Soylent Green (1973) (film review).
Do you remember the food famine, over-population and global warming of 2022? Thought not. Welcome to the world of Soylent Green, filmed in 1973 when 2022 still looked like the distant future.
To feed the population, there is a new product called Soylent Green, supposedly made from plankton. You’ll love it. You don’t even have to cook it. There is also voluntary euthanasia. New York has a population of 40,000,000 people, so they are literally packed in. Another 20,000,000 are out of work, and it is 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). Meat and other ordinary foods are scarce. If they want electric light, they have to charge a battery using a stationary bicycle. They’re the lucky ones. People sleep on staircases and in abandoned cars on the road.
Wealthy William R. Simonson (actor Joseph Cotten), who works for the Soylent Corporation, has failed at something and is murdered in his exclusive apartment. Thorn is sent to investigate. Simonson’s bodyguard, Tab Fielding (actor Chuck Connors), and Shirl (actress Leigh Taylor-Young) were both out getting food when the murder took place.
Thorn samples the luxuries in Simonson’s apartment because it is so rare to come across them. He also does a little scavenging. A touch of everyday corruption in the police department. It all adds to his workload.
Thorn finds himself being followed and reports this to his boss, Ed Hatcher (actor Brock Peters). He then tracks down the priest to whom Simonson had confessed, although not what the confession concerned. Thorn returns to the precinct and discovers that the case has been closed, but he refuses to accept that. Soylent executive Santini (actor Whit Bissell) therefore orders a clean-up of the witnesses.
During a food riot caused by a late delivery of Soylent Green, Thorn is nearly assassinated himself. The rest would be spoilers.
If you know your vintage stars, this film is loaded with them. In case you don’t know, it is an adaptation of Harry Harrison’s novel Make Room! Make Room!, in which the emphasis was on over-population rather than diet. This was also Edward G. Robinson’s final film. He died of cancer two weeks after filming was completed.
More than fifty years later, the film still delivers a punch because its world is so convincingly realised. Even if you know all the finer details, it can still knock the stuffing out of you when Thorn finally understands what is going on.
There are two audio commentaries. The first dates from 2003 and features director Richard Fleischer and actress Leigh Taylor-Young, who played Shirl. Fleischer explains the opening montage, which shows society gradually grinding to a halt. Robinson wanted to make the film despite being almost completely deaf. Fleischer speaks admiringly of Robinson’s acting ability and his skill at getting the timing right after only a couple of rehearsals.
The silent meal scene was added by Fleischer to show how well Robinson and Heston worked together. He also jokes that Thorn’s use of a police telephone without a wire effectively predicted the mobile phone. The green pollution haze was created using a filter over the lens. The crowd scenes involved between 400 and 500 stunt performers and extras.
I’m not ignoring Taylor-Young, who was the leading lady. She offers her own observations about women being treated as ‘furniture’ in the film’s world. I’m simply picking out the details that struck me most.
The second audio commentary features film historian Michael Brooke and author Johnny Mains and was recorded exclusively for Arrow Films in 2025. There are a few points I might argue with them about. Granted, plankton is microscopic, but the film never explains how it was collected or whether a larger species had been cultivated. Mind you, they still ran out of it.
They suggest Googling ‘Humans do not eat foetal cells’ for an interesting article. Their commentary is well worth 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 for ten minutes, beginning with a brief survey of science fiction cinema before turning to the film itself.
MGM’s Tribute To Edward G. Robinson runs for just under five minutes and features both Robinson and Charlton Heston, still wearing their Soylent Green costumes, at a party.
Charlton Heston At The BFI, recorded in 1985, runs for around 90 minutes and is, alas, audio-only. Footage from Soylent Green plays in the background. Actually, it lasts for only about 72 minutes before ending.
Heston discusses Touch Of Evil (1958) before moving on to Soylent Green. He regards it as the most important sociological film he ever made because of its subject of over-population. He also speaks at length about Robinson’s final performance. The discussion then moves to Mother Lode (1982), which Heston directed and starred in. He made a number of independently produced films that were later released by major studios.
There is also plenty about Planet Of The Apes (1968). Heston has one of those voices worth listening to, and he is well-informed and opinionated about his own films, as well as various directors and scriptwriters.
Richard Fleischer At The BFI dates from 1994 and runs for 76 minutes, covering his directing career. He discusses the 1959 film Compulsion and his problems with Orson Welles before moving into his own history. I looked him up on IMDb while watching and was reminded how many successful science fiction films he directed, including 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Fantastic Voyage, Doctor Dolittle and Soylent Green.
The programme jumps over some of the film clips originally shown. It’s interesting how Fleischer picks out people he worked with from the audience. Soylent Green comes up about an hour in, and Fleischer says its message moved him, although he answers only a couple of questions about it. This is another delightful piece to watch.
The original three-and-a-half-minute trailer is also included, although I have to confess that its voice-over is rather cheesy.
The image gallery is divided into sections. Posters & Artwork contains 12 images, the last of which shows costume designs. Black & White Promo Stills contains around 236 pictures, although I’m not sure why a large batch of them comes from a ‘Green Is Clean’ campaign. Colour Promo Stills has 165 photographs. You need to use the double-left arrow on your remote to move through them.
There are two versions of this release. As mine was an advance copy, I have no idea which version it belongs to. Both are described as limited editions, although I haven’t seen how many copies were produced.
Soylent Green still holds up today and, as Fleischer pointed out, its message remains relevant. There is a lesson here for new science fiction film productions about how to achieve longevity.
GF Willmetts
July 2026
(pub: Arrow Video, 2026. 1-disc 4K Blu-ray. 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
