Guns of 'The Omega Man': End-of-the-World Firepower

By Will Dabbs, MD for Firearms News

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains critical plot elements of the movie The Omega Man.

Robert Neville was the last man alive in a world full of monsters. It had been more than two years since the disease crossed the Pacific. No one knew or cared how—some poor sot on an airplane or a missile, most likely. The plague began as a biological warfare agent used to settle some long-forgotten border dispute between China and the Soviet Union. The bacterial contagion grew out of control and subsequently killed the planet.

Neville had been transporting an experimental vaccine when his helicopter pilot succumbed. After the crash, Neville had, in desperation, injected himself. He awoke to find himself immune, helpless, and alone. The pathogen had performed beautifully. The overwhelming majority of the population simply suffocated and died. Those few who survived were fundamentally changed. Extreme light sensitivity kept them reliably indoors during day-light. Degenerative effects on their brains caused a form of pathological herd psychosis. Led by a former newscaster named Jonathon Matthias, the mutated plague survivors comprised "the Family." The Family was a deranged, robed, quasi-religious mob that eschewed all forms of technology. Science had been the engine behind the death of humanity. As a result, the Family strived to obliterate Neville as detestable residue from a previous world best forgotten. It was within this chaotic realm of violence and madness that Robert Neville clung desperately to life and sanity.

Neville was both a physician and a soldier, so he used the tools at hand to fortify an apartment building against the nocturnal raiders. Gasoline-powered generators kept the lights on after the power grid failed, and military weapons kept the monsters at bay. The plague victims attempted almost nightly to breach Neville’s fortress. Only through determination and technology had he stayed alive. Robert Neville gradually discovered over the long weeks and months that there was a broad gulf between staying alive and actually living. Playing imaginary games of chess against a bust of Caesar served to stave off the quiet for only so long. In addition to the relentless onslaughts of the Family, Neville had his own loneliness with which to contend.

The entire city of Los Angeles was his department store. The plague had struck fast and hard, so shelf-stable foods were available in quantity. He drove a new car until it ran out of gas and then took another from any convenient dealership. Despite having the entire world at his fingertips, it was the hollow nothingness wrought upon his soul that was the most threatening. In an emptied world he struggled to find purpose, so he killed mutants at every opportunity. If isolation and madness were his destiny, he would leave... CONTINUE READING HERE

Not actually Hollywood's first interracial kiss.

The BAR with IR scope and light always thrilled me as a kid. For some reason for years I thought it was an M2 Carbine since I saw a night vision set up later on in life with that weapon.