The revelation waiting at the end of Richard Fleischer's 1973 sci-fi classic has since become a pop-culture catchphrase, but that doesn't dilute the strength of the movie's apocalyptic vision. This is a time when men are men and women merely furniture - literally, with female `companions' included in a flat's rent. Overcrowding, environmental destruction and the heart of darkness are all examined as Charlton Heston's bitter cop discovers we are what we eat. But the movie's real star is Edward G Robinson, bringing a world-weary dignity to his final screen role as Heston's historian-cum-researcher.
DVD Extras:
A bare-bones mini-doc layered with a parody-baiting voiceover falls short, but fortunately Fleischer and Leigh Taylor-Young's comprehensive chat-track more than makes up for it. Edward G is here in spirit thanks to footage of an on-set birthday party.
