Soylent Green (1973)

Overall Rating From 1 to 100: 61

Directed by Richard Fleischer
Charlton Heston / Edward G. Robinson / Leigh Taylor-Young
97 min. Science Fiction / Thriller
MPAA: PG (but I might suggest PG-13, instead)

Review by Jason Pyles / March 27, 2007

You cannot profess to be a true science fiction film lover until you’ve seen “Soylent Green” (1973). And I mean that.

“Soylent Green” has a devious secret, much like “The Sixth Sense” (1999), “Boys Don’t Cry“ (1999) and “The Usual Suspects” (1995). Each of these four movies has something in common: Once you know the twist, the film almost isn’t worth watching a second time.

The year is 2022 and the Earth is grotesquely overpopulated. New York City’s population, alone, is 40 million. Pollution and the greenhouse effect have turned the planet into a miserable habitat, almost completely barren of plants and animals.

Food is no longer a luxury; it’s a problem. But the Soylent Company produces foodstuff wafers made from high-energy plankton: Soylent Yellow, Soylent Red, and everyone’s favorite, Soylent Green.

Tuesdays are “Soylent Green Day” in the street markets but only while supplies last. As soon as Soylent Green runs out, riots erupt. But the NYPD has ways of dealing with the countless rioters: Garbage-truck-like vehicles called “scoops” come along and fill their buckets with people, scooping them off the streets.

Truly, this sequence has to be one of the most memorable moments in film.

“Soylent Green” delivers its dread through an investigation. A New York policeman named Thorn (Charlton Heston) is investigating the murder of one of the rich, higher-ups in the Soylent Company. Thorn’s investigation leads him (and us) to unsavory revelations that neither he nor we will forget.

The first 45 minutes of the movie slowly drag along, but the bizarreness that follows is worth the lull. The movie is sexist (in-house prostitutes are called “female furniture”) and anti-government. Ah, the ‘70s.

“Soylent Green” was also Edward G. Robinson’s final performance, and a fine one it is.

My eccentric Uncle Butch recommended that I watch “Soylent Green,” years ago. Sadly, he worked for a nuclear power plant where real-life “scoops” came for him once after he was exposed to nuclear radiation. “They” came in the night wearing their bright yellow hazmat suits, dragged him from bed, buried his clothes, scrubbed him down and isolated him for quite a while — just like in the movies.

Uncle Butch never was the same after that. He would always say the words “it’s a” after he laughed. But I still thought he was cool ... he had three thumbs.

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
X Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don’t watch (1-29)

Copyright 2007.
JP0030 : 390