Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend has been adapted four times for the screen, so I’m sure we’re all a bit sick of it. The first as The Last Man On Earth starring Vincent Price, way back in 1964 – and it was pretty excellent. It also received a big budget treatment with Will Smith, which was a bit meh… There’s also the TV version that appeared coincidentally the same time as Smith’s I Am Legend – which isn’t even worth going into. However the best adaptation is by far The Omega Man, quite a loose 1971 adaptation of Matheson’s book starring Charlton Heston.
The film set in 1975 follows Robert Neville (Charlton ‘Hot Guns’ Heston), the last MAN on Earth after the world has been wiped out by biological warfare. Here’s the twist – he’s not alone! Hence the fantastic tagline ‘the last man on earth is not alone!’ At night an albino mutant race called The Family, intent on destroying all remaining forms of the old society and that includes Neville!
If there was one film that I’d say was representative of the awesomeness of Charlton Heston, it’s this. Heston drives about in an urban jungle in his convertible, wearing a safari suit and clutching a machine gun. Anthony Zerbe, who plays the leader of The Family, is excellent. The name might not ring any bells with people, but Zerbe has starred in Licence to Kill, The Matrix sequels, North and South.. etc… He’s on fine in this, truly hamming it up as a sort of Shakespearian-esque character.
It’s a fine piece of 70s sci-fi horror!