Saturn 3 is a 1980 British science fiction horror film produced and directed by Stanley Donen and starring Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel.
Plot[]
In a not too distant future Earth has put stations across the solar system for research reasons in order to find ways to find solutions regarding Earth, which is full of hungry people and where even dogs are eaten. Two lovers, Alex and Adam, are in a station in Saturn called Saturn 3. There they are also tasked with finding solutions to solve the hunger on Earth.
One day a man called Benson is sent from Earth to their place in order to to help them in their research. His task is to give them a revolutionary and also powerful robot that will help them in their mission. This robot has an organic brain, something the others have not, and therefore it is able to complete tasks other robots in the station cannot.
However, they don't know that this man was not tasked with that mission for being unstable and therefore also was not suited for a direct contact with the robot's brain in order to make it suitable for his task. Additionally he is also a murderer who killed the one who really had that mission in order to take his place and when he programs the robot using his own brain, the robot, taking now the murderous personality inside him, goes out of control and, after killing his creator, he goes after the other two and since they can only communicate with Earth after 22 days because of their position being opposite of Earth, they cannot call for help and are on their own.
Finally he overpowers them and tries to subjugate them by doing the same stunt on them like Benson did with him. Adam, realising the end of his personality if this happens, uses an explosive hidden inside him to destroy the robot. The explosion also kills him, something he was aware of before. After that Alex flies to Earth, which was her dream all her life because of her being born in space, in order to fulfill her wish to see it in her life and in order to forget everything that has happened.
Cast[]
- Farrah Fawcett as Alex
- Kirk Douglas as Adam
- Harvey Keitel as Captain Benson
- Ed Bishop as Harding
- Douglas Lambert as Captain James (uncredited)
- Christopher Muncke as 2nd Crewman (uncredited)
Production[]
Development[]
In 1975, while working in Mexico on the movie Lucky Lady John Barry began to develop the idea of creating this movie. He also told his thoughts about it to Stanley Donen and he encouraged him to go forward. After having done on the movie, he began to write a first draft about it and Staley Donen was satisfied enough with it to continue with this project of his. Still he realised that more work hwas needed, so he hired Martin Amis to improve it.
Casting[]
Originally Sean Connery was chosen to play Adam, while Michael Caine was chosen to play Benson. They refused and the roles went to Krik Douglas and Harvey Keitel instead. Originally John Barry was chosen to direct the movie. It was supposed to be his first movie. However, he died because of meningitis during the production. Because of that reason Stanley Donen, the producer, took his place.
Filming[]
Once Harvey Keitel was casted, production began in earnest. The film was made in England in the Shepperton Studios in Shepperton and the filming started in January 1979. It did cost 10 million dollars despite of having so few characters, because Hector, the robot, proved to be very expensive to build.
Reception[]
The movie was a failure at the box office and received negative reviews.
