Saturn 3

Saturn 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stanley Donen
Produced by	Stanley Donen
Screenplay by	Martin Amis
Story by	John Barry
Starring	Kirk Douglas Farrah Fawcett Harvey Keitel
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography	Billy Williams
Editing by	Richard Marden
Studio	ITC Entertainment
Distributed by	Associated Film Distribution
Release date(s)	February 15, 1980
Running time	88 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$9 million (US)

Saturn 3 is a 1980 science fiction suspense film directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett and Harvey Keitel. The screenplay was written by award-winning British novelist Martin Amis, from a story by John Barry.

Plot

A huge spacecraft is in orbit about the planet Saturn and is set to launch a craft to one of the moons, carrying an experiment on board. There is a small experimental food research station on the moon containing a hydroponics system, which is maintained by a two-person scientific crew consisting of Adam (Douglas) and his colleague and lover Alex (Fawcett). The crew is also assisted by three robots. Adam, the younger Alex and their dog Sally enjoy an Edenesque life isolated and growing their own food, while Earth is overpopulated. The couple has been on Saturn 3 for three years, and Alex has spent all her life in space.

Prior to launch the captain of the craft is murdered by the psychologically unstable pilot Benson (Keitel). Benson takes his place and boards the craft for its trip to the base, taking with him a canister that contains brain tissue samples.

On board the moon base, while contact with Earth is blocked for 22 days by an eclipse, the experiment is unloaded by an assistant "Demi-God series" robot named Hector. Benson states that it will render one of the crew "obsolete", most likely Major Adam who tells his partner that he is close to "abort time" according to the government on Earth.

The cyborg is given a canister-sized living brain (originally taken from multiple human fetus) that Benson then is able to reprogram by connecting it with a socket in the back of his head. In the process the machine acquires Benson's homicidal nature and his lust for the beautiful Alex. Hector initially kills Sally the dog and then assaults Benson, since it has learned about him being a murderer during the reprogramming process. However, Adam and Alex manage to disable the robot while it is recharging. Adam accuses Benson of gross incompetence and orders him to dismantle the robot and return to Earth when the eclipse ends. Benson obliges, but Hector is soon reassembled by the moonbase's older robots while Benson tries to persuade Alex to come with him to Earth. He then beats Adam unconscious, but Hector intervenes and kills him just as he is about to drag Alex with him to the waiting spacecraft. Hector also blows up the spacecraft, stranding everyone on moonbase.

The remainder of the movie includes a battle scene as the two scientists try to avoid the deadly machine and make repeated attempts to destroy it before it is too late. In the final scene, the doomed Adam kills the cyborg and himself. Alex travels back to Earth, alone.

Development

• The project was conceived by John Barry, who is credited with the story. Barry was to direct, but he was replaced after shooting started, according to some reports due to a dispute with Kirk Douglas. Stanley Donen, who was already attached to the project as producer, replaced him.

• John Barry conceived of the project as a much more lavish vision of the future. The film's producers, Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment, intended the production to be a cash in on the sudden vogue of science fiction and horror following the success of Alien. Farrah Fawcett was also hoped to be a major draw for a teenage male audience and much of the film's promotion was based around the revealing space suits she was due to wear in the film. Donen played down the exploitation elements resulting in a film that the producers struggled to market.^{[citation needed]}

• ITC was also producing Raise the Titanic!. As the other film went over schedule and budget the production of Saturn 3 was cut back.

• The director reportedly was unsatisfied with Harvey Keitel's characteristic Brooklyn accent. Keitel's voice is dubbed over by British actor Roy Dotrice, who, for this performance, adopted a mid-Atlantic accent.

• In screenwriter Martin Amis's novel Money the main character John Self is based in part on John Barry (Self's father is named Barry Self as well). The aging film star "Lorne Guyland" obsessed by his virility is based on Douglas. Similarly, the project that John Self attempts to complete is as wracked with disaster as was the production of Saturn 3.

• When the film was broadcast on NBC in mid-1984, certain scenes that had been edited from the original print had been restored. The following scenes were restored: Adam offering to take Alex to Earth, Alex was voicing her concern to Adam about taking Hector outside of the complex, Adam taking Hector outside in the moonbuggy, Benson asking how Alex's eye was after her accident, Adam leaving Hector near the shuttle probe, Hector re-entering the colony and sabotaging the outer airlock mechanism to prevent Adam from coming back inside, an extended scene of Benson walking down a corridor, Adam trying to re-enter Saturn 3 and blowing the outer airlock door off with an explosive adhesive, an extended scene of Adam in the decontamination chamber, Alex voicing her worry that Hector might have killed Adam, Alex being dragged away by Benson and yelling at him, Adam embracing Alex and watching Hector drag away Benson's dead body, Adam holding a towel to his head after Benson had hit him with a pipe and claiming that "Hector is no humpty-dumpty", both Adam and Alex wondering how Hector managed to reassemble itself, and finally both Adam and Alex sharing a laugh over a humorous incident while hiding in the communications room.

• In the 1984 NBC broadcast, additional music cues were added to the film: scenes involving the opening credits and Benson's death.

• Two scenes that had been filmed for the production were edited out, due to Lew Grade objecting to its subject matter. The two scenes were a dream sequence that involved both Adam and Alex killing Benson. The other involved a scene where Hector ripped apart Benson's dead body on a table in one of the colony's laboratories.

Reception

The film was panned by many reviewers as derivative and lacking in suspense. Some of the space effects shots were perceived as lackluster compared to the new standard set by Star Wars.

The film was given an MPAA rating of R, for scenes of violence and brief nudity.

Awards and nominations

• 1st Golden Raspberry Award

Nominated: Worst Picture

Nominated: Worst Actor (Kirk Douglas)

Nominated: Worst Actress (Farrah Fawcett)

External links

• Saturn 3 at the Internet Movie Database
• Saturn 3 at AllRovi