[Danimal]

I think what scared me most about this movie was the possibility of having to wear and decorate with those hideous 70's colors again. <i>That's</i> a future I wouldn't want to be a part of. I don't think I'd like Burt Reynolds running around playing detective all the time, either.

More seriously, there were a few things I remember from this flic, like not being able to get into farms outside of the city because "those places are like fortresses." The wider disparity between the rich and the poor was also a disturbing thought. It seemed strange that people were packed in that closely together, though. We'd run out of resources long before we could achieve that level of population density on any wide scale. I would imagine people would spread out from the cities instead of piling on top of each other in stairways to sleep. I would expect to see more urban gardening also.

One more lesson from the movie: Replace your incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent so you won't have to pedal your stationary bike so long.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Here's another flick from that era: Michael Caine as Alfie. Just watched it. Clever title: Alfie = Alpha male. One line, 'All I know about the ladies is the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke, I don't want to know.' I heard the Jude Law remake was no good, anybody see it?

[gg3]

Food riots.

Ethical Suicide Parlours.

Corpses collected by the sanitation department.

Central Park under a dome, with a long line of people waiting to get in and see real live trees.

[cador]

Spoiler Warning: if you have never seen this movie and you are unaware of the surprise ending, I recommend that you watch the movie first before reading this. There is nothing worse than watching this movie while being aware of the surprise ending.

As I alluded in the warning above, I already knew the secret of Soylent Green ("It's people!") because of a famous Saturday Night Live skit by Phil Hartman about its fictional sequel _Soylent Green II_ I saw a few years ago ("Soylent Green is still made out of people! They didn't change the recipe like they said they were going to! It's still people!!" http://snltranscripts.jt.org/92/92osoylent.phtml).

The movie was much better watching it for the second time because I made my wife watch it and she was totally unaware of this movie and it's surprise ending. My wife is very cynical about "surprise" endings because she can usually figure them out 15 minutes into the movie. She didn't figure out the secret until she saw the Soylent Green factory and the way it processes dead people.

The premise of the movie is that the world is overpopulated and there are very few natural resources to sustain it. There is ecnomic collapse and food is very scarce. The film opens with a musical and visual montage showing the world in the 1800s where people sustained themselves with traditional farming and eventually more images of modernity creeping in, with automobiles, skyscrapers and then the music turns ominous showing riots, pollution and decay.

Charlton Heston plays a detective who is investigating the murder of the President of Soylent Corporation. He has a two-year backlog of unsolved murder cases and this is one murder he absolutely feels the urgent need to solve ("You know, there are 20 million guys out of work in Manhattan alone just waiting for my job."). He has an assistant who is very old and remembers how things once were ("People were always rotten. But the world 'was' beautiful.").

I think that the world described in this movie is very possible in the near future: severe competition for the few remaining jobs left, running water is a luxury, food riots and massive corruption. Even the main hero is not above this, Heston is found stealing all of the necessities of life wherever he goes and takes bribes. Whether or not the government will process dead people to mitigate the food shortages is beside the point, a world with resource shortages will be a very unpleasant place to live in.

My favorite scene in this movie is when Heston and his assistant enjoy a meal consisting of beef stew and some fruits and vegetables. This is a typical meal that most people today take for granted, yet the two characters make it seem that they are enjoying a fine meal in a fine restaurant. The movie is worth watching just for this scene alone.

Around the time I bought this movie on DVD, I also got Zardoz (1974) starring Sean Connery and Rollerball (1975) starring James Caan. I really liked Zardoz--it was the best of this "trilogy" of the future apocalypse. But the most realistic of the three has to be Soylent Green.

[linlithgowoil]

i was home... all the time... you MANIACS... you BLEW IT UP... DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU ALL TO HELLL!!

i just wanted to write that, even though its from planet of the apes.

[Kaminyu]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cador', 'S')poiler Warning: if you have never seen this movie and you are unaware of the surprise ending, I recommend that you watch the movie first before reading this. There is nothing worse than watching this movie while being aware of the surprise ending.
... Around the time I bought this movie on DVD, I also got Zardoz (1974) starring Sean Connery and Rollerball (1975) starring James Caan. I really liked Zardoz--it was the best of this "trilogy" of the future apocalypse. But the most realistic of the three has to be Soylent Green.

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('linlithgowoil', 'i') was home... all the time... you MANIACS... you BLEW IT UP... DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU ALL TO HELLL!!
i just wanted to write that, even though its from planet of the apes.

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'C')adar, thanks for the memories. You know the first time I saw the movie I thought it was kind of cheesy.

[cador]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DomusAlbion', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'C')adar, thanks for the memories. You know the first time I saw the movie I thought it was kind of cheesy.

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'p')starr, thanks for mentioning Silent Running, I'll have to check it out. Have you seen Logan's Run? Is it any good. I saw it at a video store for $9. I'd like to add to my collection of survival horror/sci-fi collection.

[cador]

Soylent Rice is people.... it's made with people!!!

http://www.rense.com/general63/usda.htm

[Budmeister]

I'm sure you're aware that Soylent Green is loosely based off Harry Harrison's book "Make Room! Make Room". If you like the movie you'll love the book.
Quoting page 1, "IN 1999....
When the subways aren't late anymore because there aren't any more subways....
When hot water is what you get when you leave a pan on the windowsill for an hour....
When people can and do kill for a semi-edible piece of seaweed steak (but in three delicious flavors, of course)....
When you're lucky if you don't have to share your home with more than one total stranger, and normal if you don't have a home to share....
When you live in a world with seven billion other hungry people, and thirty-five million of them right there beside you, the only natural resources left are you and them.
And how long will you last?"

Its a great book, hope I didn't violate copyright by quoting this.
Bud

[trespam]

This is a great thread. Any other apocalyptic movies we should consider. It's a different concept, and a bit silly at times, but I still like the premise of 12 monkeys.

And Silent Running. Wow. I saw that quite a few times when I was a kid and it just made me think and think and think.

But I have no idea whether I'd like it now.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cador', '
') a famous Saturday Night Live skit by Phil Hartman about its fictional sequel _Soylent Green II_ I saw a few years ago ("Soylent Green is still made out of people! They didn't change the recipe like they said they were going to! It's still people!!"

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cador', 'B')ut we all have our opinions, so I won't do more than that to try to convince you otherwise. I'm a little bit of a movie geek, I confess. Whereas most people list the Godfather and Citizen Kane as their all-time favorite movies I tell them that _Night of the Living Dead_ and _Zardoz_ are far superior works of art. Perhaps it's the contrarian in me.

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('trespam', 'T')his is a great thread. Any other apocalyptic movies we should consider. It's a different concept, and a bit silly at times, but I still like the premise of 12 monkeys.

[PenultimateManStanding]

I've been waiting for Blockbuster online to send me 12 Monkeys. I would like to see it again but there is a very long wait for that one. Guess I'll cancel the request and get it at the store. I loved the dramatic tension built around the recognition Madeleine Stowe's character eventually has about the truth.