I met Charlton Heston in 1975, and asked him if he had seen the Vincent Price Last Man on Earth. He gave a very diplomatic answer: "They didn't have much money on that picture."
Met Chuck also, once in the early 80's where he screened his 3 favorite films ( Omega was not one of them ) They were...Naked Jungle ( the killer ant film ) Will Penny..Solent Green. Met him again in the early 2000s. ..Both times he was grumpy , but I will always love his films, the man..not so much.
Out of the 3 adaptations of Matheson story, The Omega Man is my favorite. There's just something about Charlton Heston machine gunning mutants that I find entertaining.
I saw the Vincent Price movie first and enjoyed since it followed the book, then Charlton Heston which was very entertaining, then Will Smith which I thought was very badly made, now Will Smith is very good actor but even he couldn't help the bad writing for this version.
@@55Quirll That's a diplomatic and very charitable description of the Will Smith version. I agree with every word! My favourite is The Omega Man, which I saw first. Then the book, which was written by a master of his craft. I enjoyed The Last Man on Earth, but as Chuck Heston was quotes somewhere in these comments, "they didn't have a lot of money on that picture." I love price, but the movie is a bit slow. These days, I'm lazy so the audiobook is my preferred platform, but Matheson's genius still shines through. Cheers
Last Man On Earth's one of my favorite horror movies. Having the minds of people you once knew becoming deteriorated and now they call out your name for hours as they try to kill you every-single-night is such a horrific thought to imagine as reality.
/Yeah, it's a terrifying twist on the zombie thing. They're NOT undead... just possessed... and it's nearly universal. I do have to wonder... do the infected have the ability to reproduce?
For anyone wondering, Matthias Doesn't win. There a couple of things pointing to this: earlier in the movie, Neville comes across one of Matthas' followers--dead from the plague that turned them. Neville comments that this is just one of a few he's found that way recently. When Matthias captures him, he asks the mutant if he's too far gone, Indicating he km as it's only a matter of time before he and his followers succumb to The virus. At the end of the movie, in Neville's apartment, Matthias talks about building a new world, to which Neville responds, "Build coffins, that's all you'll need.". Matthias kills Neville, but his victory is going to be very short lived.
The plague must have really been affecting the mutants minds, because they could have easily set fire to the two buildings on either side of Neville's and burned him out. Which is why the Neville of the novel burned down the houses on either side of his, so the vampires couldn't jump from one roof to his.
I get the impression Matthias wanted him alive to try him for his crimes. They could've killed him in the wine cellar. After his rescue, Matthias just wanted Neville dead.
19:42 I always thought Matthias was the leader because as you showed at 6:13 he was a news anchor and everyone knew his face already from tv, so once they turned and saw him turn, they naturally reverted back to trusting him like they did when he was on tv; showing the irony in the fact that he rejected the very technology that allowed him to become a leader in the first place.
I love the artwork for each review casting Brandon in each film. Am I the only one who wants to see him in cosplay for some of these people? On a more serious note, Sir! Your review/comedic recaps are top notch, I'm pretty sure they're part of what keeps me sane. Carry on good Sir!
I'm a big Heston fan, and this is another flick that clicks with all the right buttons. Apocalyse setting, check, survivor doing the daily routine, check, just a damn good flick. Heston's a good actor, and even if the movies he's in aren't always the best, his talent shines through.
@@harrihaffi2713 Hard to choose just one, my top picks off the top of my head are: Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Gray Lady Down, Planet of the Apes, and Earthquake.
@@XenoJehuty84 Okay! Seems to be mostly his movies from the 70’s though. Except Planet of the apes that came two year before the decade. Unless your referring to the 2001 version. Which he plays a uncredited part in.
I’m an Epics guy, so number one has to be _The Ten Commandments._ He was also in the most underrated _Treasure Island_ adaptation. He was Silver and Christian Bale was Hawkins
I Am Legend is one of my favorite stories so of course I love all these movies, but The Omega Man has this noir in the sun style that makes me love it the most
As a grade school kid in the seventies, this was the kind of show I'd hope to find rerun on TV. Along with this movie there was Phase IV, Silent Running, THX1138 (the original version, of course), Colossus: The Forbin Project, Demon Seed, Race with the Devil, The Car... and too many others to name or remember, probably.
I remember seeing a newspaper movie ad for “Network”. It had a drawing of a giant anthropomorphic television snarling and towering over a frightened man. At that age, I figured it was a horror movie.
Don't know if this has been mentioned but Lisa tells Neville that Mathias took her and Richie in when the plague first began...she says he was responsible for rounding up survivors. ..so she didn't just follow him when she turned. Good video.
Thanks, Brandon, foe reviewing this movie for me. I first saw this on late night TV back in 1979 and it has been one of my favorite films ever since, and I became a lifelong Richard Matheson fan as well, reading all his books.
I like this adaptation best. It’s interesting that all three have top drawer actors in the lead. AZ will always be Mathias to me. Rosalind Cash played John Emdall in my favorite cult classic, “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension.”
If there was ever a movie that you just love it or hate it it's Buckaroo Banzai. You either get it or you don't. And it's totally something that Brandon ought to do.
"END-- OF-- DISCUSSION!!!!" "What?? WHAT discussion?" She also played "Mrs. Ford", the Vice President in "WRONG IS RIGHT". One of my favorite lines is when the President says, "Remember Watergate? I don't want a BLACK FORD in my future!"
YES. It's unfortunate that someone so talented is remembered for such unremarkable roles, but better that than obscurity, which is what happens to the overwhelming majority of movie actors.
The mutant cult was inspired by the Manson Family which was still fresh in the public mind at the time. There's a cut scene of a mutant woman in a crypt with a dead baby, but I've never seen the footage. Not on the DVD. The CD release of the soundtrack was in the 90's and rare. I remember downloading some tracks from Napster. We know Heston couldn't play Bond, did you hear his British accent in The Awakening?
I read a collection of short stories of Richard Matheson tribute stories. One was by his son and it was the omega man but from the vampire/zombie's side.
For all the personal crap one can say about Heston, he was actually a really good physical actor. The scene in Soylent Green where he and Edward Robinson share dinner together is a masterclass in acting without dialog.
Really nothing bad ever said about him as a human. Some didn’t like his NRA work. But he was well liked and respected. He was married to the same women his whole life. He raised his kids to be fine upstanding humans. He marched with civil rights, supported human rights and was a good human being. People hated him because he practiced what he preached. He wasn’t a fake or a phony
And how that movie foretold overpopulation and the scene when Heston smokes a cigarette and says how good they are, "I'd smoke three or four of these a day, if I could afford them."
The Omega Man is a truly fun movie, and far and away my favorite of the three adaptations. Heston did several such movies during this period, including Planet of the Apes and the wonderful Soylent Green, the latter Edward G.Robinson's last film. I knew his co-star in OM, Rosalind Cash from Atlantic City. Roles for older actors were harder to get during this period, but I understand that Heston would work for a straight up $150,000 a picture.
Grew up watching this film on VHS with my grandfather on Saturday Mornings in regular rotation with a bunch of other B Movies. This is one of my favorites and I love watching it regularly.
that one of the reason a movie star wars was a big hit. a lot of the film done in the 70s had a dark ending.. where in star wars the ending was an upbeat. it not the only reason but it was different from the norm
It's incredible how he did 3 films covering the three extinction events that folks were worried about during that time period...Nuclear War (POTA), Overpopulation (Soylent Green), and Biological Warfare (Omega Man).
"Yeah, life is pretty good here in 2035, we got clean homes, good jobs, and these government issue soylent cowpatties." "SOYLENT COWPATTIES ARE MADE OUT OF PEOPLE!!!! IT'S PEOPLE!!! THEY SAID THEY WOULD CHANGE THE RECIPE, BUT THEY DIDN'T, UGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"
Probably also because Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind came around and gave a more peppy and upbeat feel to sci-fi that audiences started gravitating more towards because it was different from what they were getting the last couple of years...of course in the late 70s aside from Star Wars and Close Encounters, Alien also came out along with The Empire Strikes Back a year later in 1980 so the dark stuff was still there in the sci-fi genre.
The Manson Family murders were only a few years before this movie was made, so maybe The Family with Mathias as a hypnotic leader was playing off the Mansons to add to the creepy aspect in Omega Man.
Another great video from the "Saskatchewan Snark"!!! Honestly, Brandon is so much more entertaining than the content he reviews. Always look forward to his videos.
“Why would he keep watching that same movie of all those people at Woodstock over and over when there are better movies?” - Me seeing Omega Man in 1997 for the first time. “I get it now.” - Me, after living through 2020.
Since it's LA you'd think there would be other theaters with other films already set up for someone unfamiliar with projectors... Maybe there are and he has those memorized too.
Brandon, I first saw The Omega Man in the theater at age 14. It remained a favorite for years anyway thank you for an accurate and hilarious review, I've not laughed so hard and so many times at anything on You Tube as I did watching your review, you done good, real good. Thanks
Saw The Omega Man in the theater as a kid. Have seen it many times since. Loved it. The music is perfect. The story and acting work. Anthony Zerbe did a fine job as the crazy cult leader.
The scene wherein Nevelle asks the bust of Caesar if he had moved his chess piece yet and the camera pulling back out of the window to reveal the fortress is also a prison is awesome. I have the soundtrack to The Omega Man and it has some of my favorite cool-school jazz cuts on it. Highly recommended
It's not said in the movie, but once you become one of the albinos you become apart of their "mind" which Mathias is the strongest mentally so he controls them all.
Can you do the Crazies next? I guarantee that is a safe movie that doesn't talk about "vaccines" at all. Especially ones that work and have no ulterior motives to them.
"Thrift store Hugh Hefner" - There's a phrase forever etched into my brain. "She's been black; she can go back." Just when I think your quotes can't be topped... Great review of a flick I had all but forgotten about.
My mom took me & my son's to see this when it was a first run feature at the drive in; it frightened us for months! It is one of my finder childhood memories. Thanx Brandon!
Ron Grainer, who composed the score for 'The Omega Man', also composed many other scores including 'The Prisoner' TV series as well as the classic 'Doctor Who' TV series.
Neville was knocked out and brought to the Families headquarters and when they took him out to be burned he had a white hood over his head thus he wasn't sure where he was being held until little Richie told him. The Omega Man was by far my favorite adaptation of this movie with the Ron Grainer sound track, Heston's memorable performance, some very eerie scenes and some good action sequences. And they did it all with zero fake CGI effects unlike I Am Legend with its fake monsters and dogs with super human powers despite the fact they were dying with a plague!
Heston and Zerbe, the music, the zombies accusing him of being a follower of the wheel, later rolling around a catapult on wheels and attacking him while wearing high tech sunglasses and artifical cloth, Heston hitting on a mannequin, it doesn't get better than this! this is the best adaption
Zerbe played a station journalist , not succumbing to the virus, rallied survivors and control by the burning of the dead, till seeing Chuck not accepting his view of the fate of humanity. Zerbe’s continue control over the infected survivors which was better than sitting around and watching each other get skinny.
Saw this on TV more than once when I was a kid in the 70s. I really liked it and I found the whole question of what the point of living is when you're the last human intriguing.
The last living human thing is interesting but honestly it would just be lonely not really boring since you would have access to everything you want to do and see as long as you can find the instruction booklet and secure a few things early on. The worst part for me of the book and adaptations alike is that if you have a cure and the new order is objectively worse both for humanity and the planet itself (supposedly we are at the point where if our civilization has to start over again we are just doomed as is the planet) then fuck the whole you are the monster/outside of the new world order and revive humanity. Once you have done so it is either a chain reaction to total reversal of the transformed or exterminating a cult becomes progressively easier.
@@liamnehren1054 The question for me was what the point of being able to do anything is when nothing you do matters. When you have no legacy. It helped me understand how human action needs a context to have meaning. When there are no other people, and never will be, there is no context.
@@ian_b but that is what makes the story weaker then it could be, he literally has a cure... there will be more people and that is his legacy, there is major and important value to his actions and so it doesn't really fit the last man on earth idea. It's more a lonely wanderer tale which is fixed by finding meaning and he just cops out at the end.
They should have had Neville lose a dog. It's a key moment in the book and the other two versions. Saying that it's still my favourite adaptation especially because of the music: an excellent score by Ron Grainer...
The fact that being infected makes a person a member of the anti tech cult is just bonkers. In the novel, there's no cure for the disease, but there's a difference between the living infected, who build a new society, and the undead vampires, who they exterminate.
Well done, Mr. Tenold! I've been waiting for this one for ages, and it doesn't disappoint. A respectful and entertaining review of one of my favourite movies. LTS/IC (long time subscriber, infrequent commentor) Cheers
When I was growing up in the suburbs outside NYC, the local ABC affiliate used to run the "4:30 Movie." Some weeks they'd do Planet of the Apes movies, other weeks Godzilla. Stuff like that. "The Omega Man" was on there pretty regularly. However, as a kid, I never knew that they cut the movie all to hell to get it to fit into the time slot. One day, I saw a promotional still, taken from the scene where he's standing over the skeletons in bed in the hotel, holding the submachine gun with the flashlight on it, and I was like, "What the hell is THAT? THAT was wasn't in the movie!" LOL. Eventually, when home video became a thing (yeah, I'm old) I got to see the movie uncut, and it was like watching it for the first time. Sure it's a little cheesy ("Honky paradise?"), but it'll always be a favorite.
I saw this on ABC several times, growing up in Houston. It was my favorite movie for years but I agree, lots of cuts that I never saw until I picked up the dvd. I’m pretty sure I don’t remember the hospital scene either when Neville and Lisa are looking for supplies to make the serum.
Awesome flick. Saw it late late movie back in the late 70's. As a teen this became one of my fav "What if" end of the world movies. Could I have survived? YES! And I'd have built my own fortress. 50yrs later people are prepping on a daily bassis. So, with that said.....this movie was maybe the first prepper was prepped flick.
I really like how the anti-tech stance of the mutants justifies how one man is able to last so long while being hunted by them. Yeah they have legions of cultists, but Heston has legions free technological advantages like bullets cars, etc.
As a kid in the 70s, movies taught me that the future was going to be bleak and Charleston Heston was going to be there. Yeah i had parents who took 8-9 year old to these kind of movies
When Chuck is playing chess against Caesar, if you look closely, he's losing. The Omega Man is one of the earliest movies I remember seeing. It remains one of the best. Brandon, you are so freaking funny! You crack me up!
I don't know what Al's problem was. I always thought Peggy was a babe. There certainly wouldn't have been any lack of sex if it was me married to Peggy. As to the movie, I only watched it once as a kid with my dad. Might have to give it a rewatch.
@Antionitonio Bianchinitio Amen. All it would take is Peggy doing that little walk she always did and I'd be like "ok Peg, head up to the bedroom, daddy's feeling frisky". That little walk of hers always turned me on.
Boris Sagal was also father to Jean and Liz Sagal aka The Doublemint Twins. Sisters to Katey Sagal. He directed the creepy pilot episode of Night Gallery with Roddy McDowell.
The Omega Man is like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Constantine - if you ignore the source material and just rate it as a one-off self-contained movie, it's pretty good.
The last phrasing that Charlton Heston says in this cult movie video here! "They sure don't make pictures like that anymore" If he's referring to Billy Jack then he's darn right
I prefer the omega man because when it comes to 70s horror, it really has its own identity much like 80s horror has, so Omega man has a special place in my heart because of that 70s aesthetic. If people want more of that Matheson theme of I am legend, they should look no further than Romeros zombie films, Night of the comet and Day breakers. They might not be exactly like that novel but they do play upon that theme more than the direct adaptations.
I still remember having arguments with a friend that worked at Walmart with me, and him saying the 'uncut' ending of I Am Legend, where he goes off with his latina girlfriend and replacement kid, is more accurate, and I had to point out 'Uh, no, he dies in the book.' To which he assured me he didn't. Like insistent on it, Nevel survives the book. And I had to go WTF BOOK ARE YOU READING!?
I mean, i think its the most accurate to the book, in the sense that it actually makes sense of the title. Nevel doesnt figures out how to cure the virus, nor has an unnecesary and stupid heroic sacrifice, he simply realizes that the vampires are not what he thought. That they have evolved beyond what he knew and they actually see him as the monster. They cut the tragic aspect by making Nevel have this realization in the nick of time. And leave it in a somewhat hopeful note by leaving his final fate open ended. Which was kinda inevitably after adding the lady and the kid to the story. Even though he not longer belongs in this world, theres still people like him out there. So not really book accurate at all, but it sure feels more book accurate that the cut ending where he effectively sacrifices to save the world. A generic action hero ending if there ever was one. Seriouly, the movie was already not that great, did they have to go out of their way to make its end as bland as possible?
It's such a pity that he didn't get rid of the leader near the end. It would have been interesting to see how the other mutants would have reacted to it.
My first experience watching Omega Man was waking up in the middle of the night as a 14 year old with hives all over my body. I had never had them before. Was all itchy and bumpy. I woke my parents up who checked me out and decided they would take me to the doctor in the morning. I couldn’t sleep so I went and watched TV. The Omega Man was just starting so I sat there covered in hives’s watching these pale, lesion covered freaks get wasted by Charlton Heston. I was so feeling this movie and I suppose projecting my angst about my hives into the joy I felt about the violence meted out onto “The Family”. Thankfully my hives went away and while still pale, I never became sensitive to light or became homicidal.
Around the late 90's Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to be the lead role Robert Neville in Scott Ripley's I am Legend. I seen the incredible concept art and what if this and that happened before the film was cancelled and much later the Will Smith version cameout.
Thank you for the great review and and commentary you have a great sense of humor and I love anything Omega just one thing on the 8-track it should have been Percy Faith theme to A Summer Place keep up the great work with your light and funny reviews
I saw this when it first came out. My favorite part is still when Chuck took that BAR with the IR scope and squeezed off a bunch of rounds on the albinos.
This movie changed my life when I saw it on TV at age 12. I joined the army, had lifted trucks and jeeps, sports car, dirt bikes, and guns, and I live above my garage.
What do you think is the best adaptation of "I Am Legend"?
When is the next Godzilla movie review bro 😭😭
@@Tohan_Gaming yeah same I was waiting for a Godzilla review but not today 😕😕😕.
There's no best. They all miss the mark despite having some memorable moments.
The Omega Man!! Because Heston!!
You mean a movie that people might have actually heard of...that's not godzilla
I met Charlton Heston in 1975, and asked him if he had seen the Vincent Price Last Man on Earth. He gave a very diplomatic answer: "They didn't have much money on that picture."
That’s actually a hilarious answer.
That’s actually really cool. I wish I was that lucky.
I wonder what he thought of Prince of Egypt.
@@markbranham6365 I can see him being that clueless to not even think about researching his movies.
@@danielseelye6005 Jada wouldn't let him see the other movies, her boyfriend said it was past Will's bedtime.
Met Chuck also, once in the early 80's where he screened his 3 favorite films ( Omega was not one of them ) They were...Naked Jungle ( the killer ant film ) Will Penny..Solent Green. Met him again in the early 2000s. ..Both times he was grumpy , but I will always love his films, the man..not so much.
Out of the 3 adaptations of Matheson story, The Omega Man is my favorite. There's just something about Charlton Heston machine gunning mutants that I find entertaining.
Spot on. I couldn't agree more. It's the best of the three, and one of my favourite films.
There are actually 4, there is the low-budget movie I Am Omega, which is the worst of the 4.
I don't know, I think I prefer Last Man on Earth. It was creepier, like a dry run of Night of the Living Dead.
I saw the Vincent Price movie first and enjoyed since it followed the book, then Charlton Heston which was very entertaining, then Will Smith which I thought was very badly made, now Will Smith is very good actor but even he couldn't help the bad writing for this version.
@@55Quirll That's a diplomatic and very charitable description of the Will Smith version. I agree with every word!
My favourite is The Omega Man, which I saw first. Then the book, which was written by a master of his craft. I enjoyed The Last Man on Earth, but as Chuck Heston was quotes somewhere in these comments, "they didn't have a lot of money on that picture." I love price, but the movie is a bit slow.
These days, I'm lazy so the audiobook is my preferred platform, but Matheson's genius still shines through. Cheers
I freaking lost it at "she's been black, she can go back" One of the best lines I ever heard
I have to agree. LOL
That cracked me up, too!
I was a projectionist for this movie. My first job. Great soundtrack. One of my favorites.
Ron Grainer was big on brass in his soundtracks. "The Prisoner" theme also had lots of wonderful brass arrangements.
Bruh how old are you?
Sure you were 😂
Last Man On Earth's one of my favorite horror movies.
Having the minds of people you once knew becoming deteriorated and now they call out your name for hours as they try to kill you every-single-night is such a horrific thought to imagine as reality.
Boy I know an SCP-001 entry that you'll freaking love then.
/Yeah, it's a terrifying twist on the zombie thing. They're NOT undead... just possessed... and it's nearly universal.
I do have to wonder... do the infected have the ability to reproduce?
For anyone wondering, Matthias Doesn't win. There a couple of things pointing to this: earlier in the movie, Neville comes across one of Matthas' followers--dead from the plague that turned them. Neville comments that this is just one of a few he's found that way recently.
When Matthias captures him, he asks the mutant if he's too far gone, Indicating he km as it's only a matter of time before he and his followers succumb to The virus.
At the end of the movie, in Neville's apartment, Matthias talks about building a new world, to which Neville responds, "Build coffins, that's all you'll need.".
Matthias kills Neville, but his victory is going to be very short lived.
The plague must have really been affecting the mutants minds, because they could have easily set fire to the two buildings on either side of Neville's and burned him out. Which is why the Neville of the novel burned down the houses on either side of his, so the vampires couldn't jump from one roof to his.
Damn good point!
I get the impression Matthias wanted him alive to try him for his crimes. They could've killed him in the wine cellar. After his rescue, Matthias just wanted Neville dead.
I didn't see your comment but just made the same point. I also agree they probably wanted to burn him at tge stake to make a point.
Affect and effect are different words with different meanings.
I guess they just wanted to be able to use the Warner Bros. backlot. The park in front of his house is the same one from the _Friends_ intro
19:42 I always thought Matthias was the leader because as you showed at 6:13 he was a news anchor and everyone knew his face already from tv, so once they turned and saw him turn, they naturally reverted back to trusting him like they did when he was on tv; showing the irony in the fact that he rejected the very technology that allowed him to become a leader in the first place.
Very interesting statement makes sense...
Back when movies had underlying themes. Unlike today when movies are as deep as the paper it's printed on.
I love the artwork for each review casting Brandon in each film. Am I the only one who wants to see him in cosplay for some of these people? On a more serious note, Sir! Your review/comedic recaps are top notch, I'm pretty sure they're part of what keeps me sane. Carry on good Sir!
I'm a big Heston fan, and this is another flick that clicks with all the right buttons. Apocalyse setting, check, survivor doing the daily routine, check, just a damn good flick. Heston's a good actor, and even if the movies he's in aren't always the best, his talent shines through.
Big fan huh? So got a favorite Heston movie?
@@harrihaffi2713 Hard to choose just one, my top picks off the top of my head are: Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Gray Lady Down, Planet of the Apes, and Earthquake.
@@XenoJehuty84 Okay! Seems to be mostly his movies from the 70’s though.
Except Planet of the apes that came two year before the decade. Unless your referring to the 2001 version. Which he plays a uncredited part in.
I’m an Epics guy, so number one has to be _The Ten Commandments._ He was also in the most underrated _Treasure Island_ adaptation. He was Silver and Christian Bale was Hawkins
@@SomeHarbourBastard cool
One of my favorite movies ever. No one ham hocks it up like Charlton Heston. Thanks for doing this.
I Am Legend is one of my favorite stories so of course I love all these movies, but The Omega Man has this noir in the sun style that makes me love it the most
Charlton Heston is such an icon. I think that’s why this version of Omegaman stands out the most and it’s a classic.
As a grade school kid in the seventies, this was the kind of show I'd hope to find rerun on TV. Along with this movie there was Phase IV, Silent Running, THX1138 (the original version, of course), Colossus: The Forbin Project, Demon Seed, Race with the Devil, The Car... and too many others to name or remember, probably.
I remember seeing a newspaper movie ad for “Network”. It had a drawing of a giant anthropomorphic television snarling and towering over a frightened man. At that age, I figured it was a horror movie.
I saw phase 4 and Race with the Devil at the movies
I would love to see Brandon's take on Phase IV and the other movies you mentioned! 🖖
Race with the Devil was a cool movie. Another one I liked back then was Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.
Great selection 🖖🏼
The Omega Man is one of my favorites. Love me some 70's movies.
Don't know if this has been mentioned but Lisa tells Neville that Mathias took her and Richie in when the plague first began...she says he was responsible for rounding up survivors. ..so she didn't just follow him when she turned. Good video.
Yes, but she explains that that was before Matthias started going full psycho.
I had forgotten about that. It explains a lot about her character. Thanks for pointing it out. Roz Cash rocked this picture.
Thanks for the movie review. I was 12 in 1971 and saw this movie at the drive-in. I enjoyed it.
Thanks, Brandon, foe reviewing this movie for me. I first saw this on late night TV back in 1979 and it has been one of my favorite films ever since, and I became a lifelong Richard Matheson fan as well, reading all his books.
I like this adaptation best. It’s interesting that all three have top drawer actors in the lead. AZ will always be Mathias to me. Rosalind Cash played John Emdall in my favorite cult classic, “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension.”
No matter where you go, there you are.
If there was ever a movie that you just love it or hate it it's Buckaroo Banzai. You either get it or you don't.
And it's totally something that Brandon ought to do.
I lost it at " John Smallberries "One of my favorites !
"END-- OF-- DISCUSSION!!!!"
"What?? WHAT discussion?"
She also played "Mrs. Ford", the Vice President in "WRONG IS RIGHT". One of my favorite lines is when the President says, "Remember Watergate? I don't want a BLACK FORD in my future!"
YES. It's unfortunate that someone so talented is remembered for such unremarkable roles, but better that than obscurity, which is what happens to the overwhelming majority of movie actors.
I'm a huge fan of 'The Omega Man' with Charlton Heston and the score by Ron Grainer was fantastic.
Hi Ape dood! XD. 🦍🦧
The mutant cult was inspired by the Manson Family which was still fresh in the public mind at the time.
There's a cut scene of a mutant woman in a crypt with a dead baby, but I've never seen the footage. Not on the DVD.
The CD release of the soundtrack was in the 90's and rare. I remember downloading some tracks from Napster.
We know Heston couldn't play Bond, did you hear his British accent in The Awakening?
>>cut scene of a mutant woman in a crypt with a dead baby
There were two.
I think I Am Legend is one of those books that would be perfect for just a faithful film adaptation. Shame it seems we're never gonna get that.
I read a collection of short stories of Richard Matheson tribute stories. One was by his son and it was the omega man but from the vampire/zombie's side.
WHO SAID YOU WEREN'T? Perhaps we'll get one someday.
@@thatlittlevoice6354 see also Peter Watts's "The Things," which tells the 1982 movie from the monster's POV.
No thank you. Just imagining what they would do with the scene of the trapped dog is too sad.
@@jaydugger3291 i have. Liked that, as well
For all the personal crap one can say about Heston, he was actually a really good physical actor. The scene in Soylent Green where he and Edward Robinson share dinner together is a masterclass in acting without dialog.
Really nothing bad ever said about him as a human. Some didn’t like his NRA work. But he was well liked and respected. He was married to the same women his whole life. He raised his kids to be fine upstanding humans. He marched with civil rights, supported human rights and was a good human being. People hated him because he practiced what he preached. He wasn’t a fake or a phony
And how that movie foretold overpopulation and the scene when Heston smokes a cigarette and says how good they are, "I'd smoke three or four of these a day, if I could afford them."
@@salvagemonster3612 He was one of the very few people to be on the right side of most major moral issues of the 20th century
@@KRhetor This.
@@KRhetor Agreed.
The Omega Man is a truly fun movie, and far and away my favorite of the three adaptations. Heston did several such movies during this period, including Planet of the Apes and the wonderful Soylent Green, the latter Edward G.Robinson's last film. I knew his co-star in OM, Rosalind Cash from Atlantic City. Roles for older actors were harder to get during this period, but I understand that Heston would work for a straight up $150,000 a picture.
The Family is also a 1971 giveaway. You can't tell me there was no Manson Family inspiration there.
That was part of the subtext of the film, that the counterculture was evil.
Grew up watching this film on VHS with my grandfather on Saturday Mornings in regular rotation with a bunch of other B Movies. This is one of my favorites and I love watching it regularly.
Oh the beautiful art of humorous sarcasm. Always a favourite of mine.
Keep up the great work Brandon.
Heston had a helluva run for sci-fi in those years. Wish he had done more but I guess audiences got tired of post-apocalypse flicks for a bit.
that one of the reason a movie star wars was a big hit. a lot of the film done in the 70s had a dark ending.. where in star wars the ending was an upbeat. it not the only reason but it was different from the norm
He made a promise to meet a girl on Gordon Street all those years ago, so he stopped doing movies like this.
It's incredible how he did 3 films covering the three extinction events that folks were worried about during that time period...Nuclear War (POTA), Overpopulation (Soylent Green), and Biological Warfare (Omega Man).
"Yeah, life is pretty good here in 2035, we got clean homes, good jobs, and these government issue soylent cowpatties."
"SOYLENT COWPATTIES ARE MADE OUT OF PEOPLE!!!! IT'S PEOPLE!!! THEY SAID THEY WOULD CHANGE THE RECIPE, BUT THEY DIDN'T, UGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"
Probably also because Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind came around and gave a more peppy and upbeat feel to sci-fi that audiences started gravitating more towards because it was different from what they were getting the last couple of years...of course in the late 70s aside from Star Wars and Close Encounters, Alien also came out along with The Empire Strikes Back a year later in 1980 so the dark stuff was still there in the sci-fi genre.
Needed a good Brandon review today. Thank you sir.
The Manson Family murders were only a few years before this movie was made, so maybe The Family with Mathias as a hypnotic leader was playing off the Mansons to add to the creepy aspect in Omega Man.
17:21 Probably plastic decoration grapes. Plastic fruit was all the rage!
Another great video from the "Saskatchewan Snark"!!! Honestly, Brandon is so much more entertaining than the content he reviews. Always look forward to his videos.
“Why would he keep watching that same movie of all those people at Woodstock over and over when there are better movies?” - Me seeing Omega Man in 1997 for the first time.
“I get it now.” - Me, after living through 2020.
Nostalgia.
Nostalgia & 97% of all new “entertainment” is a remake of something but worse.
Since it's LA you'd think there would be other theaters with other films already set up for someone unfamiliar with projectors...
Maybe there are and he has those memorized too.
@@deadalready7467Like Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes...or worse, Dark Shadows
They've been showing this on TCM the last month or so, probably part of their "Classic Horror" stuff during Halloween.
Brandon, I first saw The Omega Man in the theater at age 14. It remained a favorite for years anyway thank you for an accurate and hilarious review, I've not laughed so hard and so many times at anything on You Tube as I did watching your review, you done good, real good. Thanks
Saw The Omega Man in the theater as a kid. Have seen it many times since. Loved it. The music is perfect. The story and acting work. Anthony Zerbe did a fine job as the crazy cult leader.
The scene wherein Nevelle asks the bust of Caesar if he had moved his chess piece yet and the camera pulling back out of the window to reveal the fortress is also a prison is awesome. I have the soundtrack to The Omega Man and it has some of my favorite cool-school jazz cuts on it. Highly recommended
It's not said in the movie, but once you become one of the albinos you become apart of their "mind" which Mathias is the strongest mentally so he controls them all.
Can you do the Crazies next? I guarantee that is a safe movie that doesn't talk about "vaccines" at all. Especially ones that work and have no ulterior motives to them.
Your jokes were very good this time. I loved your covid pop up joke!
13:05 I like the disinterested way they say "No." like they just wish Mathias would shut the hell up about his damn wheels.
"Thrift store Hugh Hefner" - There's a phrase forever etched into my brain. "She's been black; she can go back." Just when I think your quotes can't be topped... Great review of a flick I had all but forgotten about.
This episode is a really good mix between genuine critical observation and humor.
70s movies were thick on social commentary.
My mom took me & my son's to see this when it was a first run feature at the drive in; it frightened us for months! It is one of my finder childhood memories. Thanx Brandon!
Let's go Brandon
It's funny to me that her first instinct was to freeze and pretend to be a mannequin.
Ron Grainer, who composed the score for 'The Omega Man', also composed many other scores including 'The Prisoner' TV series as well as the classic 'Doctor Who' TV series.
Ive seen the soundtrack called mediocre but I love the soundtrack
Neville was knocked out and brought to the Families headquarters and when they took him out to be burned he had a white hood over his head thus he wasn't sure where he was being held until little Richie told him. The Omega Man was by far my favorite adaptation of this movie with the Ron Grainer sound track, Heston's memorable performance, some very eerie scenes and some good action sequences. And they did it all with zero fake CGI effects unlike I Am Legend with its fake monsters and dogs with super human powers despite the fact they were dying with a plague!
Heston and Zerbe, the music, the zombies accusing him of being a follower of the wheel, later rolling around a catapult on wheels and attacking him while wearing high tech sunglasses and artifical cloth, Heston hitting on a mannequin, it doesn't get better than this! this is the best adaption
Zerbe played a station journalist , not succumbing to the virus, rallied survivors and control by the burning of the dead, till seeing Chuck not accepting his view of the fate of humanity. Zerbe’s continue control over the infected survivors which was better than sitting around and watching each other get skinny.
I love this movie, but I love Quiet Earth even more! Love ho that movie catches the feeling of being alone.
Awesome video, just as always!
The Quiet Earth is great for atmosphere, but found the story heavy going.
Loved the quiet earth, its atmosphere is a "how It's done"
Saw this on TV more than once when I was a kid in the 70s. I really liked it and I found the whole question of what the point of living is when you're the last human intriguing.
The last living human thing is interesting but honestly it would just be lonely not really boring since you would have access to everything you want to do and see as long as you can find the instruction booklet and secure a few things early on.
The worst part for me of the book and adaptations alike is that if you have a cure and the new order is objectively worse both for humanity and the planet itself (supposedly we are at the point where if our civilization has to start over again we are just doomed as is the planet) then fuck the whole you are the monster/outside of the new world order and revive humanity. Once you have done so it is either a chain reaction to total reversal of the transformed or exterminating a cult becomes progressively easier.
@@liamnehren1054 The question for me was what the point of being able to do anything is when nothing you do matters. When you have no legacy. It helped me understand how human action needs a context to have meaning. When there are no other people, and never will be, there is no context.
@@ian_b but that is what makes the story weaker then it could be, he literally has a cure... there will be more people and that is his legacy, there is major and important value to his actions and so it doesn't really fit the last man on earth idea. It's more a lonely wanderer tale which is fixed by finding meaning and he just cops out at the end.
They should have had Neville lose a dog. It's a key moment in the book and the other two versions. Saying that it's still my favourite adaptation especially because of the music: an excellent score by Ron Grainer...
The fact that being infected makes a person a member of the anti tech cult is just bonkers. In the novel, there's no cure for the disease, but there's a difference between the living infected, who build a new society, and the undead vampires, who they exterminate.
These old classic films are the best and better than the modern day films also I’m a fan of scifi films and thank you Brandon for reviewing this.
The best part is at 19:15, I said that back in the 70's when I first saw the movie on TV.
Well done, Mr. Tenold! I've been waiting for this one for ages, and it doesn't disappoint.
A respectful and entertaining review of one of my favourite movies.
LTS/IC (long time subscriber, infrequent commentor)
Cheers
Omega man, The Thing, The Fog, Warriors (come out to play-aA) 70's had some legendary movies 🍿
When I was growing up in the suburbs outside NYC, the local ABC affiliate used to run the "4:30 Movie." Some weeks they'd do Planet of the Apes movies, other weeks Godzilla. Stuff like that. "The Omega Man" was on there pretty regularly. However, as a kid, I never knew that they cut the movie all to hell to get it to fit into the time slot. One day, I saw a promotional still, taken from the scene where he's standing over the skeletons in bed in the hotel, holding the submachine gun with the flashlight on it, and I was like, "What the hell is THAT? THAT was wasn't in the movie!" LOL. Eventually, when home video became a thing (yeah, I'm old) I got to see the movie uncut, and it was like watching it for the first time. Sure it's a little cheesy ("Honky paradise?"), but it'll always be a favorite.
Used to watch it on network tv all the time, now I wonder how they got around Dutch's middle finger coat ?
I saw this on ABC several times, growing up in Houston. It was my favorite movie for years but I agree, lots of cuts that I never saw until I picked up the dvd. I’m pretty sure I don’t remember the hospital scene either when Neville and Lisa are looking for supplies to make the serum.
This was one of my favorites as a kid and still is today...thanks for this
Awesome flick. Saw it late late movie back in the late 70's.
As a teen this became one of my fav "What if" end of the world movies. Could I have survived?
YES! And I'd have built my own fortress. 50yrs later people are prepping on a daily bassis.
So, with that said.....this movie was maybe the first prepper was prepped flick.
Oh yeah........then Will Smith made a movie......meh.
"Hey watch where you're going you dead asshole!" 😂 Had me in stitches
Just a FYI: “The Last Man On Earth” is in the public domain. The whole movie can be watched here on RUclips.
I really like how the anti-tech stance of the mutants justifies how one man is able to last so long while being hunted by them. Yeah they have legions of cultists, but Heston has legions free technological advantages like bullets cars, etc.
Albino luddites have a pretty low combat capability it seems.
As a kid in the 70s, movies taught me that the future was going to be bleak and Charleston Heston was going to be there. Yeah i had parents who took 8-9 year old to these kind of movies
Awesome.
Loved this movie. Whenever it was going to be shown, my brother and I would watch. Great soundtrack too.
Good episode.
What a great analysis video of such a beloved cult classic. Insightful and funny as Hell good job dude.
When I walk the radiated wastelands and dead towns of Fukushima, I feel like the Omega Man.
I was wondering when you would talk about this movie. You did not disappoint, a fun review of my childhood favorite movie.
When Chuck is playing chess against Caesar, if you look closely, he's losing.
The Omega Man is one of the earliest movies I remember seeing. It remains one of the best.
Brandon, you are so freaking funny! You crack me up!
Dude,thanks so much for finally getting round to my absolute favourite movie!
I was always convinced that Charleston Heston buffed his teeth, which is why you could see them shine from space.
I don't know what Al's problem was. I always thought Peggy was a babe. There certainly wouldn't have been any lack of sex if it was me married to Peggy. As to the movie, I only watched it once as a kid with my dad. Might have to give it a rewatch.
The absurdity of it was the joke, it is literally the opposite of what you would see in most shows where the wife withholds sex from the husband.
@Antionitonio Bianchinitio Amen. All it would take is Peggy doing that little walk she always did and I'd be like "ok Peg, head up to the bedroom, daddy's feeling frisky". That little walk of hers always turned me on.
Boris Sagal was also father to Jean and Liz Sagal aka The Doublemint Twins. Sisters to Katey Sagal. He directed the creepy pilot episode of Night Gallery with Roddy McDowell.
"Contemporize, man!" Was this a deliberate *Simpsons* reference?
The Omega Man is like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Constantine - if you ignore the source material and just rate it as a one-off self-contained movie, it's pretty good.
I agree. Not a great adaptation, but still a great movie.
I'd say that about Alien 3 and a few other films, but League is just bad in general.
As a fan of all three films (while also acknowledging their defects and inventions) I second your opinion!
When I watched this, I remembered wondering where they got the sparkly black robes. Those robes were just ridiculous.
The last phrasing that Charlton Heston says in this cult movie video here!
"They sure don't make pictures like that anymore"
If he's referring to Billy Jack then he's darn right
One thing a lot miss is that all the "vampires" in this were gray. In essence, a new race with no color.
I prefer the omega man because when it comes to 70s horror, it really has its own identity much like 80s horror has, so Omega man has a special place in my heart because of that 70s aesthetic. If people want more of that Matheson theme of I am legend, they should look no further than Romeros zombie films, Night of the comet and Day breakers. They might not be exactly like that novel but they do play upon that theme more than the direct adaptations.
I never thought about it, but "Night of the Comet" is the (closest thing to an) 80's I AM LEGEND.
Ah yes, the story of X, the brave blue bomber who fights his fellow robots who have gone....wait, that´s Mega Man.
I wait on this man to post religiously, favorite cult movie reviewer.
I still remember having arguments with a friend that worked at Walmart with me, and him saying the 'uncut' ending of I Am Legend, where he goes off with his latina girlfriend and replacement kid, is more accurate, and I had to point out 'Uh, no, he dies in the book.' To which he assured me he didn't. Like insistent on it, Nevel survives the book. And I had to go WTF BOOK ARE YOU READING!?
I mean, i think its the most accurate to the book, in the sense that it actually makes sense of the title. Nevel doesnt figures out how to cure the virus, nor has an unnecesary and stupid heroic sacrifice, he simply realizes that the vampires are not what he thought. That they have evolved beyond what he knew and they actually see him as the monster. They cut the tragic aspect by making Nevel have this realization in the nick of time. And leave it in a somewhat hopeful note by leaving his final fate open ended. Which was kinda inevitably after adding the lady and the kid to the story. Even though he not longer belongs in this world, theres still people like him out there. So not really book accurate at all, but it sure feels more book accurate that the cut ending where he effectively sacrifices to save the world. A generic action hero ending if there ever was one. Seriouly, the movie was already not that great, did they have to go out of their way to make its end as bland as possible?
It's such a pity that he didn't get rid of the leader near the end. It would have been interesting to see how the other mutants would have reacted to it.
Great video Brandon, I loved it, and I also love the flic.
My first experience watching Omega Man was waking up in the middle of the night as a 14 year old with hives all over my body. I had never had them before. Was all itchy and bumpy. I woke my parents up who checked me out and decided they would take me to the doctor in the morning. I couldn’t sleep so I went and watched TV. The Omega Man was just starting so I sat there covered in hives’s watching these pale, lesion covered freaks get wasted by Charlton Heston. I was so feeling this movie and I suppose projecting my angst about my hives into the joy I felt about the violence meted out onto “The Family”. Thankfully my hives went away and while still pale, I never became sensitive to light or became homicidal.
Thanks!
Around the late 90's Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to be the lead role Robert Neville in Scott Ripley's I am Legend. I seen the incredible concept art and what if this and that happened before the film was cancelled and much later the Will Smith version cameout.
Check here on youtube for the make up tests for the Scott film. Really amazing..
Thank you for the great review and and commentary you have a great sense of humor and I love anything Omega just one thing on the 8-track it should have been Percy Faith theme to A Summer Place keep up the great work with your light and funny reviews
Doesn’t anyone else find it a treat when Brandon reviews a well known classic?
Was the reference from Strange Brew the Sci-fi movie at the beginning of the movie?
Brandon, you are the man! Seriously, thank you you have no idea how much I enjoyed you making this video.
one of my all time favs! what a soundtrack.
This one was wall to wall hilarious🤣🤣🤣”She was black, she can go back.”🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣‼️‼️‼️The thumbnail was dope too!😎👍🏽
Loved this movie since I saw it on TV as a kid back in the late 70s. One of my all time favourites.
this happens to be one of my favs of all time. I read the story because of this movie and the special effects scared the bajeezus outta me
FYU: Richie is played by Eric Laneuville, who is now a prolific TV director and producer on shows like The Equalizer
I love this flick. The soundtrack is a favorite, too.
A terribly underrated movie. Needs way more exposure
I saw this when it first came out. My favorite part is still when Chuck took that BAR with the IR scope and squeezed off a bunch of rounds on the albinos.
This movie changed my life when I saw it on TV at age 12. I joined the army, had lifted trucks and jeeps, sports car, dirt bikes, and guns, and I live above my garage.