During one of my trips into and out of the Columbia House DVD club recently, I selected a big load of well-thought-of science fiction from the 70s. Some, like Soylent Green and The Andromeda Strain, I had seen before, but not in many years. Others, like Westworld, I hadn’t seen at all.
I’ll tell you, most of it still works. My favorite of the group turned out to be The Omega Man. It’s an intriguing premise with a genuinely scary enemy and a hot female lead. That was a dynamite cocktail 35 years ago just like it is today. And it’s got one highly memorable visual gotcha that will probably always be one of my all-time favorites.
Mind, there are some details that just don’t flow anymore (if they ever really did). Charlton Heston’s overacting, particularly when talking to himself, grates after a while. And the final scene is so chock full of clock-you-in-the-melon symbolism that it plays like a parody of itself. But with a strong story (which it definitely has), these things are easy to overlook.
Pick it up, even just for a rental if you must. Everyone rightly remembers Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green as Heston’s sci-fi high points, but The Omega Man deserves to be right in there. It’s quite a film.
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Now I realize just how much lazy Sunday afternoon and late night movies I’ve watched on TNT and AMC over the years. Incidentally, while The Omega Man, et al are kick ass flicks, what are they doing on American Movie Classics? Eh…I guess the definition of classic will evolve as time passes (and they need to improve their ratings).
It’s been sobering for me to see all the John Hughes films I grew up with in those kinds of TV environments…or hearing “Rock the Casbah” on the “oldies” station…
[...] movie was fine. I’d call it a good solid B to B+. I think I slightly prefer The Omega Man (based on the same [...]