Reviews
The Starlost (1973)
Lost in translation
Harlan Ellison's first and only attempt to create a science fiction television series, The Starlost was doomed to failure almost from the start. Ellison had his name removed from the series when the producers decided to make a number of knuckleheaded decisions about the show and its direction.
It's too bad as the series premise itself would make a fascinating weekly series or movie. Science fiction author Ben Bova wrote a parody of the situation that occurred to Ellison with a novel (I believe it's now out of print)entitled Starcrossed.
Little Big Man (1970)
Classic film finally appears on DVD
Slow paced? Clearly this comment came from somebody with Attention Deficit Disorder or someone raised on MTV. Actually quite a bit happens to this classic satircal western. The writing, direction and acting are marvelous. The transfer to DVD beautiful. It lacks extras which is a pity as (of this writing)Arthur Penn is still around to the best of my knowledge.
Soylent Green (1973)
Classic 70's film looks great on DVD
An under rated classic from the 70's, Soylent Green has held up exceedingly well 30 years on. The script by Stanley Greenberg manages to take the basic plot of Harry Harrison's Make Room, Make Room and provide an interesting, touching science fiction classic. The criticism of the film as pedestrian is both unfair and inaccurate. Clearly an inspiration for Cyperpunk writers like William Gibson, Soylent Green has the same cyncism, energy and flawed characters seen in that subset of the science fiction genre.
The DVD looks terrific. It's clear that Warner Brothers struck a new print and there's little in the way of analog artifacts. The mono sound is strong. Included on the DVD are a vintage promo featurette, a celebration of Edward G. Robinson that was conducted during the filming and the trailer. There's also an odd series of production notes highlighting Heston's involvement in science fiction films. Instead of including that, I'd much rather of heard Heston's thoughts on working with Robinson and the film 30 years on. The commentary track is by director Richard Fleisher and actress Leigh Taylor-Young.
I'd have to disagree with a previous post that claimed this to be the weakest in Heston's trilogy of science fiction films. In fact, Soylent Green is every bit as powerful and provocative as when it was first released. It's aged quite well. The Omega Man, on the other hand, is fun chiefly because of its cheesy screenplay (courtesy of John and Joyce Corrington who mishandled Battle for the Planet of the Apes among many others). The Omega Man was the one film that should have been lampooned by Mystery Theater 3000. It's much funnier than some of the other stuff they poked fun at. Omega Man hasn't aged as well as some of Heston's other films but there are some powerful (and unintentionally hilarious) scenes as well.