Check those ingredients.
I like a lot of Charlton Heston movies. One that I haven’t seen in a long time is “Soylent Green.” While the ending of “Planet of the Apes” was a shocker, the conclusion of Soylent Green is still effective, but not as effective as that of Planet of the Apes.
The cast was outstanding, headed up by Charlton Heston, Chuck Connors, Leigh Taylor-Young and Edward G. Robinson. The reviews were generally mixed to good. It was also noteworthy as Edward G Robinson’s last film. So, after a little research, here are some things you probably didn’t know about Soylent Green.
1: Leigh Taylor-Young played a “furniture girl” in the movie.
I didn’t realize this movie was set in 2022 and talked so directly about objectivation of women.
2: Sometimes art imitates life. And sometimes art imitates death.
Edward G Robinson was terminally ill at the time of shooting. His last scene in the movie is a death scene. And it is one of the most moving death scenes you will ever see.
3: At the time of shooting, Robinson was almost completely deaf.
He couldn’t even hear the director say, “cut.” So some of his work was uncut.
4: The product, “Soylent Green” was described as “green-colored biscuit made out of plankton.”
I’m surprised that there wasn’t any gravy or tea to go with them.
5: Dick Van Patton was in awe of working with Edward G Robinson. It was to the point that Dick had trouble getting his one line right.
I’m not sure eight takes were enough.
6: Soylent Green featured the first arcade game being played in a movie.
Well, based on the movie, game players didn’t have to worry to be called away from their game to dinner.
7: Joseph Cotton also was in the movie playing Soylent Green executive, William R. Simonson.
The Simonson character was becoming increasingly disturbed about what was going on at Soylent Green. I guess he didn’t Cotton to what was happening. Regardless, when Charlton Heston’s character, Robert Thorn, investigated the murder of Simonson, he proved to be a Thorn in the side of some bigwigs. That was a long way to go to work in two puns.
8: In the movie’s storyline, the greenhouse effect has really kicked in and global warming is having a devastating effect on the earth.
Interestingly enough, farting cows aren’t blamed.
9: Huge Spoiler Alert: Heston has a huge dramatic line near the end of the movie.
He shouts, “Corporations are people too! Wait, that was Mitt Romney. Actually, Heston shouts, “Soylent Green is people!”
10: In the movie, Edward G Robinson plays a researcher known as a “Book.”
So, I guess in the movie cops were still supposed to do things by, “The Book.”
be happy.