Saturn 3

• Produced and Directed by Stanley Donen
• February 15, 1980 (US) / May 8, 1980 (UK)

In a future where a crowded Earth relies on food produced off planet, two lovers stationed on a facility orbiting Saturn must deal with a dangerous robot and its sinister handler.

What do you get when you toss together Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett, and a voiced over Harvey Keitel? You get the surprisingly entertaining low budget film Saturn 3. Saturn 3 came out in the wake of Star Wars: A New Hope and Alien and clearly combines elements of both. You have a sense of isolation in outer space mixed with robots and spaceships. The film has a space opera feel at points with elements of terror at others.

One thing I always recall first about this movie is the robot Hector (voiced by Roy Dotrice). When I first saw this movie, I was a young kid immersed in Robbie the Robot, C-3PO, and R2-D2 with a heavy dollop of Cylons for good measure. What we got here was something creepy and disturbing that looked more like a monster than it did a friendly and helpful machine or even something emulating a human form. It was cold and unfeeling. Sterile and dark. The design was as much man as it was creature. It disturbed me then and does so to a certain extent now.

Captain Benson (performance by Harvey Keitel/voice by Roy Dotrice) is our main villain whether you connect him to Hector or not. Without him nothing else would’ve happened. Benson is a pilot who takes the place of another pilot whom he murders on the mission to deliver Hector to Saturn 3. His drive is simply to get the job he felt he deserved and was denied because of emotional instability. Once he arrives at the station things spiral downward once he sees Alex (Farrah Fawcett) with the much older Adam (Kirk Douglas).

The real sin of all this is that Harvey Keitel’s voice is dubbed over. Even after I became more familiar with film in general I had no idea Harvey Keitel was in Saturn 3. He’s a fine actor on his own and has a very distinctive voice which is done over by a completely different actor. It is a bit rough at points as Roy Dotrice is clearly reacting to their performance while everybody else is reacting to Keitel. Donen wanted Benson to have a more upper-class voice which he felt was much more threatening. Keitel refused to engage in post-production so here we are.

Kirk Douglas as Adam is nothing to sneeze at in this movie. He plays a very ‘70s older gentleman. He’s the most macho and in charge there but he’s also a cool cat. He’s a cynic and thoroughly enjoys the isolation he has because Earth is a crap hole. But then again who wouldn’t enjoy her being isolated with a young Farrah Fawcett? Or just Farrah Fawcett really?

Farrah Fawcett as Alex is a little better than expected. While essentially eye candy (Fawcett was THE sex symbol of the era) Alex is also a capable character in her own right. They do not state or imply it but rather show her as a largely capable worker on the station and capable of handling the duties and dealing with Benson and Hector.

The future sex attitudes come off as rather silly. Seriously. Apparently sex is done with all the lust and passion of making mashed potatoes. And Alex’s refusal after Benson’s sterile request is enough to unleash Benson’s insanity lust and mental issues as he trains Hector via an implant in his neck.

In the context of the movie, Alex has never been to Earth. I am not sure what that exactly means. Where was she born then? There are no hints of colonies elsewhere other than the implied agrarian experimental stations like Saturn 3. How did she connect with Adam? Given the general attitudes of sex displayed in this film she could’ve been handed to him as part of the assignment but that just doesn’t explain why she’s never been to Earth. She’s a bit of a blank slate when it comes to background in comparison to Benson or even Adam.

Saturn 3 is a very good looking film despite the low budget. Visually for the time the sets and visuals look good. They manage to craft a dark and claustrophobic environment. It really drives home the sense of isolation. You the viewer feels that there is no escape from whatever is happening. And despite essentially being a monster movie they lay out a logically progressing plot from start to finish with the resolution hinted at early on in a chess game that is an early demonstration of what Hector is capable of.

There is nothing too deep to be found in this movie. It’s just a survival story involving a creepy, mentally unstable pilot and a creepy, mentally unstable robot with both wanting to boink Farrah Fawcett. How exactly is that going to happen when it comes to Hector I don’t know. The point is there are no deeper themes here. It’s good looking yet cheesy fun.

Saturn 3 is an interesting and enjoyable guilty pleasure of a film. Performances are fine and the story is entertaining but it’s nothing substantive. If you’re looking for some deep science fiction this is not it. But if you’re looking for something with a bit of action and a bit of weird then this is definitely for you.