Soylent Green (1973)

Soylent Green
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Written by Stanley R. Greenberg from a novel by Harry Harrison
1973/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Det. Thorn: I know, Sol, you’ve told me a hundred times before. People were better, the world was better…
Sol: Ah, people were always lousy… But there was a world, once.

Golden-age director Richard Fleischer delivers a solid dystopian sci-fi classic.

The year is 2022.  The place is New York City, pop. 40 million.  Most people appear to be homeless and sleep crammed together like sardines anywhere they can.  Pollution and overpopulation have destroyed Mother Nature.  Fresh food of any kind is a scarce, super expensive luxury.  The masses survive on synthetic food – namely, Soylents Red, Yellow, and Green.

Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) and his “book” Sol (Edward G. Robinson) investigate the murder of William R. Samuelson (Joseph Cotten), a very rich man who lives with gorgeous “furniture” Leigh Taylor-Young.  “Furniture” describes an attractive young woman who comes with an apartment and is there to fulfill every desire of the occupant.

Once Sol’s research finds that Samuelson was a Member of the Board of Soylent, Inc., the game is on.  Thorn’s investigations take us out to the dystopian world of the masses.  I’m sure all my readers know the big reveal but I’m not going to be the one to spoil it.  With Chuck Connors as Samuelsons’s body guard.

I’m not a big fan of Charlton Heston but he did OK.  Some of the special effects and crowd scenes are fantastic.  But the real joy of the movie for me was seeing Edward G. Robinson in his final performance in a career that had started in 1916.  He brought class and passion to all his parts.  If the subject matter sounds intriguing, I would go for it.