The Omega Man (1971)

Director:

Boris Sagal

Writers:

John William Corrington (screenplay) and
Joyce Hooper Corrington (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

1 August 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Robert Neville, a doctor, due to an experimental vaccine, is the only survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons...

Plot Keywords:

Plague | Flashback | Albino | Vaccine | Military Officer

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Robert Neville
Anthony Zerbe	...	Jonathan Matthias
Rosalind Cash	...	Lisa
Paul Koslo	...	Dutch
Eric Laneuville	...	Richie
Lincoln Kilpatrick	...	Zachary
Jill Giraldi	...	Little Girl
Anna Aries	...	Woman in Cemetery Crypt
Brian Tochi	...	Tommy
DeVeren Bookwalter	...	Family Member
John Dierkes	...	Family Member
Monika Henreid	...	Family Member
Linda Redfearn	...	Family Member
Forrest Wood	...	Family Member

Directed by
Boris Sagal

Writing credits
John William Corrington		(screenplay) and
Joyce Hooper Corrington		(screenplay) (as Joyce H. Corrington)
Richard Matheson		(novel "I Am Legend")

Produced by
Walter Seltzer	....	producer

Original Music by
Ron Grainer

Cinematography by
Russell Metty

Film Editing by
William H. Ziegler		(as William Ziegler)

Art Direction by
Art Loel		(as Arthur Loel)
Walter M. Simonds

Set Decoration by
William L. Kuehl

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor
Jean Burt Reilly	....	supervising hair stylist

Production Management
Frank Baur	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Donald Roberts	....	assistant director
Ted Swanson	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Robert Martin	....	sound (as Bob Martin)

Stunts
Joe Canutt	....	action coordinator
Wanda Ann Yates	....	stunt double
Denny Arnold	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Brookfield	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tap Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Courtney	....	stunts (uncredited)
Larry Duran	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gary Epper	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tony Epper	....	stunts (uncredited)
Richard Farnsworth	....	stunts (uncredited)
Buddy Joe Hooker	....	stunts (uncredited)
Whitey Hughes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Harold Jones	....	stunts (uncredited)
Kim Kahana	....	stunts (uncredited)
Henry Kingi	....	stunts (uncredited)
Wayne King Sr.	....	stunts (uncredited)
Glenn Randall Jr.	....	stunts (uncredited)
Roy N. Sickner	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bernie Abramson	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Lydia Clarke	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Margo Baxley	....	costume supervisor
Bucky Rous	....	costume supervisor

Music Department
Ron Grainer	....	conductor
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer

Other crew
Shirley Cohen	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1971) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1974) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner Bros. / Columbia Pictures (1971) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1971) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Fox Movies SF Horror (2007) (Japan) (TV)
• Sandrew Metronome Norge (2003) (Norway) (DVD)
• Scanvideo (198?) (Finland) (video)
• Veronica Omroep Organisatie (1979) (Netherlands) (TV)
• Warner Bros. Television
• Warner Home Video (2003) (Japan) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Japan) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)

Other Companies

• Pacific Title  titles

Also Known As:

1975: occhi bianchi sul pianeta Terra (Italy) [it]
Den sista mannen (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Den siste mannen (Sweden) [sv]
Der Omega-Mann (West Germany) [de]
El último hombre... vivo (Spain) [es]
La última esperanza (Venezuela) [es]
Le survivant (France) [fr]
O Último Homem na Terra (Portugal) [pt]
O anthropos pou antikryse tin Kolasi (Greece) [el]
Sidste mand i live (Denmark) [da]
Tek adam (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Viimeinen mies (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Canada:14A | USA:PG | Sweden:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Brazil:14 | Canada:PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1971) | UK:PG | USA:GP

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch - 411 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Early in the film, Neville sees a calendar dated March 1975, then remarks that the local cinema is offering Woodstock "for the third straight year". This indicates The Omega Man (1971) is set in 1977. (Heston himself mentions the year 1977 while recording his audio diary.)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the stadium, one of the Family members moves to cover his eyes before the flash bomb goes off.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[the last man on earth wrecks his car]
Robert Neville: There's never a cop around when you need one.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Last Man Alive (1971)

Soundtrack:

'Round Midnight

Is your blood that colour?

People knock this film. Yes it has many flaws but some slack should be cut. It was 1971, Hollywood was in a desperate time of recession and change. 'Easy Rider' had blown a hole in the side of the school of thought that the studios had subscribed to. Suddenly, story material that would never have been tackled by the major studios prior to this time was emerging.

'The Omega Man' was of course an adaptation of Matheson's novel and is a second film version of it. But the technical challenges were vast. Find a time of day when L.A.'s deserted? Do me a favor! It's a miracle they got anything decent on film. Yes there are distant cars in the back of that zoom out at the top of the film but these guys didn't have computers did they?

Anyway, Heston looks amusingly dated in the role of Neville wearing his safari jacket and skintight tracksuit while he prowls the 'deserted' streets. The thing about Chuck is he just LOOKS like a film star. Just driving a car he grabs your attention. The supporting cast here are less engaging. An afro and 'Hey man' too many perhaps. The writers seemed desperate to tap into 70s pop culture. A sure-fire way to date your film.

The camera crew on this film must have gone straight onto 'Quincy' after they'd finished this. It's bizarre. There are dolly moves for no reason whatsoever (when Heston first enters his apartment and later before he discovers the sardine tin), zooms that hit the end stop so hard they almost bounce back and roving pans where you actually feel for the operator while he tries to find where the hell Chuck's car's gone. But this is one of the things that makes 70s cinema so great. The raw elements of film-making are on display.

Ron Grainer's score is genius in places and god awful in others. It goes from the brilliant main title theme to the woeful chase music when Heston pursues the leading lady. There's also the typically almost pink-tinted blood. Why couldn't they get blood right back then?

'The Omega Man' is an engaging, thought-provoking but very dated piece of cinema. The last image of Heston is immortal even if the film's hair-dos are not. Watch it, enjoy it and cut it some slack.