# Soylent Green (1973)



## Dave (Mar 23, 2001)

Soylent Green (1973) 97 minutes

http://uk.imdb.com/Title?0070723

Directed by Richard Fleischer  

Writing credits Harry Harrison (novel Make room, make room)
Stanley R. Greenberg  
http://ascifi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3257

Charlton Heston  Police Detective Thorn  
Leigh Taylor-Young   Shirl  
Chuck Connors   Tab Fielding  
Joseph Cotten   William R. Simonson  
Brock Peters   Lt. Hatcher Chief of Detectives  
Paula Kelly   Martha Phillips  
Edward G. Robinson   Sol Roth  

I've already written a plot summary for the book, but there are more here:
http://uk.imdb.com/Plot?0070723

I like this book, the film changed the ending, but it had to update it somehow (it was set in 1999). The problems it looks at are still with us.

After watching the recent news regarding President George W. Bush and his view of the Kyoto Accords maybe he should watch it.

There is an excellent review of this film here:

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue55/classic.html


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## A_A (Jan 31, 2003)

*Soylent Green*

anyone here of this movie its pretty good


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## Dave (Feb 1, 2003)

AA I've merged your thread with my existing one. I like the film, I like the exchanges between Edward G Robinson and Charlton Heston, but I liked the book better, and they aren't the same.

I think some of the things have already come true, so the images are no longer as shocking as they were in 1973.


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## Foxbat (Aug 8, 2003)

*Soylent Green*

Well. I've just acquired and watched this film on DVD and I'd forgotten how much I love it (and how much we still have to learn from works like this). Now I'm awaiting the arrival of The Omega Man ( okay, I know it's not a patch on the book but it still has its moments). It's plain to see that good ol' Chuck Heston was THE man of the moment where 70's Sci-Fi was concerned. 
Just thought I'd share that with the world  ;D


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## snlash (Aug 20, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

ooo I have always wanted to see that movie!!!!  I have never gotten a chance to see it, but I have heard a lot about it.  It seems like the kind of movie I would like, but it has never been ran on cable here where I live, and none of the local rental stores carry it   Hopefully someday I can watch it...it seems like too much of a classic to miss it.


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## GnomeoftheWest (Aug 20, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

Yes, great film......I'll credit the director Richard Fliescher over Chuck though.


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## Foxbat (Aug 20, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

What amazed me was the fact that it was made around '71 or 72 but talked about the Greenhouse effect. Many of us have been led to believe that this is a relatively new concept. It's not.

On the subject of Chuck..yes, I admit it, I'm a big fan...and you're probably right about Fleischer


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## nemesis (Aug 21, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

The Greenhouse effect was born in the 1970s. It was believed to cause a future global cooling. It changed to warming in the 1980s.


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## mac1 (Sep 9, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

Great film, and the ending is beautiful!

I may be wrong (I'm working from memory) but I think the film was made in 1973.


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## littlemissattitude (Sep 9, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

You are absolutely correct.  "Soylent Green" was released in 1973, according to _Leonard Maltin's 2003 Movie & Video Guide_.

Good movie.  It was also Edward G. Robinson's final film, which lends his death scene a certain poignancy.


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## mac1 (Sep 9, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

Indeed it does. I didn't know that actually.

On a completely different note - It's amazing how many times the film has been referenced in modern day TV, and everyone gets the references, yet very few seem to have actually seen the film. Odd.


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## littlemissattitude (Sep 10, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

Well, I assume that it's on video.  However, I don't believe that it's on television all that often - maybe I just don't get the right cable stations?  I remember seeing it in the theatre when it was first released - well, that dates me, doesn't it?


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## mac1 (Sep 10, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

BBC2 aired it about 7 or 8 years ago, other than that British TV doesn't seem to air it either. It is on KaZaA if any of you have Broadband though.


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## littlemissattitude (Sep 10, 2003)

*Re:Soylent Green*

I imagine television tends to shy away from showing it because of its subject matter.  And I don't just mean where they were getting the food from.  There are several themes in the film that are still quite controversial today, not the least of which is the subject of assisted suicide.


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## tangaloomababe (Jul 17, 2007)

I hadn't seen this movie for years and came accross a copy in a DVD store a few days ago. I had to buy it, I loved this movie, or thought I did, time makes our minds a little hazy.

Anyway I still enjoyed it, Charlton Heston (Thorn) was still good, his acceptance of the world as it is and not to expect to much more, but more worry about what might be taken away. He does it well. I particuarly like in his role as a police officer that he has ransacks the wealthy deceased guys home, collecting up stuff in a pillow case, taking advantage of the "furniture". I love his dash through the Soylent Factory reaching the inevitable realization.

Edward G Robinson as the book is also wonderful. I particuarly love when Thorn brings home the spoils and presents them to the book finally showing him the beef, where he breaks down in tears.

BUT... I hate Rifleman Chuck Connors, who thought they could take him away from his horse and rifle must have been a lunatic. He is truly terrible, utterly unconvincing as a bad guy.

Now I am wondering could we make this movie again, who could play the roles , My money is back on Clive Owen for Charlton Heston's Thorn. He has that element of not so nice guy in him, if you have ever seen him in *Closer,* he can play the *"not so nice guy"* very convincingly. But we need a good bad guy and I can't think of any.

Need Help!


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## unclejack (Jul 17, 2007)

Yeah, I just watched Soylent Green like three weeks ago for the first time and I loved it. And I agree, Heston and the guy that plays his roommate as well are both great in the film. Their reactions to society as it is in the film and their efforts to deal with it are very human and I think add a very real feeling to the movie. As far as a sequel goes...well, I wasn't alive when this movie was made so I can't say with any degree of accuracy as to how popular it was at that time and how much of a hit it was but I know that I had never even heard of the movie until a couple of years ago. That being said, I don't know how probable it is that there would be a sequel because let's face it, it is very rare that people of my generation (I"m 30) and especially people younger than me actually take an interest in classic movies that go that far back. There are so many people that just go for the big blockbuster hits and ignore the classics that I don't know how marketable a sequel to Soylent Green would be but I know I would watch it if they did make it.


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## Snowdog (Jul 24, 2007)

I don't think they can make these kind of films anymore. How old was Heston when he did this? Far older than most leading men are allowed to be nowadays. Also, the perceived need to incorporate huge stunts and action sequences would ruin the film. My feelings towards remakes are: could the original be bettered, and, is there something more to say? If the answer to these questions is 'no' then it's just an exercise in making money and the result is almost always inferior to the original.

The thing I always remember about this fim, apart from "Soylent Green is people!", is the euthanasia centre Edward G Robinson goes to when he's had enough. Apart from the use they put put their customer's remains to, I always thought that this was a highly civilised way to end one's life when one was tired of it.


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## unclejack (Jul 24, 2007)

I really don't think that the increasingly high standards in movie making in regards to stunts and special effects make it impossible to make a sequel to any particular movie but I will say that I think it makes it harder to make a movie that doesn't meet those standards that will be marketable to people particularly the younger generation. People have come to expect to be wowed and blown away by stunts, action and special effects and most people have either forgotten or never knew what things like drama and character development are apart from those things. But nevertheless I stand by my original statement that a sequel to Soylent Green will never happen because I don't think most people have even heard of it so there wouldn't be many people who would go see it. There's always the possiblity for a remake....and believe me, I say that with no fondness for the idea. I'm tired of remakes, I think original ideas are dropping like flies and all hollywood knows how to do anymore is to remake great movies with bigger special effects and stunts ultimately tarnishing the memory of the original. Case in point, the omen remake, the body snatchers remake (the second remake) soon to come to theaters, the psycho remake, and many others.


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## Foxbat (Jul 24, 2007)

This is indeed a fine film but I think it should be left alone. There are just too many remakes nowadays. 

Incidentally, this was Edward G. Robinson's 101st and last film. He died not long after it was released. He was a fine actor and there are not many as good as him around today.


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## Snowdog (Jul 24, 2007)

There are still some fine actors who learnt their trade the hard way and are now themselves quite old, like Tommy Lee Jones and James Woods, Christopher Walken - that generation. It's the new crop I have problems with, who are picked for their looks rather than their ability. Some can still surprise you but if they turn in a good performance it's the exception rather than the rule.

But, as been noted, most films today don't require actors to be that good.


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## tangaloomababe (Jul 24, 2007)

Jack I have to agree, I wouldn't like to see a remake of Soylent Green, although I am surprised that we havn't.  It seems to be the norm to do remakes or sequel followed by another sequel, for example the  Terminator series, which should have stopped at two.  
Sadly Chuck's other good sci films from 1968 ( hard to believe it is that old now)  Planet of The Apes was followed by so many bad sequels and a remake and a series, yet the original film stands above all of them.

I have read Charlton Heston's The Actors Life and he mentions the following of Edward G Robinson.

_The film is very good, not the least because of Eddie Robinson's superb performance.  He knew while we were shooting, though we did not, that he was terminally ill. He never missed an hour of work, nor was late for a call.  He was never less than the consummate professional he had been his whole life.  I am still haunted, though, by the knowledge that the very last scene he played in the picture, which he knew was the last's days' acting he would ever do, was his death scene.  I know now why I was so overwhelmingly moved playing it with him._


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## unclejack (Jul 24, 2007)

I agree completely about terminator. I posted something on the terminator board saying that they shouldn't have made a third movie because they destroyed cyberdyne, the terminator and the chip and the end of the second one thus stopping judgment day. But because they wanted more money they went ahead and corrupted the memory of the second movie. Although i watched it, I never agreed with the whole premise and the only explanation we were given as to why judgment day was still going to happen was just a carte blanche, "Judgment day can never be prevented" statement made by the terminator. If that's the case then why did everyone risk their lives at the end of the second one trying to blow up that building? I also didn't agree with them making another men in black movie. It had a great ending with Tommy Lee Jones ending up with his wife again, but they started the second movie off with the premise that he had gotten divorced. I think hollywood fails to remember that the drama and the characters in certain movies are very important to people and it is a very natural feeling to take that personally when they go back and crap all over that just so they can make a few more bucks.


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## Foxbat (Jul 25, 2007)

I think it's important to keep in mind that decisions to do sequels or remakes are rarely taken for artistic reasons.


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## jenna (Jul 25, 2007)

I love this movie! I was fortunate enough that when I saw it I had never heard that Soylent Green is people, so I got to watch it without being spoiled. (I also managed to get to the Sixth Sense being released on DVD without hearing that Bruce Willis was dead!) I love weird old sci-fi like this, it was such a golden age for sci-fi movies...


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## Foxbat (Jul 25, 2007)

> I love this movie! I was fortunate enough that when I saw it I had never heard that Soylent Green is people, so I got to watch it without being spoiled.


 
Me too. It makes such a difference to find out for yourself and makes the movie that bit more special. Where Sixth Sense was concerned, folk kept saying _you'll never guess what's really going on. _Unfortunately I did



> I love weird old sci-fi like this, it was such a golden age for sci-fi movies...


 
Another movie from around the same time as Soylent Green with Chuck in the lead role was _The Omega Man_ - heavily flawed but still worth a watch.....it also had a very nice soundtrack


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## unclejack (Jul 25, 2007)

I actually already knew the secret to Soylent Green when I watched it but I like it anyway. Also, I really enjoyed the soundtrack to the movie. In the opening of the movie when they are showing that montage of photos that breifly explains or at least indicates that something happened to the future of society and that musical score is playing, i actually think it goes really well with the movie. When I first watched it it kinda took me by surprise because the score didn't make the movie feel like a science fiction film, it was more touching and emotional than anything else. But after I watched the movie I saw that the music does go well with the movie because it does have a sad side to it and it's not all about action and suspense but it is about the tragedy of a broken society and people's effort to deal with it.


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## Steve Jordan (Jul 27, 2007)

I almost hate to say it, but I _could_ see a remake of _Soylent Green_.  It was a fantastic film for its day (I remember seeing it on TV not long after it left theatres), but let's face it, it is somewhat dated now.  However, the message is just as potent and important, and it could be updated for modern audiences.

That said, I have little confidence that Hollywood could do such a remake... they are too stunt-and-explosion-happy for such a film, it would come off too much like _Bourne Identity_ or something!


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## Foxbat (Jul 28, 2007)

One thing I do remember of watching Soylent Green - it was the very first time I heard the phrase _'Global Warming'_......or maybe it was '_Greenhouse Effect_'. It was so long ago I really can't be sure - certainly one or the other. 

Time to watch it again methinks


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