Soylent Green | 1973
- Locations |
- Los Angeles, California
- DIRECTOR |
- Richard Fleischer
The famous dystopian nightmare is set in a grossly overcrowded 'New York City' of – can you believe it? – 2022. At the time of filming that was fifty years in the future.
Except for the elite, the population suffers drastic shortages of all amenities including food.
The Big Dismal Apple of the 21st century is the old MGM backlot in Culver City. Director Richard Fleischer claims this was the last film to be shot on the lot before it was disgracefully sold off as real estate to fund the MGM Casino in Las Vegas.
The practical locations were there found around Los Angeles though, taking into account the subject, they don't include many must-see tourist spots.
The most pleasant is the exterior of 'Chelsea Towers West' where the wealthy, including Soylent executive Simonson (Joseph Cotten) live with their 'female furniture' – women who, like fixtures and fittings, come with the apartment.
The cylindrical blocks and sloping wall are the rather swanky Promenade Marina at City Club Apartments, 4333 Admiralty Way, overlooking Marina Del Rey. The concrete ditch and dismal surroundings were provided by pre-digital old-school matte paintings.
Mattes were also used for the neighbourhood surrounding the 'assisted dying' facility to which Sol Roth (Edward G Robinson in his final screen appearance) resigns himself after discovering the shocking truth about the state of the world's oceans.
The exterior and lobby were the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, 3939 South Figueroa Street, in the Exposition Park district.
Opened in 1959, the arena closed in 2016 with a series of concerts by Bruce Springsteen before being demolished to make way for the soccer-specific BMO Stadium.
On screen, the arena stood in for Philadelphia's Spectrum Arena in both the original Rocky and in Rocky 2. Its interior corridors and parking garages were used as the workaday areas of the CMDF (Combined Miniature Defence Force) headquarters in 1966 sci-fi Fantastic Voyage, also directed by Richard Fleischer.
Hiding in one of the garbage trucks leaving the facility, Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) is taken to the Soylent processing plant where he discovers the horrible truth about the yummy green biscuits.
The exterior of the plant is El Segundo Power Generating Station, 300 Vista del Mar, on the coast and still looking remarkably similar today.
The interior with the pools is the Hyperion Waste Water Treatment Plant, 12000 Vista Del Mar, Playa Del Rey. This useful facility was also used in Battle For The Planet of the Apes.
Well, that was all supposed to happen in 2022 but, in the end it seems we weren't fed Soylent Green – unless (ominous sepulchral voice) they learned to package it better.
Enjoy your burger.
