Charlton Heston's tears during Saul's death were real. Edward g. Robinson the actor who played Saul was terminally ill and passed away before the premiere of the film.
Excellent review. I think I was a teenager when I first saw this film - considerably younger than I am now, anyway - so I envy you coming to it as an adult. It's one of the more intelligent SF films of the 70s, certainly in regards to the way the various characters respond to their circumstances. Incidentally, this was Edward G Robinson's last film. The story goes that he was already dying when he made this film, but Charlton Heston was the only member of the crew that knew he was dying. So when they're saying goodbye in the euthanasia scene, Heston's tears are probably real.
Correct. EGR died a few days after his 'death scene' which was obviously quite real. Heston announced his passing to the rest of the crew a few days later.
And now look at the polar shift slowly happening, earth cracked split apart in Kenya recently. Land rising in Bimini, it's all slowly happening. the mainstream media don't tell the people.
This was Edward G. Robinson's last film. He died 10 days after filming was complete. So when you watch his death scene I always liked to think that's how his death went...peacefully.
Hi my dear Alexa Late 60s and early 70s Sci fi and horror are my era. The Omega Man is a must see also with Heston. Of course there are the Planet of the Apes from that era too. Love your reactions x
I'm kinda shocked, honestly. I first saw this movie fully knowing the twist, because "soylent green is people" has become such a running joke in my geek circles. But you, being a smart, intelligent woman, pretty much figured out the twist. Fact: this was Edward G. Robinson's final film.
Soylent is an actual food product, that I used for a while as a food substitute (I decided I like actual food). Many folk are freaked out about the future population number. Best estimate is the population will settle around 9 billion or less, which is sustainable. Birth rates are crashing worldwide, with a few exceptions.
“Eat the Bugs, Live in the Pod”= The Great Reset billionaires while they get to do what they want like in this film and the proletariat plebs get to “own nothing and be happy”, yeah we’re going there
Awesome review. I saw this in the theater as a teenager when I was 16, and at that time, we thought it was just a fantasy. Now, it doesn't seem such a fantasy. SOYLENT GREEN IS .......a great movie.
I've seen this film many times and the Nature scenes from Sol's funeral still make me tear up.... because every year I see us inching torward making this movie a grim reality!
I got to see this at the theater when it came out. It was a real serious sci-fi thriller for a kid. I'm surprised and pleased that you never had the very well-known ending spoiled for you.
When I was 20 I worked at Petersen Publishing in L.A. and, after lunch one day, I stepped into the elevator of the building on Sunset Blvd. Out of the blue, Mr. Brooks (Avery’s dad) stepped in with me. Just us. I couldn’t help but recognize him. So, as politely as possible, I said, “Excuse me, sir, but I just wanted to tell you that in high school they showed us To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s required viewing!” I think that was the best I could muster. He looked at me and sighed, and in that sonorous voice said, “Well, that was a long, loooong time ago.” Then the elevator doors opened at his floor, he nodded nicely, and stepped off. Great review of Soylent Green.
I was out in LA for a while, and my first job was at a place that rented and sold film-related equipment. One day he came into the place to buy something, and I was working the register. The first movie of his that popped into my head was this one, and I said something like, "Mr. Peters, you played Charlton Heston's boss in SOYLENT GREEN!"
Hi, Alexa- I enjoyed this thoughtful reaction and review. You may also like THX 1138. It is another dystopian take on the future from the 1970s and it is George Lucas’ first feature film.
I saw it in 73 I was 15 I somehow knew this would happen when I was old so when I remembered it was based in the then future 2022 I watched it again….Lord have mercy…
1. I was Charlton Hesston's biggest fan. I really liked "Planet of the Apes"(1969) 2. I saw this when I was 12 and it freaked me out. (Thank you very much) 3. I think the décor is to portray the have/have not differences
The comedy series "News Radio" did a sci-fi parody episode, and in it, they poked fun at Soylent Green's iconic line (which made it onto the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest movie lines BTW) and at Snapple tea's "Made from the best stuff on Earth" advertising tagline when the radio news anchorman did a promo for their sponsor, Soylent Green, and ended the commercial by saying "Made from the best stuff on Earth. People."
Unfortunately there's nothing that they can do. There past the point of no return. They wore the headdress because of the UV rays. That's the reason the ocean's are dying. It's irreversible. As for the furniture (women) in exchange for food (room&board) they give up all rights. They are slaves that must do anything they are told. And in this society that is how they are treated. I love your reactions you are so intelligent, intuitive and May I say BEAUTIFUL! It does a old man's heart good to watch and listen to you. May GOD TRULY BLESS YOU AND YOURS!!!! AMEN.
Yes, watch "SILENT RUNNING" (1972) by Douglas Trumbull (the guy who made the SFX of "2001"), another classic sci-fi movie that makes environmental statement. 👍
This film was adapted somewhat loosely from the late 1960s novel Make Room! Make Room! by author Harry Harrison (1925-2012). It was reissued as Soylent Green when the film was released. It's a police procedural as much as science fiction, with Heston's character investigating the death of the rich man, an outright gangster in the book. His character has a different name, though Sol is present, and it's set in 1999, not in 2022. Many of the other elements in the 😢 are basically the same. The "Soylent Green is people" concept was added by screenwriter Sydney Greenberg, which ironically is what people remember the most. Fine reaction from another book lover though👍 I have read it, but confess I had to review a summary. My memory is good, but not that good 😊
Alexa, you're the best! Sorry I haven't been around for a few weeks. You know how life is. Anyway, you always bring a smile to my face when I watch you commenting on these movies. You actually remind me of myself. You literally say some of the same things that I'm thinking. Your videos are always very relaxing and make me feel like I'm watching with a good friend. I get the impression that you're somewhere out in California. I'm in Chicago, but nevertheless, I can identify with many of the things you mention in your videos. You seem to have a very wide range of knowledge, which is something that I also share, so it's refreshing to hear someone else spout off random bits of trivia that others don't seem to have much interest in. Your ability to determine the various time periods from the people's clothes in the beginning of the movie was quite impressive and was certainly on target with my own assessment. However, you seemed to be able to narrow it down a little more accurately than I could. I can usually only date things to within 20 years unless it's a time period that I've lived through. You're probably older than you look, as am I, but the breadth of knowledge that you have is especially impressive if you really ARE as young as you look. Each time I watch one of your videos, I seem compelled to say something because it's truly a joy to come across someone who tends to think in the same way as oneself. This is actually one of my favorite movies of all time, along with The Omega Man, which is also a Charleton Heston classic. Take care.
I want to go out like Sol Roth, but with metal music and videos of hippies beaten by police. 😎 Fun Fact: The scene where Thorn and Roth share a meal of fresh food was not originally in the script, but was ad-libbed by Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson at director Richard Fleischer's request.
Weirdly, I also had encounters with two other stars from this movie. Living in or thereabouts Hollywood during the '80s and '90s made it inevitable probably. But I saw Charlton Heston come out of the premiere of Star Wars at the Chinese Theater, grinning, before the midnight show they had to open up for the additional fans (me and everyone else!). And while working at the Century Plaza Hotel during the ABC Affiliates Convention one of the largest and most scary dudes I've ever seen (Chuck Connors) came steaming like a locomotive right towards me in the lobby and I had to get out of his freaking way! I think he was then in the reboot of Dark Shadows.
You are thinking of the late 1980s Fox series Werewolf regarding big Chuck Connors. He was the main villain/werewolf (Janos Skorenzy)the hero battled as the show progressed.
A few years back I had a friend start using a meal supplement shake called soylent. He kept asking me to try it. I always said no and would respond "it's (spoiler)" lol.
So many classic actors... Edward G. Robinson without a machine gun... Joseph Cotten without a Rosebud sled... Chuck Connors without his rifle... Mike Henry without a vine... Dick Van Patten without 8 kids... Whit Bissell...
The popular SF novel Stand On Zanzibar came out five years before Soylent Green. It was obviously a huge influence. Crapsack dystopias were huge in the 70's but the oddly specific detail that's in both Stand On Zanzibar and Soylent Green is the proliferation of women who trade casual sex for food and a place to stay, not as a profession or a lifestyle choice but as part of an organized subculture. Re: Space 1999, there were several episodes in the first season that were based on movies that had been popular just a year or two before. There was also an episode that was more or less Zardoz, of all things. I think Alexa may be the only person who has ever seen this movie without the ending being spoiled. When it was initially released, the studio same as spoiled the ending in the *trailer*. When I was growing up it was such a staple of TV "movie of the week" and pop culture jokes that I can't remember ever *not* knowing what SG was made of. So far as whether the decision they made was right, I should point out unless they were getting at least *some* extra calories from somewhere, this was only an extremely temporary solution. You can't loop a food chain with no external inputs. The Earth only works because plants eat the sun. (There are some tiny biomes that are driven by geothermal heat and chemosynthesis instead, and if a passing star ever throws Earth out of the solar system entirely, the creatures that live in them will survive every other organism by millions of years).
BTW: I think the headgear reflected a view of Communism at the time. Also, take a look at current demographic trends. Most of the world is in population collapse today, so overpopulation appears to have already been overcorrected through policy. Fertility is at an all time low and efforts to reverse that are faiing. Places like Canada and China are on the road to disappearing, with birth rates far below replacement levels.
You're good at guessing... or reading the film. I find that in the theater, I'm less likely to guess. I'm subject to the flow of the film (and the intentional distractions) so the endings hit with full force.
For people who did not know the movie, the revelation was ruined years later in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch where Charlton Heston's discovery was imitated.
I'm sitting here eating peperami in a mini pack, that was recently just delivered from Tesco's, watching a reaction to Soylent Green, I've only just realized! DAMN YOU ARE ALL TO HELL! IT'S PEOPLE! & Joseph Sisko!😁
charlton heston may have starred in the two of the best sci fi movies (planet of the apes) and THE TWO best biblical movies (Ten Commandments & Ben Hur) unbelievable range
Such a great film with one of the best twists in films. Some other great sci fi films from this era: Logan’s Run, Barbarella, Zardoz, Climate Change is primarily caused by humans and scientists have been warning about it since the 1910’s. There are people who are willing to do things like Mr. Beast and Mark Rober with campaigns like Team Trees and Team Seas.
You forgot "Pax," another good, 70s sci-fi with similar roots. As to climate change, although people do have an affect, it's been happening in cycles for eons. Ice ages come and go, the planet heats and cools and everything changes. That's not to say we don't have an ability to mitigate the things we do but to think we can "stop" climate change is very short sighted. I was a physical science major in college, studying meteorology and majoring in oceanography. There are certain things in this world we can change and some that are inevitable. We're actually already starting to cool down again on the grand scale but the backlash of the "tail" of the effects of warming are still active. Things like the ozone situation is something that we have to deal with but until we can get everybody on board, our other entities like China, who don't care and pump out pollutants like they're going crazy. The world is a great big ship, we're just along for the ride, throwing out "bumpers" here and there, trying to soften the bumps.
@@MtnBadger Well first off I’ve not heard of Pax before. The main thing is while there have been fluctuations in the weather before it has never been like this. Climate change is m than just the Earth warming up. It causes extremes in both directions which is what people don’t understand so no it is not starting to cool down again. The Atalantic Techtonic plate is shifting and so the Atlantic ocean will be shrinking and the largest ice sheet is going to be breaking soon and Florida and many other areas will be under water soon. ruclips.net/video/co-7Zj3We0o/видео.html
Hey, girl, it's me. I saw this and got excited and depressed at the same time. I saw this when it was released in the theater. 😆 It was a very different time, we didn't have all of the "input" we do today, with TV internet, etc. etc.. And we were facing things like just coming out of wars, famine in 3rd world countries and the first prospects of using up our resources. So, they to think about that and one day, some time in the future, watch it again. It will have even more meaning and things you didn't pick up the first time. 😀
P.S. It's hard to forget your channel when I have a digital assistant with the same name to remind me on a daily basis. I think you coincidentally have the ultimate marketing gimmick! 😉👍
I have this in a DVD collection that also has "Forbidden Planet" "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "The Time Machine". Talk about jarring shifts in style and tone!
WoW! Thank You Alexa. That's a first for me from a RUclipsr that is. But I don't even get hearts from anyone hardly at all, but I do get them, like once a few years come and gone bye bye. You know. lol Thanks xox
You might be forgetting that while the framework is the seven samurai, and the buildup is Beowulf… the main character and his opinions and observations of the old Norse folk were taken from the sources credited to en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_ibn_Fadlan. Hope you find it interesting. I did.
Being 2022 (the movie was made 1973 so 50 years ago) the intro still gives me chills! Id say Saul was an XGener bc he remembers when you could find fresh produce in grocery stores! Id like to see a remake bc they didn't go deeply into the socio political issues very much like the book did "Make Room! Make Room!" by Harry Harrison!
I'm certain that this is a re-watch for me. I couldn't find an earlier comment from me but then I sometimes watch your videos on an HD TV. I only leave a comment when I watch on PC. The Arcade game that you commented on came out in 1971, the same year this film was released. It was released by the founders of Atari. If I remember correctly it was called Space War. I never tried playing it as it was hard to find even then. The guy must have indeed been very rich to be able to afford a 51 year old Arcade game that was in perfect condition. The "Soylent Green is people" line has been parodied in everything from SNL to The Simpsons. For a change of pace try reacting to "Funny Farm" (1988).
I saw this when I was too young to follow the plot when I saw this. All I knew that the future was terrible, and they were trying to figure something out. But I sure understood the ending.
13:30 - The riot on the Tuesday that Thorn was working riot detail was deliberately engineered by the Soylent Corporation.. It wasn't that the Soylent Green had run out, Soylent Corp intentionally scaled back it's delivery to nothing. The clue is the old lady shouting about being given a quarter of a kilo.250 grams is 0.55 pounds of Soylent Green which was meant to carry her and her family until the next Tuesday. This was it would be easier for Gilbert, the assassin of Simonson to take out Thorn in the chaos of a riot. What Gilbert used was likely a Fallout style pipe pistol zip gun which was probably a common weapon among the lower classes of New York. Easy to make, easy to take apart.
Soylent Green is people!! Great reaction. The next Heston sci-fi movie to check out is The Omega Man. This was Edward G Robinson's last movie right before he died. I haven't checked lately, but I think you might be the first to do a reaction to this. Reviews yes, reactions no. God did tell us to be good stewards of the earth.
The casting was fantastic. Arguably Edward G. Robinson‘s best role. The assisted suicide scene was unforgettable. Also Leigh Taylor-Young was quite good as Shirl; she had a great chemistry with Heston. So much of SG is relevant today, which is disturbing.
My Dad and my older brother, while baby sitting me, took me with them to the theater when I was about 7 years old to see this film. So I have very clear and distinct memories of it. I think the thing that struct me about it at the time was it was the first time I had seen a movie portray the near future not as a futuristic utopia such as in 2001: A Space Odyssey but as a place of degradation and decay. I think it was beginning to set in, in the minds of most Americans, that the world of tomorrow that had been promised since the 50s wasn't going to happen in our lifetime. All signs were pointing to a collapse of some kind and that was beginning to be reflected in movies that depict the future. Even films such as Logan's Run depict a Utopia that is built upon a societal collapse. Star Wars showed us what advanced technology looks like when its old and beat up and heavily used. The new vision was that the future was coming and it was going to have some new toys but it would be more crowded, more polluted and far dirtier and grimier than we first thought. Popular media is always a reflection of what is bubbling just beneath the surface of the public's consciousness at the time it was made. The TV show The Walking Dead was a prediction of the Trump administration and the pandemic and how divided America would become. It's a technique I learned a long time ago to try and predict near future events by taking a broad overview of what is happening in films and TV. I predicted Trump would win in 2016 and serve only one term as a very unpopular president. I predicted that his presidency would be marked by protests and violent social upheaval not unlike the 1960s. I am now predicting a further diminishing of the American Right and a gradual move to the Left. This conclusion is based on historical trends and a general sensing of the mood of the body politic.
Biden is not "extremely unpopular", despite what Sean Hannity says. So far I believe Biden has surprised most of us with not being as senile as he first appeared early in the 2020 campaign. He has performed adequately without scandal or misstep. The economy is doing gangbusters and compared to what the Republican party has been up to lately, Biden looks like a political genius. The prediction I make today is that in the upcoming election Republicans will fare worse than is usual as the opposition party in a President's second term. The opposing party usually picks up seats in the House and/or Senate but I believe they will lose seats this time around. @@starmnsixty1209
My little sister and I are big sci-fi fans and when we saw this in the theater, she had to go to the restroom and missed the sequence when Charlton Heston sneaked into the Soylent Green plant, so she didn't understand the big secret.
Great reaction video! Talk about life imitating art there is a product on the market called Soylent made by Soylent Nutrition, Inc. founded in 2013 it is marketed as a complete nutritional meal.
I think the prolls costumes were to evoke a sense of the medieval plague years, at least it was the feeling I got a long time ago seeing this Touretts painting of pestilence and the illuminated manuscripts seem to have the plain dress and head wraps, in particular...
excellent work, you're the first ever reaction I've seen to this film, which I think was the first to reference greenhouse effects, and global warming leading to an ecocide, which is also an idea later followed in the sci-fi cyberpunk film Blade Runner, and the cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, by William Gibson. If you like these ideas about environmentalism-corporations you might like the 2012 film Cloud Atlas, based off a better novel of the same name by David Mitchell from 2004.
Hello again Alexa, I'm enjoying your reactions and observations so much and thank you for your prodigious output! Is it possible that you've never watched, 'Logan's Run'? I can't believe you haven't but if not please do react to it. It's such a classic now and you would love it I'm sure - not least for the costumes which were out of this world! 🙂Ian
Hello, Alexa, really enjoying your reactions to Space 1999 and this also was excellent. Someone must have suggested you watch "The Prisoner" and also "UFO" and, if not, I am. So much for grammar.
Thanks! UFO reactions are coming after Year 2 (pilot reaction is already available). I am already a Prisoner fan; I even visited Portmeirion a few times.
Based on Harry Harrison's novel "Make Room, Make Room", this cautionary tale isn't about climate change per se, but a more basic issue: overpopulation/carrying capacity. Almost no one these days has any interest in addressing root causes though. You'll find that if one even tries to raise the subject of overpopulation, both the "free market" crowd and the woke witchhunters will be grabbing for their torches, tar, and feathers. Nobody wants to slow down the gravy train of cheap labor and woke outrage. The movie is worth watching still, if for no other reason than Robinson & Heston's chemistry. Even after all these years, I still tear up a bit watching Saul's death scene (the music used doesn't hurt either). The book is worth your time too, although you'll notice that in the original story Soylent is NOT actually made of... you know.
I believe there are farmlands but they’re for only the rich, rare but they do exist (probably in greenhouses like they show earlier). Very much a class issue movie other than just environmental
If you have ever had to live for years at a time without water, you may understand why it's so hard to keep anything clean. No water no soap no Is clean
That's hilarious you have the same nightgown. That's synchronicity right there. At least 2022 has come and things aren't so bad. We're not eating people any time soon. Bugs maybe).
![GEEK TIMË [OFFICIAL AUDIO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ry-6RvkH880/mqdefault.jpg)
"How does Soylent Green taste?"
"It varies from person to person.."
Bwah ha ha ha ha ha.
It's Cannibalism, Human Flesh
Futurama season 1 episode 13 reference
Charlton Heston's tears during Saul's death were real. Edward g. Robinson the actor who played Saul was terminally ill and passed away before the premiere of the film.
Oh my goodness! No wonder it was such a powerful scene.
One of the great all time scenes
This reminds me of this poster at McDonalds when I worked there as a kid. It said: "People. Our most important ingredient."
Yikes! Lol
DARK AF
@@RaikenXion And pretty tasty if I'm being honest. 🤣 McDonald's, that is.
@@allyourmoney come on , women taste great
Excellent review. I think I was a teenager when I first saw this film - considerably younger than I am now, anyway - so I envy you coming to it as an adult. It's one of the more intelligent SF films of the 70s, certainly in regards to the way the various characters respond to their circumstances. Incidentally, this was Edward G Robinson's last film. The story goes that he was already dying when he made this film, but Charlton Heston was the only member of the crew that knew he was dying. So when they're saying goodbye in the euthanasia scene, Heston's tears are probably real.
Correct. EGR died a few days after his 'death scene' which was obviously quite real. Heston announced his passing to the rest of the crew a few days later.
Funny how the consensus in 75 was that a new ice age was coming. I remember writing a paper about ways to stop it in high school lol
And now look at the polar shift slowly happening, earth cracked split apart in Kenya recently. Land rising in Bimini, it's all slowly happening. the mainstream media don't tell the people.
The biggest difference is that in the original novel, Make Room, Make Room by Harry Harrison, is that Soylent Green is....NOT people.
Another difference was China invasion of Taiwan caused some of the overcrowding. 7:09
This was Edward G. Robinson's last film. He died 10 days after filming was complete. So when you watch his death scene I always liked to think that's how his death went...peacefully.
Hi my dear Alexa
Late 60s and early 70s Sci fi and horror are my era.
The Omega Man is a must see also with Heston.
Of course there are the Planet of the Apes from that era too.
Love your reactions x
Thank you - I saw Planet of the Apes about three years ago - lots of parkour!
My 3 favorite movies from this time Soylent Green, Logan's Run,and Omega Man
70s were great for futuristic movies to provoke thought.
Yes! Mine as well. I would also throw in Westworld also:)
Planet of the Apes and Silent Running are truly great too.
I'm kinda shocked, honestly. I first saw this movie fully knowing the twist, because "soylent green is people" has become such a running joke in my geek circles. But you, being a smart, intelligent woman, pretty much figured out the twist.
Fact: this was Edward G. Robinson's final film.
Yeah come to think of it. I haven't heard that joke in ages.
SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!
Soylent is an actual food product, that I used for a while as a food substitute (I decided I like actual food). Many folk are freaked out about the future population number. Best estimate is the population will settle around 9 billion or less, which is sustainable. Birth rates are crashing worldwide, with a few exceptions.
And a pandemic or two...
It's not called *Soy* for nothing, also remember what the Georgia Guide Stones read.
“Eat the Bugs, Live in the Pod”= The Great Reset billionaires while they get to do what they want like in this film and the proletariat plebs get to “own nothing and be happy”, yeah we’re going there
Awesome review. I saw this in the theater as a teenager when I was 16, and at that time, we thought it was just a fantasy. Now, it doesn't seem such a fantasy. SOYLENT GREEN IS .......a great movie.
They even openly sell Soylent Green now! (The ad comments sections for that are hilarious).
The eating scene is very moving . Saw this as a teen now I’m getting near sols age damn!
I've seen this film many times and the Nature scenes from Sol's funeral still make me tear up.... because every year I see us inching torward making this movie a grim reality!
I got to see this at the theater when it came out. It was a real serious sci-fi thriller for a kid. I'm surprised and pleased that you never had the very well-known ending spoiled for you.
When I was 20 I worked at Petersen Publishing in L.A. and, after lunch one day, I stepped into the elevator of the building on Sunset Blvd. Out of the blue, Mr. Brooks (Avery’s dad) stepped in with me. Just us. I couldn’t help but recognize him. So, as politely as possible, I said, “Excuse me, sir, but I just wanted to tell you that in high school they showed us To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s required viewing!” I think that was the best I could muster. He looked at me and sighed, and in that sonorous voice said, “Well, that was a long, loooong time ago.” Then the elevator doors opened at his floor, he nodded nicely, and stepped off. Great review of Soylent Green.
I was out in LA for a while, and my first job was at a place that rented and sold film-related equipment. One day he came into the place to buy something, and I was working the register. The first movie of his that popped into my head was this one, and I said something like, "Mr. Peters, you played Charlton Heston's boss in SOYLENT GREEN!"
@@johnlowe5424 We fans must be so insufferable! :)
Hi, Alexa- I enjoyed this thoughtful reaction and review. You may also like THX 1138. It is another dystopian take on the future from the 1970s and it is George Lucas’ first feature film.
I saw it in 73 I was 15 I somehow knew this would happen when I was old so when I remembered it was based in the then future 2022 I watched it again….Lord have mercy…
The death scene is amazing. Robinson saw really near death at the time and Heston knew it
and this movie was set in 2022!!
1. I was Charlton Hesston's biggest fan. I really liked "Planet of the Apes"(1969)
2. I saw this when I was 12 and it freaked me out. (Thank you very much)
3. I think the décor is to portray the have/have not differences
The comedy series "News Radio" did a sci-fi parody episode, and in it, they poked fun at Soylent Green's iconic line (which made it onto the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest movie lines BTW) and at Snapple tea's "Made from the best stuff on Earth" advertising tagline when the radio news anchorman did a promo for their sponsor, Soylent Green, and ended the commercial by saying "Made from the best stuff on Earth. People."
Next film in this genre that is a must watch for me is
"Children of Men".
Please consider checking it out sometime!
Re: "I know nothing about this film" You haven't had this spoiled? There's soooo much pop-culture references!
I run in different pop circles, I guess!
Unfortunately there's nothing that they can do. There past the point of no return. They wore the headdress because of the UV rays. That's the reason the ocean's are dying. It's irreversible. As for the furniture (women) in exchange for food (room&board) they give up all rights. They are slaves that must do anything they are told. And in this society that is how they are treated. I love your reactions you are so intelligent, intuitive and May I say BEAUTIFUL! It does a old man's heart good to watch and listen to you. May GOD TRULY BLESS YOU AND YOURS!!!! AMEN.
Since you are covering sci-fi of this era, may I suggest Collosus: The Forbin Project (1970) or The Andromeda Strain (1971)?
Yes, watch "SILENT RUNNING" (1972) by Douglas Trumbull (the guy who made the SFX of "2001"), another classic sci-fi movie that makes environmental statement. 👍
This film was adapted somewhat loosely from the late 1960s novel Make Room! Make Room! by author Harry Harrison (1925-2012). It was reissued as Soylent Green when the film was released.
It's a police procedural as much as science fiction, with Heston's character investigating the death of the rich man, an outright gangster in the book. His character has a different name, though Sol is present, and it's set in 1999, not in 2022. Many of the other elements in the 😢 are basically the same. The "Soylent Green is people" concept was added by screenwriter Sydney Greenberg, which ironically is what people remember the most.
Fine reaction from another book lover though👍
I have read it, but confess I had to review a summary. My memory is good, but not that good 😊
Alexa, you're the best! Sorry I haven't been around for a few weeks. You know how life is. Anyway, you always bring a smile to my face when I watch you commenting on these movies. You actually remind me of myself. You literally say some of the same things that I'm thinking. Your videos are always very relaxing and make me feel like I'm watching with a good friend.
I get the impression that you're somewhere out in California. I'm in Chicago, but nevertheless, I can identify with many of the things you mention in your videos. You seem to have a very wide range of knowledge, which is something that I also share, so it's refreshing to hear someone else spout off random bits of trivia that others don't seem to have much interest in.
Your ability to determine the various time periods from the people's clothes in the beginning of the movie was quite impressive and was certainly on target with my own assessment. However, you seemed to be able to narrow it down a little more accurately than I could. I can usually only date things to within 20 years unless it's a time period that I've lived through. You're probably older than you look, as am I, but the breadth of knowledge that you have is especially impressive if you really ARE as young as you look.
Each time I watch one of your videos, I seem compelled to say something because it's truly a joy to come across someone who tends to think in the same way as oneself.
This is actually one of my favorite movies of all time, along with The Omega Man, which is also a Charleton Heston classic.
Take care.
I want to go out like Sol Roth, but with metal music and videos of hippies beaten by police. 😎
Fun Fact: The scene where Thorn and Roth share a meal of fresh food was not originally in the script, but was ad-libbed by Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson at director Richard Fleischer's request.
I understood that reference.
Finally!!!
Someone does this masterpiece!
I just watched this and I'm still reeling from the ending..
Charleton Heston and Edward G. Robinson reunion. For fuller experience, watch "Ten Commandments".
This was Edward G. Robinson’s last film before his death.
I wore our vhs out of that as a kid!
@@alexachipman Give me all that I ask. Or give me leave to go. So let it be written. So let it be done.
Actually, Heston and Robinson worked together to get the Planet of the Apes movie made. However, Robinson turned down the offer to act in the film.
@@alexachipman I just watched it on ABC every Easter :)
Weirdly, I also had encounters with two other stars from this movie. Living in or thereabouts Hollywood during the '80s and '90s made it inevitable probably. But I saw Charlton Heston come out of the premiere of Star Wars at the Chinese Theater, grinning, before the midnight show they had to open up for the additional fans (me and everyone else!). And while working at the Century Plaza Hotel during the ABC Affiliates Convention one of the largest and most scary dudes I've ever seen (Chuck Connors) came steaming like a locomotive right towards me in the lobby and I had to get out of his freaking way! I think he was then in the reboot of Dark Shadows.
You are thinking of the late 1980s Fox series Werewolf regarding big Chuck Connors. He was the main villain/werewolf (Janos Skorenzy)the hero battled as the show progressed.
@@starmnsixty1209 Yes, that's right.
Can you imagine if the cop took Saul to Golden Corral, they'd go crazy.
A few years back I had a friend start using a meal supplement shake called soylent. He kept asking me to try it. I always said no and would respond "it's (spoiler)" lol.
Yeah, that’s a no! Lol
I'm late to the party but the ending with the hand and him screaming 🥺
6:26 Because of the heatwaves. Kerchiefs absorb the sweat.
Well in light of the possible food shortages this year.. Soylent Green takes place in 2022. Looks like where we are heading.
Alas, too true!
So many classic actors... Edward G. Robinson without a machine gun... Joseph Cotten without a Rosebud sled... Chuck Connors without his rifle... Mike Henry without a vine... Dick Van Patten without 8 kids... Whit Bissell...
And fantastic insert references from other films. EXCELLENT!
The popular SF novel Stand On Zanzibar came out five years before Soylent Green. It was obviously a huge influence. Crapsack dystopias were huge in the 70's but the oddly specific detail that's in both Stand On Zanzibar and Soylent Green is the proliferation of women who trade casual sex for food and a place to stay, not as a profession or a lifestyle choice but as part of an organized subculture.
Re: Space 1999, there were several episodes in the first season that were based on movies that had been popular just a year or two before. There was also an episode that was more or less Zardoz, of all things.
I think Alexa may be the only person who has ever seen this movie without the ending being spoiled. When it was initially released, the studio same as spoiled the ending in the *trailer*. When I was growing up it was such a staple of TV "movie of the week" and pop culture jokes that I can't remember ever *not* knowing what SG was made of.
So far as whether the decision they made was right, I should point out unless they were getting at least *some* extra calories from somewhere, this was only an extremely temporary solution. You can't loop a food chain with no external inputs. The Earth only works because plants eat the sun. (There are some tiny biomes that are driven by geothermal heat and chemosynthesis instead, and if a passing star ever throws Earth out of the solar system entirely, the creatures that live in them will survive every other organism by millions of years).
"Soylent Green is people!"
Alexa: "I don't know whose side I'm on"
Late to the table, but thank you for covering this film. Even more prescient two months after your reaction.
BTW: I think the headgear reflected a view of Communism at the time. Also, take a look at current demographic trends. Most of the world is in population collapse today, so overpopulation appears to have already been overcorrected through policy. Fertility is at an all time low and efforts to reverse that are faiing. Places like Canada and China are on the road to disappearing, with birth rates far below replacement levels.
You're good at guessing... or reading the film. I find that in the theater, I'm less likely to guess. I'm subject to the flow of the film (and the intentional distractions) so the endings hit with full force.
Intriguing. I rarely go to the cinema without my newspaper film critic hat on, so I am not even sure I remember what that is like!
For people who did not know the movie, the revelation was ruined years later in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch where Charlton Heston's discovery was imitated.
Great reaction to a great film. Thank you.
Another 70’s sci-fi movie you might like is ‘Time After Time’ (1979)
Absolutely! I loved that one too
Please, please, please!!!
I'm sitting here eating peperami in a mini pack, that was recently just delivered from Tesco's, watching a reaction to Soylent Green, I've only just realized! DAMN YOU ARE ALL TO HELL! IT'S PEOPLE! & Joseph Sisko!😁
My favorite movie. Thank you Alexa!
A very prophetic movie and so was
" No Blades of Grass " very underrated cult classic gem a must see.
Re: "is there no more supply?" Ohhhh, there's AMPLE supply. 😈
I feel so relaxed when you speak😍
Thank you!
charlton heston may have starred in the two of the best sci fi movies (planet of the apes) and THE TWO best biblical movies (Ten Commandments & Ben Hur) unbelievable range
Edward g Robinson was totality deaf at this time. he memorized the script and they timed it out
Such a great film with one of the best twists in films. Some other great sci fi films from this era:
Logan’s Run,
Barbarella,
Zardoz,
Climate Change is primarily caused by humans and scientists have been warning about it since the 1910’s. There are people who are willing to do things like Mr. Beast and Mark Rober with campaigns like Team Trees and Team Seas.
Logan’s Run and Planet of the Apes were my favorites growing up. I wanted to be a sandman for Halloween and was never allowed.
Great films,I would also add a Boy and his Dog.
You forgot "Pax," another good, 70s sci-fi with similar roots.
As to climate change, although people do have an affect, it's been happening in cycles for eons. Ice ages come and go, the planet heats and cools and everything changes.
That's not to say we don't have an ability to mitigate the things we do but to think we can "stop" climate change is very short sighted.
I was a physical science major in college, studying meteorology and majoring in oceanography. There are certain things in this world we can change and some that are inevitable. We're actually already starting to cool down again on the grand scale but the backlash of the "tail" of the effects of warming are still active. Things like the ozone situation is something that we have to deal with but until we can get everybody on board, our other entities like China, who don't care and pump out pollutants like they're going crazy. The world is a great big ship, we're just along for the ride, throwing out "bumpers" here and there, trying to soften the bumps.
@@MtnBadger Well first off I’ve not heard of Pax before. The main thing is while there have been fluctuations in the weather before it has never been like this. Climate change is m than just the Earth warming up. It causes extremes in both directions which is what people don’t understand so no it is not starting to cool down again. The Atalantic Techtonic plate is shifting and so the Atlantic ocean will be shrinking and the largest ice sheet is going to be breaking soon and Florida and many other areas will be under water soon.
ruclips.net/video/co-7Zj3We0o/видео.html
Zardoz was my favorite
Hey, girl, it's me. I saw this and got excited and depressed at the same time. I saw this when it was released in the theater. 😆
It was a very different time, we didn't have all of the "input" we do today, with TV internet, etc. etc.. And we were facing things like just coming out of wars, famine in 3rd world countries and the first prospects of using up our resources. So, they to think about that and one day, some time in the future, watch it again. It will have even more meaning and things you didn't pick up the first time. 😀
P.S. It's hard to forget your channel when I have a digital assistant with the same name to remind me on a daily basis. I think you coincidentally have the ultimate marketing gimmick! 😉👍
Im glad you got the message this movie made. There were several movies about ecological issues. It was big back then.
“I would try it.” ALEXA NOOOOOO!
I have this in a DVD collection that also has "Forbidden Planet" "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "The Time Machine". Talk about jarring shifts in style and tone!
I hope it was the George Pal ‘Time Machine’ that was a masterpiece.
@@oaf-77 Of course! The DVD was put out by TCM. They aren't going to shill the remake.
WoW! Thank You Alexa. That's a first for me from a RUclipsr that is. But I don't even get hearts from anyone hardly at all, but I do get them, like once a few years come and gone bye bye. You know. lol Thanks xox
You might be forgetting that while the framework is the seven samurai, and the buildup is Beowulf… the main character and his opinions and observations of the old Norse folk were taken from the sources credited to en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_ibn_Fadlan.
Hope you find it interesting. I did.
Being 2022 (the movie was made 1973 so 50 years ago) the intro still gives me chills!
Id say Saul was an XGener bc he remembers when you could find fresh produce in grocery stores!
Id like to see a remake bc they didn't go deeply into the socio political issues very much like the book did "Make Room! Make Room!" by Harry Harrison!
I'm certain that this is a re-watch for me. I couldn't find an earlier comment from me but then I sometimes watch your videos on an HD TV. I only leave a comment when I watch on PC.
The Arcade game that you commented on came out in 1971, the same year this film was released. It was released by the founders of Atari. If I remember correctly it was called Space War. I never tried playing it as it was hard to find even then. The guy must have indeed been very rich to be able to afford a 51 year old Arcade game that was in perfect condition.
The "Soylent Green is people" line has been parodied in everything from SNL to The Simpsons. For a change of pace try reacting to "Funny Farm" (1988).
Omg! Soylent green! Love this movie
I saw this when I was too young to follow the plot when I saw this. All I knew that the future was terrible, and they were trying to figure something out. But I sure understood the ending.
The 'fashion' was a miss as with technology prediction. Like 2022 was a regression.
13:30 - The riot on the Tuesday that Thorn was working riot detail was deliberately engineered by the Soylent Corporation.. It wasn't that the Soylent Green had run out, Soylent Corp intentionally scaled back it's delivery to nothing. The clue is the old lady shouting about being given a quarter of a kilo.250 grams is 0.55 pounds of Soylent Green which was meant to carry her and her family until the next Tuesday.
This was it would be easier for Gilbert, the assassin of Simonson to take out Thorn in the chaos of a riot. What Gilbert used was likely a Fallout style pipe pistol zip gun which was probably a common weapon among the lower classes of New York. Easy to make, easy to take apart.
Do you think the ambulance took Charlton Heston to the hospital? I think he was taken to the factory or processing plant if you prefer.
The priest was overwhelmed by the confession that’s why he’s in that shape
I think I know too many priests :) I've seen this in far less dire situations!
That why we need to make big family a thing of the past
Just stumbled on your videos. Good stuff. Getting late time for bed but do one on The Vikings Kirk Douglass Janet Leigh. Borgnine 1953 I think.
Well done Alexa. Another great reaction video.
Keep up the good work.
I need some furniture in my life.
Soylent Green is people!! Great reaction. The next Heston sci-fi movie to check out is The Omega Man. This was Edward G Robinson's last movie right before he died. I haven't checked lately, but I think you might be the first to do a reaction to this. Reviews yes, reactions no. God did tell us to be good stewards of the earth.
It is definitely on my list now! Lots of recommendations.
The casting was fantastic. Arguably Edward G. Robinson‘s best role. The assisted suicide scene was unforgettable. Also Leigh Taylor-Young was quite good as Shirl; she had a great chemistry with Heston. So much of SG is relevant today, which is disturbing.
My Dad and my older brother, while baby sitting me, took me with them to the theater when I was about 7 years old to see this film. So I have very clear and distinct memories of it. I think the thing that struct me about it at the time was it was the first time I had seen a movie portray the near future not as a futuristic utopia such as in 2001: A Space Odyssey but as a place of degradation and decay. I think it was beginning to set in, in the minds of most Americans, that the world of tomorrow that had been promised since the 50s wasn't going to happen in our lifetime. All signs were pointing to a collapse of some kind and that was beginning to be reflected in movies that depict the future. Even films such as Logan's Run depict a Utopia that is built upon a societal collapse. Star Wars showed us what advanced technology looks like when its old and beat up and heavily used. The new vision was that the future was coming and it was going to have some new toys but it would be more crowded, more polluted and far dirtier and grimier than we first thought.
Popular media is always a reflection of what is bubbling just beneath the surface of the public's consciousness at the time it was made.
The TV show The Walking Dead was a prediction of the Trump administration and the pandemic and how divided America would become. It's a technique I learned a long time ago to try and predict near future events by taking a broad overview of what is happening in films and TV. I predicted Trump would win in 2016 and serve only one term as a very unpopular president. I predicted that his presidency would be marked by protests and violent social upheaval not unlike the 1960s. I am now predicting a further diminishing of the American Right and a gradual move to the Left. This conclusion is based on historical trends and a general sensing of the mood of the body politic.
Just out of curiosity, do you still think the same. Biden has become extremely unpopular in his own right and not very capable unfortunately.
Biden is not "extremely unpopular", despite what Sean Hannity says. So far I believe Biden has surprised most of us with not being as senile as he first appeared early in the 2020 campaign. He has performed adequately without scandal or misstep. The economy is doing gangbusters and compared to what the Republican party has been up to lately, Biden looks like a political genius. The prediction I make today is that in the upcoming election Republicans will fare worse than is usual as the opposition party in a President's second term. The opposing party usually picks up seats in the House and/or Senate but I believe they will lose seats this time around. @@starmnsixty1209
The thing about the ending is that people can finally make an effort to fix things now that they know what's going on In the world.
Welcome to 2022...
The actor who played Sol, actually died after this movie. I think that scene was added, because the actor knew his time was close.
Beyond Meat is our version of “Soylent Green”. Beyond Meat IS PEOPLE. LOL. 😂😂😂
Just joking…or am I. 😂😂😂
My little sister and I are big sci-fi fans and when we saw this in the theater, she had to go to the restroom and missed the sequence when Charlton Heston sneaked into the Soylent Green plant, so she didn't understand the big secret.
Oh no, that's the worst time to leave! I get it, though. Some of those Marvel movies especially can get pretty long.
Nice reaction. Actually the trailer reveals the twist already. "What is the secret of Soylent Green?" after that sentence everyone knows the truth.
This hits differently now
Well they tried to warn people..
Welcome to 2022.... :)
After I watched what happened to Monday for the first time Soylent Green popped into my mind and my first thought was: what a waste with those kids.
Put Heston's previous Sci-Fi outing THE OMEGA MAN (1971) on your watch list. I'd be curious to see your reaction to that film.
Great reaction video! Talk about life imitating art there is a product on the market called Soylent made by Soylent Nutrition, Inc. founded in 2013 it is marketed as a complete nutritional meal.
I think the prolls costumes were to evoke a sense of the medieval plague years, at least it was the feeling I got a long time ago seeing this Touretts painting of pestilence and the illuminated manuscripts seem to have the plain dress and head wraps, in particular...
excellent work, you're the first ever reaction I've seen to this film, which I think was the first to reference greenhouse effects, and global warming leading to an ecocide, which is also an idea later followed in the sci-fi cyberpunk film Blade Runner, and the cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, by William Gibson. If you like these ideas about environmentalism-corporations you might like the 2012 film Cloud Atlas, based off a better novel of the same name by David Mitchell from 2004.
Hello again Alexa, I'm enjoying your reactions and observations so much and thank you for your prodigious output! Is it possible that you've never watched, 'Logan's Run'? I can't believe you haven't but if not please do react to it. It's such a classic now and you would love it I'm sure - not least for the costumes which were out of this world! 🙂Ian
Sorry not only have I seen it, but I was in an audio drama adaptation of it.
13:25 what an optimistic theory to the movie which has a much more darker truth
Hello, Alexa, really enjoying your reactions to Space 1999 and this also was excellent. Someone must have suggested you watch "The Prisoner" and also "UFO" and, if not, I am. So much for grammar.
Thanks! UFO reactions are coming after Year 2 (pilot reaction is already available). I am already a Prisoner fan; I even visited Portmeirion a few times.
Wow! Charleton Heston is amazing. I first saw him in Planet of the Apes and now this. How does he do it?
Based on Harry Harrison's novel "Make Room, Make Room", this cautionary tale isn't about climate change per se, but a more basic issue: overpopulation/carrying capacity. Almost no one these days has any interest in addressing root causes though. You'll find that if one even tries to raise the subject of overpopulation, both the "free market" crowd and the woke witchhunters will be grabbing for their torches, tar, and feathers. Nobody wants to slow down the gravy train of cheap labor and woke outrage.
The movie is worth watching still, if for no other reason than Robinson & Heston's chemistry. Even after all these years, I still tear up a bit watching Saul's death scene (the music used doesn't hurt either). The book is worth your time too, although you'll notice that in the original story Soylent is NOT actually made of... you know.
I believe there are farmlands but they’re for only the rich, rare but they do exist (probably in greenhouses like they show earlier). Very much a class issue movie other than just environmental
If you have ever had to live for years at a time without water, you may understand why it's so hard to keep anything clean.
No water no soap no Is clean
I just realized there’s a green haze over the entire movie
You should react to Killer Klowns From Outer Space if you haven’t already.
Alas that's one I've seen - and I agree it's quite the movie!
That's hilarious you have the same nightgown. That's synchronicity right there. At least 2022 has come and things aren't so bad. We're not eating people any time soon. Bugs maybe).