Soylent Green

Fleischer's dystopian sci-fi - adapted from Harry Harrison's Make Room! Make Room! - may have its flaws (it gets a bit messagey and sentimental at times, and the ending is not as surprising as it could be), but it certainly knocks the silly juvenilia epitomised and inspired by StarWars and ET for six. In some respects not unlike the (admittedly more complex) Blade Runner, it envisages the year 2022 as so ravaged by over-population, pollution and climate change that New York has become a teeming Babel of 40 million. Heston is the cop investigating the murder of an executive of the company that produces the titular synthetic food on which everyone now depends for survival; Robinson, wonderful in his final role, is his pal, savouring memories of earlier, better times as he nears death. Good, solid stuff, assembled efficiently enough to be pretty persuasive.