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Released by: Warner Archive
Released on: March 29th, 2011.
Director: Richard Fleisher
Cast: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Joseph Cotton, Chuck Connors, Paula Kelly
Year: 1979
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Soylent Green – Movie Review:
Set in the not too distant future of 2022, Soylent Green is based in a New York City where, as the population say, nothing works anymore. Vastly overpopulated to the point where families are sleeping in stairways and people simply walk past dead bodies in the streets, the city has gone to Hell. It's not just New York, however, it's all the major cities. As such, food is in short supply and high demand and much of the world's food supply is controlled by a company named Soylent, who ration out squares in red, yellow and the most popular color, green. In this dystopian future lives a cop named Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) who lives with an aging Jewish bookworm named Sol (Edward G. Robinson in his final film role).
When a wealthy man named William Simonson (Joseph Cotton) is murdered, Thorn is sent to investigate. At first he figures it was a burglary gone wrong but soon starts putting a few pieces of the puzzle and, after interviewing Simonson's 'furniture' (a kept woman who comes with the apartment!), Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young) and his bodyguard, Tab Fielding (Chuck Connors), he starts to figure he was actually assassinated. He steals some books from Simonson's lush apartment and brings them back to Sol who, through some clever research, ties Simonson to Soylent and to New York's Governor, Santini. When Thorn pays a visit to Fielding's apartment and finds that not only does he have some 'furniture' of his own (Paula Kelly) but that he's able to provide her with fresh strawberries (a rare and expensive delicacy in this future) he starts to dig deeper into the situations surrounding Simonson's murder and how it ties in to a few other deaths related to the case - all while finding the time to sleep and shower with Shirl now and then.
So yeah, Soylent Green… more than forty years later, how does it hold up? Reasonably well, actually. It's hard to imagine anyone not knowing the big shock ending at this point but the buildup works nicely and director Richard Fleisher manages to keep the tension and mild paranoia thick and steady throughout the movie. This isn't an effects intensive film, not by sci-fi movie standards at least, so the movie instead relies on story and character development to pulls us in and thankfully the script and the performances are strong enough across the board that it is able to do just that. That's not to say that there aren't a couple of set pieces in the film that stand out - Sol's goodbye scene definitely relies on effects and the riot in which the police use tractors to scoop people off of the streets and into the back of their trucks like so much human garbage immediately come to mind - but this isn't a sci-fi film filled with space travel, laser gun battles or aliens.
While Fleisher's assured direction is great, the performances are what really stands out here. Joseph Cotton is memorable even if he's not in the film for very long, and Chuck Connors manages to be both suspicious and menacing in his role. Leigh Taylor-Young is beautiful and sympathetic (at one point she tells Thorn that Williamson doesn't abuse her, and he in turn tells her that she's lucky - indicating that 'furniture' is treated very roughly) and while her falling for Thorn may seem like nothing more than a plot device thrown in simply to give the film a romantic angle, at least she makes it work. Robinson is also excellent in what would sadly be his last role. He plays the 'wise old man' role well and provides the film with some welcome and effective comic relief that doesn't seem at all out of place alongside the film's darker side. This is, however, Heston's show. Yes, he plays to type here, growling his way through the picture and behaving as the man's man that he was known to be, but he's great in the part. The very fact that he manages to spend most of the time with an ascot on and still remain macho is testament to his testosterone and it's in tough guy roles like this that we all know he excelled in. His screen presence commands attention and he makes the most of the material.
So ultimately, while aspects of Soylent Green are dated and maybe even a little corny by today's standards, it's still very much a worthwhile film. It's dark message, sadly, is not out of the realm of possibility and as such, it retains some poignancy in spite of itself - and on top of that it's got some great actors and plenty of excitement and suspense.
Soylent Green – Blu-ray Review:
Soylent Green is presented in a good AVC encoded 2.40.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer that isn't reference quality by any stretch but which does offer a pretty noticeable upgrade from its standard definition counterpart. Detail is generally good but there are some shots that look a bit murky and soft. There isn't much in the way of print damage to complain about and the film's grain structure seems pretty much intact without any obvious digital scrubbing or edge enhancement to complain about. There aren't any compression artifacts and color reproduction is pretty decent. Some of the outdoor scenes were shot with a greenish tint to them to give the appearance of a contaminated environment so the color in these specific scenes is a bit off but that's an intentional decision on the part of the filmmakers and not a problem with the disc. All in all, if this isn't going to floor you with its picture quality it does improve on the previous DVD release quite a bit.
The English language DTS-HD 1.0 Mono soundtrack is fine for what it is, though being an older mix it is a bit limited in range and depth. Dialogue is always easy to understand and the score well balanced and moving. There aren't any problems with any hiss or distortion of note and if it sounds a little bit flat in spots, it's never really problematic in anyway. It doesn't really offer a massive upgrade over the DVD's audio but does provide a bit more clarity than that track. Dolby Digital Mono tracks are provided in Spanish and French with subtitles offered in English SHD, French and Spanish.
There aren't any new extras on this Blu-ray release but Warner has carried over the supplements from the DVD release from a few years back starting with the commentary from late director Richard Fleisher and actress Leigh Taylor-Young. It's a good track with Fleischer having some great stories to tell about working with the then aging (and quite deaf) Robinson and the always interesting Heston. He talks about scenes that were improvised versus what was done based completely on the script and he discusses the film's themes and ideas as well as some of the more memorable set pieces. Leigh-Taylor talks quite amiably about her co-stars, discussing her love scene and shower scene with Heston in fairly candid detail and about her thoughts on the film overall.
Also included are two featurettes, the first of which is A Look At The World Soylent Green (10:02), is a vintage featurette made to promote the film around the time of its release. It isn't especially in depth but it does have some interesting behind the scenes footage in it and is worth watching for that reason. The second featurette is MGM's Tribute To Edward G. Robinson's 101st Film (4:50) which is basically some footage of a party held in the actor's honor with appearances from Heston and George Burns. Rounding out the extras are the film's original theatrical trailer, animated menus and chapter selection.
Soylent Green - The Final Word:
Soylent Green hasn't aged perfectly and it's become a bit of a pop culture joke since it hit theaters a few decades back but generally it holds up well. Sure, most of us will know the ending going in, it's had that kind of effect, but the movie still benefits from an unusually dark premise, a great performance from Heston and a strong supporting cast. Warner Brothers' Blu-ray release is a pretty decent one, offering up good audio and video and carrying over the extras from the DVD release, making this one easy to recommend.
Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized Soylent Green Blu-ray screen caps!
