Biography Soylent Green
Soylent Green is a 1973 science fiction movie starring Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young, Joseph Cotten and Chuck Connors. It is loosely based upon the 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room!, by Harry Harrison, about overpopulation, but it diverges to its own plot points and ideas.
Most of the population are fed by the Soylent Company, which produces several types of rations including Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow, which are advertised as "high-energy vegetable concentrates". The newest product is Soylent Green: A small green wafer which is advertised as being produced from "high-energy plankton". It is in short supply, and is only distributed on Tuesdays. When the supply runs out, rioting is common.
Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) is a New York City police detective who lives in a cramped one-room apartment with his aged partner Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson). Roth is a "police book" — a researcher — who helps Thorn's investigations by reading whatever books he can get his hands on.
Thorn is assigned to investigate the murder of William R. Simonson (Joseph Cotten), who he discovers was a director of the Soylent Corporation. Simonson was a wealthy man and Thorn helps himself to some of Simonson's food and books during his investigation. Thorn meets Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young), a concubine (euphemistically known as "furniture") who is economically attached to the apartment, and Tab Fielding (Chuck Connors), Simonson's bodyguard who is secretly working for Soylent.
Thorn determines that Simonson's death was made to look like a robbery, but was actually an assassination. He eventually uncovers a conspiracy which goes beyond Simonson's murder. The Governor talks to Thorn's chief (Brock Peters) and tries to have the investigation ended, but Thorn refuses to give up. Thorn finds himself followed and ultimately attacked while on riot duty.
When he returns to speak with Shirl, she confesses that a new tenant is moving in and she is worried he won't want her. Thorn comforts her and she asks him if she can live with him instead. Unsure of his own safety, he refuses.
In the meantime, Roth goes over oceanographic reports from Simonson's apartment with other intellectuals at the "supreme exchange" and uncovers the truth about Soylent Green.
Shocked by what he has learned, Roth opts to "go home" – to voluntarily submit himself to publicly available euthanasia. Thorn follows him but is too late to prevent Roth's death, but they are able to talk long enough for Roth to tell him what he has learned and ask him to prove it. Thorn secretly follows a body disposal truck out of the back of the euthanasia center to a heavily guarded waste-management plant, and confirms with his own eyes that Soylent Green is made from recycled cadavers.
Thorn escapes the plant, and heads for the supreme exchange with the information, but he is ambushed by Fielding and several henchmen. Thorn is able to kill the henchmen, but is wounded by Fielding, and retreats into a cathedral. After a desperate struggle among the hundreds of people sleeping in the pews, Thorn gains the upper hand and kills Fielding. When police backup arrives, Thorn confides in his chief about the secret of Soylent Green, and urges him to spread the word.
1973 filmsDystopian filmsEnvironmental filmsFictional foodsFilms based on science fiction booksBest Science Fiction Film SaturnAmerican filmsEnglish-language filmsTech-noir filmsProcedural films
Jahr 2022? die überleben wollenCuando el destino nos alcanceSoleil vert i sopravvissutiSoylent Green??????????Soylent Green - USA år 2022
Synopsis
Set in the year 2022, Soylent Green depicts a dystopian future in which the population has grown to forty million in New York City alone. The water and soil have been poisoned, and pollution has produced a year-round heatwave due to a greenhouse effect. Most housing is dilapidated and overcrowded, and food as it is known today is a rare and expensive commodity.Most of the population are fed by the Soylent Company, which produces several types of rations including Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow, which are advertised as "high-energy vegetable concentrates". The newest product is Soylent Green: A small green wafer which is advertised as being produced from "high-energy plankton". It is in short supply, and is only distributed on Tuesdays. When the supply runs out, rioting is common.
Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) is a New York City police detective who lives in a cramped one-room apartment with his aged partner Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson). Roth is a "police book" — a researcher — who helps Thorn's investigations by reading whatever books he can get his hands on.
Thorn is assigned to investigate the murder of William R. Simonson (Joseph Cotten), who he discovers was a director of the Soylent Corporation. Simonson was a wealthy man and Thorn helps himself to some of Simonson's food and books during his investigation. Thorn meets Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young), a concubine (euphemistically known as "furniture") who is economically attached to the apartment, and Tab Fielding (Chuck Connors), Simonson's bodyguard who is secretly working for Soylent.
Thorn determines that Simonson's death was made to look like a robbery, but was actually an assassination. He eventually uncovers a conspiracy which goes beyond Simonson's murder. The Governor talks to Thorn's chief (Brock Peters) and tries to have the investigation ended, but Thorn refuses to give up. Thorn finds himself followed and ultimately attacked while on riot duty.
When he returns to speak with Shirl, she confesses that a new tenant is moving in and she is worried he won't want her. Thorn comforts her and she asks him if she can live with him instead. Unsure of his own safety, he refuses.
In the meantime, Roth goes over oceanographic reports from Simonson's apartment with other intellectuals at the "supreme exchange" and uncovers the truth about Soylent Green.
Shocked by what he has learned, Roth opts to "go home" – to voluntarily submit himself to publicly available euthanasia. Thorn follows him but is too late to prevent Roth's death, but they are able to talk long enough for Roth to tell him what he has learned and ask him to prove it. Thorn secretly follows a body disposal truck out of the back of the euthanasia center to a heavily guarded waste-management plant, and confirms with his own eyes that Soylent Green is made from recycled cadavers.
Thorn escapes the plant, and heads for the supreme exchange with the information, but he is ambushed by Fielding and several henchmen. Thorn is able to kill the henchmen, but is wounded by Fielding, and retreats into a cathedral. After a desperate struggle among the hundreds of people sleeping in the pews, Thorn gains the upper hand and kills Fielding. When police backup arrives, Thorn confides in his chief about the secret of Soylent Green, and urges him to spread the word.
Make Room! Make Room!
The original 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room! is set in the year 1999, with the theme of overpopulation and overuse of resources leading to increasing social disorder as the next millennium approaches. It mentions "soylent steaks", but makes no reference to "Soylent Green", a food product at the center of the story. The book's title was not used for the movie since it could have confused audiences into thinking it was a big-screen version of Make Room for Daddy.http://www.iol.ie/~carrollm/hh/soycann.htmMusic
The "going home" score was conducted by Gerald Fried and consists of the main themes from- Symphony No. 6 ("Pathétique") by Tchaikovsky
- Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral") by Beethoven
- "Morning Mood" and "Åse's Death" from the Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg
Film production
- This was the 101st and last movie in which Robinson appeared. He died nine days after the shooting was done, on January 26 1973. (Robinson had also worked together with Heston in The Ten Commandments (1956).
- The female lead character, Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young), is briefly seen playing a Computer Space arcade game, marking the movie as one of the first to show the emerging pop culture phenomenon of videogames.
Themes and impact
The movie's themes of euthanasia and cannibalism were used after earlier attempts to get the movie made had failed due to lack of studio interest. Because of the film's cult popularity, the term "soylent green" and the famous last line "Soylent Green is people!" have become catch phrases in English. Many subsequent works refer to Soylent Green for either dramatic or comedic effect.References
See also
- Twist ending
- Megacity
External links
- Review of Soylent Green
- SciFlicks.com review
- SciFlicks.com "Soylent green is people" sound clip
- SCIFI.com review
1973 filmsDystopian filmsEnvironmental filmsFictional foodsFilms based on science fiction booksBest Science Fiction Film SaturnAmerican filmsEnglish-language filmsTech-noir filmsProcedural films
Jahr 2022? die überleben wollenCuando el destino nos alcanceSoleil vert i sopravvissutiSoylent Green??????????Soylent Green - USA år 2022
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent Green
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Links
http://www.sonorika.com/soylentgreen/biographyhttp://www.bioandlyrics.com/soylentgreen
