The Last Man on Earth (1964 film)

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The Last Man on Earth (1964 film)

A concise, easy-to-understand version of the story and production.

Plot
- Set in 1968, Dr. Robert Morgan is the last healthy human in a world overrun by a plague that turns people into undead, vampire-like creatures. These creatures fear sunlight, mirrors, and garlic, and they would kill Morgan if they could.
- Morgan spends his days fighting the infected, marking each day on a calendar, gathering weapons, and burning bodies to prevent reanimation. At night he locks himself inside his house.
- A flashback reveals Morgan’s wife Virginia and daughter Kathy died from the plague. Virginia returns as an infected, and Morgan learns that killing the walking dead is necessary to survive. He also believes he may be immune to the disease.
- A dog appears, then becomes infected. Morgan tends to the dog, but it dies, deepening his loneliness.
- A woman named Ruth appears. At first terrified, she is skeptical of Morgan but lets him help her. Ruth is part of a hidden group of infected people who live with a drug in their blood (a vaccine) that keeps the disease at bay. They plan to destroy the last humans and rebuild society.
- Morgan tries to help Ruth by giving his own blood to cure her, which works, but Ruth’s group attacks. He flees, using tear gas grenades and weapons to survive.
- In the final confrontation, Morgan is wounded in a church: as he dies, he calls his pursuers “freaks” and proclaims that he is the last true man on Earth. Ruth, who has a baby with her, is left to face a new world as she walks away.

Cast
- Vincent Price as Dr. Robert Morgan
- Franca Bettoia as Ruth Collins
- Emma Danieli as Virginia Morgan
- Giacomo Rossi-Stuart as Ben Cortman
- Umberto Raho as Dr. Mercer
- Christi Courtland as Kathy Morgan

Production
- The project began with Hammer Film Productions, but British censorship blocked production, so producer Robert L. Lippert brought it to the United States.
- Screenwriter Richard Matheson helped with the script but was unhappy with the result; he used the pen name Logan Swanson for credits. The Italian crew and cast were dubbed into English afterward.
- Filming took place in Italy to save money, with Vincent Price and a largely American cast among the few non-Italians. Most dialogue was recorded after filming (MOS - without synchronized sound).
- Much of the film was shot in the EUR district of Rome, with interiors at Titanus studios and the climactic sequence filmed in a Roman church.

Release and legacy
- The Last Man on Earth was released in the United States by American International Pictures on May 6, 1964. A dubbed Italian version appeared in Rome in 1964.
- The film later entered the public domain in the 1980s.
- It is the first of three adaptations of Matheson’s I Am Legend, followed by The Omega Man (1971) and I Am Legend (2007).

Home media
- MGM Home Video released a digitally remastered widescreen DVD in September 2005.
- In 2014, Scream Factory released a Blu-ray as part of the Vincent Price Collection II.

Reception
- Upon release, the film was not a big success, but it gained a stronger reputation over time as a classic of its genre.
- Rotten Tomatoes shows about 79% approval from dozens of reviews (as of 2024). Some critics praised Vincent Price’s performance, while others noted the film’s low budget and dubbing as drawbacks.
- Matheson was openly unhappy with the adaptation, feeling it could have been better with a different director and star.

Soundtrack
- In 2024, Waxwork Records released the soundtrack as part of the Rob Zombie Presents series, on colored vinyl with special artwork.

See also
- The Omega Man (1971) and I Am Legend (2007), both adaptations of the same source material.
- Other related vampire and post-apocalyptic films inspired by similar themes.

Notes
- The Last Man on Earth is known for its atmosphere, Price’s performance, and its Italian production approach that created a distinct, early example of the modern zombie/post-apocalyptic horror style.