KAMN Show #22: The Omega Man
Welcome to Show #22!
The Ninjas discuss the The Omega Man, the 1971 movie adaptation of Richard Matheson’s classic “I Am Legend”, starring Charlton Heston, Rosalind Cash and Anthony Zerbe.
While we don’t go into any detailed discussion about the book, we do note the major differences between the source material and what happens in this cinematic adaptation. There’s also a lot of discussion about the savior symbolism running rampant through the film, and touch a bit on how dated some of the story aspects seem after 35 years. We also wonder how it’ll compare to the new adaptation, currently in production featuring Will Smith in the lead role of Robert Neville.
Doing a separate show on “I Am Legend” is a definite possibility for a future KAMN show.
Listener Feedback: The Ninjas respond to voicemails about Show #20 from Philip from Australia, Tim from The Babylon Podcast, and Neutrino in NJ.
If you have a comment on anything we’ve discussed, let us know! You can call us at 206-666-5266, or send us an email us and let us what you think.
Movies and Books mentioned:
Link: Wikipedia: The Omega Man
Link: Omega Man Script (early draft)
Link: Movie Cliches List
Link: The Top 100 Things I’d Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord
Link: 36 Dramatic Situations by Georges Polti
Promo: Adventures in SciFi Publishing
I’d shed innocent blood, great fracking line, Joe!
I remember another “end of the world thriller” in the late 50’s, I remember the actors: Harry Belafonte, Mel Ferrar and Inger Stevens (she was hot!) Don’t remember the title.
Belafonte was a survivior in Manhatten. He was living in a high-rise apartment. Everyday he would cook dinner. After eating he would take the dishes to the sink and toss the dishes out the window above the sink. Later, when he found another survivor (Inger Stevens)she was shocked when he does this. She walked over to the sink and turned on the water. Belafonte said something like, “I never tried that.” As someone who hates doing the dishes, I thought he had found the perfect solution.
Concerning future topics, a couple a years ago I got on a Robert E. Howard jag. I found a collection of his Conan stories. In a used book store in Tokyo I found another collection Howard stories, both Conan and medieval tales. Howard might be an interesting topic from the distant past of pulp fantasy. Especially a discussion of how he set many of the parameters of “Sword and Sorcery.”
Love the show! A nice balance between hard work (unless you’ve got me coumpletely fooled) and “BS.” What ever you do, don’t stop.”
Summer has a very alluring voice. I always enjoy listening to her dulcet and confident tones, sultry would be laying it on too thick (I lived in Japan since 1976, so voices and accents are precious). Please post no pictures, I enjoy my illusions.
I will continue to be loyal listener.
Scott Dawson
Great podcast as usual guys.
You can get the original “Last Man on Earth” for free from Public Domain.
http://www.archive.org/details/the-last-man-on-earth
Hey, I actually liked Will Smith’s “I, Robot!”
Also, MIB was an adaptation, sort of. It was based on a comic book.
Hey Ninjas,
Thanks for the show on The Omega Man. It is one of my faves of this time period. And it is part of the Chuck Heston sci-fi trilogy. Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and of course The Omega Man.
While I am not a big fan of his politics, I do love those films. It’s funny because you could look at those films as failures of the conservative or liberal mindsets.
While most modern fans of cinema find the long takes of 70’s films to be excessive, I love them. I hate 100 million cuts per second.
While I wouldn’t rate The Omega Man as one of the world’s greatest contributions to cinema, it is more a personal fave and a film of my youth. We could tear apart any film for not following logical or common sense solutions. That’s not what film is about. After all, we could just say in any horror film why not just leave. The reasons we love a good story is because the characters stay and see what happens.
It’s funny because when I watched this film as a youngster of course I always aligned myself with Neville. But like THE WICKER MAN..as an older wiser person I realized that the “Bad Guys” were actually the good guys. The Family wants to build a new world without the trappings of the old world. Without the things the ended the previous world.
One must understand that looking at this film with eyes and ears from 2006, of course the language seems dated. Yet that’s how people talked then. We are not talking about a film set in the 1980’s, 1990’s. This film is set in the 70’s.
I do also disagree with you about OM score. Ron Grainer is a fab composer. Most people would know him through the DR. WHO Theme. His use of glass bells and experimental sensibilities are ground breaking. You might think it sounds more sixtyish (probably not a word) but it is pure 70’s and for the time was rather revolutionary. That is indeed a rather rare soundtrack to get. Among colllecters it is actually quite pricey.
While THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (V. Price version) sticks a bit closer to the source material, I do have a lotta love for The OM.
Btw, Tamara Dobson was Cleopatra Jones.
I do think there is room for a great version of the film set in modern times. Given the whole WMD’s and problems in the world I would say it could be timely. I would still prefer an older middle-aged actor for the lead. If it is indeed ever re-interpeted again, it will probably be a younger actor.
ANYWAY…Good or Bad…Thank you for at least doing a podcast on it.
Best from a Yankee in Vienna…
Daniel
Don’t shed blood, just go here…
http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/superman-lives-script.html
The discussion of how many different plots exist in the world reminds me of Dramatica Theory, in which every story can be thought of as a written representation of the human mind’s problem-solving process. In this theory, certain basic themes or character traits will repeatedly show up in association with each other because they represent different tools or approaches that the “story mind” is using to tackle a specific problem. It’s a pretty cool system to use if you’re a writer, though it can get somewhat complicated keeping track of the relationships between the different story elements. (Conveniently, the creators of the theory sell a software toolkit that manages such details for you — but I think the idea would have merit even if it weren’t being used to sell a product.)
I really enjoyed this week’s episode, and I’ve added “I Am Legend” to my to-be-read list. Keep up the good work!