Saturday, November 6, 2010

SOYLENT GREEN - Fred Myrow - "First Stage Removal" (1973)

As a public service, and in an an effort to get everybody to better appreciate the life we have today, here's another dreary vision of the future with no vampire bats, but just a whole lot of harsh reality!

It's 2022, and the future has not gone far enough, or yet fully degraded to Judge Dredd(2079-2132)standards, but it isn't quite the garden of paradise it used to be, that's for sure, and food seems to be a real problem! "SOYLENT GREEN" as it is seen here, is the main staple, and/or the only staple, depending how how much wealth and power you don't have!

"Soylent Green" had an all-star cast that included Whit(Teenage Frankenstein)Bissell as the Big Cheese, Governor Santini, in one of the smaller roles!

I'm sure you've probably seen this classic buddy movie starring Charlton Heston as Detective Thorn, and Edward G. Robinson as his best friend, Sol Roth, and if not, why not?? It's like mandatory!!

This vision of the future is very overpopulated, do the math, how far off could they be? You gotta go through this just to get out of your apartment!

The music for "Soylent Green" was created by a wonderful composer named Fred Myrow! Fred had classical roots and training, and not only wrote the music for this movie, and the "Phantasm" flicks, he also orchestrated music for the likes of Jim Morrison, Van Dyke Parks, and Brian Wilson!

Just like today, some peoples have got it better than others, there is no middle class, just the godforsaken poor, and what's left of the rich! These rather wealthy folks are Joseph Cotten as William R. Simonson, the man with the most, and the lovely Leigh Taylor-Young as his companion Shirl! Check it out, they still have video games in the future!

This IS a movie about food! The affluent can afford the finer things in life, and even though it might not look like much to you, compare it to a steady diet of nothing but "Soylent Green" biscuits, and see what you got!!

This is an excellent shot of where all the high rollers dwell, but security is not as tight as it should be!!

There's been a murder!!!

Detective Thorn is assigned to the case, where he is introduced to Chuck"The Mad Bomber"Connors as the quite unsavory Tab Fielding! Even as a cop, he's poor as Hell, so he gladly takes advantage of the situation, and helps himself to some booze, and another super luxury, a hot shower!!

There's only one person that Thorn would share with, and that's his pal Sol!

And when he shows him the meat, onions, and apples he scored, it makes Sol cry! Meat, of all things was the rarest of them all!

The guys take their time to truly savor the moment!

Shirl and all her good lookin' girlfriends are considered to be nothing more than furniture!

The only thing that could possibly be better than eating was to be able to take another hot shower, but this time with a woman. The future is so miserable, the most common things you would take for granted today, are elevated to the level of Nirvana! Not to say that taking a shower with Leigh Taylor-Young was a common task! That face will be forever embedded in my mind, if for nothing else than her role in "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!" She had a look that was just captivating!

Hey, good inspiration for a band name!!

"Step out of the line, the man comes and takes you away!" - Buffalo Springfield

In the kind and greener future, the government offers euthanasia to it's citizens! You don't even have to be sick, if you're just tired of living, that's good enough. Dick "Eight Is Enough" Van Patten ushers Sol to his final destination, and they make it seem like it's going to be the most beautiful moment ever! The weird thing is that notorious tough guy Edgar G. Robinson actually did pass away before "Soylent Green" was ever released!

There are no winners in this movie, the future is uglier than sin, and what exactly is Thorn going to be able to do about it? Not a whole lot! Now go do what the government wants you to, even though it makes no sense at all, go change the time on your clock!

4 comments:

Prof. Grewbeard said...

beautiful post, ugly future already happening!

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Thanx Prof, and Yeah, where's my flying car?

Greg Goodsell said...

You sort of wonder what tofu REALLY is.

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

I love tofu, but I'm not eating any green tofu!

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