Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: John Barry (the production designer), then Stanley Donen
Starring: A nice-looking robot plus Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas, and a (dubbed) Harvey Keitel
From: ITC Films
The aesthetics and musical score played no small role in my rating. I’ve known of Saturn 3 for years and last night finally pulled the trigger due to its availability on Prime. It is not lacking in flaws yet despite having seen a few clips over the years, holy crap did I love the aesthetics, and more so than expected. There’s at least a few moments I’d frame and put on the wall. I also was a fan of the score from Elmer Bernstein.
The story itself isn’t terribly complex. In the future, Kirk Douglas and his younger lover Farrah Fawcett (they have a dog; yes, it dies) work with hydroponics to try and help feed a depleted Earth. That wasn’t always explained well by the film but that’s the premise. A man named James is to visit this station on Saturn’s third moon, only a psychotic Benson (Harvey Keitel) murders him and does a switcheroo. Once on that moon, Benson builds a powerful human-shaped robot named Hector—those unaware, it’s explained later that it’s a reference to the Greek mythological character. As Hector has a direct link to Benson’s brain and the latter is horny for Fawcett…
The film has its issues. At times the production problems are evident. The story came from an idea by John Berry… not the composer but the great production designer who worked on the likes of Star Wars & Superman. He became a first-time director and well, apparently was bad at it. Stanley Donen was the producer but as he directed the likes of Charade and frickin’ Singin’ in the Rain, he stepped in instead. This is despite the sci-fi and thriller genres not being anywhere in his wheelhouse… wait a minute, he a few years later then went on to direct BLAME IT ON RIO?! How did I not know this until now?
Anyhow, to step away from looking at his director’s credits, the studio (ITC) diverted money from this to what proved to be another flop-Raise the Titanic. No surprise then that the story was a mess; the general idea is present but it’s a mess. For a few minutes, Keitel has what I’ll describe as “80’s New Wave hair”, only for that to disappear and a more traditional hairstyle returns. Speaking of him, it’s surreal for Benson to speak and what comes out is not the Harvey Keitel voice. Instead, due to nebulous reasons, he didn’t want to do post-production dubbing so instead the voice is of British actor Roy Dotrice, doing a “Mid-Atlantic” accent. It’s all very weird, as is the movie.
Heck, Douglas and Keitel engage in a brawl… and senior citizen Kirk is nude! This is equal opportunity: Farrah is topless at one point. It is a shame that in essence this is a mediocre killer robot film, as impressive a practical effect as the robot is for the time. Many likely won’t be wow’ed by the sets like I was so adjust your expectations appropriately. I loved the base obviously being built underground, with stone present everywhere amongst the metal and everything else. It’s a great labyrinthine set.
Saturn 3 is an interesting failure, for sure.
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