I like both Neil Young and those De-evolutioned guys a lot, so when I got my grubby little mitts on
"Human Highway" a couple of years ago, I was ecstatic to say the least, and believe me, if you really like music, you'll want to see this movie!
Unfortunately with the recent death, destruction, and upheaval in Japan, anything to do with out of control radiation isn't funny, and even though this film is very anti-nuclear, I just find it kind of distasteful to show the Spud Boys in their glowing jumpsuits right now, so I'll just move on.
The basic storyline is simple enough, Neil Young as Lionel Switch is a mechanic in a garage next to a roadside diner out in the desert somewhere in between L.A. and Vegas near a leaking nuclear power plant! He's joined here by his best pal, Russ Tamblyn as Fred, on his way to work! You will recognize Russ Tamblyn from his "Tom Thumb," "West Side Story," "The War of the Gargantuas," and "Dracula vs. Frankenstein" days! Russ's brother Larry was the singer and organist in that awesome 60's "Dirty Water," "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White" band,
The Standells!!
The truly amazing Dean Stockwell is Otto Quartz, the guy who inherited the diner from his recently deceased father, Old Otto. Dean Stockwell was "The Boy With The Green Hair" in 1948, "The Werewolf Of Washington" in 1973, Duke Nukem in 9 episodes of "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" in the early 90's, and shortly after that, Admiral Al Calavicci in 97 episodes of "Quantum Leap," and that just scratches the surface. He also co-wrote and co-directed "The Human Highway!"
Otto realizes the diner is a loser and decides to torch it for the insurance money, but in the meantime, he's gotta lay off somebody, because Fred's going to work for him for free! The sign on the door says, "Come In, We're Closed!" The Dinettes are Sally Kirkland as Kathryn(Sally was in a 1965 flick called "13 Beautiful Women" as a 'beautiful woman' and if that ain't enough, Sally is still very active, and has a bunch of stuff in production today), Charlotte Stewart as Charlotte (Charlotte somehow managed to segue from Mary X in "Eraserhead" to 45 episodes of "Little House On The Prairie" as Eva Beadle Simms), and Geraldine Baron("Targets") as Irene! They're joined by the cook named Cracker played by the infamous Dennis Hopper! Dennis had dual roles and also appeared as Stranger! What a cast!!
Along with various license plates, Lionel has his garage decorated with a poster of his musical hero Frankie Fontaine! Lionel believes that he himself, could really be a musician someday if he wanted to!
The luck of the gods brings Frankie Fontaine's limo to Lionel's garage for some emergency repairs, and Lionel is beside himself!!
There is a great exchange between Lionel and Frankie through the car window! The part of Frankie Fontaine "alive and in person" is played by Bernard Shakey, aka Neil Young, and Neil does such a mind-boggling job, I'm still not sure if I believe it's really him!
The music plays on and is a very cool, but twisted version of "Mr. Soul!"
Fred helps Lionel get situated underneath the limo, and then Lionel knocks himself out with a wrench while he's laying on the creeper removing the drain plug which induces a real shift in the gears of that transmission and.........
............a krazy psych-o-delicatatonic dream where Lionel is a rock star! Hey, this movie is just getting warmed up! Check out the headlines!
Buffalo Springfield, Devo, and Pearl Jam, who else but Neil Young could bridge those kind of gaps?
I admit it, I didn't know completely what the Hell was going on half the time, and especially during the dream sequence, it was just like some kind of a wacky music video!
Cut to Neil and Devo and my favorite part of the whole film, playing an insane 8 minute live version of "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)" with Mark Mothersbaugh as the "Booji Boy" doing the vocals!
I think it just might be one of movie rock and roll's finest moments, and just like everything else in "Human Highway," you can bet your sweet bippy that it's no coincidence that Neil Young is wearing a "Never Mind The Bullocks" tee shirt!
The Spud Boys really kick it up a notch, and give "Hey Hey, My My" a new vitality, and a brilliant combination of new and old!!
I think these three shots epitomize what's going on here, and as far as I know this is the only time that Devo and Neil Young recorded anything together, and it's a good one!!
The dream goes on for 15 or 20 minutes, but Lionel was only out for a few seconds, and when he comes to.........
.......it's time for the big "A Worried Man" whole cast ensemble dance number to usher out the end of the world as we know it, with nuclear weapons! "A Worried Man" was originally recorded by The Kingston Trio in 1962! The Kingston Trio were so popular, they had 5 number one albums, and 14 top ten albums, and I'll bet a lot of them were stashed in fallout shelters!
Last but not least, Frankie Fontaine gives his humble opinion!
I don't know, I guess just put your head between your legs and kiss your ass good-bye! It was fun while it lasted!
For a big-time film production, "The Ωmega Man" is shockingly not really that great! I'll take the Vincent Price version of Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" over this or the Will Smith version any day, and then some, and I'm a big Charlton Heston fan!
The best way I can describe it is that this is the way Charlton Heston looks like he feels about the whole production! Just not real sure!!
Crusin' through a deserted city with "Theme For A Summer Place" playing on the 8-track, and turned up to 10! "Theme For A Summer Place" was originally titled the "Molly And Johnny Theme" and was written by mega composer Max Steiner, and I don't know if that's the Percy Faith or the Hugo Winterhalter version! "The Ωmega Man" is kind of like a continuation of "Human Highway" if world destruction had happened biologically instead of nuculearly!
One of the main concepts of "The Ωmega Man" is that the future is full of perks if you're lucky enough to survive! If you run out of gas, do you take the wimpy route and call the Auto Club or Onstar, no, you just go get yourself a brand new Mustang, and drive it right off the showroom floor!
Got nothing better to do during the day, you can go down to the local theatre, and watch a movie! Here's a local theatre flyer, stains and all, from the early 70's donated by our pal, not Greg G, but Gregg G, from back in the day when double features were still standard fare!!
Roll that film, and pick yourself out the best seat in the house!
If you only had one movie to watch, I'd say that "Woodstock" was a pretty good choice! One thing I really do like about "The Ωmega Man" is that it gives me a chance to mention another one of our favorite bands of all time, "Country Joe and the Fish" and "a little something we like to call rock n'soul music." From the first time I heard those mystic organ swells of "Sweet Lorraine" I was hooked! The fact that some of the world's greatest and most influential musicians like Country Joe and the Fish, the Steve Miller band, Love, Link Wray, and The Seeds etc, are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and some members like Michael Jackson and John Lennon have been inducted twice, just proves what a bogus outfit it really is!
When the movie's over, it's time to hightail it back to the swingin' bachelor pad before all the freaks come out at night!!
Now here, Charlton looks like he means business, and it makes for a nice portrait of The Man!!
More perks of being the Last Man on Earth! Good food, good drink, and good music! Now if that damn phone would just quit ringing!!! The rest of the music in the soundtrack was composed by Ron Grainer who also wrote the theme for "The Prisoner" and "Dr. Who!" What a slacker!
That's Anthony(Dead Zone)Zerbe on the left, and Lincoln Kilpatrick on the right, as members of the nocturnal, and really pissed off "Family!" The Family's sole goal is to cleanse what's left of the world of scumbag's like Dr. Neville! Lincoln was another freak in the other Charlton Heston future flick, "Soylent Green!" 
The Family's not into picking up litter, and they've got a catapult, and they are literally Hell bent on destroying the good doctor! I think The Family are mostly just jealous because Dr. Neville's got better stuff than them.......
.....like a high-powered rifle with a telescopic infrared sight!
Dr. Neville is starting to lose it just a bit while he's out on a shopping excursion!
He even thinks he sees a real person! Enter new character, Rosilind Cash as Lisa!
The doctor had a good thing going, nice pad and a swell wine cellar, but those diabolical Family bastards never give up, and it was only a matter of time until they slipped through his security system!
It's all about unions, you see, zombies and freaks can generally be dealt with on an individual basis, but when they get organized, they become a real threat!
You probably thought they were just trying to be cool, wearing their sunglasses at night, but here's the real reason why they don't like light in any form whatsoever!
Time to blow some stuff up!!
Dr. Neville meets up with Lisa again, and they escape together in the worst motorcyle chase scene I've seen lately! Even when they're moving, you can readily see that it's not Charlton Heston! Now I'm starting to wonder what else isn't real, maybe the whole movie is fake!
With Lisa back at the pad, the doc is rockin' it with a sound system that contains four speakers, an 8-track player, and a mixer! Get down!
There's some dumb romance between the doctor and Lisa, and then she too becomes infected, and then The Family really destroys the doctor's place for the last time!!
There can be no happy ending when the entire population gets wiped out not once, but twice! Three strikes and we're out!!!
