# Soylent Green: Worth Watching? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633 "2005-09-21T01:01:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/21 "2005-09-21T12:35:46Z")
> [@](#): > > You never listen to Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony (#6) quite the same way after seeing the scene Atticus Finch and Baldwin mentioned. I don’t recall the music in the suicide parlor, but I’m pretty certain it ain’t Beethoven’s sixth. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/22 "2005-09-21T12:37:33Z")
I will be one of the few who will reccomend it. Considering this was an early 70s film that discussed global warming, overpopulation and depletion of world resources before they were really in the general public’s consciousness. It is over 30 years later people still debate whether we are going in that direction or not. Robinson’s performance is very good. Heston does have some over teh top scenes but he also has some good ones too. Watch the dinner sequence when Heston and Robinson eat “real” food or the scene when Sol goes HOME they are quite good. Before Heston shouts his famous last lines he does a line that looks like his heart is breaking when he reveals “The Ocean’s dying… the plankton is dying” Yes there are some slow parts and When ever the future looks like the 70’s (just more so) it is laughable… except bell bottoms did come back so who knows what will happen in the next 20 years… Ok nothing. Oh yes the Opening Montage works for me as well. Why not give it a view it is a fine example of 70s Dystopia SciFi Cinema (catch it as patrty of a triple feature with Rollerball and Logan’s Run) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/23 "2005-09-21T13:22:21Z")
I watched _Soylent Green_ and _The Omega Man_ on the same day. One shows a world with too many people, the other an almost empty world, but both are filled with a sort of early '70s melancholy that I can’t resist – the feeling that while individual people may be good, humanity is self-destructive, and that our ever-more complex social and technological systems are bound to collapse. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/24 "2005-09-21T15:34:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t recall the music in the suicide parlor, but I’m pretty certain it ain’t Beethoven’s sixth. [It most](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/trivia) [definitely is.](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/soundtrack) ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/25 "2005-09-21T15:44:59Z")
I actually just saw it for the first time about two weeks ago. Of course, I knew the ending already, but, just like “Planet of the Apes,” I was curious as to how we arrived at the ending. I found the movie to be quite interesting. There were times that it dragged and some parts were just downright silly (what happened to the people in the scoops anyway?) but still worth seeing if you’re interested in knowing how the famous ending came to be. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/26 "2005-09-21T16:48:30Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > Don’t bother. Not a good movie and not a fun piece of cheese. > If you like corny Sci-Fi.: [The Last Man on Earth (1964)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058700/) > > A forgotten pre-cursor to Night of the Living Dead > > Plot Summary for The Last Man on Earth Last Man on Earth is an interesting movie; Price is always fun to watch, especially moping morbidly about… When the vampires appeared in their black turtleneck sweaters, I thought to myself, “That looks soooooo Italian–hmmm…” and sure enough, it was filmed in Italy! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/27 "2005-09-21T17:01:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by CalMeacham > I don’t recall the music in the suicide parlor, but I’m pretty certain it ain’t Beethoven’s sixth. > > It most definitely is. It’s a great deal more. From the site you cite: > [@](#): > > The music which played when Edward G. Robinson was “going home” was: The overture was the principal theme from the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the “Pathetique.” When the visual presentation started it was the first movement of Beethoven’s “Symphony #6 (The Pastoral)”. When the flock of sheep show up it switches to “Morning” from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite #1”. Finally moving in the end to “Asas Death”, also from the “Peer Gynt Suite”. I don’t remember the Pastorale in there, but I do recall other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/28 "2005-09-21T18:12:19Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > Last Man on Earth is an interesting movie; Price is always fun to watch, especially moping morbidly about… It is also available dirt cheap on DVD [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004WGAB/002-2397802-4300056?v=glance](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004WGAB/002-2397802-4300056?v=glance) ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/29 "2005-09-22T05:58:25Z")
I shall watch it! Down with the naysayers! ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/30 "2005-09-22T06:10:52Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > Later (loosely) remade as _The Omega Man_–with Heston! > Reportedly, there’s yet another version in the works. There _was_ another version in the works. Around 1996, **I Am Legend** was ready to shoot with Arnold Schwarzenegger starring and Ridley Scott directing but complications with the budget and Ahnuld’s health arose and the project was postponed indefinitely. To date, it remains in development-hell. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/31 "2005-09-22T06:36:48Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > Considering this was an early 70s film that discussed global warming, overpopulation and depletion of world resources before they were really in the general public’s consciousness. Overpopulation and depletion of world resources were the single biggest science issue in the general public’s consciousness in the late 60s. “The Population Bomb”, the piece of pseudoscientific dreck that this movie was based on, was published in 1968 and immediately rose to and maintained bestseller status for several months. The idea was very much in the public consciousness, which is precisely why the movie was made. This wasn’t a farsighted piece of cinema that brought obscure issues to the attention of the general public. This movie was the “Day After Tomorrow”, “Jurassic Park” or “Them” of the seventies. It followed the same formula of taking the single most popular piece of controversial science around and turning it into an over-hyped disaster flick. I put it in the same category as “Them” or “Jurassic Park” and doubtless my children will view “TDAT” exactly the same way. It’s a great piece of kitsch that gives some interesting insights into the fears of the people of the day and the doomsday fears of humans generally. But it was a movie made in reaction to the public discussion and technological fears of the day. It was an attempt to make a buck from those fears, not an attempt to illuminate the issue and nothing original or groundbreaking. It wasn’t even as entertaining as “Them or Jurassic Park”. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/32 "2005-09-22T06:58:26Z")
> [@](#): > > It wasn’t even as entertaining as “Them or Jurassic Park”. Oh yes Them was an awesome movie, I love that they are releasing these older cult classics on dvd now. Truly the age of the gods. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/33 "2005-09-22T07:11:37Z")
It was the perfect drive-in movie. A lot of food was tossed at the screen. Good times…good times… ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/34 "2005-09-22T12:42:28Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > It wasn’t even as entertaining as “Them or Jurassic Park”. I’m glad you added that disclaimer, I’ve loved Them for years 😃 Watch “Soylent Green” because; 1.) You’ll get all the references in the Simpsons, this board and elsewhere. 2.) It makes the final scene, always shown when the film is referenced, a bit more satisfying (to me at least) 3.) Its about 2hours out of the rest of your life (give or take a toilet break) why not? Heston is well suited to the role, enjoy 😉 I’d forgotten how many SF films Heston was in, this, the three “Planet of the Apes” movies and “The Omega Man”, any others? ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/35 "2005-09-22T13:06:53Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > There _was_ another version in the works. Around 1996, **I Am Legend** was ready to shoot with Arnold Schwarzenegger starring and Ridley Scott directing but complications with the budget and Ahnuld’s health arose and the project was postponed indefinitely. To date, it remains in development-hell. And we can thank the lord for that. I Am Legend was an awsome book… The screenplay for Arnie’s version? Well, it was arnie’s version. Explosion. Dumb dialoge. Explosion. Dumb dialogue. Save helpless woman. Dumb dialogue. Oh look, another explosion! As for Soylent, I’d recommend reading the book before the movie. I did it the other way around and was thoroughly disapointed in the book due to it. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/36 "2005-09-22T13:19:55Z")
I, for one, found this movie deeply disappointing. Logan’s Run was at least exciting and enjoyable; Soylent Green was, well, boring. The climactic scene was just utterly pointless for me. Sure, we all know that Soylent Green is people. But I at least figured that they were intentionally murdering the poor, or something! No, these are people who voluntarily died because they don’t want to live anymore, and killed in a humane and loving way (gasp, horror!). They eat their carcasses. So what? I’d eat human flesh to stay alive any day, and if the government told me my snacks weren’t human flesh so that I could enjoy them more, so much the better! Anyway, two long hours with no payoff. Pass. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/37 "2005-09-22T13:33:05Z")
No pay-off? I wouldn’t say that. The movie is old enough, satirized enough, and has been succeeded by so many more graphic movies that the pay-off isn’t as shocking to today’s audience is all. At the time of its release, it had more impact. Don’t forget that at the time of _their_ release Universal’s **Frankenstein** and **Dracula** were considered some pretty spine-tingling stuff. Not many people today would consider them such. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/38 "2005-09-22T13:34:12Z")
Also, it’s been years since I saw the movie, but I always had the impression that the rioters that we see getting scooped up also became soylent green. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/39 "2005-09-22T15:26:51Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Also, it’s been years since I saw the movie, but I always had the impression that the rioters that we see getting scooped up also became soylent green. I had that impression, too. At least, the trucks that transported the corpses from the HOME to the processing facility looked to me like the same kind of trucks that were used for the scoopers. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633/40 "2005-09-22T17:02:08Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#): > > I, for one, found this movie deeply disappointing. Logan’s Run was at least exciting and enjoyable; Soylent Green was, well, boring. > > The climactic scene was just utterly pointless for me. > > Sure, we all know that Soylent Green is people. But I at least figured that they were intentionally murdering the poor, or something! No, these are people who voluntarily died because they don’t want to live anymore, and killed in a humane and loving way (gasp, horror!). They eat their carcasses. So what? I’d eat human flesh to stay alive any day, and if the government told me my snacks weren’t human flesh so that I could enjoy them more, so much the better! I hate to sound as if I’m defending the movie, 'cause I think it is as boring and obvious as a Brittany Spears comeback album, but The real twist in the end isn’t just that Soylent Green is made of people (“It’s people!”) but that, as Saul tells Thorn, “The oceans are dying.” It seems that some of much of the food products of the Soylent company are from ocean farming (despite the name of the company) and that with the pollution of the oceans they can no longer produce enough stock to supply food, so the shocker is supposed to be that humanity is going to starve. That staving off famine requires cannibalism is a cheap horror movie plot twist, but it doesn’t actually make a lot sense; with thousands of technicians knowing what happens to the bodies, it would be impossible to keep such a secret. I much prefer, “You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!” It doesn’t make much more sense than _Soylent Green_ but at least it has a point to it. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soylent-green-worth-watching/322633.md?page=3)