One evening, homicide detective Charlton Heston is called in to investigate the murder of wealthy businessman Joseph Cotten who has been beaten to death in his apartment. Heston thinks that everything is too convenient to be a botched robbery: the security system was down, the bodyguard and the concubine were both out shopping, plus there was nothing stolen despite the fact there was tons of food and other luxury items all over the place. The bosses tell Heston to lay off, but he keeps investigating on his own and the further he digs the more sinister things appear.
I enjoyed SOYLENT GREEN. Younger audiences will probably find it overly simple (and it is), but I still enjoyed it. The set designs and special effects were that special brand of early 70's, big studio efforts that look like crap nowadays, but yet I really like them. It's strange.
Charlton Heston is always a treat to watch and Edward G. Robinson (who died just twelve days after filming...he knew his cancer was terminal, but finished out the film all the same) is great! I couldn't help thinking the entire movie about how much I appreciated him and his contributions to Cinema.
Anyway, the biggest shocker to me was how unshocking the ending was. There was this big buildup and then...nothing. I'm not going to give away the ending here, just in case you don't know, but if somebody watching this movie hasn't figured out the ending within the first 20 minutes then you have to be a moron. It's actually comical how flat the ending is. That said, the scenes depicting overcrowding and people not even knowing what deer or trees were are haunting.
Worth a watch. I would love to see a hard-hitting, super depressing remake. Maybe even a limited series on HBO.
