Soylent Green

New York in 2022 holds forty million people, real food has run out, and the population lives on synthetic rations called Soylent. A murder investigation leads a detective toward where the stuff comes from. The heaviest part of the film is behind the camera. Edward G. Robinson died of bladder cancer on 26 January 1973, eighty-four days after shooting finished. Charlton Heston later wrote that Robinson knew he was terminally ill while they were shooting and they did not, and that he stayed a consummate professional throughout. What struck Heston most was that Robinson's last scene was his character's death. The source is Harry Harrison's 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room!, and the two are not the same thing. The book is set in 1999 and is entirely about overpopulation; its soylent steaks are made from soy and lentils and there is no Soylent Green. Harrison had no control over the screenplay and said he was 50 percent pleased with the result, noting the murder and chase material was never his concern. Who it is for: viewers who like the bleak science fiction of the seventies. Who it is not for: anyone who already knows the famous closing line. Once the secret is gone, the pacing is slow.