Customer Reviews

Omega Cop [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I directed this movie in 1990, so it was difficult to not give it five stars, which it should get just for the fact that it's a fairly big production on a small budget. And since the movie doesn't have a commentary track, I'll mention a few things about the production here.

The producer Ron Marchini is one of the very first low budget independent producers working outside Hollywood. I directed his first production "Death Machines" in 1975, filmed in Stockton California where we were to film "Omega Cop".

Ron had the production idea, of hiring the name actors Adam "Batman" West, Troy Donahue, and Stuart Whitman before I joined the project. He also had the story of a policeman that survives a solar flare that devastates the earth.

My contribution was to schedule the production for a 21 day straight shoot using the star names so they appear through out the story, even though we had them for only a limited time. Marchini, who was one of the best karate competitors in the '70s, played the lead. He had a string of martial arts movies produced in the Philippines that he had starred before starting his own company in America.

Working with him on the script, I changed the single female lead to three females that he meets up with through out the story, hopefully to re-fresh the story with each new introduction of a pretty face. Each girl had a unique look and personality, to keep things lively.

Working on a 21 day shoot, I was responsible for getting 4.2 minutes of movie story a day, as the movie had to be 90 minutes. My big contribution to the movie was adding a "Wild Bunch" shoot out at the beginning of the story, before the solar flare happened. Marchini would have 3 cop buddies with him, and they would be killed in a raid on a gangster slave auction. At the end of that scene the solar flare would happen. He would then be forbidden to re-enter the police strong hold run by Adam West.

Marchini was hesitant about okaying such an ambitious scene of the four cops having a shoot out with 20 gangsters, while 30 slave market customers are running for cover. It would require a special effects man, for blood and bullet hits, as well as to blow up a car. All this to be done in two days with a film ratio of 5 to 1.

We would be shooting with 3 cameras, one often in slow motion (which burns up a lot of film at high speed), plus paying a stunt man to do a spectacular back fall from the roof of a building to a car top. I always remember Marchini looking at me once the shot was done and the stunt man was okay, "I'm glad that's over with." He was very worried about out stunt man, and the safety of all on the film. I was as well, and in fact nobody got hurt. And then thinking about all the film use to get the slow motion effect he laughed and said, "Man, I heard that camera buzzing at high speed and thought 'there goes all our film.'"

I have to say, that once Marchin okayed that big scene he worked hard both as a producer and actor to get it done. I had the confidence to complete it in the two days. I knew how to get a scene in the can before the sun goes down. The challenge was to get as much action that was possilbe before the sun went down on that second day.

To make up for the large amount of film used on that scene, I had to shoot other scenes almost at a one to one film ratio. The "Wild Bunch" shoot out is the highlight of the film, but we had to make sure the ending was equally spectacular, so we had Marchini as the Omega Cop running from a building that he had set bombs to, exploding just a few feet behind him and gaining on him. Real fire balls were set off by a special effects man as Marchini ran past them. Filming with three cameras, I held my breath for Marchin's safety on that one. If the effects man was off his timing, it could have been a big problem. But it all went off well, and I'm glad that was over and the shot in three cans.

With the large beginning and ending we also had 5 shoot outs and karate action scenes though out the movie. Well, we did get the project done on a 5 to 1 film ratio, and finished in 21 days. I think "Omega Cop" is a great example of what you can do with limited film, money, and star actor's schedules. I'm proud of this movie because of it.

When civilization ends in OMEGA COP it does so coupled with narration by Adam West. He urgently whispers about a world which ignored an environmental collapse until it was far too late, while visually the camera fades from one sunrise to the same sunrise to the same sunrise again. This opening scene perfectly sets the tone for what is to follow. Its intent is dark and ominous, but the presentation is slightly off-kilter and tinged with silliness.

If you're looking for a genre to slip OMEGA COP into, you'll find a lot of possible slots There's a sci-fi element. It's a post-apocalyptic nightmare world. There are elements of action movies and cop movies. It looks kind of 1970s Italian, although it was filmed entirely in southern California. It certainly borrows heavily from Westerns (the spaghetti and pasta-free varieties).

The Omega Cop is -- as his name suggests -- the last law enforcement official left in a world populated mostly by gangsters and scavengers. These dregs of society are concerned mostly with the lively slave trade and settling old scores. One thing I've noticed in films of this kind is that apocalypse survivors always have great stylish coats. The Burlington Coat Factory must be high on their list of targets after food, water and shelter.

The last bastion of humanity is represented by Adam West in a sparsely decorated set, sitting in an office chair and wrying snarling insults into a CB radio. He's in charge of a protected bunker, deep under the Earth's surface. From there he directs the area's remaining police in their duties of protecting the citizens and hunting down slave traders.

Caught half-way between the outlaws and the ex-Batman is the Omega Cop (although he doesn't actually become the Omega Cop until 17 minutes into the film). His fellow officers are gunned down during a raid and because of a solar flare, Adam West bans him from the bunker. Stuck on the surface, the Omega Cop (also known as Travis, as played by Ron Marchini) roams the wasteland, rescuing various women from grizzly fates and occasionally calling Adam West and demanding to be let in.

OMEGA COP is a difficult movie to hate, but it's an even more difficult movie to like. It's full of delightfully un-self-aware dialog:

Travis: "Just check it out. No heroics."

Al: "I'll be back in five."

Travis: "Al... Be careful."

(That's an actual exchange.)

Travis seems like a decent enough bloke although his methods are a bit suspect. He rescues three women: a blond ex-slave lady, the leggy daughter of a junk dealer, and a woman in a white dress who literally spends the majority of her screen-time unconscious. As far as I could tell, the two conscious female characters were indistinguishable other than their hair color and cup size. Despite his good intentions, his commando raid on a slave ring seems to involve a lot of indiscriminate shooting at anyone who happens to wander near the front-end of his weapon. Slaves, spectators, traders and hostages are mercilessly blown away at approximately equal rates.

The story is a little bit on the confused side. On one hand, it has all the hallmarks of a standard quest drama. You would expect Travis and his increasing tribe to be attempting to make their way somewhere safe. The problem is that they already know where safety is; Adam West simply won't unlock the door. This renders a lot of their journey pointless.

There is a villain in the story. A guy named Wraith - who dresses like the leatherman from the Village People - is the area's main slave trader. He appears to have a preexisting grudge against Travis, although the details are left strangely vague. Adding to the story is a mysterious "solar flare" which turns anyone exposed into an "infected" raving, homicidal maniac. I've heard of airborne infections and I've heard of waterborne infections; this is the first I've heard of sunborne infections. I hope I never catch one, because I doubt I could chew the scenery as vigorously as this illness would require.

Due to a lack of real plot, most of the film is really just an exercise in fight scenes. In the future, hand-to-hand combat will be replaced by mostly hand-to-crotch combat or foot-to-crotch combat. This film features more punched groins per minute than any other film I can think of.

To drive home the post-apocalyptic setting (which is relatively well realized), many of the outdoor locations are littered with extras playing dead. Some of them dangle upside down off of fences, while others simply lie face down in the sand. I wonder if the actors union demands a sliding scale of payment depending on the difficulty level of your corpse acting. In addition to the people-as-props motif, during the apocalypse, people scattered a lot of crumpled newspapers in the streets.

OMEGA COP is an odd little film. It's hard to know what to make of a film where the hero constantly listens to "oldies" (a public domain Beach Boys sound-alike) and takes up five minutes of screen-time chasing down his missing hat. It's fun in a way. It may take itself seriously, but that's no reason why you should.

I'm a huge fan of Paul Kyriazi who directed this film around 1990, if I recall right. This is a wonderful action movie with just the amount of action to suit my taste (which means not constant bombings, car crashes and the like). It actually has an exciting storyline (fraught with drama), one that kept me on the edge of my seat until the "grand climax" ... a spectacular ending.

Ron Marchini, as the OMEGA COP, did a fine acting job, as did Adam West, Meg Thayer and Jennifer Jostyn. I was thrilled to see one of the heart-throbs of my generation, Troy Donohue, play a cameo role in this movie, and was surprised when Stuart Whitman had a part, also. Talk of faces from the past!!

The scene that amazed me is the climax of the movie: a bombing so realistic I actually feared for Marchini's "real" life as opposed to his "reel" life. The scene reminded me of one with Tom Cruise in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, and in my opinion it was filmed with equal precision. And that's saying a lot for a movie shot so long ago, especially when you consider the computer-generated graphics and other enhancements film-makers have at their disposal in this new millennium.

Kyriazi has directed six movies and has gone on to write several books since then. One of the latest is HARD ROCK LOVERS which he also audio-produced with awesome talent from the 60s: Rod Taylor, Robert Culp, etc. For more information, check the book on Amazon Books. And in May, Kyriazi will have two other audio-books out, one narrated by Frank Sinatra, Jr.

Recently, Kyriazi did a review of this film wherein he shared many behind-the-scenes stories that you won't want to miss. Be sure to read his interesting review; it will be either below or above this review.

Bravo, Paul Kyriazi! You are being "modest in the extreme" by giving OMEGA COP only 3-stars, even though it's dear to your heart. I admire your modesty, but it's definitely a 5-star movie. I'm awed by your versatility!

Keep up the awesome work!

SIDENOTE: You may have noticed that Amazon has made some changes to its website. If it looks the same to you right now, look out for a new format that will be rolling out gradually in the weeks to come. If you can see the changes, especially the review format, I'd like to know what you think. Please leave me a comment with your opinion.

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