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The Last Man on Earth · The Next Reel Film Podcast

• 0:05
  Pete: I'm Pete Wright.
• 0:07
  Andy: And I'm Andy Nelson.
• 0:08
  Pete: Welcome to the next reel. When the movie ends
• 0:11
  Andy: Our conversation begins.
• 0:13
  Pete: The last man on Earth is over. You're freaks. I'm a man. The last man.
• 0:21
  Trailer: Vampires, alive among the lifeless that make the night hideous with their inhuman cravings. If they are not destroyed in the flaming pits of hellfire or staked to the ground in the light of the sun, will the unbelievable become real? A world of inanimate zombies by day, Irresistible horrifying attackers by night.
• 0:48
  Pete: Ed, you ever seen this movie?
• 0:51
  Andy: No. This was, my pick. And as you recall, when I did my picks, I chose my entire list was films I had never seen before. So I had only seen the other two adaptations of I Am Legend and The Omega Man, which we covered in our disease film series. And then, of course, the 02/2007 film, I Am Legend, with Will Smith, directed by Francis Lawrence.
• 1:15
  So I had seen those, and I had heard that this was the best adaptation of the bunch, even if it wasn't as good an adaptation. And so I was curious to check this one out. And so hence, I kind of took the impetus with having discussed the Omega Man. I figured, why not turn it into a series? And now we have the I am Legend series.
• 1:35
  Here we are talking about the last man on Earth. And so this was my first time watching it.
• 1:41
  Pete: Mine too. And I'm very surprised that I haven't seen this movie because even if you don't come to this movie by way of your fanaticism for I am legend, I don't know who you are if that's your if that's your fan jam. No judgment.
• 1:59
  Andy: So you're saying the book or the film?
• 2:01
  Pete: I I I it doesn't matter. The I am the I am legend universe, fictional universe. Okay. That this movie seems like such a seminal visual work for just zombie films in general, not even vampire films, but the the, like, the tropes that come before night of the living dead is crazy to me that I hadn't heard or seen this movie.
• 2:26
  Andy: Yeah. That was an well, and that's a big part of the book too. Right? Where the the the and it's credited as being like I mean, George Romero pulled a lot from it for Night of the Living Dead. I mean, it's very different from what you're getting from a vampire story like Bram Stoker's Dracula, things like that.
• 2:43
  This is the film that really or the the story that really kicked off this idea of a post a lot apocalyptic scenario where you're trying to survive amongst a huge horde of these kind of undead sorts of creatures. And the book is very they're definitely creatures that have vampire vampiric tendencies. They don't like sunlight. I can't remember in the book if they don't like mirrors, they don't like garlic. I think that's the case in the book as well.
• 3:16
  But it's definitely a thing where, like, there's they're they're pulling so much of that vampire type of element from it, yet at the same time, it really feels like a zombie apocalypse. I think that's a really interesting element that the book kind of created. And I think they, for the most part, do a pretty good job telling that story here.
• 3:38
  Pete: Yeah. I think so too. I I I had a good time with it even though, you know, watching it so many years later feels like a a history lesson a little bit. It I it has it has all of the things that I want in a zombie movie, much more a zombie movie than a vampire movie. These vampires are terrible at their job.
• 4:01
  They're just bad at it. And I think that's why it's so much easier to see it as a zombie movie. And I I feel like they the characters in the movie, calling these creatures vampires, don't know what vampires are. That's what I I couldn't I couldn't resist laughing at them because they keep saying vampire, and I'm I don't think it means what you think it means. Right?
• 4:27
  Like, these these are zombies.
• 4:30
  Andy: Yeah. Well and it is interesting because and I did look. Yeah. In the book, they they have a death deathly aversion to garlic. They can't look at themselves in mirrors.
• 4:40
  So there is a lot of stuff that definitely feels pulled from vampire lore, but it is treated as like a zombie apocalypse. So it's an interesting blending of things. Oh, and the other thing that's interesting about it is it takes a very scientific approach. It's not just a bite on the neck, and you have this mysterious disease that now turns you into a vampire. Like, they're looking at to the bacillus and trying to figure out, like, what is this thing that is causing?
• 5:05
  Like, we have multiple times where Vincent Price is looking through his microscope at these cells, trying to figure out what he's looking at and what these bacteria are doing and how they're reacting and interacting with other cells. And that is another new thing for this particular story that Richard Matheson had written that they're taking a scientific approach to the logic behind how this disease came to be. And in the scope of vampire films, that does also feel kind of new. Although, it's interesting because when it comes to the zombie films, George Romero really kind of took the whole thing of, like, we don't need an explanation. It's just the dead are rising from their graves.
• 5:50
  And that kind and, you know, the people are debating all these reasons on TV and stuff, but there's really no reason ever given as to why they're doing it. They're just doing it.
• 5:58
  Pete: Right. It's it's like a lesson in allowing the audience to have those same debates, which is really fun. Right? That's a really fun exercise. This one is interesting, and I think I think where where the movie comes up just a little short for me is that it's a little short for me.
• 6:15
  The you know, if I remember, I don't think Robert in the book was a scientist. I think we covered this. Right? He wasn't a scientist. He was just a, like, a working guy, like a schlub.
• 6:28
  And over the years, he taught himself biology and virology to understand the whatever the plague was. I thought that was really cool. And the shortcut that this movie takes by making Robert doctor Robert Morgan the scientist, I think, actually is it's too much of a shortcut for the film. I felt like so much of the the first two acts of the movie as society is is declining, I I already got it. Like, I think I'd be more excited about spending more time with him learning the stuff he needs to learn to be able to combat, you know, the walking dead, right, the vampires.
• 7:12
  And we don't get that because he's already kind of a scientific superhero. Did that hit you at all? It just felt short. Like, it was missing meat.
• 7:22
  Andy: I think that's they're I mean, they definitely took shortcuts with the story. And, I mean, it's AIP producing this, so we know we're getting into something that's gonna be pretty low budget as far as just kind of the entire tone and the way that they approach it. Right? Because that's kind of like what AIP is known for.
• 7:43
  Pete: Oh, the the entire third act of the movie, Andy, it feels like they're the camera people are being chased by creditors.
• 7:50
  Andy: Yeah. Right. No kidding. Well, and they filmed it in Italy, and that was another thing. Like, they went over to Italy to do it because, again, low budget.
• 7:57
  They're looking for ways to do this on the cheap. So the fact that it comes in just under ninety minutes, it definitely feels like something that could have used a little more breathing room to really kind of tell the story more completely and give us a better fuller picture of the book. Because the book is brilliant, and the book takes on a lot of these interesting subjects, but in a way where it might take a little more time to do. Because again, we're following an isolated man by himself. Now the book is it's a book, so it's much easier to get into his internal thinking and and plotting through that stuff.
• 8:34
  Unfortunately, with the film, we really are burdened with some pretty terrible narration as we kind of move through the story, which definitely doesn't help things at all. But I think that had they given the film, like, made it two hours even, you know, just given it a little more time to to really allow us to kind of figure out some of the elements of the story. I think it could have worked so much better. Like, one of the other things is like, in the book, there is this angle to, you know, figuring out like the whole idea of of killing these people, killing the infected in their sleep. Right?
• 9:11
  In this film, it is just seen like a like, there's nothing moralistic ever thought about with it at all. It's never depicted as something that he has to debate about. Is this right? Is this wrong? It's just the survival tactic.
• 9:28
  It's just something he does where it's just he's just going about his business and just and just hammering stakes through the chests of these people. In the book, I think they do a better job of presenting it where he's thinking about the ethics of these tactics. And is is this actually the right thing to do? Which actually comes into play later in the story after he meets Ruth and and starts going through the whole process of figuring out that there's more to these people, to these, quote, monsters than he had at first thought.
• 10:00
  Pete: Well, and that's that's it. Like, all of the the sort of the morality tale of his ex experience only comes at the end when he finds out that he's been killing people too long. So I, yeah, I agree. I just feel like that's that's almost not enough because the book was was richer in exploration of his sort of psychological state, his like, I I mean, I think he was an alcoholic, and he was deeply horny. Like, those are the things that I remember.
• 10:27
  Like, he just really being alone is hard. And I think that's that's missing in in this very short film.
• 10:35
  Andy: Yeah. Like, yeah, we this film starts with where I mean, he wakes up, and he's got a great, you know, a great line when he wakes up for the first time, like, in this film. As, you know, we've already kind of had this tour of the city of everything empty, quiet, bodies. Then we start seeing bodies laying on the ground, and we come to his place as his alarm clock goes off, he gets up, and he just starts going about his business. And that's kind of what we get is is we get a depiction of him as this solitary figure in a desolate world, and we're just kind of like watching him on his daily routines.
• 11:12
  It's really not too hard. I'm almost out of gas. Well, I guess I gotta not deal with all these dead bodies right now because I gotta get gas. Like, it's just it's it plays as just very step by step process, you know? And there's only a few moments where, like, I think there's one part where he's he suddenly is really distraught about the state of things, he like throws his coffee cup across the room.
• 11:37
  And then, like, that's the that's the extent of it because he goes, I can't afford to get angry. And he just goes, like, picks it up and gets back to work. I'm like, oh, okay. So that's the extent of psychological exploration in this film.
• 11:50
  Pete: Yeah. He's quite a stoic. Yeah. Meanwhile, like, let's just say what's going on. Like, he sleeps, works during the day, and he does manage to get some z's at night because the Walking Dead vampire zombies are like, they could not like, really, you know, you hear that phrase, they couldn't get out of a wet paper bag.
• 12:10
  Like, this movie was just slightly adjacent to zombies trying to get out of a wet paper bag and failing. Like, his house is not made defensible. Like, they're breaking through every time, and he's so chill inside his house.
• 12:28
  Andy: Which which yeah. It made no sense to me because
• 12:31
  Pete: I know.
• 12:31
  Andy: I mean, it's it's it's just part of the way that they chose to tell this story. Like, he's got a few pieces of wood over the windows. He's got a piece of wood holding his door shut and his garage shut. Like, there's, like, very little protective work that he's put into really fortifying his place. Yet, when he accidentally he comes he falls asleep at his wife's tomb, and he comes home late at night.
• 12:57
  It's the middle of the night. All these zombie vampires are already wandering around, and he kind of pushes them to the side, and it was very easy to get past these things. It's just no struggle at all. And he gets back into his house, but he leaves his car out. We see these zombies, like, ripping the engine to pieces.
• 13:15
  They pull they pull an entire seat, like, out of the car. Like, they clearly when they are given the aptitude per the script, they're quite capable of destruction. It's just because they want to create this house as a fortified place, they suddenly become, per the script, very weak in actually accomplishing anything. And that was just like, it was per the script, and it makes it that much weaker that it's done that way.
• 13:44
  Pete: I love the the car destruction was it was practically out of Sicario. It was like a drug search at the border. It was so funny. Like, the the cut to the to the zombie carrying the seat.
• 13:59
  Andy: Yeah. Right. Like, were
• 14:01
  Pete: you did you see it when you were making the movie? Did you notice what they were doing? Because it does not play over the years. It does not play. And yet there are so many things in this movie that I think really, really work well.
• 14:12
  And I'll I'll just say the cinematography I thought was was really fun. The black and white is haunting.
• 14:16
  I don't know how much
• 14:16
  of it was intentional or how much I'm sort of putting on it because the vibe is so, you know, haunted, But I did feel like the look of the film was really great. I think you were a real Sherlock Holmes to be able to find both the widescreen black and white version on Amazon Prime because, you know, everywhere else you get it either, you know, four three black and white or widescreen colorized. And I did watch a bit of the colorized, and I thought it it it was fine. But it was definitely not as intense as the black and white, which I thought was great. And it it fit, you know, Vincent Price for sure.
• 14:53
  Andy: Yeah. No. I I definitely agree with that. I think that there's just be careful, yeah, out there when you're watching this because the the cropped version black and white that you see on, like, Hoopla, which is like your local library, that and you'll notice because at the beginning, instead of American International Pictures, it says American International Television, and it is cropped four by three. And so you're watching a black and white cropped version if you see that credit at the front.
• 15:18
  Otherwise, just just watch for that, widescreen black and white version. Amazon Prime had it, and it looked pretty good. And what's interesting about this, because they filmed this in Italy, you can find it credited as being directed by two people. Sidney Salco and Ubaldo b Ragona are the two credited directors. But if you watch the English version, you're only seeing Sidney Salco.
• 15:43
  If you watch the Italian version, which you can find on YouTube, and I'll put a link in the show notes of the Italian version, you'll see that it's directed by Ubaldo b Ragona. Largely, it's the same film. But interestingly, aside from obviously, like, the dub is different. You're listening to the kind of Italian language dubbed throughout. But they do have some actually longer scenes, some longer conversations, like in a flashback, there's conversation that he has with his wife.
• 16:11
  I believe there's a longer conversation with Ruth later in the film. Also, places where there's like English language, like you see, like the the name of a institute where he works, they've put a different shot in, translated it into Italian. And so you do see stuff where they've cut stuff out just because it's in English. But largely, you are looking at essentially two similar but different cuts of the film. So, you know, it could be an interesting way to kind of experience it by checking out the Italian version and seeing what that one feels like.
• 16:42
  Pete: It's the ultimate Mandela effect movie. You you never know which version you're talking about. But with the was the Italian version were the the Italian actors dubbed? I know in the English version, every like, everybody but Vincent Price was dubbed pretty much.
• 16:59
  Andy: Well, the Italian version is the English version. It's all English actors and everything. Like, it's the exact same film. It's just Italian voice over artists coming in to dub Vincent Price, for example.
• 17:11
  Pete: There's a lot of weird stuff going on around this period.
• 17:14
  Andy: Italy always comes in and dubs things after the fact anyway. That's Yeah. Generally their production style. So
• 17:23
  Pete: Okay.
• 17:23
  Andy: You know, I don't know. I mean, in the scope of isolation, loneliness, we've talked about that a little bit. You know, I guess a big part of the story though is kind of the the nature of humanity, and that's definitely worth talking about in the scope of this as it compares to the book, perhaps the other films as well. Obviously, the book, you have these vampiric creature vampiric humans, I'll just say, that they do kind of act like vampires, but they have a little more of their retained human qualities to them. And it builds to that end where the where he realizes as he's talking to Ruth, who has over the course of the story, he finds out she is actually one of this new society of these creatures.
• 18:14
  And he has been going around killing these people that are actually building a society. It's it's a different type of person. And he's put on trial at the end of the film or at the end of the book. And Ruth, who, you know, he has kind of saved her and she acknowledges that he's a good person at heart, gives him I think she gives him, like, an actual suicide pill to kill himself. And so he takes that as he's up on the stand, and they're finding him guilty and all this sort of stuff.
• 18:43
  But he sees as he looks out of his window, women and children and all these people looking up at him and pointing at him like, there he is. There's the monster. And that's the whole point. He realizes I've become that monster. I've become that legend that people talk about late at night when they're telling stories to their kids.
• 19:00
  Like, that's kind of the whole crux of it. And so you're getting this fascinating complex story about this man who kind of has become the monster in the eyes of this new society. And I just, you know, I mean, how does it play for you, this portrayal in this film? We're getting kind of these infected people that are kind of moving zombie like, particularly Ben, who's always outside the house calling for him and everything. But I mean, as far as how it's depicting kind of humanity defined by what?
• 19:32
  Biological status? Is it defined by the social behavior that we're seeing? What I mean, how does that work for you in this film?
• 19:40
  Pete: Well, I think both. And I think that's one of the things that makes the movie and the story, in fact, I think work really well is when these stories commit to that piece where slowly but surely you are being essentially converted to the experience of watching our hero become the antagonist, that's the sleight of hand that this movie is able to or the story is able to pull off. The degree to which this movie pulls it off, I think it does. I think it's successful. I think it's hampered by what we were talking about earlier that there isn't quite enough meat on the bones of this principal character and his evolution.
• 20:12
  But his his ultimate realization that he's been killing otherwise sentient, not mindless beings. It it's as powerful as it needs to be. The fact that we have both this sort of medical not racism, but we we have this biological reinforcement of, you know, divides to and the social construct that he doesn't understand how anything that moves or sounds like, you know, these things could possibly ever, you know, transcend their experience with the aid of some other medicine is a great reflection of humanity. Right? Humanity and lessons we've never learned.
• 20:57
  Right? We just went through the pandemic, and we're still dealing with this stuff or some of these same constructs. And and I think that's the thing that that is most interesting to reflect on about this movie is is the way it pits you against your own instincts.
• 21:13
  Andy: I think for me I mean, I agree with your points. I think that and especially in the book. I mean, I this is such a great book. It's it's I just have to reiterate how much I am a fan of this book and what Matheson did here. I think the part of the story that I struggle with or the film story that I struggle with is the way that they kind of decided to say, okay, Ben, who's out in front of the house and these other kind of people that, you know, every morning he's waking up and and he says, they're feeding on their weak.
• 21:48
  And that's why he's got all these dead bodies strewn every new every morning. New dead bodies everywhere that he has to pick up, stake through the heart, go toss into that pit of fire that he's kind of, been keeping up. I I'm not sure how that works for me as far as, like, I don't know, this evolution that we're meant to see within the society of these are the I I'm I'm trying to remember. I think in the book, it's the people who had died and come back are kind of these sorts of zombie sorts of creatures. Whereas the people who just got sick and didn't die, they're the ones who are the more cognizant ones that are working to kind of create this society.
• 22:34
  And I I struggle to to feel like the film does a great job of creating that separation between these two groups, you know, because Ruth I I mean, I guess it's there, but at the same time, they just so blatantly just feel like like they're just making, like, zombie creatures.
• 22:55
  Pete: Well and and they don't ever give us a perspective of the zombie creatures new civilization beyond Ruth. And the fact that Ruth has to take some sort of an injection to maintain her sanity makes any civilization that they're trying to build, any claim that there is some future more fragile. Because what happens when you commit to this new future and you don't have this this medication, you know, that she has to take. So I I think I think that's that's an area where the book falls short. I'm I'll double down on what we were saying earlier.
• 23:30
  I would have loved more of the movie to commit to him learning to be a scientist than his work a day being going and picking up a new car and taking bodies to the dump. Like, I I just that's a more interesting angle than more of that sort of apocalypse porn.
• 23:47
  Andy: Yeah. I I think that's one of my struggles with it. And also just like, I gotta say, like, Vincent Price, I generally usually enjoy quite a bit, but I really just kind of felt he was a little bit over the top for this sort of story. Like, he just, you know, he has kind of a hammy tendency, and sometimes I just really enjoy that. But in this particular story, I just felt like, I just don't feel like he was really bringing the right energy for it.
• 24:16
  Like, he didn't have, like, when we were talking about kind of that stoicism, I'm like, I don't know if I buy that with Vincent Price. Like, he just kind of comes across as, like, he was so performative in the way that he's putting stuff on. And so I I struggled with Vincent Price as my lead character. And I read after the fact, after I watched it and already had this, I was like, oh, okay. I you know, I'm not alone.
• 24:41
  Richard Matheson had this same itch issue with Vincent Price. You know, what's funny is there was initial conversations to actually have Fritz Lang direct this instead of Sidney Salco. And that was that was the actual plan. And Matheson was like, that's great. They changed it to Sidney Salco, and his quote is, well, there's a bit of a drop.
• 25:06
  Pete: You know? Yeah.
• 25:09
  Andy: And yeah. I mean, Sidney Salco is a big director, but a lot of the stuff and I mean, many many films. It's not like he hasn't directed more. He's done more than 50 films, but he's also the guy who did a lot of TV episodes like Lassie, The Addams Family, The Cisco Kid, things like that that I don't know. I just feel like he's very much kind of a studio director who's just there to kind of, like, capture the stuff without any particular sense of style.
• 25:35
  And I think Fritz Lang could have done something really interesting with this.
• 25:39
  Pete: Well, I agree on all those points. But where I push back a little bit is on Vincent Price. I think this is I enjoy Vincent Price in in this film because it's kind of his most un Vincent Price y portrayal that I've seen, especially as we've been watching him in some of these earlier horror films, because he is I I feel like he's struggling as a performer not to be the gothic horror actor. Right? And having and being watching him kinda pull back and watching him try to to, you know, assemble garlic leaves and dispose of corpses, like, he's doing it with the the kind of emotional intensity of someone doing their grocery shopping.
• 26:23
  And I think that's that that actually plays for me. I don't think his his, like, his voice over doesn't work because I don't like it as a a film artifact. I think the the movie would be better in this case with no voice over. But what we do get is a vocal performance of bone weariness that I do find I like. Right?
• 26:47
  I enjoy the the way he's portrayed as as this kind of weary, exhausted character. So on the on the point of it, I totally get your point. And I think I may be looking at this movie with, you know, Vincent Price colored glasses just because it's different and not the theatrical arch villain, that that we've seen. I do think it's incredibly classy that he makes his stakes on a lathe. As you know, as my friend, one of my deep loves on the Internet is slow motion lathe videos on YouTube.
• 27:24
  So when he pulled out that lathe, I was like, I'm gonna I need to just relax into this for a while because this is gonna I'm gonna do some rewinding.
• 27:33
  Andy: Well, it's a little disappointing with his lathe work is that I I will say he's very consistent with the way that all of his steaks look. But I was like, come on. Throw a little flare into your into your steaks. Like, do something a little more interesting with them.
• 27:49
  Pete: Like, you had the tools right there. Let's do some engraving. Let's do some ribbing. Mhmm. No.
• 27:54
  I I agree with that. I absolutely agree with that. And the movie does not accurately convey this is gonna be one of those very deep cut critiques. The movie does not accurately convey what his lathe workshop would look like. He would not be able to breathe because he's doing all this unmasked, and it would be a disaster of wood wood Shavings everywhere.
• 28:17
  Yeah. Just a mess, and we do not get that at all. So Yeah. Right. Right.
• 28:23
  Andy: Yeah. No kidding. Well, he probably is using those to, like, throw into the pit just as extra fuel for the fire, you know Sure. All the wood shavings. So Super.
• 28:31
  Pete: He's very he's an he's an ecologist. Yeah. He's trying to environmentalist.
• 28:36
  Andy: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. My last note that I had with this is looking at this as a reflection. I mean, the book came out, in, 1954, so post World War two.
• 28:53
  And I just have to think that there is an element that that Matheson had writing this of kind of like the existential fears of kind of like nuclear war, biological warfare, all these things that, you know, had happened were being talked about during World War two. And as far as that goes, kind of creating this world where a person is trying to survive in this post apocalyptic world, where society is kind of like broken down. I mean, does it play for you? Do you feel like especially recent, like, this was '64 when the film came out? So, like, you know, twenty years later that it's doing a good job of kind of playing into people's fears of kind of that psychology of surviving in aftermath or something like that?
• 29:39
  Pete: It's a it's an interesting point because it does, I I think, allow us to focus on the power of adaptation after horror. And one thing I noticed, it's sort of adjacent to this question, which I just wanna get out while I'm thinking about it, is that this movie ultimately, I think, suggests or the story as depicted as ultimately suggests that adaptation and not resistance is the key to survival in this new world. Right? And I think that challenges really typical kind of, I'll say, you know, American narratives of individualistic heroism that that we get, that that dominate the post apocalyptic stories. And this is one of those movies that'll that force us to reckon with the fact that Vincent Price becomes the evildoer in this thing of because of his efforts to be individualistically heroic.
• 30:39
  And so I I that's an interesting mirror to look into. Right? When when we're at our very best, it's when we're working together. It's when we're lifting each other up. And that's what these other species, right, these these other, you know, people are trying to do to raise each other up in the face of the nasty heroic Vincent Price.
• 31:03
  And and that, I think, is the is a reflection that I I wanna watch these post apocalyptic movies with through that lens because all of these movies that have big heroes may be, you know, the best ones really are the ones that showcase, you know, working together. It's all about Independence Day.
• 31:24
  Andy: Teamwork. Teamwork. Everybody do their share. Right. You know, it's I think that's an interesting, element to think about with the story as far as, like, survival in this particular type of environment.
• 31:39
  And, yeah, the whole idea of evolution and do what if things evolved past us, and we become the thing that is a remnant that needs to be eliminated in order for the better evolved new to survive, you know? And I think that's actually a really interesting and kind of off putting way of thinking about things.
• 32:01
  Pete: The I I think that's that's really true. The other thing that comes up with this this movie around the the race of scientific discovery is this movie is essentially the race between VHS and Betamax. Vincent Price is Betamax. Everybody else is VHS. It's a subpar system that they're all willing to live with because it's out there, and yet the better platform is it it exists in the hands of this one guy, and ultimately, his science failed him.
• 32:34
  It failed to reach at, you know, any sort of critical mass. And so we're stuck with VHS zombies. That's what I'm saying. Wow. Wow.
• 32:44
  Sense. You're gonna you think that's you're you're laughing at me, but that makes sense.
• 32:48
  Andy: I'm laughing because you weirdly found, like, a a perfect metaphor for the story. Last thing I would have thought of, but there it is. It really boils down to the VHS Betamax debate.
• 33:01
  Pete: Here it is. This is the zombie format war. This is the the original one. And and I think it's interesting because it allows scientific discovery to be at the fore of both platforms. Right?
• 33:13
  They somehow, this group, we don't see it happen, but they were pro science because they found the injectable that allowed them to survive even at a less sort of palatable state. This was not a movie where ignorance prevails in any way. Right? This is a movie where science prevails. It's just the wrong science.
• 33:37
  I kinda like that. I like that.
• 33:39
  Andy: It's it's great. I think that's why the story even if the film's never quite completely work for me, but it's why that story, the original Matheson story works so well and is so compelling and is definitely something worth looking into and reading. How would you rank them? You've seen all three of the versions now. Right?
• 33:58
  Pete: Yeah. The versions are Omega Man, which is last.
• 34:02
  Andy: No. Mega Man's middle. I am I am legend is last. No. I'm saying in my ranking.
• 34:06
  Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
• 34:08
  Pete: Omega Man's last. I'll tell you that I of the variants of this move of this adaptation, I've I'll put this one as number one because I think it is most allegiant to the story. I'll put Will Smith's I am legend as number two because I think that, ironically, with all the sort of complaints we may have about that movie, the actual world building and the universe building of the movie, thought were really fun. And and I love the environment, the sets, the like, it just looked really good. Whatever you think about, you know, Will Smith, I I think the movie Or or the vampire creatures.
• 34:47
  Or the vampire creatures. But but I think the setup of the movie is really great. And then omega man because it's omega man. Come on.
• 34:54
  Andy: Yeah. That's where I would put it too. And it's funny because Richard Matheson was alive long enough to see all three versions of this, and he said that this was his favorite adaptation as well. What's funny though is, like, he had enough problems with it when once he saw it that he pulled his name from it. Then because they said, well, the only way you're gonna get any residuals from it is if your name's on it in some form, he actually went by a pseudonym Logan Swanson, which was his, I think, his mother in law's last name and his his mother's maiden name put together.
• 35:28
  And so that's what he was credited by on this as Logan Swanson. So he did get credited. He did get his residuals, but yeah, interesting story.
• 35:37
  Pete: Let me just let me just ask you a theoretical sort of let's just I have a thinking question. What is it about vacant cities that continues to fascinate us? Like, I when I'm thinking about that ranking, the the whole reason I'd like I am legend is because I think it captures the vacant cityscape in a way that's most compelling. But I love the streets of Rome empty. I love the like, why do we come back here to this particular trope so much?
• 36:09
  It feels like there are specific anxieties that are conjured by the image of really empty urban areas that tap into some sort of collective consciousness. Do you feel that?
• 36:21
  Andy: Yeah. And I think you can see it in a lot of different films, like, even some of the films that we talked about in our member pre show chat, where we're talking about survivalist films, but like Oblivion, you have that with kind of the future world where they're walking around. You definitely get that in, like, The Road or any of those sorts of stories where people Book of Eli, people are walking through these places. Another one is like the Night of the Comet, where the two girls are walking around the city, you know, and everyone's gone. There's something off putting about being in a place that you just expect there to be a lot of people and just to find it so empty.
• 36:59
  It's like a haunted house. Right? You're kind of walking through, and it it puts you in a place where you're listening for every any little noise. And you're like, you know, was that Creek? Is that a person?
• 37:10
  You know? And and you're trying to look around like, it's just not what it is normally kind of depicted as. And so it does throw you off because it's a place that you expect humanity to be thriving in.
• 37:24
  Pete: Yeah. There is that sense of, like, your relationship to the scale of the unknown. Right? Like, if I'm alone in a house and I hear a creek, there's, you know, maybe there's there's some degree of anxiety. If I'm standing in the middle of Times Square and I see countless windows of rooms that are presumably empty and nobody on the street around me, that the the ratio of my anxiety to unknown goes way up.
• 37:53
  There's that sense of uncertainty. I think it's I think it's weirdly the same vibe that we get when we say, like, why is it important for us to know as human beings that we're not alone in the universe? Because the scale of our identity to what we don't know is so vast. So in this movie, like and in and I think in these in horror movies in general, if isolation is the true horror, not the bumbling zombies who, you know, do drug raids on your car, what does that tell us about fundamental human nature? Right?
• 38:28
  And I I think that's that's the thing. Are we more afraid of monsters or of being truly, utterly alone? That's that's the humanity that I think we get to think about with this story. And and I that that makes it that allows it to really play for me.
• 38:44
  Andy: Which, I mean, just going back to the original story, I think the original story does a much better job of actually depicting him as somebody who is alone, who is struggling with that idea of like, yeah, like going through depression and trying to figure out like how to continue surviving when he's the only one here. And like, that's a challenging thing. And again, that's why I struggle with Vincent Price because I just don't get that from him at all. You know, he like I said, he throws a coffee pot once in frustration and then it's just like, no. I don't have time to be angry.
• 39:13
  And that's like all we get. And I just think there's more to it. And I mean, I'd argue the same thing with the Charlton Heston version. Again, the wrong person for the job. You know, out of my cold dead hands.
• 39:25
  Like, he's not the sort of person who is going to have any sort of emotive sense when it comes to the sole survivor of some form of an apocalypse.
• 39:36
  Pete: Will Smith too. Will Smith was like, all three of these guys, I think, were miscast if we're if we're trying to stay allegiant to the source material. So who is it? Who could you believe?
• 39:46
  Andy: Matheson said that he would love to have seen Harrison Ford as the star and George Miller as the director. He said that would have been the ideal creative combination.
• 39:55
  Pete: Yeah. I could totally get that. I would just because we were we were talking about Moon earlier, I'd put Sam Rockwell in there too. I think he's sort of he's kind of a Harrison Ford, a little bit younger. I could see
• 40:07
  Andy: Rockwell. Yeah. I could see him doing it.
• 40:10
  Pete: And of course, you. I would put you in there too, of course. I would believe every minute of your time.
• 40:15
  Andy: You just you just wanna you just wanna stick me into my own personal apocalypse that I have to take that.
• 40:24
  Pete: Yeah. Right. Finally, some quiet. Yeah.
• 40:29
  Trailer: Jeez. Oh, well.
• 40:31
  Andy: Alright. Any last thoughts about this one?
• 40:34
  Pete: Fun movie, Andy. I'm glad we watched. It was
• 40:36
  Andy: a good pick. It's fun. I'm glad I've kind of seen these movies now. At some point, we will have to just talk about I am Legend just so we can have, you know, finished this series. Of course.
• 40:46
  Maybe we'll throw in one more, which we'll talk about in a minute. But, I think for right now, we'll be right back. But first, our credits.
• 41:05
  Pete: The next reel is a production of True Story FM, engineering by Andy Nelson, music by Sandy Pierce, Be Still the Earth, When Mountains Move, Oriole Novella, and Eli Kaplan. Andy usually finds all the stats for the awards and numbers at d-numbers.com, box office mojo Com, I m d b Com, and wikipedia.org. Find the show at truestory.fm. And if your podcast app allows ratings and reviews, please consider doing that for our show.
• 41:46
  In a world where memories of films fade like shadows at dawn, one threat looms larger than all the others. Cinematic amnesia, the silent killer that strikes without warning. The symptoms are everywhere. Victims report suddenly forgetting that actor's name, that one with that face who was in that thing that time. Dinner parties are destroyed by heated arguments over whether you've already seen a film or that shameful confession.
• 42:15
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• 44:35
  and mild addiction to reading reviews at 2AM. In rare cases, users have reported naming their children after Criterion Collection titles. Lettermox is not responsible for the dissolution of friendships after you publicly gave their favorite movie two stars. Sequels and remakes, Andy. Well, we've already kinda talked about it.
• 44:53
  We've talked about
• 44:54
  Andy: the fact that this book has been adapted three times. There was this. There's the Omega Man in '71, and I am Legend in '9 in 02/2007. There was also the direct to video asylum rip off version called I am Omega that also came out in 02/2007 as a way to try, you know, stealing some bucks from the I Am Legend, fan base. So we'll have to debate, is that one worth actually talking about if we if we want to fully finish this series.
• 45:23
  Pete: I mean, we've done some bad movies on this show. I don't see where why this would
• 45:27
  Andy: be any different. It would be our first asylum. That would be interesting. Yeah. That'd be a treat.
• 45:32
  On top of that, there was also a comic book miniseries version that had been created. So, you know, it's there are other versions. There hasn't been per se an actual remake of this particular film, and there has been no sequel of any of them. But, you know, there's variations out there that may or may not be worth checking out.
• 45:52
  Pete: How to do an awards season? Did you get any attention for anything at all? Not at
• 45:56
  Andy: the time it came out. But in 02/2006, the Saturn Awards, nominated for the best DVD collection, this Hammer Horror series. This was included in that. But it lost to the Bella Lugosi collection. That's it though.
• 46:10
  It's it's not really a film that you expect to garner awards, you know? Right. Right. It was funny though, because I was like, Hammer Horror? Was this Hammer Horror?
• 46:18
  No. You know, AIP. I don't know if if they were just throwing stuff together to kind of like, maybe in in The UK, it was released. I I don't know. I am not sure how it ended up under the hammer horror banner for that particular release.
• 46:33
  Pete: That is really strange because my understanding was that this was ex this the script was originally tossed to Hammer, and it was rebuffed. And and that's why they ended up going to Italy.
• 46:45
  Andy: Yeah. Because British censors wouldn't allow the film to be produced. So Right. The producer sold it to AIP. So, yeah, I I don't know.
• 46:54
  I don't know why this ended up being part of the Hammer Horror collection on that DVD. Maybe that's why it lost.
• 47:00
  Pete: How did it how did do at the box office? That's why it lost because it wasn't actually in. As
• 47:04
  Andy: they say, yeah, what are you doing? It took me a minute. Yeah.
• 47:08
  Pete: How did it
• 47:08
  Andy: do at
• 47:09
  Pete: the box office?
• 47:16
  Andy: Well, for this first adaptation of Matheson's story, they had a budget estimated around $300,000 or just over 3,000,000 in today's dollars, which honest honestly seems high when you think about it. The movie opened 05/06/1964 opposite the Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Quinn film, The Visit. Unfortunately, though, as an AIP film, there is just little beyond that. I have no idea how well this did other than this generic copy that I found. Although it was not considered a success upon its release, it later gained a more favorable reputation as a classic of the genre.
• 47:48
  So that's what I have. That's where we stand.
• 47:51
  Pete: Well, that's not much. But It isn't. Good on you for trying. Well, I you know, again, I'm glad we talked about it. I think it's a really it's it's a fun movie.
• 48:01
  It's did it transform me as a viewer? No. But am I glad it exists because I also got 28 later and all of the Dead movies. Yeah. I'm very glad that this was inspirational to others.
• 48:14
  So
• 48:14
  Andy: Yeah. I mean, huge inspiration, you know, to, we already mentioned Romero. Stephen King has said that this film was, was inspiration for him when he was getting started. Like, a lot of people have found this film to be something that, is is and was inspiring. So I think that's an important element of it.
• 48:32
  Yeah. Alright. Well, we will be right back for our ratings. But first, here's the trailer for next week's movie, kicking off our car racing series, the final series of our fourteenth season. It is John Frankenheimer's nineteen sixty six film Grand Prix.
• 48:47
  Trailer: From the glamour capitals of Europe comes the exciting drama of the men and the women who live the passionate adventure of Grand Prix racing. James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montan, Brian Bedford and Jessica Walter, dramatic new stars Antonio Sabato and Francoise Hardy, Toshiro Maffune, and the world's champion Formula One drivers. Now, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Director John Frankenheimer, and Cinerama take you out of the grandstand and hurl you into the most exciting experience of your life.
• 49:26
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• 49:37
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• 49:53
  Andy: Hello. Is anyone out there? This is doctor Robert Morgan broadcasting on all frequencies. I have some crucial information to share, something that's given me hope in these dark times. As you know, the world has been overrun by the undead.
• 50:08
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• 50:22
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• 50:40
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• 51:15
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• 52:19
  Pete: Letterboxd, Andrew. Letterboxd. This is, you know, this is where we assign our hearts and numbers to the movies that we watch on this show, and you can find us at, letterbox.com/thenextreel. What are you gonna do?
• 52:32
  Andy: This was fun. I enjoyed it. It's, again, not what I would love to have somebody finally kind of create the definitive adaptation of the book. But for now, maybe that's just the book. Omega Man, had given two stars, no heart.
• 52:46
  I'm gonna give this three stars, and I'm torn. Three stars and no heart. Do I still give it a heart? I'll leave it at three stars. No heart is where I'm gonna sit with this one, I think.
• 52:58
  Pete: I think, weirdly, you and I are exactly in the same place on this one. I was really debating with the heart. Do I do I heart it just because I like what it represents? I don't know that I'm ever coming back to this movie as the problem. Like, I've seen it now, and I get it.
• 53:13
  And you've got a little bit of a, what's the coach's name that says all those things that are so smart but so dumb?
• 53:21
  Andy: Oh, where they're all backward? I I I know who you're talking about. I can't remember.
• 53:26
  Pete: Well, what you said was the most definitive version the most definitive adaptation of the book should actually just be the book. And I think that's maybe where I stand too. Hey. They just haven't hit it yet, and I look forward to when they do. But so far, we're we're not there.
• 53:42
  Andy: Yeah. We're not there. Maybe one day, but I I just think that what happens is people see undead vampires, and they just wanna actually create that as opposed to just letting it be its own thing.
• 53:56
  Pete: Yeah.
• 53:57
  Andy: Alright. Well, that will average out to three stars and no heart over at our count at Letterboxd, which is at the next reel. You can find me there at Soda Creek Film. You can find Pete there at Pete Wright. So what did you think about the last man on earth?
• 54:10
  We would love to hear your thoughts. Hop into the show talk channel over in our Discord community where we will be talking about the movie this week.
• 54:16
  Pete: When the movie ends Our conversation begins.
• 54:34
  Andy: Letterbox give it, Andrew. As Letterboxd always do it.
• 54:38
  Pete: Alright. So your favorite review so far. What are you what are you gonna do?
• 54:43
  Andy: I went high. I went with a five star by Gabriela Riley, and this was exactly my thought when I heard this. Having a morning mantra of another day to live through, better get it started, is such a mood.
• 55:00
  Pete: That is a mood of every era, I think. I I went with Ale Watch's films, three star, who says, these poor infected had such low self esteem. They couldn't look at themselves in the mirror. They were very astute about mirrors. Like, that that was pretty good.
• 55:22
  Mirrors were good.
• 55:23
  Andy: Yes. Very funny. Alright.
• 55:25
  Pete: Thanks, Letterboxd.