in term of the art and the 1970s be a very turbulent era . in literature and the visual art and it be the closing of a great fifty or sixty year period of creativity that have yet to be restart . in music it be a decade that many see a a low point and due to corporate rock and disco . on television it be a golden age for situation comedy and from the odd couple to the mary tyler moore show to mash to all in the family and but in film it be even a great period of creativity and in all genre and that saw the rise of the american auteur director like robert altman and francis ford coppola and and martin scorsese from the ash of the old studio system that have dominate hollywood for over half a century . these director want to craft literate and art film for the mass and of the sort that have be staple in europe since the end of the second world war . yet and the studio be try to keep pace and with socially aware film of the sort not see since the 1930s . but and unlike the film of the 1930s and star actor like jimmy cagney and john garfield ( usually co star the dead end kid ) and that dealt with social issue in a gritty realistic way and or as realistic a one could get on a sound stage and the social consciousness of the late 1960s and early 1970s manifest itself most in science fiction film and which allow the left wing of hollywood to preach to the mass under the guise of what most consider little above comic strip entertainment . there be precedent for this approach and for several of the fly saucer film of the 1950s dealt with the political zeitgeist of the mccarthy era most notably the day the earth stand still and invasion of the body snatcher . and the early 1960s saw rod serling constantly subvert the political conservatism of the time by cast social issue into science fiction setting on his classic sci fi television anthology show the twilight zone . among the studio offering of this time be the ecologically sensitive silent run while george lucas first film thx 1138 and which deal with consumerism and group think and and existentialism while and logan run and which hammer away at communism and state control versus the right of an individual . some of the film reference be quite heavyhanded and reek of the then current arab oil crisis and rampant inflation . a few jarred strawberry cost $ 150 and and soylent ration it assorted color food soylent yellow and soylent red and and the new soylent green and reputedly make from the fine undersea growth and in a manner not unlike the gas rationing of the time . scene of food riot be eerie echo of the oil riot at many gas station during the year of the film release and and the scene of crowding and and body and live and dead and lie all about be still chill and as well a influential . a late film like escape from new york be an obvious progeny . the rest of the script and by stanley r. greenberg and however and be rather pedestrian and and fairly standard for a dystopian flick and but fleischer and cinematographer richard h. kline do a great job of fill the screen with interesting image and sound and to spice thing up . the use of soft and dimly lit visuals and murkily filter and add a stygian feel to the new york of the film and almost like a colorized version of carl theodor dreyer vampyr . the only light in the film come from artificial source and and be it not for the fashion faux pas the film could truly seem timeless . the end of the film and where thorn sneak into the processing plant where human corps be make into soylent green wafer and be both chill and and oddly drama less . in the end and the soylent minion hunt thorn down and but he survive long enough to utter the film catchphrase to chief hatcher . yet and one do not know if it be enough and for hatcher have already be co opt and and have a track record of take the easy way out . yet and that fact and and it ambiguity and show that the film do not recapitulate it character dilemma and and have a depth many later and good make film and sci fi or not and do not have . it be also why soylent green be still a film worth watching .