Soylent Green (1973)

A classic Brave New World film that'll stick to your ribs and your mind. New York City's 40 million inhabitants in 2022 make the city resemble a refugee camp, real food is so scarce that only the rich have it, and thanatoriums help the elderly shuffle off this mortal coil. Oh, yes, and women who come with luxury apartments are called "furniture." Charlton Heston delivers a better portrayal here than does Oscar Werner in Fahrenheit 451 of the increasingly conflicted civil servant, and Edward G. Robinson touchingly portrays an old man with rich memories of life when it was better. The banquet scene where the two dine on a few leaves of lettuce says it all. Meanwhile the corporation that controls half of the world's food supply keeps churning out brick-hard tiles of Soylent Green, reputedly made of plankton but in dwindling supply. What's a greedy, murderous, politically connected corporation to do...? 4.5 stars.