The Omega Man and The 1970s Dystopian Sci-Fi Film Trend 

All my favourite sci-fi films from the 70's are being reviewed by Dave Cullen, the man clearly has excellent taste!

Hilariously Paul Ehrlich, author of the very popular book (at that time)The Population Bomb in the 70s, was recently on 60 minutes predicting all the same old doom and gloom, even after he's BEEN WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING HE HAS EVER PREDICTED.

Honestly I really liked Omega Man, mostly because it was a character study ( performed by an incredibly talented actor) of how the last man in the world would feel and act. It was also the first movie I saw where the hero dies at the end - although its a heroic sacrifice , as he collects his blood to provide a cure.

Just realised Charlton Heston was king of the dystopian movies.

We are living in what would have made a dystopian nightmare movie in the '70s

Great movie. The cinema scene is very moving. Also I think it's interesting in regards of a lot of what Dave talks about is how Charlton Heston went from pretty liberal to pretty conservative by the end of his life. An interesting journey perhaps many of us are making, what did he see that made him change? and why didn't may of us notice earlier? He clearly saw problems way back in the seventies about the direction society was going in.

I remember watching this in the 70s when I was a kid. Those eyes always creeped me out! Love that movie! 😎👍

I was a young teenager when these movies came out. I saw them in the cinema and they made an indelible impression on me. I believe that they had a distinct impact on my generation.

I love you doing these 70s dystopian films. You have to do "A Boy and His Dog". A movie that would never get remade! George Miller said he stole the look of the film for The Road Warrior. I think A Dog and His Dog and The Road are the most realistic dystopian films. Ugly and horriffic.

The Omega Man is 1970's sci-fi at its best.

The Omega Man is an action movie that just happens to be set in a dystopian future.

Also worth mentioning is that the score to Omega man by Ron Grainer is absolutely superb: both sad and dynamic at times, it perfectly sums up Neville. I love the way his vulnerability, lonliness-induced madness, is explored. He's a big, tough, smart guy who can handle himself, but the solitude and hopelessness of his situation is getting to him. He knows all the words to the Woodstock film he watches and rewatches obsessively and "THERE IS NO PHONE!" is a classic scene.

Heston truly got some of the most iconic sci-fi moments, topped by Liberty on the beach.

I can't remember how many times I snuck out of bed to watch this on the late night film on our rabbit ears tv and 3 channel universe. Anthony Zerbe was always a reliable villian and he is really creepy here. Modern Hollywood could learn a lot from these diverting stripped down films that don't need $200+ mill budgets.

Charlton Heston still remains my favourite actor. Not only is he an amazing actor he wasn’t afraid to do sci-fi, something many big names refused to do because they thought it was beneath them.

You Should look at "Demon Seed" (1977) that film was way ahead of it's time, and gave us a good look at how dangerous AI could potentially be. Despite it's age it is still very relevant today.

During the pandemic I made so many Omega Man references to my father, who had seen it when it came out in theaters in '71.

I saw this in a movie theater for 50 cents in 1971. It was considered really freaky at the time.

I am a big fan of the Omega Man film. Charlton Heston's campy outfit he wears at home and that infra red scope on his rifle are comedy high-points. The fact that Heston plays it totally straight is adorable.

Omega Man is one of my favorites. It’s wonderful to watch on Halloween night on a projector outdoors.

Omega Man was the most frightening movie I have ever watched. Between the corpse ridden city and the mutants there is plenty to disturb you.

Good stuff. I still don't think we've seen a definitive version of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. All three adaptations, especially the most recent one, deviate from the source material. The whole point of the MC being a legend is because the entire world has been converted into vampire-like mutants (there are no more humans left but him). They have begun a new society (the ones who have not succumbed to bloodlust), and the MC rides around during the day and kills them as they sleep. He is the bogeyman to this new society - he is their version of Dracula, a monster who kills 'innocent' people. That said, I do enjoy The Omega Man for what it is. I mean, Charlton Heston is the man.

"That's where I live. It's where I used to live. It's where I'm going to live, and not Matthias nor his Family... nor any other son of a bitch is going to make me leave."...I've always loved the defiance in those lines.

The Omega Man has been one of my favorite Sci Fi films since I first saw it, back in the 70's on TV. Heston is great as Neville and the rest of the cast terrific as well. And, although many call it dated, I love the soundtrack by Ron Grainer (he of Dr. Who theme). All in all, a good watch with popcorn and a soda.

Neville's stocked penthouse might be a handy thing to have in the near future.

With Planet of the Apes, kinda a trilogy. Heston was always the man we wanted to be in the 60s. So damn cool. If only one man was going to survive, gotta figure it would be Heston. Completely believable.

Love to see a review of The Andromeda Strain. Another Sci Fi classic.

Upon reflection the 70's where actually a decade of interesting movies upon reflection.

The 70s had a lot of dark sci-fi films. A couple more mentionable films are The Stepford Wives and Demon Seed. When the original Star Wars came out, it was like a breath of fresh air.

There was also dystopia on television at the time with the BBC series Survivors and Blake’s 7. The first depicted a world after 99.99% of humanity had been wiped out by a virus and the survivors had to start anew. The second was a more dark version of Star Trek with a flawed group of rebels taking on a dictatorial Federation. And then there was the Doctor Who serial Genesis of the Daleks which showed how the Daleks came into being after a vicious nuclear war had ravaged their home planet of Skaro.

"Silent Running" is another film in this genre. Perhaps the darkest of the post-apocalyptic seventies movies. The series will be incomplete without a discussion of it.

I don't know if you've done it already but Zardoz is another one which would fit into 70's dystopia. Also, seeing Sean Connery in a nappy. 😆

One of the best zombie vampire films of all time. And the Zombies are actually intelligent making it even harder to survive. Also great sound track.

Another take on the 70s zombie stories is 1973's "Messiah of Evil" about a strange man that appears out of the sea every other generation or so, during a blood red moon, and causes a plague of flesh eating zombies. It was the same year The Exorcist was released.

Really love this theme of 70s dystopian movies. I hope you do one on Rollerball. Great movie!

Omega Man terrified me as a child..... The Heston trifecta of Omega, Soylant and Planet is still my fave dystopian films. Logan's Run still hold up today (always wanted a Sandman pistol).... Thanks Dave!!!!

You have to remember back in the 70s American cities had a major crime problem also a problem with their economy so it makes sense that the movies would be a reflection of their time

I am a Gen X'r and I have increasingly gone back to watch more movies/TV shows from the 60's and 70's to see their thinking at the time. The original Star Trek, The Twilight Zone have been favorites. I really enjoy your reviews of these dystopian movies from the 70's.

Dave, been following you for almost 4 years now and your content keeps getting better. May 2023 brings you all the wealth and prosperity which you so richly deserve.

I saw this at the movies when it come out. I was 12 and I loved it!

A large factor with the themes of these movies was that there was a Cold War going on. There was a real threat of Nuclear War at any moment. If you're not old enough to remember the Berlin Wall coming down then you're not going to fully understand the impact this had on daily life. We had "Nuclear War" drills in school when I was a kid in the early 70s. They didn't call them "Nuclear War" drills, but we knew what it was about.

As a counter, do Woody Allen's "Sleeper." It's so funny as a flip side of dystopian sci-fi films. Surprisingly relevant today, it punctures seriousness with pure slapstick.

I mostly recall Omega Man for me and my sibling watching the movie at home alone and it showed a wall calendar for March 1975. I started laughing when I noticed the date was that of when we were watching the movie. We joked that maybe we should stay home tonight.

I have seen all three film adaptions of I Am Legend, The Omega Man is my favourite. Trivia: The Music composed for the film was done by Ron Grainer, you might be familiar with him, he wrote the theme tune to Doctor Who!

New Zealand movie "The Quiet Earth" (1985) is an interesting take on 'the last man on earth' story. I have a soft spot for actor Bruno Lawrence. Another movie from the same stable is "As Time Goes By"(1988). Not dystopian, but enjoyably bizarre 🤩

I always took these kinds of films to be thoughtful warnings about what could happen. I grew up in this era and sensed the fear around me, but it somehow didn’t touch me the way it did others. I always thought these kind of movies were “cool,” but not real.

Saw this film at the movies when I was a kid, scared the hell out of me!

As a general rule I can’t stand dystopian films/TV shows. Too reminiscent of real life.

We had all these warnings in films to warn us of the great reset, and almost everyone still missed it.

That BAR on the miniature with the early IR scope is baller as Fuck tough .

The string of sci fi dystopian movies in the 70's was not alone, we also had a corresponding string of disaster movies, and these both show that nothing much has changed in hollywood wit the current string of superhero movies.

Star Wars and Star Trek came out as well at that time period. They were quite positive. The other films you mentioned I saw on late night tv. They were alright. I thought nothing of it. Logan's Run and THX were the only ones that stood out for me.

I still think that Star Wars became such a big success partly due to that dystopia trend. It felt like a breath of fresh air - something optimistic and really fun compared to what else there was at that time. I was a teenager in the 70s and I really wanted to have something that was just fun for a change when it came to entertainment, and I would guess I was not the only one. There was a demand for that, and not much competition around.

While not sci-fi or quite dystopian, Three Days of the Condor was another good movie that speaks volumes today.

One of the first of the 70s dystopian films was 'Colossus: The Forbin Project', perhaps worth revisiting now that electronic surveillance is such a 24/7 phenomenon.

Yay, Omega Man! Thanks for the review Dave. How about one more. “The Andromeda Strain”.

Really well thought out. I would suggest looking at the film ‘The Ultimate Warrior’ starring Yul Brenner if you want to continue the theme, along with ‘ZPG’. A concurrent trend with ‘mankind sucks and we gonna all die’ was the ‘journey to salvation’ film. Thank goodness for 1977 and ‘Star Wars’ for making SF fun again, eh? 😁

brother, i'm 63. my buddies and i loved all these movies when we were kids. they were exciting and insightful! we read all the novels as well. great review Dave!

Colossus: The Forbin Project is an old school si-fi film from 1970 meant to scare you with the potential for nuclear war and mankind’s attempts to prevent it.

I didn't know the book was adapted with several different titles. Fascinating

Charlton Heston was a big science fiction fan, and would most likely have made more of them given the chance.

There is a dystopian novel that is playing out in rea life in America right now: The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail.

Sleeping Dogs - One of Sam Neils first films shot in New Zealand in 1977 portrays an authoritarian NZ regime that would make Jacinda giggle happily.

It's probably not exactly up your alley, but I really liked the early 70s TV movie "Frankenstein, The True Story." It's lo-o-o-o-ng, but a great telling of the story. These videos are great, please keep them coming!

I really like "The Omega Man." The death of the protagonist, Neville (Charlton Heston), leaves a powerful impression.

This film, Soylent Green and Logan's Run I have in a triple feature Blu-ray set that I had previously pointed out, so thanks Dave for reviewing them in order! I think "The Last Man on Earth" with Vincent Price is a better version though, if admittedly flawed.

4:52 - you also had the Love Canal disaster and Three Mile Island accident in 1979.

My vote is "predictive programming" to make possible the emergence of mass formation psychosis, like we've seen over the last 3 years.

You have excellent taste in cinematography! Thank you for reminding me about these cult classics, I have an irresistible urge to re-watch all of them now.

I saw The Omega Man in the theater first run. It was very enjoyable. This review is a very accurate summary.

Disaster movies were also popular in the 70s. In 1974 I saw EARTHQUAKE in theater and there were extra speakers the size of phone booths that would play a bass sound so you would feel the vibration during the earthquake scenes. The system is called SENSURROUND.

One of my growing up movies. I had always read that the theme was that in the end Neville realized that he was the enemy to the mutants, and he was now legend. Regarding your central theme, Does the fact that Planet of the Apes was a 60’s movie matter? What about the 50’s movies like The Day the Earth caught fire, Or the day the Earth Stood Stlll? Dystopian sci fi was well established by the 70’s.

Please keep doing reviews on movies from the past. These classics are so much more interesting than anything we have been getting from movies these last few years.

"I was a one man force. Like Charlton Heston in Omega Man. You see it? It's a beauty." Bob McKenzie from Strange Brew

Well what can I say lol, only Rollerball left for you. I love Omega Man and Soylent Green, Rollerball and Logans Run. What a great challenging SF films. Thanks for reviewing Omega Man. Hopefully people who never heard about it, will check it out.

and here all this time i thought all these dystopian movies were a cautionary warning, not their mission statement.

Don't forget around the same time, " The Ultimate Warrior" starring Yul Brynner.

Omega sure do be looking like an alpha

Explosion of sci-fi books on this theme also in the 70's

Omega Man is a good movie, but much like the Will Smith movie I wish it was closer to the book it was based on. I Am Legend is incredibly thought provoking and has timeless themes and messages, and to take away from them to make a generic "last man on earth apocalypse" story just doesn't do the source material justice

When I was young I gravitated toward epic fantasy and away from sci-fi primarily due to the bleak and gray moral aspects of sci-fi at the time. There is a path for goodness and it needs to be fought for.

My dad took me to see this flick in our small town theater when I was a boy, I loved it. Thanks for the review 👍

In this case, I wish you had said more/had more to say, but it is a highly underrated film and thanks to great movie lovers like you, is starting to get rediscovered again. Hope Warner issues it in 4K.

Arguably, the graphs of trends shown in ‘The Limits to Growth’ continue to be correct today, particularly population and pollution.

Genuinely can't wait for Rollerball

Like in Planet of the Apes dude says their Law Giver told them not to go to the forbidden place? The Law Giver is Moses. And the forbidden zone is allegory for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That leader Ape said he knew he was coming and dreaded his return? That’s talking about the second coming of Christ.

One of my all-time faves!! The best part is after he scatters some albinos.. he casually goes back to his chess game he is having with a bust of Caesar. “Did you move?”

Thank you for the thumbnail of Chuck with the 1918 B.A.R. with an Infrared sight.

The Omega Man was somewhat closer in tone to the Disaster films of the 1970s

A good dystopian 70s movie is Rollerball given its strong individualist message

5:59 - well, in the late 1960’s, the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson “family”, the deaths of hippies at the Altamonte concert (the west coast Woodstock), and the bombings by the Weatherman, were nails in the coffin of the hippy movement. Peace and love gave way to nihilism and death.

Don't forget "Colossus: The Forbin Project" (1966). Computers taking over. What could go wrong?

It was suggested that Charles Manson and family in the end is what killed the hippy movement. It was no longer seen as a "peace and love" movement.

"Uh, we don't like the word "mutants," Homer. We prefer "freaks" or "monsters." - Moe Szyslak

I remember watching that at the drive in theater with my uncle back in 70/71. I was 9 or 10.

Omega Man was actually AWESOME! It took extreme liberties with the original source material. It's the best of the adaptations. Best line from the film: thanks a lot, you cheating bastard.

The Omega man is a great movie and I love Charles and Heston and everything is in but I think I prefer Vincent Price's version to all the others. The last man on Earth.

One of my all-time FAVORITE movies! I have to add that the Cold War was still raging at the time of this and the other movies you have examined. I recall all too well how many of us were certain that nukes would go flying anytime. I would also mention that you could consider the movies of the 50s which were all the more grim, in their own ways, depicting the "End of the world". Be it by war or aliens or monsters created by "science," the theme of such horrible fates was very popular.

I think you’ve found a great new niche, reviews of old classics that are still worth watching.

I didn't know I Am Legend was an adaptation of The Omega Man. I learned something new today.