I rewatched this seminal One Man Army vs Collectivism movie from Charleton Heston to see if it held up. Heston became an embarrassing gun freak and unapologetic white nationalist as an old senile man, but was once a popular actor who supported civil rights and had clever sociopolitical themes in his somewhat meatheaded action spectacles. He was the Arnold Swarzeneggar of his day. A smart Republican who wanted to do right by America. He's at least better than John Wayne.
Omega Man is superbly directed by Boris Sagal (father of Katey) and written with sly care by two 60s college professors. Based liberally on Matheson's anti-communist vampire epic I Am Legend (which inspired the better, more democratic Night of the Living Dead), this version is maybe the most topical to Trumpism. Heston plays a violent, paranoid psychotic pit against a not-hippie-but-totally-hippie band of mutants who survived WW3 after those dirty commies in Russia and China spread a fatal virus. The film claims they're after his "honky paradise". Our hero is an Ayn Randian pillar of excellence and individualism. The film is conservative but not far rightwing. Heston trashes footage of Woodstock and makes lots of lame White Man's Burden jests, but eventually befriends some kindly hippie kids who he can mold in his image. He literally dies in a ridiculous camp Jesus sacrifice but his sacrifice saves the world. Thats at least a departure from Rand where the hero wouldn't help anyone if it meant selflessness. Omega Man was meant to be some fluffy NeoLiberal "let's all get a long" turn towards traditional capitalistic nationalism and away from poststructuralism and Marxism on hippie campuses.
The film is offensive in many cases. It has some dry and dated views on race relations that weren't all that cute or nice even then. Heston's black female sidekick first appears in a visual joke where she's an "exotic" safari animal/trophy at the end of his hunting gun. The entire film plays like a paranoid white male power fantasy as Heston guns down the evil masses, expounds on the majesty of Western achievement and casts dour blame on all those evil foreigners who caused the apocalypse. I know that this film is one of Alex Jones' favorite films and its no shock. Its written as militaristic Christian propaganda that tries to be more inclusive and learned than its predecessor, but somehow ends up more vulgar and dumb. Like lots of 80s action films, it plays like gun porn for mass shooters on delusional solitary missions from "God".
But I still cherish this film as unironic document of American white male psychosis. There's a great featurette on the DVD that confirms that the at least Heston and Sagal knew they were negatively critiquing the mad patriarchal violence that had just killed JFK and MLK. Thats where this film is important and redeeming. Is this Jesus ending a piece of camp; intentional kitsch to mock Christian values? Its very possible as Sagal, a Jew, directs the film with too much bitter humor and unpleasant commentary to make it a dumb God & guns commercial. Its a study of the Jesus complex, a forerunner to Taxi Driver and Falling Down. It maybe asks wayyyy too much that we relate or worship this American psycho rather than fear it a'la Hitchcock. But in playing safely to the middle American yokels, its compromised effect is still decent. The film is stylish, brutal and even a bit creepy.
This film is not brilliant or even politically correct, but it was once progressive for a very conservative world. Its somehow more impressive than a film like 2017's Logan which has the same meathead republican morals, but Omega Man has the excuse of being old. Its way too gray morally and has a shitty view of utopia and an even shittier view of who the bad guys are, but its good kitsch.
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