Charlton Heston -- RIP

The great Charlton Heston is now no longer with us, but his impressive catalog of films will forever flood our memories with swaggering lines delivered in his trademarked stoic fashion.

People will usually recall his appearances in the epics, but he also turned in an impressive amount of sci-fi work. Some of those titles are now staples of the genre, and nobody but Heston could have carried them through to that state.

So in honor of Mr. Heston's recent passing, I bring to you two belated reviews of recent viewings:

"The Omega Man" (1971)

Richard Matheson's fantastic novel "I Am Legend" gets it's second big-screen rendition with Heston in the lead as "Robert Neville." The Omega Man came not too long after Vincent Price's take on the tale in 1964's "The Last Man on Earth," which I consider to be the superior cinematic adaptation of the novel.

In this telling, the living dead are more of a vampire/zombie hybrid — they have a sort of reorganized or structured society, they carry on civilized conversations. In this regard, they are closer to the figures presented in the novel than those of the recent remake.

All in all, this edition has a few points that are more complex compared with the other two outings. But at it's heart, it's still about isolation, fear of the dark, battling the walking dead and blowing stuff up every chance you get.

Grade: B - (it's pretty good, but Price's is still the tops)

"Soylent Green" (1973)

Heston comes back to the sci-fi field relatively quick with the adaptation of Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!" We are once again treated to a memorable performance and that classic line that gives it all away: "Soylent Green is (bleep)!" (sorry, trying to avoid the spoilers....)

The film skillfully captures the whole dying-world-pushed-to-the-brink-by-people message, coupling environmentalism, global warming, overpopulation and food scarcity into a neat little package. Heston just happens to be an overworked and somewhat shady cop trying to keep this crazy world in balance when duties call for him to get to the bottom of the whole solyent conspiracy.

This production obviously has some age on it, and it still feels dated though it is a forward-looking tale of impending doom for mankind. It's not that great a mystery, but it's still an entertaining and unique romp into what could be a very bleak twilight for humanity.

Grade: C+ (you could do much worse than this one ...)