Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Thorn's bellow is the sci-fi twist that became a punchline: the last line of a thriller, shouted by a wounded cop to a crowd who may not believe him. The film's secret has been spoiled by pop culture for decades, and the line is used whenever someone reveals what a mystery product is really made of, usually in jest.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Soylent GreenShow the scene
Soylent Green (1973, directed by Richard Fleischer) is set in an overpopulated New York of 2022, where most people live on processed wafers made by the Soylent Corporation. Detective Robert Thorn investigates the murder of a Soylent board member and, with help from his friend Sol Roth, learns that the new Soylent Green wafer is made from human bodies, not plankton. After Sol dies by assisted suicide, Thorn follows a waste truck to the processing plant, is wounded in a gunfight in a church, and shouts the secret to the crowd as the film ends. It was Edward G. Robinson's 101st and last film.
Sources (1)
- Wikipedia: Soylent GreenPlot; ProductionReference checked
Context reviewed