The Omega Man (1971)

Anthony Zerbe: Matthias

Photos 

Quotes 

• [describing Neville] 

  Matthias : One creature, caught. Caught in a place he cannot stir from in the dark, alone, outnumbered hundreds to one, nothing to live for but his memories, nothing to live with but his gadgets, his cars, his guns, gimmicks... and yet the whole family can't bring him down from that, that...

  Zachary : Honky paradise, brother?

  Matthias : Forget the old ways, brother, all the old hatreds.

• Matthias : Definition of a scientist: a man who understood nothing, until there was nothing left to understand.

  Neville : Well... So there is... a little light in the forest after all.

• [the members of the Family smashes and destroys Neville's penthouse apartment, rendering it as evil and as a thing of the past while Matthias and newly possessed Lisa watches on] 

  Matthias : We waited for you, Neville, so you could see this: The end. The end of all you done. You see, none of it was real. It was illusion. Your art, your science, it was all a nightmare. And now it's done. Finished. My brethren, our task is nearly complete. He was the last of those who brought the punishment to us. We have cleansed and purged his world. Now we must build.

  Neville : [defiant]  Build coffins. That's all you'll need.

  Matthias : Bring him!

• [members of the Family enter the room as Matthias is about to sentence Robert] 

  Matthias : He has confessed all, brothers: murder, use of forbidden tools, practice of prescribed rights, emit science, medicine, weapons, machinery, electricity. He has not shared the punishment. He does not bear the marks.

  Neville : Marks?

  Matthias : Show him, my children. Show him the pretty marks.

  [the members take off their sunglasses, revealing their albino, near-blind eyes] 

  Matthias : These are the marks, Mr. Neville. The punishment which you and those like you brought upon us. In the beginning, we tried to help one another, those that were left. We tried to clean things up, set things straight. We buried things and burned. Then it came to me and we were chosen. Chosen for just this work: To bury what was dead. To burn what was evil. To destroy what was dangerous.

  Neville : You're barbarians.

  Matthias : Barbarians? You call us barbarians? Well... it is an honorable name. We mean to cancel the world you civilized people made. We will simply erase history from the time that machinery and weapons threaten more than they offered. And when you die, the last living reminder of hell will be gone. Gone! Brother Zachary?

  Zachary : We are ready, brother.

• Matthias : You are discarded. You are the refuse of the past.

  Neville : You are full of crap!

• Matthias : Here is the instrument of cleansing, my brethren. And nothing quite cleanses like fire.

• Matthias : And, oh, brothers and sisters, I ask you to look at him. Does he have the marks? Do you see them?

  Followers : No.

  Matthias : You see him as we were before the punishment. Before we gained grace. You see lying there the last of scientists, of bankers, of businessmen. The users of the wheel.

  Followers : Yes.

  Matthias : Do we use the tools of the wheel as he does?

  Followers : No.

  Matthias : Is he of the Family?

  Followers , Zachary : No.

  Matthias : Is he of the sacred society?

  Followers : No.

  Matthias : Then what is he?

  Followers : Evil!

  Matthias : [stands up]  He is part of the dead. He has no place here. He has the stink of oil, maletrical circitry about him. He is obsolete.

  [Neville comes to] 

  Matthias : [points to him]  You are discarded. You are the refuse of the past!

  Neville : You're full of crap.

  Matthias : How hard it is to admit the truth. Take him to the little room... for the questioning.

• Matthias : Now we must build.

  Neville : Build coffins, that's all you'll need.

• [Matthias throws a spear at Neville, hitting him and leaving a big gash in his chest] 

  Matthias : The bad dream is over, friend Neville. Now we can sleep in peace.

  Neville : [raspy]  Lisa!

  Lisa : [weakly]  Robert, you're evil. I-I-I'm part of the Family, Robert. I'm sorry.

  Lisa : [drowsy]  The Family, Robert. Y - Uh... You don't understand. Oh... Robert...

• [at the deserted Dodger Stadium, Neville is tied up in an auto de fe and about to be burned at the stake] 

  Matthias : Here is evil.

  Followers : Evil. Evil.

  Matthias : Is this not the place where all the dead were burned?

  Followers : Yes.

  Matthias : [points to Neville]  And this is the last of the dead! And what shall we do with him, my brethren?

  Followers : Burn. Burn!

  Matthias : Yes, burn. *burn*!

• Matthias : We shall cleanse the world!

• Matthias : Take him to the little room... for questioning.