Monday, November 8, 2021

Episode 86: They are Legend! Adaptations of I Am Legend


 

Come with us on this episode as we ponder...what would it be like to be the last human being on Earth? How would a person cope with the loneliness, the despair? We look at a trio of films all based on a story built around this concept, Richard Matheson's classic 1954 novel, I Am Legend. Matheson's story took the classic vampire legend and gave it a modern, pseudo-scientific twist, with the vampires created by a bacterial plague, leaving one man,  immune, struggling to survive.

After Bob provides some background on the novel, we dive into the first film adaptation, 1964's Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price. Matheson wrote the first draft of the screenplay but eventually withdrew his name from it after a number of other writers came in later and altered it. However, it is still the most faithful version to the book. It's certainly the one that retains the horror aspects the most. The black and white film gives it a ton of atmosphere, and Price provides a strong performance as the deeply depressed Robert Morgan (not Neville, as he was named in the book and the other two films). Having Morgan's former neighbors, now turned into pseudo vampires/zombies stand outside his house at night groaning, "Morgan!" is pretty chilling. 

By 1971, the concept turns into an action/sci fi vehicle for Charlton Heston, called The Omega Man. This version differs markedly from the original Matheson story. Heston plays Colonel Robert Neville, MD, a military man and doctor, who was working on a vaccine to a biowarfare agent unleashed in a war between China and the USSR. Unfortunately, Neville is the only one to receive the experimental vaccine before most of the world succumbs to the disease. The survivors are mutated into strange albinos who can't stand daylight, and develop a science-hating cult (The Family) led by a former newscaster, played by Anthony Zerbe. During the day, Neville goes around killing The Family where he can find them, and taking whatever food, clothes, cars, etc., he wants. This film features a love interest -Rosalind Cash as Lisa - and is notable for the obvious Christ analogy at the end of the film. It's a big ball of cheese, but entertaining.

The property was moved around Hollywood for a while, with Ridley Scott and Arnold Schwarzenegger attached for a length of time. But the third version was released in 2007, titled I Am Legend, starring Will Smith. This film took many of the ideas of the book, but followed Omega Man's action packed  style. Once again, Smith's character is both a military man and a doctor, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville, an Army virologist. He is the only survivor of a plague that has wiped out mankind, with the few survivors turned into wild cannibalistic mutants who can only come out at night. Neville, with his dog Sam as his only companion, hunts the mutants during the day, sometimes capturing them to experiment on them, still searching for a cure. The Planet 8 crew all agrees that we had a hard time sticking with this film once the CGI creatures appeared - it's a shame such bad CGI basically ruined this film.

Of course we will compare and contrast the movies, discuss what elements they have in common, how they differ, and what we thought worked best. It's fascinating to have three films, from different decades, all working from the same source material. Each is a product of its time. And what would a new adaptation look like?

For our Sensor Sweep, fittingly, Karen shares her soundtrack CD for the Omega Man -it's Omega Man 2.0 Unlimited from Film Score Monthly. This version has a whopping 18 tracks, for 64 minutes of amazing music from Ron Grainer. It's a fantastic, memorable 70s score. Put it on the next time you're cruising around Los Angeles!

That's it for us this time. Be sure to share your thoughts with us about the many versions of I Am Legend.

Moooor - gan!!

3 comments:

  1. Man, I'm so behind on my Planet 8 episodes. Just got around to listening to this one today. Another reason I delayed is because I wanted to watch Last Man and Omega Man first so I'd have a fresh perspective.
    Anyway, I have to say that despite it being so low-key and bleak, I prefer Last Man to Omega Man. I think it just captures the source material, Matheson's novel, and works as a psychological post-apocalyptic horror far better. (Also, another thing that bothered me a bit in Omega Man was the already pretty apparent age difference between Heston and Cash - I found it a bit off-putting, and also thought it would have made more sense for Cash's character, Lisa, to be in a relationship with Dutch.)
    As for the Will Smith film, I only ever watched about the last third on TV some years ago, and thought it was it so bad that I've never wanted to go back and watch the whole thing.
    As ever, though, I enjoyed the conversation.
    -Edo Bosnar

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  2. The Omega Man is probably my fav guilty pleasure. Like many of my favs, I look at the "spirit" of movies instead of just the pragmatics. Thanks for a great topic!

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  3. Hey Edo and Spencer, thanks for dropping by. Edo, I'd agree that the Price film is much closer to the book than the other two versions. It was the one version that actually gave me the creeps, so it gets across the horror elements. I enjoy Omega Man much more as a Heston vehicle, but it is much more derivative. The age difference is there - and yes, why wouldn't Lisa be with Dutch? But I prefer both of these over Smith's film by a longshot. Wow. What a mess that was.

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