Russell Thacher (1919–1990)

Although some elements now look a touch dated "Soylent Green" still remain a thoughtful, intelligent and prescient piece of science fiction cinema. The plot, from Harry Harrison's novel, is relatively simple: cynical detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) is send to investigate the murder of a rich oligarch. It looks like an open-and-shut case of a robbery gone wrong, but Thorn concludes that its an assassination. Warned off by his boss and getting increasingly paranoid, Thorn sticks with his investigation, even as it leads him to the powerful multi-national Soylent Corporation and some form of conspiracy around soylent green, their hugely popular food product. Richard Fleischer's film has an iconic, chilling climax, but it is the details that make the film memorable: the over-population, the environmental degradation, the cloying pollution, the impacts of global warming and the brutal economic inequity with the masses living in grinding poverty, while the super-rich elite live in luxury apartments that come with their own "furniture" - a euphemism for a live-in prostitute. It is a future that looks terrifying bleak and a future that is looking increasingly like the present. "Soylent Green" is an intelligent, engaging sci-fi detective story with strong direction, a decent central performance from Charlton Heston, all overlaid with a grim dystopian view of the future.… (more)

One of the "must sees" in the history of science fiction films. The science behind the rational of the plot's big secret is flawed - the source of Soylent Green would not be energy efficient, except perhaps as a supplement - but hopefully Harry Harrison dealt with this topic more thoroughly in his novel. I know, I know, this was supposed to be a film about human nature and a distopic future. I will give the film kudos for its early mention of the Greenhouse Effect. In my memory of pop culture of the 70's, the media gave press to an impending new ice age, not global warming.… (more)