Movie of my Week: "Soylent Green" (1973)
Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 11:14AM
Been on a Chuck Heston tear lately (Greatest Show on Earth, Planet on the Apes - likewise in a gorgeous Blu-Ray version, and The Omega Man). Later in his career, Heston did that fabulous trio of sci-fi movies, all of which featured him in pure early 70's anti-hero cinema mode, which he performed magnificently - and against obvious type.
Soylent Green is such the classic, especially since Heston's good friend Edward G. Robinson was in it with him (think back to Ten Commandments, and realize Robinson was slated to play the head orangutan (Dr. Zaius) in Planet of the Apes, but he couldn't handle the make-up). But Chuck himself is such a sleaze in this movie: stealing stuff left and right, bedding kept women like that's part of the policeman's bill of rights, etc. - all the while being totally virtuous given the larger circumstances.
And it's the larger circumstances which still fascinate me with this movie. Made in 1972 and projecting half a century to 2022, it posited a planet overrun with population (NYC is some ridiculous 40m!) but primarily bedeviled by climate change (Robinson actually cites the greenhouse effect). Yes, too many people, but it's the incessant heat and the inability to grow sufficient food that are the underlying problems.
So, strangely visionary for treating climate change so early, but as usual, the fear-mongering got out of control. As I like to point out in my current brief, you jump ahead to "Children of Men" and it's already positing a future Earth (2027) where we're running out of babies - true science fiction until you visit certain towns in America, or Italy, or Japan, or . . ..
Another thing it gets wrong: climate change doesn't make it harder to grow food; it just changes the geographic pattern - making it much harder in some places but opening up others (the New North).
Still, a great movie and almost a master's class on how to portray the future cheaply while embedding a cop story inside. A lot of follow-on movies owe plenty to this one.
Reader Comments (2)
While it has been years since I saw it I prefer Omega Man to the more recent Will Smith incarnation of the tale. Perhaps because it is set in the LA of my youth it has more resonance for me.
Heh! Chuck-led when I saw this.
I'd thought of Soylent myself in light of news story earlier in the week concerning artificial meat made from sewage.....