"The Omega Man" starring Charlton Heston

[Waitone]

I quit watching movies in the 70's because they ceased being entertainment in favor of "making social statement". Heston's movies were no different in that regard. It is really enlightening to look at various social concerns of the 60's and 70's and then match that understanding against your views of the movies of the time. Hint: one of the big concerns of the late 60's and early 70's was WMD's. You know stuff like chemical, biological and radiological unpleasantness. Nuclear exchange with the USSR was top of mind. Heston rightly pointed out the biological component as dangerous and the dangerous military mindset of the time.

Those of us who grew up in the 70's would find a different word for Heston's movies other than "cheesy". He was accurately portraying the angst of the time.

 

[geim druth]

A guy sipping rare liquor in his penthouse, and kissing his gorgeous girlfriend before shooting zombies from his balcony with his BAR.

Whoever came up with the idea for this movie was a genius.


Heston was great in 'Will Penny', and also as Cardinal Richelieu in the musketeer movies. Watch the picnic scene in 'The Four Musketeers' for some great black powder action.

 

[AugustusMcCrae]

I have to say that when I saw "Omega Man" I didn't see the angst of the 70's or the controversy of inter-racial romance. Of course I wasn't born until 1988.

I just saw a guy defending himself with little hope of making it but gritting it out anyway.

I saw the truth in Blaise Pascal's statement "Men do evil no more cheerfully than when they do it from religous conviction."

I enjoyed the fantasy of being able to walk into a gun store & walking out with what ever I wanted & it being perfectly legal even if it was a suppresed MP5 or grenades.

 

[joplinsks]

I think I remember a movie from the late 50s where Henry Bellafonte played a man who was sealed underground in an accident and found his way to the surface only to find out a plague wiped everyone out. Anyone remember that one?

 

[Logan5]

AugustusMcCrae,

I've got to agree with you on the gun part. At the very end of the film when they're brawling in Heston's apartment, they're crashing through racks of all sorts of stuff... I know I saw an MP-40 in there. It's kind of fascinating to contemplate. If the only barrier is figuring out where X firearm might be found, going there, and picking it up, where would he have gone in 1971 to pick up a Swedish K, an MP-40, and a BAR? (forget about that night scope!)
That would be a serious scavenger hunt today.

 

[rcellis]

I think I remember a movie from the late 50s where Henry Bellafonte played a man who was sealed underground in an accident and found his way to the surface only to find out a plague wiped everyone out. Anyone remember that one?

That was "The Flesh, The Blood, and The Devil"

 

[AugustusMcCrae]

That would be a serious scavenger hunt today.

Fortunately where I live, the National Guard armory is a 20 minute drive. Would be shorter with no traffic. I'm sure they would have some useful toys. They'd probably be locked up though.

 

[bsf]

Hollywood seems obessed with the good guy winning, the bad guy dying & happy endings.

Have you seen The Departed?

 

[Prince Yamato]

in the mid-1960s you could have a new FN FAL mailed to your house from an outfit in Chicago, whose name now escapes me.

That would be MARS Imports.

 

[AugustusMcCrae]

Have you seen The Departed?

Nope. When I said that Hollywood seems obsessed about happy endings, I meant they were full of cliches.

That's why "Lonesome Dove" is to me the single greatest western of all time. Just because you like a character, there is no guarantee he or she won't be killed in the next scene. Just like real life.

See the first 2 links in my signature for video clips of "Lonesome Dove".

 

[operator114]

First Flashlight Mount

Alright, just one more thing about Omega Man. To my knowledege, it's the first time I've seen a flashlight (a 6 "D" cell flashlight) mounted under the barrel of Charile's M76 sub gun.

Today, we have dedicated compact light mounts from Surefire, and take it for granted.

Has anybody seen a flashlight mounted on a weapon on any earlier movies? and by the way, being taped onto a weapon doesn't count.

 

[Classified00]

"How about "Red Dawn of the Dead" - zombie Russian paratroopers invade the Midwest."
-zoom6zoom

*** What caliber for zombie Russian paratroopers?

 

[jetman]

The Omega Man was one of my all time favorite movies as a kid. I watched it at least 1/2 a dozen times. I thought it would be too cool to drive any car you wanted anywhere you wanted as fast as you wanted and got to shoot zombies that popped up during the day. Nights seemed a bit hectic but still pretty cool throughout the day.

 

[Glockman17366]

"That was "The Flesh, The Blood, and The Devil"

Wasn't it "The World, The Flesh and the Devil"?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

"Red Dawn of the Dead" - zombie Russian paratroopers invade the Midwest.
In Shockwaves (1977) Peter Cushing played an SS commander leading
zombie Nazi commandos. The image of zombie Nazis fighting underwater
is hard to forget. (And some people wonder where Werewomen of the SS
came from).

Anyhow, some credit (blame) Last Man on Earth (1964) with inspiring
Night of the Living Dead (1968) same gloomy doomy atmosphere.

Gun related content: In Last man on Earth the "vampires" carry what
appear to be PPSh submachineguns dressed up to look like Thompsons.
Most of the plague victims are like Romero zombies, but a few are
immune and are almost normal.

 

[Joe Demko]

Just one more thing. Before Charlie did Omega Man, Vincient Price did Last Man on Earth, which was also based on the book I Am Legend. Last Man on Earth is also worth watching and is floating in the DVD discount bin somewhere out there.

Actually, the Vincent Price movie is much closer in spirit and plot to the original Matheson story than the Heston vehicle. I have both and, overall, find Price's movie superior.

 

[Joe Demko]

I liked "The Flesh, The Blood and The Devil" better than Omega Man - no zombies to come in for the finale.

It was The World, The Flesh, and The Devil.

 

[sterling180]

I think Omega Man was produced when the M-16 was still new, and as such, the M-16 did not see too much screen time in movies made during that period. Other weapons, such as the HK MP-5 series were probably still ideas at the time.

In Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes,M16s make a regular appearence during the Ape uprisings,in the totalitarian unnamed city,that was possibly once called San Fransisco.I believe that both the Omega Man and that particular Ape film,were only released a year apart.

Has anyone seen Ice Station Zebra,with Rock Hudson,Ernest Borgnine and Patrick McGoohan?.The marines in the sub were armed with M16s and this movie was made in 1968.The same case in the Green Berets film,with John Wayne,which featured M16s.In Diamonds Forever,one of the SPECTRE guards is armed with an M16 and points it at Bond,before being killed by a few scalpels.In the first Dirty Harry film,an M16 is shown in the police station,in the forensics lab.

So at the end of the day,it depends on your budget,contacts and sponsors.If the military show a healthy interest in the film,then you are bound to have their cooperation and bound to recieve some of the modern sought-after weaponry,for your movie-making you the envy of Hollywood or the small-screen world.Look at Stargate SG1.

 

[Joe Demko]

The Green Berets also featured . John Wayne breaks it against a tree in its big scene.