Charlton Heston is probably best remembered now for his roles in Biblical epics such as The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, but in the late sixties and early seventies, he went on a mini-run of sci-fi movies that rank among the most intriguing of their time. One could even say they make a loose trilogy, with the movies being Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, and Soylent Green. Planet of the Apes is probably the only one that ranks as a stone-cold classic, but the other two were sizeable hits too, with a big enough impact on pop culture that they ended up being referenced on The Simpsons.
Now, Soylent Green is being released in a spiffy new 4K UHD set, and it’s a pretty interesting film to revisit. While hilariously dated in some ways (the movie takes place in the then far-off future world of 2022), it’s surprisingly immersive in other ways. The film takes place in 2022 New York City, which is dangerously overpopulated with 40 million people. Greenhouse gases have polluted the environment, leading to a permanently overheated, dangerously humid world where all resources are scarce, including running water and food. The population subsists on a genetically modified food called Soylent Green, which they are issued.
Charlton Heston plays Thorn, an NYPD cop investigating the murder of a member of the Soylent Corporation’s board, who seems to be the victim of a vast conspiracy. We see how some members of society—the extremely wealthy—live in cordoned-off apartment complexes equipped with things the general population could never dream of, including running water and air conditioning. More sordidly, they have living “furniture,” who are basically sex slaves without any human rights. Thorn begins a relationship with one of them, Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young), while investigating the conspiracy with his “book,” an elderly police researcher played by Edward G. Robinson.
What makes Soylent Green so interesting to rewatch are two things. One is that the depressing future world is well conveyed, with a permanently sweaty cast and good production design making the future look truly hellish. But to me, the best thing about the film is the relationship between Thorn and his book, Sol, with this being the last movie Robinson ever made. One of the great actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Robinson was terminally ill when he made the movie, with his striking death scene—where he opts to be euthanized as Thorn looks on—being the last scene he ever shot. The chemistry between Heston and Robinson is superb, with them evoking a kind of father/son affection in a future where seemingly nothing is sacred. Even Heston, who usually played upstanding types, gets to be more sordid here, stealing everything he can in the dead man’s apartment and exploiting his police power to start an affair with Shirl, even if they end up having real feelings for each other.
If you’ve ever heard of Soylent Green before, you likely know what the big twist is, but if not, I won’t reveal it here. Arrow Video’s 4K (buy it HERE) looks great, although keep your expectations in check, as this is a fifty-year-old movie that was really just a B-movie in its time (though it was a big hit). The disc has two commentary tracks, with one being an archival track with director Richard Fleischer and star Leigh Taylor-Young recorded for the old DVD. There are also older featurettes, including an interview with Charlton Heston. While dated, Soylent Green is in many ways a seminal science-fiction film and well worth checking out for fans of the genre. The premise is great, and in our own highly unstable world, I couldn’t help but think that this is one movie that ought to be remade through a contemporary lens.
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