This lesser Charlton Heston film, based on Richard Matheson's excellent novel "I Am Legend", contains one obvious central error. By day, Heston romes the city, watches "Woodstock" in the movie theater (he must know how to operate a projector from his days in the military??), loots supplies and plays chess with himself. At night, he has to contend with demonic ghouls (vampires in the book) who try to break into his home and who catapult burning materials onto his balcony. So... when does he sleep, exactly? At night? In the day? The movie never shows him sleeping at all!

He's Chuck Heston..he needs no sleep! :)

The first real action we see in the movie is Heston shooting up into a second story window at something moving. He states later that he's always looking for the ghouls' nesting place where they all stay during daylight. He believes himself to be the last living human being. To restate, he just shot at what he thought was a ghoul and all ghouls are in the same place for which he is looking. Why doesn't he investigate further? I know, short movie.

TNT showed it last night on 100% Wierd.

One thought: This movie has the campy-est soundtrack. But it really fits the film. Reminds me of the melodies of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds album, kind of.

Fun movie, though. Despite it being a science and medicine nit paradise.

Heston made several flicks for the producers of "Omega Man" (Walter Seltzer and Russell Thatcher)-"Skyjacked" and "Soylent Green" are two.
Are they still talking about remaking this?

If they were to make a new version no doubt it would a.)have major plot changes from the original(ie the killer virus would be the result of terrorism, not war with the Chinese) and b.)be more gory. I would suspect they'd probably make "the Family" less of a nod to Charles Manson and other cults of the late '60s, if they'd even include that plot element at all.

I think it's safe to assume that's the mutants would be changed back to vampires as they were in Richard Matheson's original novel.

say does anyone have bought the omega man dvd out arggh, been trying to locate 1 since it was announced

It's out on DVD?! I'll keep my eyes open for that one.

craig, they announced it 2- 3 months ago arrrghh (the dvd) also its supposed to be out on a cd too arrgh, ^5 cant believe ervything i read

Hey Craig... just got the Omega Man on DVD, its at Walmart...(last I heard)under $20

Live long and prosper...

How come Neville never asks Lisa where the "Family" hides during the day? He never really asks Richie, either.

Interesting that the "Family" rejects "the wheel" yet they use a catapult with wheels on it. Come to think of it, I think they took him into the stadium on something with wheels.

You would think after two years, since the "Family" apparently has to hang around Neville's place and they don't use motor vehicles, they would have looted and burned everything in the area. But at the start of the movie, they're burning things (including a painting) in the street.

At the end, why does Neville tell Lisa to come back in the light? What good would that do?

Lisa said Neville had lost 200 million patients. That's just the U.S. What about the rest of the world?

The first question I have is "Just how did Dutch turn on the lights at the stadium?" If the Family is so intent on destroying technology, then surely the local power plant(s) would have been demolished early on. Yet, the power plant(s) for L.A. would most likely have to still be operational for Dutch to turn on the stadium lights. Yet, the fact that the lights were still functional means that the Family haven't done that much to destroy the remnants of Man's technology.

This isn't really a nit, but it could be. There's a scene where Neville and Lisa go the pharmacy to pick up some medical supplies. Personally, I couldn't help but wonder how many of those pharmaceuticals would still be any good after two years. These days, most packages of even aspirin have expiration dates on them.

So, just how is that Ritchie knows where the Family are hiding out? And while we're at it, according to Lisa, she and Ritchie have dealt with Matthias and the rest of the Family before. How could he not know how psychotic Matthias was?

Heston's character, Neville, is almost unbelievably a master of many disciplines. He knows how to use guns (well, he was in the military, even if he was a medical officer). He knows how to operate a generator. Or build one. (I'd love to know how he got it to his house if he didn't know how to make one.) He must surely be an automechanic, in order to keep the various vehicles he drives in good shape. He can operate a film projector. He's even a good enough biologist that he can work on a cure for the plague and its resulting mutation all by himself. (In reality, these things require the skills and knowledge of a number of people.) All in all, I'd say that Heston's a true superman.

So, in two years it's never occured to Neville that there may be some people with a natural immunity to the plague? As I understand it, there may even be some people who have an immunity to AIDS. (I could be wrong about that. But I have read of the possibility some years ago.) As a doctor, you'd think Neville would have at least entertained the thought that others may have been spared.

Just what has Neville been eating these last two years? Assuming the supermarkets have been without power for these last two years, the frozen food section would have long ago gone bad. And there'd be only so much meat Neville could store in his home. And a time limit on how it would take before that went bad. Even canned goods will go bad in a two year span. Not to mention the fact that many food items would have been invaded by mice, roaches and other vermin. So what was he eating in those two years?

"I like to watch." - Chauncy Gardner

for Benn- he took steriods!
He didn t take his veggies, either

the music was the best part of this movie in my humble opinion

Personally, I couldn't help but wonder how many of those pharmaceuticals would still be any good after two years. These days, most packages of even aspirin have expiration dates on them.

Those expiration dates are often very conservative and pills are often good long past when they say. I think the main reason for using them is to get people to throw things out so they have to buy new ones even if they haven't used up the old. Of course it would vary depending on the individual drug, but it's not quite the same as food going bad.

How could he not know how psychotic Matthias was? - Benn

I figured maybe a) Matthias got worse the longer things went on, especially as he got used to his power over the others, and b) Richie may have thought that Matthias' behavior was partly due to fear of Neville shooting everything, and everyone, in sight.

He knows how to operate a generator. Or build one. (I'd love to know how he got it to his house if he didn't know how to make one.) - Benn

Don't the larger generators have wheels?

A few more thoughts:

How come Neville wasn't concerned about extinguishing the fire outside his house at the beginning of the movie? True, the Family was out there, but couldn't his house have burned down?

Neville quoted a song, saying something like "I guess I'm the only boy." What about Dutch?

After finding Richie and wrecking, Neville throws a bomb under a car. But an shot of the car a few seconds previously shows something sliding underneath it. There's no reason for anything else to be there. Also, after he fires at the car and creates several bullet holes, the next shot of the car shows it without the holes.

When Neville is remembering the beginnings of the plague, we see the Soviet hammer and sickle moving across a map. But it's headed toward Turkey (and then it falls over). Shouldn't it be showing China?

Dutch didn't seem to wonder where Richie was at the end.

Also, why was Neville so surprised when Richie told him the Family's 'nest' was in the court building? That's where they took Neville for "trial" after attacking him in the wine cellar. You would think that would be the first place he would look (if he ever got back to searching for them).

I am legend is in theatres.Anyone gonna see it?

This was on TCM last night.

I know Neville states that he wants to keep living in his room, but is it practical. The Family knows where he is. The only reason they haven't gotten him is because Matthias's ban on them using technology (however, some are willing to overlook that, like Zachary, when he sneaks a gun and tries to shoot Neville). Why doesn't Neville move, or leave the city. The Family is inactive during the day, he's got time.

Of course, Neville can one day return. The Family is dying. He's just have to wait them out.

What would happen if Neville took out Matthias? Would the Family dissolve. He did seem to the focus? Would eliminating him remove the threat? On the other hand, it might make thing worse, as the Family might start using technology (like the aforementioned Zachary).

When Neville meets Lisa and Co., why don't they use walkie talkies and such to stay in touch. The Family is not gonna listen in, because they hate technology.

Notice that when Neville is driving the motocycle, his hair changes colour (can we say stunt double, I know we can).

Neville goes through all the trouble to cure Richie, and then the kid goes and gets himself killed.

I wonder how Lisa took the loss of her brother?

Chuck "You can have my gun when you pry it out of my cold dead hands." Hesten looked like he had fun making this movie.

Matthias the news anchor's comments, that this is the end of technological man, is no doubt the cause of his mania when he became mutated.