{"id":4099,"date":"2024-09-18T18:33:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T18:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4099"},"modified":"2024-10-12T22:04:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T22:04:44","slug":"saturn-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/18\/saturn-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturn 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Saturn 3<\/strong> (1980)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Associated Film Distribution\/Sci-Fi-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Stanley Donen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Martin Amis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Elmer Bernstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Billy Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 15, 1980 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett, Harvey Keitel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $9M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0The sci-fi dud Saturn 3<\/strong> is the first of what I think of as producer Lew Grade\u2019s Unholy Trinity, the three expensive failures- the other two being Raise the Titanic (1980) and The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)- that effectively ended his involvement in the film industry.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Truth is, Saturn 3<\/strong> is a terrible movie. It succeeds as neither sci-fi nor a thriller. Allow me to break it down for you. There are basically two types of science fiction movies: (1) intelligent, thought-provoking films like Forbidden Planet, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running (I\u2019ll even put 1974\u2019s Zardoz in that category) and (2) fun, action-packed space operas like Star Wars and Flash Gordon. Saturn 3<\/strong> isn\u2019t either type even though it wants to be both.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Despite all attempts, Saturn 3<\/strong> is incredibly stupid and boring. Hence, it\u2019s sci-fi only in the academic sense. As for it being a thriller, we already know that the new arrival at the space station is a psychotic killer. We saw it in the opening scene. We also know that the robot he builds will be of the killer variety. It\u2019s an inevitability. We also have a pretty good idea who will meet a bloody end at the robot\u2019s hands. How many times has the creation killed its creator? There\u2019s virtually no suspense. Hence, it fails as a thriller. All that\u2019s left is a shiny package with nothing in it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Adam (Douglas, Out of the Past) and his lover Alex (Fawcett, Charlie\u2019s Angels) live and work in a hydroponics research facility on Saturn\u2019s third moon (hence, the title). She\u2019s lived in space all her life; she knows nothing of Earth which, in the future, has become an overcrowded place. They live an idyllic existence that\u2019s shattered by the arrival of \u201cCaptain Benson\u201d (Keitel, Taxi Driver). What they don\u2019t know is that this person killed the person he claims to be so he could replace him on the mission to Saturn 3. The objective is to replace one of the scientists with a large robot called Hector, named for the figure in Greek mythology. He\u2019s the first of the \u201cDemigod\u201d series which relies on pure human brain tissue. Of course, things go very wrong very fast. He\u2019s linked to Benson\u2019s brain and since the man calling himself Benson is a homicidal maniac obsessed with Alex, Hector follows suit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A clue to how Saturn 3<\/strong> ends is when Adam points out, during a game of chess, that Hector doesn\u2019t understand the idea of sacrifice. Only humans are capable of understanding the concept. With that, Adam\u2019s fate is pretty much sealed. This movie is as predictable as night and day. The only things it has going for it are set design (it is a good-looking movie) and a decent sci-fi score by Elmer Bernstein.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It sure doesn\u2019t score any points in the acting department. Fawcett is terrible. Not a single word that comes out of her mouth sounds the least bit convincing. She\u2019s eye candy, nothing more. At least we get a shot of her boobs. Keitel delivers every line of dialogue in a robotic monotone which should have been a tip-off to the other two. That and the malevolent facial expression he wears throughout the entire movie. Douglas looks like he has no idea what he got himself into by agreeing to star. He must have thought with an experienced, talented director like Stanley Donen (Singin\u2019 in the Rain, Charade) behind the camera, it couldn\u2019t be that bad. But it is. Oh, is it ever!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Saturn 3<\/strong> wants the audience to believe it\u2019s an intelligent sci-fi film with all the scientific jargon and the heavy ideas it barely touches upon. Don\u2019t be fooled, it\u2019s a movie for morons. Even the special effects aren\u2019t very special. At 88 minutes, it still feels dragged out. It\u2019s also very derivative, Forbidden Planet and Silent Running immediately come to mind. Its worst offense, however, is being boring. At least the makers could have spiced it up with some graphic violence and more sex and nudity. It should earn its R rating. I can\u2019t say for sure what Donen set out to accomplish, but I can say unequivocably that he failed. Oh, did he ever!\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturn 3 (1980)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Associated Film Distribution\/Sci-Fi-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Stanley Donen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Martin Amis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Elmer Bernstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Billy Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 15, 1980 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett, Harvey Keitel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $9M (US) Rating: * \u00a0The sci-fi dud Saturn 3 is the first of what I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-fi-fantasy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Saturn-3-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4099"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5229,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4099\/revisions\/5229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}