This movie is flat-out awful.

Solid, exciting, action sci fi set in the year 1977, Movie's first half hour is the best, As jaded lonely Charlton Heston drives around empty downtown LA streets, clearing out hordes of plague ghouls, watching the movie Woodstock, decorating his fortress with priceless art, Movie goes downhill with campy ghoul villians, sporting laughable robes and shoddy makeup fx, Heston should wipe the floor with these losers, But Heston makes dumb mistakes, and we have to endure Anthony Zerbe spout annoying pretentious blather, Movie does right the ship towards the end, as Heston finds something worth fighting for.

So it's basically I Am Legend 60's/70's style. This BLEEDS late 60's/early 70's for better or for worse. From the blaxploitation vibes, campy makeup, and the setting. The music is ok but it's the biggest problem. It's never really moody or tense but rather very 60's and it doesn't really fit the tone, is out of place, but it's kind of catchy and upbeat which clashes. It defintely needed like a John Carpenter style or Apocalypse Now style tracks which would help huge. Everything else is half decent though. Charlton Heston does a fairly good job carrying the first half by himself but it does start to run out of momenum fairly quickly. He never comes across as dry or boring though. It feels like he's just wandering aimlessly doing random stuff that doesn't really add up. It should've opened with him being pursued rather than cruising. The camerawork is kind fo basic and the action scenes which this has quite a bit of suprisingly, could have been shot better. This has a low budget feel to it but it is cool seeing the city empty. The zombies are...very unique also, or rather Cult Zombies which I can't say I've ever seen before. The makeup, sunglasses, and mannerisms are very odd and campy. It's unique I'll give it that, but they definetly could be more intimdiating. I do kind of prefer them to the I Am Legend ones though just because there not generic looking and real. Once Robert finds survivors this gets a lot more interesting and it explores a lot of cool ideas. The blood serum, morality of the zombies, the love interest isn't bad, and the one guy is pretty good actually. It does get a little muddy with how Lisa becomes a zombie or if she was one but it's still interesting ideas. This needed better music, a darker tone, more menacing zombies, and a sharper first half. Anyone who is a big fan of Charlton Heston should check this out. This comes significantly closer to being good than I am Legend, but the odd tone really weighs here.

...Heston is perfect for this kind of role, and the film not perfect is very good start to finish. Corny sure, so what, if you like the description you ll love it.

It has lost most of its effectiveness and is now cheesy.

A barely B-level picture with a major star trying not to look embarrassed. Truly awful, post-apocalyptic pic with terrible script, plot and special effects.

The Omega Man is one of three film adaptations of the classic Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend, and somehow none of them have really delivered on the source material's cutting premise - an apocalyptic survivor with a final revelation that in trying to save the world, he's essentially become a reverse Dracula. Granted, The Omega Man is the only version that gives the changed survivors some actual intelligence (the others are basically just zombies), but they're treated more as goofy cultists than as a living reminder of humanity's mistakes; they're not much more tan nocturnal psychos that look like albino Jawas, and they don't have enough empathy to make them much more than scrapped antagonists for a Mad Max ripoff. It's a shame, because the early scenes of Charlton Heston stumbling his way through an abandoned LA, struggling to find some sort of normalcy in his routine, is pretty great and a lot of it was done practically with several city blocks shut done and scattered with debris. There's some solid production value in the smaller sets (Heston's reinforced townhome in particular) and the action late in the game, but once the other characters roll in there's just a generic romance (with the '70s standard weird age gap) and unfocused action, plus Lisa's heel turn is just silly. Someday we'll get a really compelling iteration of this story that involves all the self-reflection and unusual perspectives of the novel, but until then decent production value is probably the best we can hope for. (2/5)

the model : the reality in big cities, not a fiction

Another 70s leftist sci-fi. It's less memorable, I more enjoyed soylent green.

Not too badly done technically as far as movie making half a century ago went, but the plot's paper thin and the symbolism is none too subtle. Our protagonist is ultimately killed with a spear and lays in an obvious crucifixion pose, but his blood has saved what's left of humanity. Did the writers have to hit the audience upside the head with a two-by-four? We aren't idiots!

While neither this nor I Am Legend may stand up to the source material, I preferred the remake to this work. The Omega Man has some good moments and a great premise but the poor acting and screenplay undercuts it. Worth a watch, but don't get your hopes up. There was just too much wasted opportunity here and gimmicky and cheap looking sets didn't help aid what could have been a bleak and atmospheric film. While The Omega Man certainly hasn't aged well it remains a middling science fiction with enough entertaining elements to keep it moving along and a suitable lazy afternoon or evening watch.

The last human alive is always an interesting premise. However, this version just didn't cut it. Too slow and not enough character development.

The Omega Man is an apocalyptic science fiction thriller chock full of embarrassments. Let's start with Charlton Heston, who reprises his role of the jaw-clenching, steely-eyed tough guy, a role he's played in virtually every film he ever appeared in. Let's continue with the music score, perhaps the greatest embarrassment in the movie, which sounds like it was culled from a dozen other films but is never appropriate for what's happening on screen. And what about those wildly outdated stylistic flourishes from the early 70s, hi-lighted by countless ridiculous zooms? And then there are the antagonists, a bunch of pasty-faced, sunglass-wearing mutants dressed like monks who don't have the mental wherewithal to kill one non-mutant nuisance. The pompous dialogue grates on the nerves…ahh, forget it…enough said…this movie sucks.

I know this movie should be appreciated for great moments in cinematic history, but in 2021, it’s rather cringe worthy.

Terrible! The strange disco music was put in the most awkward places…bad acting, bad makeup, a needless nude scene…awful.

The late Charlton Heston in a post-apocalyptic setting in the tradition of 'I Am Legend' meets 'Mad Max' This Omega Man is actually the last man on Earth Based on the book by Richard Matheson and directed by Boris Sagal This original story of Dr. Robert Neville before the 2007 remake starring Will Smith; Neville here is all alone or at least he thinks given that a majority of humanity has suffered a deadly disease due to an experimental vaccine What's left of the human population are deformed, violent nocturnals being homicidal maniacs They blame science and technology that has left the state of the world the way it is Neville being the last face of science has him targeted to be killed But this man will defend himself for survival From flashbacks we see the viral outbreak left victims choking to death and remaining immobile Unlike the 2007 remake the enemies in this version are more feral, religious zealots Sort of more cult-like they see Neville as the Angel of death erasing history from the world and everything mankind accomplished If it wasn't for him in their eyes they wouldn't be where they are now; so his options are to either cure these zealots or kill them Are they still human or beyond saving? But later he's rescued by a small group of survivors women and children to his amazement Charlton Heston is brilliant as usual delivering a one-man show of a performance that's commanding The tone here is more light and less grim than the remake Very fast paced too The quiet paranoia and vampiric themes might be missing from the original source material but there's still vivid performances here plus it works as a literate sci-if drama on its own

One of the greatest movies ever made. Heston is masculine and really believable in the role. The cinematography is beautiful and the music by Ron Grainer is beyond legendary. A great take on the Matheson classic.

Even though I still prefer I am Legend this is pretty good. I enjoy movies from this era and this one is still a good watch.

One of the greatest last man on earth movies ever made. Far superior to the lame I Am Legend (based on the same book.) Charlton Heston is former Colonel Robert Neville, living in Los Angeles, survivor of a biowar between the USSR and China who is hunted by those mutated (and waiting to die because of it). A great cast and a fast, well done movie. The soundtrack, by Ron Grainer (Doctor Who) is phenomenal. Worth seeing again and again.

Cheesy dated movie that's only saved by Charlton Heston's performance