Product Description

The is the year 2022. Overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion have reduced society's leaders to finding food for the teeming masses. The answer is Soylent Green -- an artificial nourishment whose actual ingredients are not known by the public. Thorn is the tough homicide detective who stumbles onto the secret so terrifying no one would dare believe him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17757 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-08-05
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.com
Charlton Heston seemed fond of starring in apocalyptic science-fiction films in the late 1960s and early '70s. There was Planet of the Apes, of course, and The Omega Man. But there was also 1973's Soylent Green, a strange detective film (based on Harry Harrison's Make Room! Make Room!) set in 2022 and starring Heston as a Manhattan cop trying to solve a murder in the overpopulated, overheated city. His roommate (a necessity in the overcrowded metropolis), played by Edward G. Robinson, tries telling him about a better time on Earth before there were no more resources or room left; but Heston doesn't care. Directed by Richard Fleischer (The Vikings), the film has a curious but largely successful mix of mystery and bleak futuristic vision, somewhat like Blade Runner but without the extraordinary art direction. This was Robinson's last film and he's easily the best thing about it; his final scene seems terribly appropriate in retrospect. Joseph Cotten makes an appearance as the man whose murder results in the revelation of a shocking secret. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

One of the all-time Top 100 Films
Soylent Green (Richard Fleischer, 1973)

So what's the difference between schlock and one of the 100 best films ever made? Sometimes, I'll admit, it's a pretty blurry line. That's the case with this gem from the Richard Fleischer stable, a tale of a New York City with a population of forty million and a food supply that comes in little squares of red, yellow, and green.

Thorn (Heston) chews scenery. Roth (Edward G. Robinson) spends his life moaning about how things were better in the seventies. (If only they knew.) The two of them try to get through their lives scavenging from the rich, like everyone else in New York. They have an edge, with Thorn being a cop who treats corruption like a confortable pair of undershorts. A high society murder tips Thorn off that all may not be well with Soylent, the company that makes the majority of the world's food supply, and Thorn and Roth start digging deeper deapite warnings from the victim's old bodyguard (Stephen Young) and Thorn's lieutanant (Brock Peters). The production values are strictly seventies, and it's great to poke fun at various things in the film ("my god, it's 2022 and they're still listening to bad lounge music?"). And yet there's something undefinable about this film that propels it from the realm of bad seventies science-fiction exploitation into the realm of true genius. What that thing is, I don't know; when I figure it out, I'll tell you. But something clicked. Heston's patented god-guns-and-guts character is perfect for the role. Robinson actually looks convincing salivating over a stick of celery. And somehow the movie's last lines are delivered convincingly. It's incredible. Whatever magic they managed to make with this one, Hollywood needs to make more of it. **** 1/2

A great film beautifully restored
The DVD release of this great Charlton Heston classic is a marvel to behold. It's in widescreen format and all the TV/VHS fog is gone, gone, gone; the images and sounds are as clear and crisp as the dawning day.

This film deserves such treatment. Along with _Planet of the Apes_ and _The Omega Man_, it's part of Heston's series of three 'last man' films, and it's much better than _The Omega Man_. (As movie buffs know, it's also the touching final film appearance of the late Edward G. Robinson.)

A classic in its genre, this film is based on Harry Harrison's 'Make Room! Make Room!' and is a somewhat heavy-handed morality play on the subject of Malthusian population dynamics. It's amazing that it works as well as it does. But it really does work; this is one of the all-time greats of SF filmdom, right up to and including its famous closing moments.

Put this on your shelf next to Heston's _Planet of the Apes_.

A Terrifyingly Real Tale of Ecological Disaster
I recently caught this film on television, and though I already knew the surprise behind the film's surprise ending (I won't spoil it for possible first-time viewers) the film's high-concept science-fiction caught me. This movie takes place in a latter-day twenty-first century not far-removed from our own: the environemnt is dying, the world is heating up and the oceans are falling apart. The world is devastatingly poor, overpopulated and food is running out. Heston, as a policeman named Thorn, is called in to investigate a high-profile murder and ends up uncovering more than he had bargained for. If you're looking for some excellent drama mixed with message-based sci-fi (along the lines of The Omega Man), then Soylent Green is for you! (Note: Watch for a great performance by veteran actor Edward G. Robinson as Solomon Roth, Thorn's mentor). Check it our and enjoy!