Soylent Green

Soylent Green
Theatrical release poster by John Solie
Directed by	Richard Fleischer
Produced by	Walter Seltzer Russell Thacher
Screenplay by	Stanley R. Greenberg
Based on	Make Room! Make Room! 1966 novel by Harry Harrison
Starring	Charlton Heston Leigh Taylor-Young Edward G. Robinson
Music by	Fred Myrow
Cinematography	Richard H. Kline
Edited by	Samuel E. Beetley
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	April 19, 1973 (1973-04-19) (US)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$3,600,000 (rentals)

Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, and, in his final film, Edward G. Robinson. The film combines the police procedural and science fiction genres, depicting the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution, overpopulation, depleted resources, poverty, dying oceans, and year-round humidity due to the greenhouse effect. Much of the population survives on processed food rations, including "soylent green".

The film, which is based upon the 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison, won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film in 1973.

The 20th century's industrialization leaves the world overcrowded, polluted and suffering global warming due to "the greenhouse effect". In 2022, with 40 million people in New York City, housing is dilapidated; homeless people fill the streets; many are unemployed, the few "lucky" ones with jobs are only barely scraping by, and food and working technology is scarce. Most of the population survives on rations produced by the Soylent Corporation, whose newest product is Soylent Green, a green wafer advertised to contain "high-energy plankton" from the World Ocean, more nutritious and palatable than its predecessors "Red" and "Yellow", but in short supply.