MovieChat Forums > The Omega Man (1971) Discussion > Why'd he do that?

Why'd he do that?

posted 11 years ago by SashaDabinski
9 replies | jump to latest

I watched the movie when it was released in theaters and just got thru watching it again thanks to DVR. I have always enjoyed it and wondered what it would be like to be him, alone in a hostile environment. But now I wonder why/how he did some of things he did.

1) Why going hunting The Family during the day? Every night they come to his place, throw rocks, yell and burn books. Why not just use the sniper rifle and knock off a few every night? Depending on how many there are, 2-3 weeks ought to take care of the problem. Or go up to the roof and rip off a few hundred 50cal rounds and see how many that takes out. I am assuming there is not an unending supply of members.

2) Where did he get his gasoline? I know every gas station would have nearly full underground tanks, but no electrcity to pump it. It would have added to the story to see just how he did do it.

3) When he knows that he has to be in by dark, why did he stay out and have The Family there waiting for him?

[–] cind5 11 years ago

1) I always thought a better way for Neville to take the family out, was to follow them after they leave and see where they hold up. Then while they're sleeping during the day, blow up the building. The most important thing to putting a end to the family is to take Mathias out. He was like Jim Jones, David Koresh and L. Ron Hubbard all rolled into one.
2) I was in the army and they use to have a lot of tankers, so not really hard for him to access to fossil fuel. Yup, they use to keep them full. Not all of them were full of petrol, but enuff of them for years for one person. Plus he was in the military, so a installation had to be near by.
3) Woodstock is one hell of movie. I would guess after a couple of years you start to take things for granted. Fingering if they haven't been there yet, maybe never.
I know that my answers are just my way of thinking, I'm sure other people will have better ones. I came to my thinking while reading your post, others probably have had been thinking about these questions for years.

BOO-YEAH!

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nakedsteve 10 years ago

The biggest flaw in the movie is that the Family knows where he lives right from the start, which creates a lot of logic holes.

That is from the book. In the book they are more vampire/zombie-like. Not completely mindless but pretty far gone. They want his blood. So every night every V/Z for miles around makes a bee line for his house to try and feed. Every morning the dozen or so weakest are passed out on his lawn. cleaning them up takes most of the morning. It is like pulling weeds, if he doesn't thin them out every day they'd break down his door eventually.

If a day does not require an AK,
it is good
Ice Cube
Warrior Poet

[–] PaladinNJ (20308) 2 years ago

In the book, the ones on his lawn haven't passed out. The others fed on the weakest and killed them since they couldn't get to Neville. Neville cleaned them up so he doesn't have to deal with the smell as they rot.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] diurnalemissions 8 years ago

During the "trial" scene Matthias says "outnumbered hundreds to one" has left me with the impression there's probably 500-1,000 total Family members in total, and they're dying off on their own as well as what he can pick off during the day and at night. As far as how to get rid of them (and there wouldn't have been a movie) he could have rigged a whole bunch of explosives up down the cross streets, one plunger push and half the total are gone at once and the leadership amongst them. The rest would be torpid, scattered, and leaderless. But I guess Neville would have been completely alone and he might not have been able to live with that. Hunting them gave him a purpose. If they all were dead, he'd be alone without any purpose at all.

Of course, in the Novella, it's the whole world that has gone over, so there's no "victory by attrition" to be had, he has to be in his fortified bunker at sunset to shut out the rest of the world. No where to run off to, no hope of final victory. There'd always be more. I don't know what would be more craze-inducing - knowing there'd be an endless supply of vampires and they'd get you one day, or living on the knife edge that they MIGHT get you, but your "victory" would come with being completely alone (so you think).

[–] johnral (138) 7 years ago

Good questions.
As for hunting the Family, you make a good point. Also, wouldn't there presumably be similar people (to the Family) all over the country? If so, then what's the point of killing this one Family when there are many more out there, and he can't kill them all? (And apparently there were no more people in the City for the Family to attack.)
As for the gasoline, some people have answered this a little. But doesn't gas go bad after a fairly short period?
As for staying at the Movie, I had the same thought. Why would he take a chance on that? (And how in the heck did the family know to wait for him? (They were waiting for him -- and poured gas on his car and burned it etc.) Certainly they can't scope him out 24/7 to know that he's not back home on a given day (especially as they are sleeping during the day and they won't know if his car is in the garage or not).

[–] 80sforme (14) 2 years ago

Gas in the 1970”s would not of had ethanol in it, giving it a much longer shelf life vs modern gasoline.
At some point in time he would probably have to switch to a diesel vehicle, which has a longer shelf life than gasoline.

[–] Checkman (29) 4 years ago

I think there was another reason as well. Neville is alone and he's lonely. The Family might want to kill him and he calls them scum, but they're the closest thing he has to company. If he really embarked on an extermination program how long until they are dead and he's all by himself? Maybe I'm thinking about it too much, but that's my take.