SOYLENT
GREEN (1973)Director: Richard Fleischer
Warner Bros.
SOYLENT
GREEN (1973)A thought-provoking MGM-produced
science fiction film, SOYLENT GREEN relies on a particularly bleak vision of
the future as its setting, rather than the usual heavy special effects. Based
on Harry Harrison's environmentally conscious novel Make Room! Make Room!,
the film has become something of a cultural icon (with a very quotable climatic
catch phrase), being spoofed on such shows as "Saturday Night Live"
and "The Simpsons," and it has been referenced numerously elsewhere.
SOYLENT GREEN also marked the finale of a series of sci-fi films (PLANET OF
THE APES, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, THE OMEGA MAN) that featured good
ol' Charlton Heston as a post-apocalyptic action hero.
Set in New York, 2022 (at the present, not to far from now!) where the population has exploded to 40 million and the denizens are living on top of each other. The city is always steaming hot, and only a select few rich live in luxury apartments with air conditioning, natural food, and other conveniences once taken for granted. Most of the population survive on food sources distributed by the government in the form of cracker-size colored chips--Soylent red, yellow and green. But these Soylent products are in short supply, and riot police in football helmets are always on patrol when they are distributed as the crowds lose control when the supplies run out--and sometimes have to be scooped up with bulldozers! With only one food source most people in the film do not have healthy diets. A supplement like Diet Spotlight might have helped them instead of only eating soylent green.
Police
Detective Thorn (Heston) is investigating the murder of Simonson (Joseph Cotten),
who was an official from the Soylent corporation. Thorn becomes romantically
involved with Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young), a beautiful girl who is known as "furniture,"
and came with Simonson's apartment. Thorn believes Simonson's murder was actually
an assassination rather than a simple burglary, and as he delves more into his
investigation and gets closer to the explanation behind Simonson's murder, he
himself becomes the target of assassins as he soon uncovers a shocking cover-up.
Truth of the matter is, SOYLENT
GREEN holds up as a very entertaining film. Of course, anything made about the
future made in the early 70s is going to suffer somewhat from being dated today,
and it does have its share of 
flaws.
But SOYLENT GREEN is classic science fiction, with an interesting and ever-relevant
story emphasizing corruption and a society letting itself go, sharp direction
by veteran Fleischer, and an excellent cast of Hollywood character actors (including
Chuck Connors, Brock Peters, Paul Kelly, Lincoln Kilpatrick, Mike Henry, Whit
Bissel, etc.). Heston is terrific as the basically good cop searching for truth
while attempting to indulge in the scarce better things in life, namely booze,
real food, and "furniture." The standout performance by far is Edward
G. Robinson in his last film role, as Sol, Thorn's roommate and best friend.
Robinson brings a real human quality to the part, as an old man raving about
how wonderful the world once was, saddened by the thought of the present, but
beaming in recollection of the good old days. The scenes he and Heston share
are priceless, and their camaraderie is undeniable.
Another
long-awaited DVD, Warner Bros. presents SOYLENT GREEN with spectacular results.
Although the letterboxed version often showed up on cable TV and was available
on laserdisc, this new DVD transfer is a vast improvement, cleaning up previously
evident print damage and enhancing the picture. Now looking pristine (a few
sequences are shot with a special filtering process to resemble smog, so that's
not film dirt, they're supposed to look that way), the film is letterboxed in
its 2:35.1 aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement. The transfer is sharp with
excellent detail, and colors are always strong and distinguished-looking. The
audio presents the film's original mono language track, and it plays very clear
with no noticeable background hiss or other defects. A French language track
is also included, as are optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish.
Very worthy of the feature itself
is a running commentary with director Richard Fleischer and star Leigh Taylor-Young.
The commentary is pretty solid, with Fleischer being sharp as a tack in his
memory of making it, describing details of different scenes and how he executed
his direction. One of the best stories is the fact that a precious scene where
Heston and Robinson feast on a meal of rare foods was totally improvised, shot
silent, and not even in the script. Robinson was also quite deaf at the time,
so Fleischer has an amusing remembrance where 
the
actor just kept walking off the set since he couldn't hear him yell "cut."
Leigh Taylor-Young also has a lot of good things to say about her character
and her mutual admiration Fleischer, and he funniest anecdote is about a shower
scene she shared with Heston. A great, thorough commentary.
A featurette/documentary called "A Look At The World Of Soylent Green" is also included, and this was produced at the time of the film and has a lot of good behind-the-scenes footage of Fleischer directing a crowd scene and staging a fight. "MGM's Tribute To Edward G. Robinson's 101st Film" contains footage of Heston with Robinson, who is being toasted at a Hollywood party by his peers during the making of SOYLENT GREEN. Watch for George Burns greeting the two stars as they enjoy champagne and cut some white-frosted cake! The disc also includes a brief text rundown of Heston's sci-films of the 60s and 70s, the original trailer ("What is the secret of Soylent Green?"), and a cast and crew listing. (George R. Reis)