The Last Man on Earth
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Movie Reviews of The Last Man on Earth
Movie Review: Great old film.
Summary: 5 Stars
What a great old film this is and in my mind the best of the I am legend films and at a great price. Vincent Price at his very best.Movie Review: Sci Fi
Summary: 5 Stars
Great movie, The Omega Man is a new version starring Charlton Heston which is also a great movie. Would recommend it to anyone.Movie Review: Terrified me as a child
Summary: 4 Stars
There were a lot of horror films that deeply affected me as a child. One of my earliest film-going remembrances was the time my father took me to see the original Planet of the Apes (1968) on its first theatrical release. The problem was is that we arrived a bit too early, and we caught the film's big shock ending ... Charlton Heston rides up on the beach with his cave woman girlfriend to see the remnants of the Statue of Liberty and we learn that this so-called "alien planet" is in fact the planet Earth after some unspecified holocaust. As a child of eight, I was only vaguely aware of the nuclear threat at this time, and I was suitably unnerved by this final image. Chuck Heston's histrionics notwithstanding ("He's screaming and wailing - just like your mother!" my dad pointed out, laughing), I begged out of watching Planet and we departed after seeing the considerably milder second feature, The Watermelon Man (1968).
The fact that the world could go up in particulate matter with the press of a button would be explored further in the Planet of the Apes sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1969), educating countless school kids about the insecure status of humanity in the postwar world in a succession of G-rated installments.
One other film that clued me in to the haunting finality of death, nuclear or otherwise, was the first adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, The Last Man on Earth (1964). Vincent Price is seemingly the only human being left on the planet after a mysterious plague sweeps the world, transforming other survivors into vampires. Price barricades himself in his suburban home (supposed to be in Los Angeles, but shot in Rome - giving the film an even more off-kilter flavor), while at night the undead hordes call out to him to join them - stark shots of black-and-white terror that could be dropped wholesale into George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) without the slightest trace of continuity error.
Two scenes in Last Man chilled me to the bone, and continue to do so - those who denigrated this film, which included Vincent Price and Richard Matheson, fail to grasp the power this strange film still wields. Price loses his young daughter to the plague, and bodies are tossed into a giant fiery pit at the edge of town in an effort to control the pestilence. Price tries to spare his daughter an anonymous burial (remember, the Holocaust was still very recent when this was filmed, and filmed in Europe), he is pushed aside by an impatient government worker who says, "There are a lot of daughters down there - including mine!" Never had the Apocalypse been rendered with such blunt, unsympathetic words to my then-tender ears.
The second scene has Vincent Price discovering a bedraggled poodle and he is momentarily cheered with the prospect of a companion to ride out his lonely solitude with - until, of course, he examines the dog's blood to see that the poodle has the vampire virus, and he collapses in mirthless, bitter laughter. The next scene has Price burying the poodle, stake through the heart in his back yard, which should be hysterically funny - but just isn't.
The message to my young mind was absolutely clear. Death, the ultimate monster, strikes little girls and poodles just as cold and merciless as anyone else, including grown-ups. Furthermore, adults had all the cards in their favor - they could push a button and wipe out humanity, draft young men to fight in foreign wars to die in battle or consign their own children to fiery, bottomnless pits with a brisk, bureaucratic efficiency.
I wish there was a heartwarming or reassuring thing to share about this monster kid memory, but there isn't any. This horror film had fulfilled its obligation of engaging me, thrilling me and introducing me to certain truths that my own parents, at that time, were themselves too terrified to tell.
Movie Review: Low-budget Production, but Atmospheric
Summary: 4 Stars
Granted, in this day of effects-driven spectacles with fast editing, the pacing of this version seems a bit pedestrian. But what it lacks in visual flourishes it makes up in atmosphere. You might be surprised at how convincing the depiction of the deserted city was, with its strewn and tattered corpses, and by Vincent Price's earnest performance as a man nearly mad with loneliness and despair. I actually liked it. But you can either take this trip back to another cinematic era or you can't. Therefore, if you're on this page, you know already if you want to buy this movie. What you're looking for now is information about this particular edition, and by that I mean MGM's The Last Man on Earth.
When weighing what I'm saying against what others have written, it's important to note the release date of the DVD, December 4th, 2007. Some of the reviews below were written prior to that date, and they're discussing a very different, very inferior edition, probably made from the faded, fullscreen, public domain copy which you can download for free at Internet Archive. MGM released this edition of The Last Man on Earth to meet the interest generated by the Will Smith remake. It bears the MGM logo on the spine of the case, the lion's roar before the DVD menu comes up, and it's a pristine print in widescreen format. It is not marred with scratches, and it upconverted beautifully from my Sony Blu-ray player to my HDTV, which is a concern for me these days.
And as a special feature, we get a 7-minute interview with Richard Matheson, author of the now classic novel I Am Legend that the movie was based on. It's a simple interview, sprinkled with insights and ideas, how he thought of the book, and so on; not much to it, but nice just the same. Mainly it's the picture quality of the movie itself that's the real attraction on this disc. This is the edition you want to get if a good clean copy is what you're after.
The first film based on the Richard Matheson novel, "I Am Legend"
Summary: 4 Stars Horror legend Vincent Price plays Dr. Robert Morgan, the only man on Earth not affected by a strange new plague that has infected the rest of humanity turning them into vampire-like creatures. By day, Morgan drives through the city, collecting food and supplies and staking as many of the creatures as possible. At night, he locks himself in his home, listening to jazz and the sound of his former friend calling out his name.
Price's portrayal of Morgan as a tragic figure is perfect. As a doctor, he tried valiantly to create a serum for the disease but failed. Heartbreakingly, he watched as both his wife and young daughter were taken by the plague. His once beautiful home is now just a shadow of its former elegance.
Desolate shots of the city coincide with Morgan's mundane existence. He doesn't enjoy killing, it's just something that he must do on the shopping list of survival. In between fighting for his survival, Morgan grieves for the life he once had. A particularly poignant scene involves Morgan watching old home videos. His jubilant laughter degrades into a mad crying spree.
Convinced that he is truly alone, Morgan is surprised to see a young woman, Ruth (Franca Bettoia), walking the streets during the day. He chases her and finally convinces her to come back to his home. At first he is ecstatic by her presence but it isn't long before he is questioning whether she is truly one of "them", his paranoia getting the better of him. While Ruth appears to be normal on the outside, she holds a secret greater than he could ever suspect.
The Last Man on Earth makes for great late night entertainment. Grab a bag of popcorn and settle in for a classic of sci-fi/horror.