Info about I am Legend:
Written by Richard Matheson, I am Legend is a story about the last man on earth. Robert Neville is the only human left that he knows of, on Earth after a biological war. There are other survivors but they are not human, they are vampires. By day Robert hunts the vampires and kills them, and by night he hides in his house waiting for the next day.While Robert is out one day he sees a woman wandering in the city. After concluding that she isn't one of the vampires he runs after her, catches her and brings her back to her house. While the woman, Ruth, is at Robert's home, she learns that he has found out what caused everyone to turn into vampires, a virus, which he has named vampiris. Robert also tells Ruth why things like galic, crosses and driving a stake through the heart of the vampires has the effect on them that they do. Later Robert decided to see if Ruth has the vampiris virus and cure her if she is infected. After drawing blood from Ruth, she attacks him and runs away.
When Neville awakens he finds a note from Ruth. Then note explains that she and many others like her are infected but they have a pill that stops the progression of the virus. Then note also says that she was sent to spy on him and now that she and the others know what he knows, that they will be coming for him.
Eventually the others come for Robert. After capturing him, they bring him back to where they all live and lock him up in a cell. Ruth comes to see Robert and tells him that he is going to be executed because he is different from them. Ruth gives Robert something to take that will ease his pain and he dies later in his cell.
The movie The Omega Man made in 1971 is based on Matheson's novella I am Legend. The movie stars Charton Heston as Robert Neville, Rosalind Cash as Lisa (Ruth from the book) and Anthony Zerbe as Matthias (the leader of "The Family" or the vampires).Charlton Heston as Robert Neville in The Omega Man
Comparison of the book to the movie:
The similarities between the book and movie are few and far between that it is hard to even tell that The Omega Man is even supposed to be based on I am Legend. Some of the similarities are Robert Neville being the last man on Earth and the vampire creatures that taunt him every night. Another similarity is that Robert hunts the vampires during the day and he hides from them in his fortress home at night.
There are many differences between the book and the movie. The first difference is Roberts occupation. In the book it is never really explained what Roberts occupation was but in the movie he is a doctor in the military. This is a major difference because in the book Robert knew nothing about biology, let alone viruses before he started reading the books on biology, anatomy, and others that he got from the library.
Another major difference between the book and movie is the vampire creatures. In the book they are portrayed as vampire-like creatures whereas in the movie they are more like a cult of gothic zombies. The vampires in I am Legend were portrayed to look like they did before they died and turned into vampires. This is way different from the vampires, or The Family as they call themselves, because they have white skin, eyes and hair. They also all dress in black, or some other dark color, hooded cloaks and they all wear sunglasses to hide their eyes.
Unlike the creatures in I am Legend, The Family is a smarter group of creatures. At one point they are using a ballista like weapon to launch fireballs into Nevilles apartment. The creatures in the book werent this smart because Neville always wondered why they did not try to burn down his house. The Family also manages to catch Robert and almost succeed in killing him until Lisa and a friend come to save him.
Another difference is the character of Lisa in the movie. In the book this characters name is Ruth and she is a white with a very slim and curveless figure and Robert is not attracted to her at all. In the movie Lisa is a black woman and Robert is attracted to her because their relationship eventually becomes romantic.
In the book Ruths job is to find out how much Robert knows about the virus and the vampires, and then report back to the others. In the movie however, Lisa wants to find out how much Robert knows so that he can help cure her brother who is about to turn into one of the creatures and also her and the others like her.
In the book I am Legend, Robert was immune to the plague because a vampire bat bit him; at least that was his hypothesis anyway. In the movie, Robert was working on an experimental vaccine to cure the plague. While transporting the vaccine to somewhere to be tested, the helicopter Robert was traveling in crashed because the pilot died due the plague. After the crash, Robert injects himself with the vaccine and becomes immune.
One more difference is in the book, Ruth told Robert to go to the mountains and hide because the others like her would eventually come for him. In the movie, Robert decided to take Lisa and the others to the mountains where they can all start over and begin a new life. He also decides to take them there because he can cure all of them and they will have a place that no one else has touched; a place that has an un-dammed river and a place where the children can grow-up away from The Family.
One final major difference between the book and the movie is the vaccine. In the book there was no vaccine. Robert was only playing with ideas and really had no idea how to make a vaccine. In the movie, Robert somehow makes a vaccine and cures Lisas brother, Rickie, and gives some to Dutch, a former medical student and one of the people like List, to cure Lisa and the others. In the book Roberts vaccine, or his experiments, never worked and he never saved anyone.
Even tough there are some similarities between the book and the movie, there are too many differences to even justify saying the movie is based on the book. The movie The Omega Man is a classic example of how Hollywood can mess up a perfectly wonderful story and keep people from reading the book if they havent read it before seeing the movie. So, for anyone who is planning on seeing The Omega Man, I suggest that you read I am Legend by Richard Matheson before seeing the movie so that judgment of the book is not clouded by the terrible storyline of The Omega Man.
includes all information about the movie including cast, director, and a brief plot summary.features a review and analysis of the film The Omega Manincludes silly little details about the movie like how you can see the movie crew in some of the shots!
