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⚫ {{Short description|1973 film by Richard Fleischer}}
{{About|the film|the American metal band|Soilent Green|the German punk band|Soilent Grün|The song by :wumpscut:|Music for a Slaughtering Tribe}}
{{other uses}}
<!-- Because of the wide use of "'''Soylent Green'''" in popular culture, the section "Cultural impact" was created as a "catch-all" of the cultural references to the film and its famous final line; very few specific references should be added; otherwise it will become a long, unmanageable list. Please do NOT add specific references to television shows/films/books/video games/etc. which make minor mention of the movie or its famous "tagline", except for the most well-known, notable examples... Thanks. -->
{{distinguish|Soilent Green}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox film {{Infobox film
| name = Soylent Green | name = Soylent Green
| image = Soylent green.jpg | image = Soylent green.jpg
| caption = theatrical release poster by John Solie | caption = Theatrical release poster by John Solie
| director = ] | director = ]
| producer = ]<br />Russell Thacher | producer = ]<br/>]
| based on = '']''&nbsp;by {{nowrap|]}} | based_on = {{based on|'']''|]}}
| screenplay = Stanley R. Greenberg | screenplay = ]
| starring = ]<br />]<br />] | starring = ]<br/>]<br/>]<br/>]<br/>]<br/>]<br/>]
| music = Fred Myrow | music = ]
| cinematography = ] | cinematography = ]
| editing = Samuel E. Beetley | editing = ]
| distributor = ] | distributor = ]
| released = {{Film date|1973|4|19}} | released = {{Film date|1973|4|19|US}}
| runtime = 97 minutes | runtime = 97 minutes
| country = United States | country = United States
| language = English | language = English
| budget = | budget =
| gross = $3,600,000 <small>(rentals)</small><ref>"Big Rental Films of 1973", '']'', 9 January 1974 p 19</ref> | gross = $3.6 million (rentals)<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Big Rental Films of 1973|magazine=] |date=January 9, 1974|page=19}}</ref>
}} }}
'''''Soylent Green''''' is a 1973 American ]n ] directed by ], and starring ], ], and ] in his final film role. It is loosely based on the 1966 science-fiction novel '']'' by ], with a plot that combines elements of ] and a ]. The story follows a murder investigation in a dystopian future of dying oceans and year-round ] caused by the ], with the resulting ], ], ], and ].<ref name="Shirley 2007">{{cite web |last=Shirley|first=John |authorlink=John Shirley |title=Soylent Green: An Appreciation 34 Years Too Late |website=Locus Online |date=September 23, 2007 |url=http://www.locusmag.com/2007/Shirley_SoylentGreen.html |access-date=November 17, 2016}}</ref><ref name="full archive">{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/soylent-green-1973_20210310 |website=archive.org |access-date=16 October 2023 |title=Soylent Green ( 1973) |quote=Topic Soylent Green, Richard Fleisher, 1973, Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Harry Harrison, Stanley R. Greenberg |date=2021-03-10 |publisher=Internet Archive Digital Library}}. Full film free download. 1h 36m 48s.</ref>
'''''Soylent Green''''' is a 1973 American ] directed by ] and starring ] and, in his final film, ]. The film overlays the ] and ] genres as it depicts the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a ]n future suffering from ], ], depleted resources, ], dying oceans, and a ] due to the ]. Much of the population survives on processed food rations, including "soylent green".


The film, which is loosely based upon the 1966 science fiction novel '']'', by ], won the ] for Best Dramatic Presentation and the ] for Best Science Fiction Film in 1973. The film was released on April 19, 1973 by ], and received mostly favorable reviews from critics, while earning $3.6 million at the box office. In 1973, it won the ] for Best Dramatic Presentation and the ].


==Plot== ==Plot==
By 2022,<ref name="Kooser 2022">{{cite web | last=Kooser | first=Amanda | title=Soylent Green predicted 2022 as a dystopian hellscape. Did the movie get it right? | website=] | date=January 13, 2022 | url=https://www.cnet.com/news/soylent-green-predicted-a-grim-2022-what-did-the-dystopian-movie-get-right/ | access-date=January 17, 2022}}</ref> the cumulative effects of ], ], and ] have caused ], leading to severe worldwide shortages of ], ], and ], bringing human civilization to the brink of collapse.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Avenging nature: the role of nature in modern and contemporary art and literature |date=2020 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-1-7936-2144-3 |editor-last=Valls Oyarzun |editor-first=Eduardo |series=Ecocritical theory and practice |location=Lanham Boulder NewYork London |chapter=17 |editor-last2=Gualberto Valverde |editor-first2=Rebeca |editor-last3=Malla García |editor-first3=Noelia |editor-last4=Colom Jiménez |editor-first4=María |editor-last5=Cordero Sánchez |editor-first5=Rebeca}}</ref> New York City has a population of 40 million, and only the ] can afford spacious apartments, clean water, and natural food in walled-off communities patrolled by armed guards. Their homes are fortified, with moats, security systems, and bodyguards for their tenants. Usually, they include ] (who are referred to as "furniture" and have no ] and are passed from one apartment owner to the next). Meanwhile, the majority live in squalor, haul water from communal spigots, and eat highly processed food wafers made by the Soylent Corporation — a large food processing firm. Their mainstay products, Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow, are a staple food, and the latest product, a new, more nutritious, and flavorful wafer derived from ], Soylent Green, is introduced to the populace.
In 2022, with 40 million people in ] alone, housing is dilapidated and overcrowded; homeless people fill the streets and food is scarce; and most of the population survives on ] produced by the Soylent Corporation, whose newest product is Soylent Green, a green wafer advertised to contain "high-energy ]", more nutritious and palatable than its predecessors "Red" and "Yellow", but in short supply.


] Detective Robert Thorn lives in a cramped apartment with his aged co-worker and friend Sol Roth, a brilliant former college professor and police researcher (referred to as a "Book"), who helps him with his cases. Thorn is called to investigate the murder of the wealthy and influential William R. Simonson, a member of the Soylent Corporation's board, which he suspects was an assassination. With the help of Simonson's concubine Shirl, his investigation leads to a priest whom Simonson had visited shortly before his death. Because of the sanctity of the confessional, the visibly exhausted priest can only hint to Thorn at the contents of the confession. Soon after, the priest is murdered in the confessional by Fielding, Simonson's former bodyguard. Under the direction of Governor Henry C. Santini, Thorn's superiors order him to end the investigation. Still, he continues, fearing losing his job if he files a false report. He soon becomes aware that an unknown stalker is following him. As Thorn tries to control a violent mob during a Soylent Green shortage riot, he is attacked by the assassin who killed Simonson. The killer shoots three times at Thorn but misses, accidentally striking several innocent bystanders in the crowd. Thorn manages to locate the killer and throw him to the ground. The killer shoots Thorn in the leg before being crushed by the hydraulic shovel of a police riot-control vehicle, which continually scoops up shovelfuls of people in the crowd and swivels to dump them for disposal.
] detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) lives with his aged friend Solomon "Sol" Roth (Edward G. Robinson), a former scholar who helps Thorn's investigations. While investigating the murder of William R. Simonson, a director of the Soylent Corporation, Thorn questions Shirl, a ] (referred to as "furniture"), and Tab Fielding, Simonson's bodyguard, who, when the murder took place, was escorting Shirl to a store selling meat "under the counter" for Simonson.


In researching the case for Thorn, Roth brings two volumes of the ''Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report, 2015–2019'', taken by Thorn from Simonson's apartment, to the team of other "Books" (former professors and judges turned researchers) at the "Supreme Exchange". The "Books" quickly conclude from the oceanographic reports that the oceans are dying and can not actually produce the plankton from which Soylent Green is allegedly made, thus revealing that the ingredients in Soylent Green are, in fact, ]. This information confirms to Roth that Simonson's murder was ordered by his fellow Soylent Corporation board members, who knew Simonson was increasingly troubled by this truth and feared he might disclose it to the public.
Thorn later gives Roth the ''Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report, 2015 to 2019'' found in Simonson's apartment. At the police station, Thorn tells his lieutenant (Hatcher) that he suspects an assassination: nothing was stolen from the apartment, its sophisticated alarm was not working for the first time in two years, and Simonson's bodyguard was conveniently absent. Continuing his investigation, Thorn visits Fielding's apartment and questions Fielding's concubine, Martha, helping himself to a teaspoon of strawberry jam, later identified by Roth as too great a luxury for the concubine of a bodyguard.


Shaken by the truth, Roth decides to "return to the home of God" and seeks ] at a government clinic. Thorn discovers this and rushes to stop him, but he arrives too late. Before dying, Roth whispers his discovery to Thorn, who is horrified. Thorn moves to uncover proof of crimes against humanity and to bring it to the attention of the Supreme Exchange so the case can be brought to the Council of Nations to take action.
Under questioning, Shirl reveals that Simonson became troubled in the days before his death. Thorn questions a Catholic priest Simonson had visited, but the priest at first fails to remember Simonson and is later unable to describe the confession. Fielding later murders the priest to silence him.


Thorn secretly boards a waste truck transporting human bodies from the euthanasia center to a waste-disposal plant, where he witnesses human corpses instead being processed and turned into Soylent Green. Thorn is discovered, but he escapes. As he returns to the Supreme Exchange, he is ambushed by Fielding and his men. Finding refuge in the church where Simonson confessed, Thorn kills his attackers but is seriously wounded in a gunfight. As paramedics tend to Thorn, he urges his commanding officer, Chief Hatcher, to spread the truth. Thorn shouts to the surrounding crowd, "Soylent Green is people!"
New York Governor Joseph Santini, once Simonson's partner in a high-profile law firm, orders the investigation closed, but Thorn disobeys and the Soylent Corporation dispatches Simonson's murderer to kill Thorn. He tracks Thorn to a ration-distribution where police officers are providing security. When the Soylent Green there is exhausted and the crowd riots, the assassin tries to kill Thorn during the confusion, but is crushed by a "scooper" riot-control vehicle.

Roth takes Soylent's ] reports to a like-minded group of researchers known as the Exchange, who agree that the oceans no longer produce the plankton from which Soylent Green is reputedly made, and infer that it must be made from human remains (as this is the only conceivable supply of ] that matches the known production). Unable to live with this discovery, Roth seeks ] at a government clinic called "Home".

Thorn rushes to stop him, but arrives too late, and is mesmerized by the ] process's visual and musical montage— a display of forests, wild animals, rivers, and ocean life, now extinct. Under the influence of a lethal drug, Roth tells Thorn his discovery and begs him to expose the truth. To this end, Thorn stows himself aboard a ] truck to the disposal-center, where he sees human corpses converted into Soylent Green. Returning to make his report, he is ambushed by Fielding and others.

He phones his precinct for backup but the precinct is engaged on a priority call. Thorn asks to be connected with Shirl, and to be "cut in" when the precinct is free. Thorn tells Shirl to stay with her apartment owner and Shirl tells Thorn she wants to live with him, but in no time the line is "cut in" and Thorn is connected to Hatcher. Thorn retreats into a cathedral filled with homeless people. In the ensuing fight, he kills Fielding but is seriously injured. When the police arrive, Thorn urges Hatcher to spread the word that "Soylent Green is people!"


==Cast== ==Cast==
{{div col}} {{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* ] as Thorn * ] as Robert Thorn
* ] as Shirl * ] as Shirl
* ] as Fielding * ] as Tab Fielding
* ] as Simonson * ] as Chief Hatcher
⚫ * ] as Martha Fielding
* ] as Hatcher
⚫ * ] as Solomon Roth
⚫ * ] as Martha
⚫ * ] as Sol Roth
* ] as Gilbert * ] as Gilbert
* ] as William R. Simonson
* ] as Kulozik * ] as Kulozik
* ] as the Priest * ] as The Priest
* ] as Donovan * ] as Donovan
* ] as Charles * ] as Charles
* ] as Santini * ] as Governor Henry C. Santini
* ] as the Exchange Leader * ] as the Exchange Leader
* ] as Usher #1 * ] as Usher #1
Line 62: Line 58:


==Production== ==Production==
], whose 1966 novel '']'' was adapted into ''Soylent Green'', had no creative control over the film and was of mixed opinion on the final product.]]
The screenplay was based on Harry Harrison's novel '']'' (1966), which is set in the year 1999 with the theme of overpopulation and overuse of resources leading to increasing poverty, food shortages, and social disorder. Harrison was contractually forbidden control over the screenplay and kept from knowing during negotiations that it was MGM buying the film rights.<ref name="tcm"/> He discussed the adaptation in ''Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies'' (1984, ISBN 0-385-19202-9; edited by ]),<ref name="tcm">{{cite web| title= Soylent Green (1973) | url= http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2061/Soylent-Green/articles.html | publisher= ]| author= Jeff Stafford| accessdate= 2011-06-12}}</ref> noting that the "murder and chase sequences the 'furniture' girls are not what the film is about &mdash; and are completely irrelevant" and answered his own rhetorical question "Am I pleased with the film? I would say fifty percent".<ref name="tcm"/> The screenplay was based on ]'s novel '']'' (1966), which was set in the year 1999 with the theme of overpopulation and overuse of resources leading to increasing poverty, ], and ]. Harrison was contractually denied control over the screenplay and was not told during negotiations that ] was buying the film rights.<ref name="tcm"/> He discussed the adaptation in ''Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies'' (1984), noting the "murder and chase sequences the 'furniture' girls are not what the film is about{{snd}} and are completely irrelevant" and answered his own question, "Am I pleased with the film? I would say 50 percent".<ref name="tcm">{{cite web |last=Stafford |first=Jeff |title=Soylent Green |url= https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/406/ |publisher= ] |date=July 28, 2003|access-date=June 12, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Peary|editor-first=Danny |editor-link=Danny Peary|title= Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies |url=https://archive.org/details/omnisscreenfligh00pear |year=1984|place=Garden City, NY|publisher= Doubleday|isbn=0-385-19202-9}}</ref>


While the book refers to "soylent steaks", it makes no reference to "Soylent Green", the processed food rations depicted in the film. The book's title was not used for the movie on grounds that it might have confused audiences into thinking it a big-screen version of '']''.<ref>{{cite web|author= Harry Harrison| url=http://www.iol.ie/~carrollm/hh/soycann.htm |title=A Cannibalised Novel Becomes ''Soylent Green'' |publisher=] |work=Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies| year= 1984 |accessdate=2009-09-07}}</ref> While the book refers to "soylent steaks" (made from ] and ]), it makes no reference to "Soylent Green", the processed ] depicted in the film. The book's title was not used for the movie on grounds that it might have confused audiences into thinking it was a big-screen version of '']''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Harrison|first=Harry | url=http://www.iol.ie/~carrollm/hh/soycann.htm |title=A Cannibalised Novel Becomes ''Soylent Green'' |publisher=] |work=Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies| year= 1984 |access-date=September 7, 2009}}</ref>


This was the 101st and last movie in which ] appeared; he died of ] twelve days after the filming, on January 26, 1973. Heston was the only member of the crew that Robinson told of his cancer (immediately before filming the scene of Robinson's character's death), knowing that this knowledge would deeply affect Heston, and therefore his playing of the scene.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} Robinson had previously worked with Heston in '']'' (1956) and the make-up tests for '']'' (1968). This was the 101st and final film in which ] appeared; he died of ] on January 26, 1973, two months after the completion of filming. In his book ''The Actor's Life: Journal 1956–1976'', Heston wrote, "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 to a call. He never was less than the consummate professional he had been all his life. I'm still haunted, though, by the knowledge that the very last scene he played in the picture, which he knew was the last day's acting he would ever do, was his death scene. I know why I was so overwhelmingly moved playing it with him".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Actor's Life: Journal 1956–1976|page=395|last=Heston |first=Charlton|authorlink=Charlton Heston|editor-last=Alpert|editor-first=Hollis |editor-link=Hollis Alpert|publisher=E. P. Dutton|year=1978|isbn=0-525-05030-2}}</ref> Robinson had previously worked with Heston in '']'' (1956) and the make-up tests for '']'' (1968).


The film's opening sequence, depicting America becoming more crowded with a series of archive photographs set to music, was created by filmmaker ]. The "going home" score in Roth's death scene was conducted by ] and consists of the main themes from ] ("Pathétique") by ], ] ("Pastoral") by ], and the '']'' ("]" and "Åse's Death") by ]. The film's opening sequence, depicting America becoming more crowded with a series of archive photographs set to music, was created by filmmaker ]. The "going home" score in Roth's death scene was conducted by ] and consists of the main themes from ] ("Pathétique") by ], ] ("Pastoral") by ] and ] ("]" and "Åse's Death") by ]. A custom cabinet unit of the early arcade game '']'' was used in ''Soylent Green'' and is considered the first appearance of a ] in a film.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Marty|last1=Goldberg|first2=Curt|last2=Vendel|year=2012|title=Atari Inc: Business Is Fun|publisher=Syzygy Press|page=45|isbn=978-0-9855974-0-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3FwGMtRafrAC&pg=PA45|access-date=May 16, 2018}}</ref>


==Critical response== ==Critical response==
] was praised by critics for his performance in ''Soylent Green'', which he completed filming 84 days before his death.]]
The film was released April 19, 1973.<ref name=nytreview /> '']'' called it "intermittently interesting"; they note that "Heston forsak his granite ] for once" and assert the film "will be most remembered for the last appearance of Edward G. Robinson.... In a rueful irony, his death scene, in which he is hygienically dispatched with the help of piped-in light ] and movies of rich fields flashed before him on a towering screen, is the best in the film."<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,907127,00.html | title= Cinema: Quick Cuts| date= April 30, 1973| publisher= ]| accessdate=2011-06-12}}</ref> '']'' critic A.H. Weiler wrote "''Soylent Green'' projects essentially simple, muscular ] a good deal more effectively than it does the potential of man's seemingly witless destruction of the ]'s resources"; Weiler concludes "Richard Fleischer's direction stresses action, not nuances of meaning or characterization. Mr. Robinson is pitiably natural as the realistic, sensitive oldster facing the futility of living in dying surroundings. But Mr. Heston is simply a rough cop chasing standard bad guys. Their 21st-century New York occasionally is frightening but it is rarely convincingly real."<ref name=nytreview>{{cite web| title= Soylent Green (1973) | url= http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D05EFDD1331EF34BC4851DFB2668388669EDE | date= April 20, 1973 | work= ]| author=A.H. Weiler| accessdate=2011-06-12}}</ref> The film was released on April 19, 1973, and met with mixed reactions from critics.<ref name="nytreview"/> '']'' called it "intermittently interesting", noting that "Heston forsak his granite ] for once" and asserting the film "will be most remembered for the last appearance of Edward G. Robinson.... In a rueful irony, his death scene, in which he is hygienically dispatched with the help of piped-in light classical music and movies of rich fields flashed before him on a towering screen, is the best in the film".<ref>{{cite magazine| url= http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907127,00.html | title= Cinema: Quick Cuts| date= April 30, 1973| magazine= ] |volume=101|issue=18 |access-date=June 12, 2011}}</ref> '']'' critic ] wrote, "''Soylent Green'' projects essentially simple, muscular ] a good deal more effectively than it does the potential of man's seemingly witless destruction of the Earth's resources"; Weiler concludes "Richard Fleischer's direction stresses action, not nuances of meaning or characterization. Mr. Robinson is pitiably natural as the realistic, sensitive oldster facing the futility of living in dying surroundings. But Mr. Heston is simply a rough cop chasing standard bad guys. Their 21st-century New York occasionally is frightening but it is rarely convincingly real".<ref name="nytreview">{{cite news |last=Weiler |first=A. H. |date=April 20, 1973 |title=Screen: 'Soylent Green' |work=] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/20/archives/screen-soylent-green.html |access-date=June 12, 2011 |authorlink=A. H. Weiler}}</ref>


] gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "a good, solid science-fiction movie, and a little more".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/soylent-green-1973 |title=Soylent Green |last=Ebert |first=Roger |authorlink=Roger Ebert |date=April 27, 1973 |website=] |access-date=December 10, 2018 }}</ref> ] gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "a silly detective yarn, full of juvenile Hollywood images. Wait 'til you see the giant snow shovel scoop the police use to round up rowdies. You may never stop laughing".<ref>{{cite news|last=Siskel|first=Gene |authorlink=Gene Siskel |date=May 1, 1973 |title=Scorpio & Soylent |work=] |page=Section 2, p. 5|no-pp=yes}}</ref> Arthur D. Murphy of '']'' wrote, "The somewhat plausible and proximate horrors in the story of 'Soylent Green' carry the Russell Thacher-Walter Seltzer production over its awkward spots to the status of a good futuristic ]".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Murphy|first=Arthur D.|date=April 18, 1973|title=Soylent Green |magazine=] |page=22}}</ref> ] of the '']'' called it "a clever, rough, modestly budgeted but imaginative work".<ref>{{cite news|last=Champlin|first=Charles|authorlink=Charles Champlin|date=April 18, 1973|title=Grim Future in 'Soylent Green'|work=]|page=Part IV, p. 1|no-pp=yes}}</ref> ] of '']'' was negative, writing, "This pompously prophetic thing of a film hasn't a brain in its beanbag. Where is ]? Where is the ]? Where is ]? Where are the ] poor, who would have suspected what was happening in a moment?"<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Gilliatt|first=Penelope |authorlink=Penelope Gilliatt|date=April 28, 1973 |title=The Current Cinema: Hungry? |magazine=]|page=131|url=http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1973-04-28#folio=131|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
As of August 2013, ''Soylent Green'' has a 71% rating on ], based on 34 reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/soylent_green/ |title=Soylent Green Movie Reviews, Pictures |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes| accessdate=2011-06-12}}</ref>


On ], the film has an approval rating of 71%, based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site's consensus states: "While admittedly melodramatic and uneven in spots, ''Soylent Green'' ultimately succeeds with its dark, plausible vision of a dystopian future."<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/soylent_green/ |title=Soylent Green (1973) |website= ] |access-date= June 9, 2024 }}</ref>
'''] Lists'''
*] - Nominated<ref></ref>
*]:
**"Soylent Green is people!" - #77
*] - Nominated Science Fiction Film<ref></ref>


==Home video== ==Awards and honors==
* '''Winner''' Best Science Fiction Film of Year – ], ] (Richard Fleischer, Walter Seltzer, Russell Thacher)
⚫ ''Soylent Green'' was released on ] by MGM/UA in 1992 (ISBN 0792813995, {{OCLC|31684584}}).<ref>{{cite web| title= Soylent green / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.| url=http://www.lib.muohio.edu/multifacet/record/mu3ugb4126214 | publisher= ] Libraries | accessdate=2011-06-12}}</ref> In November 2007, ] released the film on DVD concurrent with the DVD releases of two other sci-fi films; '']'' (1976) and '']'' (1981).<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.nysun.com/arts/future-is-then/67009/ |title= The Future Is Then |date= November 27, 2007| publisher= ] | accessdate=2011-06-12}}</ref> A ] release followed on March 29, 2011.
* '''Winner''' Grand Prize – ] (Richard Fleischer)
* '''Nominee''' Best Film of Year (Best Dramatic Presentation) – ] (Richard Fleischer, Stanley Greenberg, Harry Harrison)
* '''Winner''' Best Film Script of Year (Best Dramatic Presentation) – ], ] (Stanley Greenberg, Harry Harrison)
* "Soylent Green is people!" is ranked 77th on the ]'s list ].


==Cultural impact== ==Home media==
⚫ ''Soylent Green'' was released on ] by MGM/CBS Home Video and later on ] by MGM/UA in 1992 ({{ISBN|0-7928-1399-5}}, {{OCLC|31684584}}).<ref>{{cite web| title= Soylent green / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.| url=http://www.lib.muohio.edu/multifacet/record/mu3ugb4126214 | publisher= ] Libraries | access-date=June 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926210924/http://www.lib.muohio.edu/multifacet/record/mu3ugb4126214|archive-date=September 26, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> In November 2007, ] released the film on ] concurrent with the DVD releases of two other science fiction films: '']'' (1976), a film that covers similar themes of dystopia and overpopulation, and '']'' (1981).<ref>{{cite news|last=Hendrix|first=Grady|authorlink=Grady Hendrix|url=https://www.nysun.com/arts/future-is-then/67009/|title=The Future Is Then|date=November 27, 2007|work=]|access-date=June 12, 2011|archive-date=July 13, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713163617/http://www.nysun.com/arts/future-is-then/67009/|url-status=dead}}</ref> A ] release followed on March 29, 2011.
{{trivia|date=September 2013}}
<!-- Because of the wide use of "'''Soylent Green'''" in popular culture, the section "Cultural impact" was created as a "catch-all" of the cultural references to the film and its famous final line; very few specific references should be added; otherwise it will become a long, unmanageable list. Please do NOT add specific references to television shows/films/books/video games/etc. which make minor mention of the movie or its famous "tagline", except for the most well-known, notable examples. References that do not include sources establishing their significance may be summarily removed. -->
''Soylent Green'' is referred to in a number of television series and other media, either for dramatic or comedic effect.


⚫ == See also ==
A food substitute named ] was designed by software engineer Rob Rhinehart as a way to save money and reduce the time and inconvenience of making food.<ref name="Lallanilla">{{cite news | url=http://www.livescience.com/27908-soylent-meal-replacement.html | title=Who Needs Food When You Have Soylent? | work=LiveScience | date=March 14, 2013 | accessdate=2013-05-13 | author=Lallanilla, Marc}}</ref> Lacking background in chemistry or nutrition, Rhinehart developed the formula by reading web sites, textbooks, and reference materials, and by self-experimentation.<ref name="Finley">{{cite news | url=http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/03/silicon-valley-tries-to-reinvent-food-literally/ | title=Silicon Valley And The Reinvention Of Food | work=TechCrunch | date=May 3, 2013 | accessdate=2013-05-13 | author=Finley, Klint}}</ref><ref name="Storr">{{cite news | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/active/10032594/The-man-who-lives-without-food.html | title=The man who lives without food | work=The Telegraph | date=May 6, 2013 | accessdate=2013-05-13 | author=Storr, Will}}</ref> Rhinehart named his product after the food substance depicted in the film.<ref name="Varughese">{{cite news | url=http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/14272/20130315/rob-rhinehart-24-creates-soylent-why-never-food-bolemia-diet-weight-exercise-health-nutrition-eating.htm | title=Rob Rhinehart, 24, Creates Soylent: Why You Never Have To Eat Food Again | work=Medical Daily | date=March 15, 2013 | accessdate=2013-05-13 | author=Varughese, Ansa}}</ref>
{{Portal|Film|Speculative fiction}}


* ]
⚫ ==See also==
* ], a brand of meal replacement products whose creator was inspired by the book and film

* '']'', a 1976 dystopian movie where the population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by killing everyone who reaches the age of 30. Those who try to escape are captured, and frozen for food.
* ], about the film genre, with a list of related films
* ] – in Mega-City One, the deceased are recycled into food after they have had the funeral.
* '']'' – a 1997 dystopian science fiction video game where the protagonist, Abe, a slave at a meat processing plant, discovers that his employers plan to use the slaves as ingredients for a new product during an economic downturn. The sequel, '']'', reveals that the addictive alcoholic drink, Soulstorm Brew, is made from bones taken from an ancient holy graveyard. Series creator Lorne Lanning described the franchise as a blend of "Soylent Green" and "The Muppets".<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7f0YtzWBG4 |title=How Mind Control Saved Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee {{!}} War Stories {{!}} Ars Technica |date=2019-12-03 |last=Ars Technica |access-date=2024-06-16 |via=YouTube}}</ref>
* '']'', a 2012 film based on ]'s 2004 novel ], both depicting a future society in which workers are fed with human remains
* '']'', a 2020 dystopian novel by Agustina Bazterrica in which humans are farmed for their meat


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|2}} {{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web | last=Smith | first=Wesley J. | title=What 1973's Soylent Green Accurately Predicted about 2022 | website=] | date=January 16, 2022 | url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/01/what-1973s-soylent-green-accurately-predicted-about-2022/ | access-date=January 17, 2022}}
* {{cite web |last=Sokol |first=Tony | title=Soylent Green Predicted 2022, Including Impossible Meat Substitutes | website=Den of Geek | date=January 7, 2022 | url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/soylent-green-predicted-2022-meat-substitutes/ | access-date=January 17, 2022}}
* {{cite web |first=Peter |last=Osteried | title=Bedingt prophetisch |date=January 15, 2022| website=Golem.de | url=https://www.golem.de/news/50-jahre-soylent-green-bedingt-prophetisch-2201-162274.html | language=de | access-date=January 17, 2022}}
* {{cite news | last=Küveler | first=Jan | title=Soylent Green: Die Gegenwart holt die Ökodystopie ein | website=] | date=January 3, 2022 | url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/kino/article235998642/Soylent-Green-Die-Gegenwart-holt-die-Oekodystopie-ein.html | language=de | access-date=January 17, 2022}}
* {{cite web |last=Eckner |first=Constantin | title=Ökodystopie "Soylent Green" – Prognosen fürs Katastrophenjahr 2022 | website=] | date=12 January 2022 | url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/oekodystopie-soylent-green-das-katastrophenjahr-100.html | language=de | ref={{sfnref | Deutschlandfunk Kultur | 2022}} | access-date=17 January 2022}}


== External links == == External links ==
{{wikiquote}} {{wikiquote}}
* {{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/soylent-green-1973_20210310 |website=archive.org |access-date=16 October 2023 |title=Soylent Green ( 1973) |quote=Topic Soylent Green, Richard Fleisher, 1973, Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Harry Harrison, Stanley R. Greenberg |date=2021-03-10 |publisher=Internet Archive Digital Library}}. Full film free download. 1h 36m 48s.
* {{IMDb title|0070723}} * {{IMDb title|0070723}}
* {{tcmdb title|2061|Soylent Green}} * {{TCMDb title|2061}}
* {{Allmovie title|45839}} * {{AFI film|id=54405}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|soylent_green}} * {{Rotten Tomatoes|soylent_green}}
* at ]


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{{Nebula Award for Best Script/Bradbury Award 1973–2000}} {{Nebula Award for Best Script/Bradbury Award 1973–2000}}
{{Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1972–1990}} {{Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1972–1990}}
{{Seiun Award - Best Media}}
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Latest revision as of 06:29, 22 December 2024

1973 film by Richard Fleischer For other uses, see Soylent Green (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Soilent Green.

Soylent Green
Theatrical release poster by John Solie
Directed byRichard Fleischer
Screenplay byStanley R. Greenberg
Based onMake Room! Make Room!
by Harry Harrison
Produced byWalter Seltzer
Russell Thacher
StarringCharlton Heston
Leigh Taylor-Young
Chuck Connors
Joseph Cotten
Brock Peters
Paula Kelly
Edward G. Robinson
CinematographyRichard H. Kline
Edited bySamuel E. Beetley
Music byFred Myrow
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • April 19, 1973 (1973-04-19) (US)
Running time97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3.6 million (rentals)

Soylent Green is a 1973 American dystopian thriller film directed by Richard Fleischer, and starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Edward G. Robinson in his final film role. It is loosely based on the 1966 science-fiction novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison, with a plot that combines elements of science fiction and a police procedural. The story follows a murder investigation in a dystopian future of dying oceans and year-round humidity caused by the greenhouse effect, with the resulting pollution, depleted resources, poverty, and overpopulation.

The film was released on April 19, 1973 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and received mostly favorable reviews from critics, while earning $3.6 million at the box office. In 1973, it won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.

Plot

By 2022, the cumulative effects of overpopulation, global warming, and pollution have caused ecocide, leading to severe worldwide shortages of food, water, and housing, bringing human civilization to the brink of collapse. New York City has a population of 40 million, and only the elite can afford spacious apartments, clean water, and natural food in walled-off communities patrolled by armed guards. Their homes are fortified, with moats, security systems, and bodyguards for their tenants. Usually, they include concubines (who are referred to as "furniture" and have no human rights and are passed from one apartment owner to the next). Meanwhile, the majority live in squalor, haul water from communal spigots, and eat highly processed food wafers made by the Soylent Corporation — a large food processing firm. Their mainstay products, Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow, are a staple food, and the latest product, a new, more nutritious, and flavorful wafer derived from plankton, Soylent Green, is introduced to the populace.

NYPD Detective Robert Thorn lives in a cramped apartment with his aged co-worker and friend Sol Roth, a brilliant former college professor and police researcher (referred to as a "Book"), who helps him with his cases. Thorn is called to investigate the murder of the wealthy and influential William R. Simonson, a member of the Soylent Corporation's board, which he suspects was an assassination. With the help of Simonson's concubine Shirl, his investigation leads to a priest whom Simonson had visited shortly before his death. Because of the sanctity of the confessional, the visibly exhausted priest can only hint to Thorn at the contents of the confession. Soon after, the priest is murdered in the confessional by Fielding, Simonson's former bodyguard. Under the direction of Governor Henry C. Santini, Thorn's superiors order him to end the investigation. Still, he continues, fearing losing his job if he files a false report. He soon becomes aware that an unknown stalker is following him. As Thorn tries to control a violent mob during a Soylent Green shortage riot, he is attacked by the assassin who killed Simonson. The killer shoots three times at Thorn but misses, accidentally striking several innocent bystanders in the crowd. Thorn manages to locate the killer and throw him to the ground. The killer shoots Thorn in the leg before being crushed by the hydraulic shovel of a police riot-control vehicle, which continually scoops up shovelfuls of people in the crowd and swivels to dump them for disposal.

In researching the case for Thorn, Roth brings two volumes of the Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report, 2015–2019, taken by Thorn from Simonson's apartment, to the team of other "Books" (former professors and judges turned researchers) at the "Supreme Exchange". The "Books" quickly conclude from the oceanographic reports that the oceans are dying and can not actually produce the plankton from which Soylent Green is allegedly made, thus revealing that the ingredients in Soylent Green are, in fact, human bodies. This information confirms to Roth that Simonson's murder was ordered by his fellow Soylent Corporation board members, who knew Simonson was increasingly troubled by this truth and feared he might disclose it to the public.

Shaken by the truth, Roth decides to "return to the home of God" and seeks assisted suicide at a government clinic. Thorn discovers this and rushes to stop him, but he arrives too late. Before dying, Roth whispers his discovery to Thorn, who is horrified. Thorn moves to uncover proof of crimes against humanity and to bring it to the attention of the Supreme Exchange so the case can be brought to the Council of Nations to take action.

Thorn secretly boards a waste truck transporting human bodies from the euthanasia center to a waste-disposal plant, where he witnesses human corpses instead being processed and turned into Soylent Green. Thorn is discovered, but he escapes. As he returns to the Supreme Exchange, he is ambushed by Fielding and his men. Finding refuge in the church where Simonson confessed, Thorn kills his attackers but is seriously wounded in a gunfight. As paramedics tend to Thorn, he urges his commanding officer, Chief Hatcher, to spread the truth. Thorn shouts to the surrounding crowd, "Soylent Green is people!"

Cast

Production

Harry Harrison, whose 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room! was adapted into Soylent Green, had no creative control over the film and was of mixed opinion on the final product.

The screenplay was based on Harry Harrison's novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), which was set in the year 1999 with the theme of overpopulation and overuse of resources leading to increasing poverty, food shortages, and social disorder. Harrison was contractually denied control over the screenplay and was not told during negotiations that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was buying the film rights. He discussed the adaptation in Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies (1984), noting the "murder and chase sequences the 'furniture' girls are not what the film is about – and are completely irrelevant" and answered his own question, "Am I pleased with the film? I would say 50 percent".

While the book refers to "soylent steaks" (made from soy and lentil), it makes no reference to "Soylent Green", the processed food rations depicted in the film. The book's title was not used for the movie on grounds that it might have confused audiences into thinking it was a big-screen version of Make Room for Daddy.

This was the 101st and final film in which Edward G. Robinson appeared; he died of bladder cancer on January 26, 1973, two months after the completion of filming. In his book The Actor's Life: Journal 1956–1976, Heston wrote, "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 to a call. He never was less than the consummate professional he had been all his life. I'm still haunted, though, by the knowledge that the very last scene he played in the picture, which he knew was the last day's acting he would ever do, was his death scene. I know why I was so overwhelmingly moved playing it with him". Robinson had previously worked with Heston in The Ten Commandments (1956) and the make-up tests for Planet of the Apes (1968).

The film's opening sequence, depicting America becoming more crowded with a series of archive photographs set to music, was created by filmmaker Charles Braverman. The "going home" score in Roth's death scene was conducted by Gerald Fried and consists of the main themes from Symphony No. 6 ("Pathétique") by Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral") by Beethoven and Peer Gynt ("Morning Mood" and "Åse's Death") by Edvard Grieg. A custom cabinet unit of the early arcade game Computer Space was used in Soylent Green and is considered the first appearance of a video game in a film.

Critical response

Edward G. Robinson was praised by critics for his performance in Soylent Green, which he completed filming 84 days before his death.

The film was released on April 19, 1973, and met with mixed reactions from critics. Time called it "intermittently interesting", noting that "Heston forsak his granite stoicism for once" and asserting the film "will be most remembered for the last appearance of Edward G. Robinson.... In a rueful irony, his death scene, in which he is hygienically dispatched with the help of piped-in light classical music and movies of rich fields flashed before him on a towering screen, is the best in the film". New York Times critic A. H. Weiler wrote, "Soylent Green projects essentially simple, muscular melodrama a good deal more effectively than it does the potential of man's seemingly witless destruction of the Earth's resources"; Weiler concludes "Richard Fleischer's direction stresses action, not nuances of meaning or characterization. Mr. Robinson is pitiably natural as the realistic, sensitive oldster facing the futility of living in dying surroundings. But Mr. Heston is simply a rough cop chasing standard bad guys. Their 21st-century New York occasionally is frightening but it is rarely convincingly real".

Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "a good, solid science-fiction movie, and a little more". Gene Siskel gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "a silly detective yarn, full of juvenile Hollywood images. Wait 'til you see the giant snow shovel scoop the police use to round up rowdies. You may never stop laughing". Arthur D. Murphy of Variety wrote, "The somewhat plausible and proximate horrors in the story of 'Soylent Green' carry the Russell Thacher-Walter Seltzer production over its awkward spots to the status of a good futuristic exploitation film". Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "a clever, rough, modestly budgeted but imaginative work". Penelope Gilliatt of The New Yorker was negative, writing, "This pompously prophetic thing of a film hasn't a brain in its beanbag. Where is democracy? Where is the popular vote? Where is women's lib? Where are the uprising poor, who would have suspected what was happening in a moment?"

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 71%, based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site's consensus states: "While admittedly melodramatic and uneven in spots, Soylent Green ultimately succeeds with its dark, plausible vision of a dystopian future."

Awards and honors

Home media

Soylent Green was released on Capacitance Electronic Disc by MGM/CBS Home Video and later on LaserDisc by MGM/UA in 1992 (ISBN 0-7928-1399-5, OCLC 31684584). In November 2007, Warner Home Video released the film on DVD concurrent with the DVD releases of two other science fiction films: Logan's Run (1976), a film that covers similar themes of dystopia and overpopulation, and Outland (1981). A Blu-ray Disc release followed on March 29, 2011.

See also

  • Cannibalism in popular culture
  • Soylent (meal replacement), a brand of meal replacement products whose creator was inspired by the book and film
  • Logan's Run, a 1976 dystopian movie where the population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by killing everyone who reaches the age of 30. Those who try to escape are captured, and frozen for food.
  • Judge Dredd – in Mega-City One, the deceased are recycled into food after they have had the funeral.
  • Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee – a 1997 dystopian science fiction video game where the protagonist, Abe, a slave at a meat processing plant, discovers that his employers plan to use the slaves as ingredients for a new product during an economic downturn. The sequel, Abe's Exoddus, reveals that the addictive alcoholic drink, Soulstorm Brew, is made from bones taken from an ancient holy graveyard. Series creator Lorne Lanning described the franchise as a blend of "Soylent Green" and "The Muppets".
  • Cloud Atlas, a 2012 film based on David Mitchell's 2004 novel Cloud Atlas, both depicting a future society in which workers are fed with human remains
  • Tender Is the Flesh, a 2020 dystopian novel by Agustina Bazterrica in which humans are farmed for their meat

References

  1. "Big Rental Films of 1973". Variety. January 9, 1974. p. 19.
  2. Shirley, John (September 23, 2007). "Soylent Green: An Appreciation 34 Years Too Late". Locus Online. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  3. "Soylent Green ( 1973)". archive.org. Internet Archive Digital Library. March 10, 2021. Retrieved October 16, 2023. Topic Soylent Green, Richard Fleisher, 1973, Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Harry Harrison, Stanley R. Greenberg. Full film free download. 1h 36m 48s.
  4. Kooser, Amanda (January 13, 2022). "Soylent Green predicted 2022 as a dystopian hellscape. Did the movie get it right?". CNET. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  5. Valls Oyarzun, Eduardo; Gualberto Valverde, Rebeca; Malla García, Noelia; Colom Jiménez, María; Cordero Sánchez, Rebeca, eds. (2020). "17". Avenging nature: the role of nature in modern and contemporary art and literature. Ecocritical theory and practice. Lanham Boulder NewYork London: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-1-7936-2144-3.
  6. ^ Stafford, Jeff (July 28, 2003). "Soylent Green". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  7. Peary, Danny, ed. (1984). Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-19202-9.
  8. Harrison, Harry (1984). "A Cannibalised Novel Becomes Soylent Green". Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies. Ireland On-Line. Retrieved September 7, 2009.
  9. Heston, Charlton (1978). Alpert, Hollis (ed.). The Actor's Life: Journal 1956–1976. E. P. Dutton. p. 395. ISBN 0-525-05030-2.
  10. Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012). Atari Inc: Business Is Fun. Syzygy Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-9855974-0-5. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  11. ^ Weiler, A. H. (April 20, 1973). "Screen: 'Soylent Green'". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  12. "Cinema: Quick Cuts". Time. Vol. 101, no. 18. April 30, 1973. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  13. Ebert, Roger (April 27, 1973). "Soylent Green". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  14. Siskel, Gene (May 1, 1973). "Scorpio & Soylent". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 5.
  15. Murphy, Arthur D. (April 18, 1973). "Soylent Green". Variety. p. 22.
  16. Champlin, Charles (April 18, 1973). "Grim Future in 'Soylent Green'". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 1.
  17. Gilliatt, Penelope (April 28, 1973). "The Current Cinema: Hungry?". The New Yorker. p. 131.
  18. "Soylent Green (1973)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  19. "Soylent green / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc". Miami University Libraries. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  20. Hendrix, Grady (November 27, 2007). "The Future Is Then". The New York Sun. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  21. Ars Technica (December 3, 2019). How Mind Control Saved Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee | War Stories | Ars Technica. Retrieved June 16, 2024 – via YouTube.

Further reading

External links

Awards for Soylent Green
Nebula Award for Best Script/Ray Bradbury Award
Nebula Award
for Best Script
Ray Bradbury Award
for Outstanding
Dramatic Presentation
Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
Seiun Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
1970–2000
2001–present
Films directed by Richard Fleischer
Categories: