Saturn 3 (1980)

Review: reviewed Nov 2023

A 70’s style sci-fi curio from the 80’s that sadly fails in all its ambition.

Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett and Harvey Keitel – yes, these three actually did appear in a movie together! What’s more, it was directed by legendary director Stanley Donan (Singing in the Rain). With music by Elmer Bernstein, and science fiction flourishing as it was at the start of the 80’s with the like of Alien and The Empire Strikes Back hitting the big screens – this must have looked on paper to be a ‘sure thing’. Sadly, not.

Set in a future where Earth is polluted and starving, an outpost on Saturn V seeks to find new food sources for Earth, run by Adam (Kirk Douglas) and Alex (Farrah Fawcett). Their somewhat idyllic existence is broken when Benson (Harvey Keitel) arrives, bringing with him a next generation robot to help. However, Benson is not all he appears to be, and the robot he creates reflects Bensons rotten core. Brimming with all sorts of interesting ideas, evoking Frankenstein, Forbidden Planet and even Alien, the stage is set for some high concept idea-based science fiction. Those ideas are largely wasted, thanks to a combination of awkward actor chemistry, an uncharacteristically poor performance from Keitel, out of date production design and a story that can’t decide which way it wants to go. There’s some painfully un-tense scurrying around the space station from a robot that just never brings the sense of malice the story requires, at the expense of any actual exploration of the moral or psychological issues.

Then there’s the love triangle, with 64 year old Douglas romantically involved with 33 year old Fawcett, in a way that feels more leering than heartwarming, with the camera ogling a little too much, and Fawcett reduced to running around screaming and needing rescued in much of the movies later stages. At a time when Sigourney Weaver was redefining female empowerment, it all seems woefully out of touch.

If I had to find a plus side, there is a morbid curiosity to watching it, like watching a car crash in slow motion. It feels like a rediscovered 70’s movie, and if you take it on that level there’s a glimmer of entertainment beneath the missteps – but a curio it will remain.