Soylent Green (1973) (film review)
Do you remember the food famine, the world with over-population and global warming of 2022? Thought not. Welcome to the world of ‘Soylent Green’. Filmed in 1973 and 2022 being seen as a distant future. To feed the population, there is a new product called Soylent Green made from plankton. You’ll love it. You don’t even have to cook it. There’s also voluntary euthanasia. New York has a population of 40,000,000 people, so people are literally packed in. 20,000,000 people are also out of work and its very hot.
Police Detective Thorn (actor Charlton Heston), RC105 of the 14th precinct shares a tiny flat with the much older Sol Roth (actor Edward G. Robinson). Lack of meat and more regular food. If you wanted light, then you charge a battery on an immobile bicycle. They’re the lucky ones. People sleep on the stairs. People sleep in cars on the road.
Wealthy William R. Simonson (actor Joseph Cotton), who works for the Soylent Corporation has failed at something and is murdered in his exclusive apartment. Thorn is sent to investigate. Tab Fielding (actor Chuck Connors) is his bodyguard and Shirl (actress Leigh Taylor-Young), both out getting food when the murder took place. Thorn also samples things in Simonson’s apartment because it is rare to come across them. He also does a little scavenging. A little generation corruption in the police department. It’s all added to his workload.
Thorn also finds himself being stalked and reports to his boss, Ed Hatcher (actor Brock Peters). He then finds the priest that Simonson had confessed to but not about what. He returns to the precinct and finds the case had been closed but refuses to accept that. so Soylent boss Santini (actor Whit Bissell) orders a witness clean-up. During a food riot when the Soylent Green is late, Thorn is nearly assassinated himself. The rest is spoiler.
If you know your vintage stars, this film is loaded with them. In case you don’t know, this film is an adaptation of Harry Harrison’s novel, ‘Make Room! Make Room! where the accent was on over-population than diet. This was also Edward G. Robinson’s last film before he died of cancer, two weeks after filming was completed.
Some fifty years later, this film is still a knock-out for a finely realised reality. Even if you know all the fine details, it will still knock the stuffing out of you as Thorn realises what is going on watching it again.
There are two audio commentaries. The first is from 2023 with director Richard Fleisher and actress Leigh Taylor-Young who played Shirl. He explains the opening scenes where society has drawn to a halt. Robinson wanted to do this story and was nearly tone deaf. Respect for his acting getting it right in two rehearsals for timing. The silent meal scene was added by Fleisher to show how well the two actors worked together. He also thinks that when Thorn used the police phone without its wire that he created the wireless phone. The green pollution haze was created by a lens. The crowd scene had 400-500 stuntmen and extras. I’m not ignoring Taylor-Young, who was the leading lady. She gives her own insights into women being used as furniture. I’m just picking out things that struck me.
The second audio commentary is with film historian Michael Brooke and author Johnny Mains recorded exclusively for Arrow Films in 2025. There are some things I might argue with them. Granted plankton is microscopic but there’s no indication given in how it was collected or had they grown a bigger species. Mind you, they still ran out. They suggest to goggle ‘Humans do not eat fetal cells’ for an interesting article. Their commentary is worth having a listening to. The Soylent Green oblongs or squares were made of wood so no humans were harmed in the making of this film.
‘A Look At The World Of Soylent Green’ runs at 10 minutes with a brief look at SF film highlights before looking at ‘Soylent Green’,
MGM’s Tribute To Edward G. Robinson’1 101 Films runs at just under 5 minutes has both him and Charlton Heston, both in their ‘Soylent Green’ togs at a party.
‘Charlton Heston At The BFI’ from 1985 and at 90 minutes, alas, is audio only. Saying that, there is the ‘Soylent Green’ film is shown in the background. Actually, its only 72 minutes of it before it ends. Heston talks about the films, ‘Touch Of Evil’ (1958) before going over to ‘Soylent Green’. Heston regards it as the most important sociological film he ever made because of over-population. New York at the time only had 66 million people. A lot is said about Robinson’s final film. Then they move on to ‘Mother Lode’ (1982) which Heston directed and acted in. He’s done a lot of independent films that were released by the studios. There’s a lot about ‘Planet Of The Apes’ (1968). Heston has one of those voices that is worth listening to and well-informed and opinionated on his own films and various directors and scriptwriters.
‘Richard Fleischer At The BFI’ is from 1994, running at 76 minutes, going over his directing career. He discusses the 1959 film ‘Compulsion’ and his problems with Orson Welles before going into his own history. I looked up IMdB while watching this and he directed a lot of successful SF films, including ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’, Fantastic Voyage’, ‘Dr. Dolittle’ and ‘Soylent Green’. His father was Max Fleischer, the famous animator. They jump film clips shown originally. It’s interesting how Fleischer picked out people he worked with from the audience. ‘Soylent Green’ pops up ah hour in and Fleischer says its message moved him but only answered a couple questions on it. This is also a delightful piece to watch.
The original 3½ minute trailer that I have to confess the voice-over is cheesy.
The ‘Image Gallery’ divides into ‘Posters & Artwork’ contains 12 pictures, the final one showing costume design, Black & White Promo Stills’, some 236 pictures although not sure why a large batch of them was from a Green Is Clean’ campaign and Color Promo Stills’ has 165 photos . You need to use your remote’s double left arrow to move through them.
There are two versions of this release. As mine was an advance copy, I’ve no idea which one it belongs to. Both are considered limited editions but no idea on how many copies were made. ‘Soylent Green’ still holds up today and, as Fleisher pointed out, the message is still relevant today. A lesson for new Science Fiction film productions for longevity.
GF Willmetts
July 2026
(pub: Arrow Video, 2026. 1 4K blu-ray disk. 97 minute film with extras. Price: £25.00 (UK). ASIN: B08R5FKRK2. Blu-ray Price: £18.00 (UK))
cast: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young and Chuck Connors
check out website: www.arrowfilms.com/search/?q=soylent%20green
