he did Muppet show guest appearances, he couldn't help but bring that classy style with him.
When I first saw "The Omega Man" back in 1971, I fell in love with Ron Grainer's score, up there with Jerry Goldsmith's "Planet of the Apes" and Akira Ifukube's "Godzilla vs. the Thing". When I discovered that there was a CD in 2001, I became obsessed until I got it. Audio ambrosia...
I fell in love with Nova.
@@canamrider07 So did Taylor...
You can hear the theme from The Prisoner TV show in the repeated three-note horn theme (pum-pum-pum!) in Omega Man.
This is a classic film and deserves more credit. Any film where you can refer to it in your life must be good. In lockdown in my part of the world when I was out with my dogs it was like the Omega man, just no one around and each time I would say this. Just one thing while watching your video it seems that in a world without people roof gardens still remain and are perfectly manicured.
One of the better older, non-effects laden sci-fi movies.
I just watched this movie a few weeks ago, such a great movie!
Great review of one of my favorites! Thank you for including bits of the score, which works very well for this film. Your reviews are always well worth watching, and I look forward to new videos. Thanks!
So, I'm guessing "Planet of the Apes" is next week?
Thank You Minty for coverage of both films, Soylent Green & The Omega Man.
These 2 films were the BEST ( & still are) when I was a young dude!
Appreciate all that you do.... keep up the good work!
The interracial composition of the film was important because, when the film was made, the United States was beginning the process of transitioning away from being an Apartheid nation. Interracial marriage was illegal in many places, interracial dating was scorned, and interracial children were scandalous. Understanding the historical context gives you better insight into why certain choices were made
It might answer the question as to why they cut the cemetery/pregnancy announcement scene
Anthony Zerbe was also in the campy Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park (1978) he played the mad scientist/Amuzement Park owner Abner Deveraux. You should do a 10 things on that movie. lol
Anthony Zerbe was also the admiral in Star Trek : Insurrection
@@keverzoid and in Star Trek he had the same style of final scene like what he had in the James Bond film Licence to Kill!
Rip & Destroy!
He was in See No Evil Hear No Evil with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder!
@@deanevans2505 good flick
One of my top 10 movies of all time!
Thanks Mark, great presentation (and loved the self-reference!). This is one of your longer ones at 24 minutes or so, but it just flew by! I really do hope the 'mother at the cemetery' scene surfaces someday- I'd rebuy the Blu-Ray to get a chance to see. Appreciate you, Minty!
I love this movie especially the opening scenes when he's driving around the deserted streets of L.A.. I've wondered over the years how they were able to film those scenes. Who knew downtown L.A. was so deserted on weekends back in the 70s?
The original version of the Doctor Who theme was a combined effort from Delia Derbyshire and Dick Mills at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The compositional basis for the Doctor Who theme music was delivered to the Radiophonic Workshop in mid-1963 by composer Ron Grainer on a single sheet of A4 manuscript paper containing the basic melody and bassline parts of the theme.
This is is my favorite Charlton Heston SciFi movie. Is this how it starts? A trip to the laughing academy? No, you silly bastard, it starts with you asking yourself silly questions
"There Is No Phone, dammit!" always helps me reset in crisis.
Thank you!!! This is my favorite sci-Fi film! You did a great job with it. I’ve been ill and this show cheered me up immensely!
One of my all time favorites thanks for the extra information.
"I am Omega" is another adaptation of "I am Legend."
Mark W. I'm so glad I found the one other person on earth who's seen it😂
I was so hoping this was going to be your next video! One of my all time favourite movies and movie scores! And all of the Brits out there will also know another famous TV show Grainer did the theme for, Tales Of The Unexpected
Loved Heston and the Omega Man. Saw it in its first run in the theaters when I was 12. Appreciate these interesting tidbits you have provided.
Some movies you just can't never forget, this is one of them...
When are you going to do 10 Things You Didn't Know About Minty
Mst3k was a formative part of my youth, and a huge influence on my sense of humor. Classic. Funny I never put it together.
I remember watching your Soylent Green episode and thinking "man, I hope he does Omega Man next". Perfect timing Minty.
Minty, This is your best work yet. Saw this one in the theater back in the day (snuck as a kid in to my nightmare regret, oh well). You nailed it. Thank you so much.
I remember Anthony Zerbe as the villain in KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park.
Could please do 10 things you didn’t know about Akira (1988)?
I saw this film when it first came out (same with Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green). And I'm thrilled to have learned new things from you about a film that's one of my guilty pleasures. Tim Burton loves it? So cool! Deleted scene probably filmed? Amazing! Neville's house is still on the back lot? I'd love to see it! Also... Ron Granier's score ... especially the theme... is one of my favorite motion picture themes ever. I first heard his work when watching The Prisoner on TV. All around great video. I'm a new subscriber now!
1976 Melbourne Austalia ,this movie kept me away from school and not sleeping at night for nearly a month ,it had such an impact on me
This movie is a fantasy favorite of mine.
Imagine having the whole city to yourself? Traffic is awesome. 😂
Dude, I have been loving some of your movie selections lately. I'm such a fan of the older sci-fi movies. My favorites of this series in order: Last Man on Earth, Omega Man then I Am Legend. All really good.
I saw the appropriately edited television version of this in the mid 1970s when I was but a wee child. Oddly, when I saw the full version as an adult, I didn't think it gained all that much. The real impact of this movie comes from the concept and the look.
Great video Minty- thanks for doing it! During 1 summer I was hooked on watching classic sci-fi movies & watched this with Soylent Green the same weekend. I watched the Vincent Price version as well as Logan's Run & probably PotA (+ others) all around the same time. One of the tapes got stuck in my VCR because it was dirty & the rental place gave me a free rental & a usage of their head cleaner. Fun times...
Let's not forget Delia Derbyshire, who gave Grainer's written work it's iconic sound. I disagree, the book's ending is the whole point to the story. Unfortunately in both "The Omega Man" and "I Am Legend", we don't have the survivor cast that fell in between those infected who either died, or those that survived and were now quite mad - those that survived and were trying to regroup and reorganize to look toward the future (albeit affected by the plague which now redefined what it was to be human). But I saw "The Omega Man" as a kid (immediately read the book) and loved it. "I Am Legend" has an absolutely amazing first half, but for me, falls flat from the moment the CGI creatures show up, and the mom and her son show up, and the haven they make their way to shows up...
I think the haven was rewritten due to test audiences not liking the original ending. People don't like hopeless endings.
Iirc, the dvd has the alternate endings.
@@Cenotaur1 @Cenotaur1 I agree. Neville discovers that the creatures aren't as mindless as he'd thought, and that maybe, like it or not, theirs was going to be the way forward. Either way they're made out to be creatures, with too sharp a disconnect from what they'd been; why would we take solace in their survival when we can't recognize ourselves in them. At least Matthias et al kept a connection with their humanity.
@@benefitthirteen Yes. The interaction between Neville and Matthias shows this. During the news broadcast of Jonathan Matthias, he says "We were warned..." and comments on humanity's inability to learn. Then, when Matthias tells Neville that the Family has found a way forward, Neville replies "So, there is a... light in the forest, after all." and Matthias responds "A guiding light, Mr. Neville." and speaks briefly of the Family's plans to rebuild. Neville replies (in the script, although I think it was cut from the film) "Build coffins. That's all you need."
Love this movie. The tone and music are really gripping and evocative. Truly a classic.
One of my favorite drive-in double features -- Omega Man and Enter the Dragon. What a night...
I grew up watching this awesome movie, we used to play omega man in our backyard!! Charlton Heston is just badass in this movie!! He has the ultimate set up, cars,bikes,jeeps,guns,guns, guns, whiskey n food !! He is a real man, tells it how it is, not afraid to go out n fight, jokes, and uses the language a real man would!!! I am legend was a fucking joke compared to this awesome classic movie!!
Matheson actually wrote a true script for I am legend, as he hated the movies. He released the full script in book form, so if you want to read his, I guess true, version you can buy it. Also as a bit of trivia, the white zombie song, creature of the wheel used a huge sample of the speech Anthony Zerbe gave in the movie.
I am legend borrowed from 28 days later and this movie And 28 days later borrowed from this movie
Interesting fact. I was Sting's Grandmother's postman. Agnes was a lovely woman, bless her.
I so appreciate your making this video. The Omega Man is one of my favorite movies.
Thank you for this Minty!!!!
Omega Man was excellent drive-in fare! That's where I saw it when I was 14. It scared me - I loved it!!!
Star Trek's interracial kiss was in 1968. This was for TV. Omega Man was a movie with an interracial kiss released in 1971, but shot sometime earlier. Still great history and great job from Minty.
I knew this had to be next after Soylent Green. RIP Charleston and Roselind 🙏
Ron Granger as well. Magnificent score whose cd booklet also RIP all three.
I love Mystery Science (fiction) Theater 3000!! 🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂️
Seriously, love ya Minty, but where did you get the idea it was called that? 😂🤣😂😭😭😭
Thanks for doing this on Minty. I remember watching this as a kid on TV. Before there were VCRS lol
.... Boris Segal ROCKS. He did a great directing job!
Minty, do the movie Soldier with Kurt Russell.
Hey, I had a great idea last year. Soldier was gold.
Besides Heston, the cast member I was most familiar with when I saw "The Omega Man" in the theatre was Eric Laneuville, who knew as "Larry" on the TV show "Room 222". I might have also recognized Anthony Zerbe from "Cool Hand Luke".
Rosalind Cash was a completely new face to me (I see that IMDb's only earlier listing for her was a minor role in "Klute"), and even in the time she seemed a little too much the fashion-model type rather than the ass-kicking fighter the role called for. If they wanted a touch of "black power" for the character, I wonder how different the movie would have been if they'd chosen someone like Pam Grier instead.
I can EASILY see Pam Grier in that role !
Lanierville was also in White Shadow and St. Elsewhere TV shows.
Thanks you guys- I just watched this on some cable channel after seeing it for years through the 70s, 80s, 90s, & beyond, and for once it popped out that I'd seen the young kid before- thanks for the memory jogs. I loved "Room 222" and "The White Shadow" back in their days and easily recall Eric now.
Eric Laneuville also played Chuck Norris's son (!) in Force of One, and got his head stomped in by Bill Superfoot Wallace. Later when he was on St. Elsewhere he started directing and has had quite a career behind the camera...
Anthony Zerbe was great as Mathias. He had starred with Heston previously in the western Will Penny.
Diahann Carroll would've been an interesting choice. But Cash was very good in the film.
OMEGA Man was the first Blu ray I ever owned. I was a big fan of Heston & the plot sounded fun & dark. I found it at a Best Buy for only $5 at the time & got it the same day as my original run PS3 (The FAT 60GB one that played PS1-PS3 games). Enjoyed it greatly, and got me into my Blu ray collecting as I couldn’t believe the picture quality for a movie of its age.
Have you seen the Secrets of the Incas? Made in 1953, it featured Heston as an adventurer in Peru, he was dressed eerily similar to Indiana Jones. Lucas definitely watched the film growing up.
@@lamarravery4094 I’ll check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!
I knew there was a reason I love your channel. 😍 Bravo.
Great content Minty. Any chance you could review on The Day the Earth Caught Fire and or Crack in the World. A couple of obscure but excellent British sci fi gems from the 1960s. Also No Blade of Grass from the 1970s
Gotta 2nd The Day The Earth Caught Fire🔥
The Last man on earth is a classic!
With Will Forte?? 😜
@@WayneCatlin Vincent Price. Worth watching at least once a year👍
@@martinvegas1327
I know matey!! 🤣 I've just got a daft sense of humour...
The full movie is on CZcams, it's on my to watch list... Secret of the Incas is on here too!! 👍
@@WayneCatlin Get it watched👍Runaway train is on CZcams as well😎
@@martinvegas1327you know, I've had this film on my radar for a while now, cheers!! I'll add it to the list pal 👍
Love that you're doing this stuff. Finally! More!
Doctor Who, The Prisoner, etc. were great - the Omega Man was great as well. The theme is from a a 1959 movie called a "Summer Place".
I remember a (very) old issue of Mad Magazine in which a man and his wife are walking through an airport and one of them is warning the other to not say anything that will cause problems with security. The question then comes up about the in-flight movie and one character says it's "The Omega Man" and the other blurts out, "Oh, that bomb?!?" -- and is immediately grabbed by airport security guards. (I also swear that the artwork in one of those old posters you showed makes the male lead look almost as much like Sean Connery as Charlton Heston!)
Ben Gazzara is who it looks like to me. Right out of Road House.
Yes. I think that segment was drawn by Mort Drucker. I always was disappointed that mad never actually did a parody of Omega Man.
Great movie and great video, Minty, thanks!