Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9090 in Movie
• Released on: 2009-05-15
• Running time: 84 minutes

Customer Reviews

An early Terminator
This is probably one of the most neglected ScFi flicks ever made. Despite a stellar cast, it was largely ignored when it was released in 1980. What interests me now is that the film seems to have influenced James Cameron on both Terminator and Aliens. In fact several scenes are very similar. The destruction of the Psychotic robot Hector and the scene where the soldier from the future blows up the Terminator are very similar. In Saturn 3 the robot chases the two main characters around trying to catch them through the floor grate. That seems very similar to several scenes in Aliens. I've never seen any comment by Cameron that this film influenced him, but it seems hard to miss.

Even if you are not interested in the connection to Terminator or Aliens, this is worth getting. The reproduction to this DVD is excellent. The only thing that keeps me from giving it 5 stars is that it is a bit slow at times and, other than Harvey Keitel, the acting is a bit. . .well, not up to either the standards of Kirk Douglas or Farrah Fawcett. I'm not being snide either, I consider both excellent actors.

Another interesting meld of science fiction and horror
Despite what critics have said about Saturn 3, I think it is a very good science fiction film. Another good meshing of science fiction and gothic horror. It may seem like a futuristic version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, however, it is still a very good film. One of the many best that ITC Entertainment has ever produced. It goes to show you that the British are one of the best film industries in the world.

This was the first R-rated film I ever saw, and I was amazed at how the film looked as well as the storyline, and special effects. Most of all, the acting, costumes, sets, the works. The film tells the story about a couple who work on one of Saturn's moons, developing a new hydroponics system for a starving Earth. The old man(played wonderfully by Kirk Douglas)is someone who has rejected Earth and its way of life. The young woman(played really well by Farrah Fawcett)is someone who was born on a colony and has never seen or been to Earth. Along comes a terrorist(played by the ever great Harvey Keitel), who has originally murdered the original pilot who has come to Saturn 3, to help the two scientists get back on schedule. As part of that help, he builds a robot, the first in its series, named Hector. Unfortunately, due to the pilot's instability, the robot becomes a threat and starts a rampage, which forces the two scientists to sacrifice everything they have in order to survive and overcome the odds. Plus the old man making the ultimate sacrifice.

It may be a bit like Ridley Scott's masterpiece, ALIEN, however, Saturn 3 is still a very good and entertaining film. Not only with a wonderful soundtrack by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, but with its solid storyline and plot. If you enjoy science fiction, be sure to check this film out. It's certainly better than Star Trek and its spinoffs, let alone the film Supernova. It even has a nude scene with Farrah Fawcett that's pretty good too.

Adam and Evil
John Barry and Stanley Donen's misunderstood sci-fi brainchild was panned on initial release, but happily is coming under re-evaluation in a later age.

Kirk Douglas and Farrah Fawcett run a hydroponics lab on Saturn's third moon, Titan, which helps feed an overcrowded and progressively more sociopathic Earth. Douglas and Fawcett are "paired," though not actually married (or at least it is never understood that they are), she being an innocent naif who has never seen Earth and lived virtually her entire life with him, and he a disillusioned older man who never desires to see Earth again - though he encourages her to visit their home planet one day, if for no other reason than to further Fawcett's natural development.

Earth has decided that Douglas will soon be "obsolete," and sends captain Harvey Keitel to assemble a robot to eventually run Saturn 3. Keitel, however, is actually an impostor - he was washed out of the robot programming division because he was "potentially unstable," and, proving the point, murdered the man given the assignment in order to take his place. The reason is never stated, but the implication is strongly present - given his immediate fascination with Fawcett - that he wanted the assignment in order to be closer to her.

The robot - "Adam" - has a human brain, directly programmed by Keitel. Since Keitel is a homicidal psychopath...well, you get the picture. It isn't long before Saturn 3 becomes a battleground for supremacy with a mad metal titan.

This is really a great movie, if flawed. The ending is too abrupt. Douglas sometimes seems uncomfortable in his role, or acts as if he is in a different movie than Keitel and Fawcett. The special effects are uneven, though generally pretty impressive.

But the script is solid and the suspense never lets up. The action is pretty gripping, shooting out of a gun from the first scene, when Keitel coldly murders the astronaut whose place he is taking by flushing him out into space. The production is gorgeous, and unified. The sets are beautiful, and incredibly colorful. The matte shots for space and Saturn hearken back to 1950's pulp magazine covers. The costuming is futuristic, but functional. And the robot, Adam, is a nightmare out of Leonardo da Vinci's sketchbooks of human anatomy. The terrific music score, by Elmer Bernstein, is mechanistically haunting.

A great movie it isn't, but it is very good. There is a nice undercurrent of human feeling to this film, which is emphasized by the contrast of the warm and loving relationship between Douglas and Fawcett with the predatory intrusion of the coldly sociopathic Keitel.

This is wonderful sci-fi pulp, and if that's what you're in the mood for, you won't be disappointed.