Soylent Green (1973)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Soylent Green starring Charleston Heston is a very good action science fiction film, although slightly dated in my opinion. Charleston Heston plays a non-stoic character for once- he plays a detective in a crime ridden overpopulated New York City of 2022, and lives with an older man and they spend their hours talking nostalgically of the past. A company called Soylent Corporations processes a food product from the Oceans called Soylent Green which is nutritious plankton but in short supply. When a board member of this company is killed Heston goes on an investigative journey which concludes with one of the most shocking endings of all time. This is a good film to watch from the early 70s.

I'm going to tell you why I gave this movie a 9. I contemplated a 10, even though there are other superior science fiction films. Soylent Green hasn't aged well and its depicted technology was an anachronism for the year 2022. The book and the movie did not attempt to depict what technology could have been in the year 2022 because that wasn't the point of the movie. The movie was an environmental warning. I gave this movie a 9 because every pre-teen in America should be made to watch this movie. I believe watching Soylent Green makes a young person possibly more responsible for the environment and far more appreciative of the food his or her parents work so hard to put on the table. As a result of watching Soylent Green as a young teenager, I now appreciate all food served to me, whether by my mother, friends, or purchased. I could go to a friend's house and be served the toughest cow meat by the mother and I would relish it as if it were filet mignon. Soylent Green makes one appreciate the real, delicious food we take for granted in our lives. Everyone knows what Soylent Green is about. It's a national movie icon so I'm not giving away anything that nobody knows. Everyone knows without spoilers that the movie is about everyone having to eat mass-produced, synthesized food squares. Now I won't go further into the story. Other people have already done it. In this dystopian future, only the very wealthy can afford real food. Most Americans under age 35 have never eaten real meat. The scene where the local food grocer shows Shirl and her bodyguard a rare slice of raw, uncooked steak will make a lasting impression on your mind. You'll never forget it. You will become hungry watching this movie. You will come away from this movie as a nouveau-environmentalist. You will NOT waste food again. You will be less picky and less finicky about your food. You will be far more appreciative of the good fortune today to eat real food and meat everyday upon demand. In short, SOYLENT GREEN has the capability to make everyone who watches it a more responsible, more ethical citizen.

My mind boggles that so many people have rated this a 10. Stupid story, bad acting, incredibly corny, with terrible production quality and very dated. So many 70's movie cliches.

Nowadays, it's easy to suspect governments and big corporations of just about any nefarious doings. And there's a sinister plot afoot here to deal with an Earth of a future year (2022, just five years away in reality), where the "greenhouse effect" and over population have turned the planet into a portrait of Hell. For example, the opening text tells us that there are 40,000,000 people in NYC alone. A hard-driving NYPD detective, Thorn (Charlton Heston), stumbles onto something big when he investigates the murder of Simonson (Joseph Cotten), a corporation bigwig.Partly because this movie has been in the public consciousness for so long, it's hard to imagine many people not knowing what the story's big reveal is. You of course won't hear it from this viewer, but it's not hard to figure out. Still, the plot constructed by novelist Harry Harrison (originally titled "Make Room! Make Room!") is intriguing enough to pull you in, and keep you entertained. It might not be quite meaty or involved enough for some "tastes", mind you. Part of Thorn discovering the big secret involves our wrongdoers not seeming to go to great lengths to keep it hidden.One of the most impressive marvels is the use of extras, as MGM and director Richard Fleischer (of the classic Disney adaptation of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea") give us an amazing depiction of overcrowding. For instance, every day, on his way to work, Thorn has to clamber over dozens of bodies filling the corridors and stairways of his run down building. Excellent use is made of classical music, both pre-existing and new stuff composed by Fred Myrow ("Phantasm").The cast is full of reliable, familiar actors: Chuck Connors, Brock Peters, Paula Kelly, Stephen Young, Mike Henry, Lincoln Kilpatrick, Roy Jenson, Leonard Stone, Whit Bissell, Celia Lovsky, Dick Van Patten. Leigh Taylor-Young is beautiful and endearing as Shirl, a young woman living in a future where a young woman can be referred to as "furniture" and simply come with an apartment. Heston is solid as usual, but "Soylent Green" really belongs to the wonderful Edward G. Robinson, around 80 years old at the time and making his 101st feature film appearance. Sadly, it would turn out to be his last, making his final scenes even more poignant and powerful.This is definitely striking entertainment, even more when one considers the ending.Eight out of 10.