Saturn 3

[WillsBabe]

I bought this a couple of weeks back, after Farrah died. I'm not sure why, probably because I wanted to mark her passing and I hadn't seen the film in an age.

I'm not really sure what I thought of it. It must be 25 years since I last saw it, and even then I'm not sure how or where. I was surprised to recall that Martin Amis wrote the script, and that Elmer Bernstein the score.

Harvey Keitel seemed somehow to lack his usual presence - maybe because it's an early role, maybe because he's being very good as the killer.

I thought Kirk Douglas and Farrah were an interesting combination of actors to chose for the role, and a few moments really seemed to highlight for me how they came from different eras. There is something odd now watching a film in which a then youthful Farrah, making her way in the film industry, is outlived by a much older man, who even at the time had spent a lifetime in front of the camers.

I liked the relationship between Adam and Alex, although it seems mainly sexual, it has a chilliness that I wouldn't say is necessarily a lack of chemistry, but there is something oddly low key about it that is an odd disconnect.

Anyway, I enjoyed visiting this old film again. Anyone else seen the film recently? Any thoughts?

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Harvey Keitel was already acting in Martin Scorsese films long before 'Saturn 3'....one role in particular is 'Sport' the pimp, from Taxi Driver....

It's been awhile since I've seen it, but many reviews point out the age difference between Fawcett and Douglas....(Of course, I'm sure the guys don't really mind. I surely didn't...)

Certain parts were a bit violent for me:

*The murder of the pilot by Keitel's character
*The shot of 'meat' hanging from the stump where a hand previously was. (Due to the robot--Hector--slicing it off...).

It's not extremely brilliant, but I think the leads make it work. (Interestingly, the film is carried by four primary characters, which I think is cool).

Btw, I think it's interesting that all the 'male' characters seem to be lusting after Fawcett's character; it's similar to what happens to Peri Brown in 'Doctor Who.'

 

[Lonemagpie]

Harvey Keitel seemed somehow to lack his usual presence - maybe because it's an early role, maybe because he's being very good as the killer.

More likely because he's been dubbed by Roy Dotrice for no readily discernable reason...

 

[WillsBabe]

^ Yes, we were talking about the dubbing when we were watching it. Really flattened the performance, I thought. OTOH, it kind of made Vincent inaccessible, which is kind of effective, in a way.

 

[diankra]

If you get to pick up the novelisation (doubtful, I know, after 30 years), then that's written by Stephen Gallagher, who's also written for Doctor Who and created 11th Hour. Apparently it's a darn sight better than the film.

 

[T'Girl]

I felt very sorry for Farrah's character at the end of the movie. Her life is saved, only then to travel to drug up Earth.

 

[WillsBabe]

If you get to pick up the novelisation (doubtful, I know, after 30 years), then that's written by Stephen Gallagher, who's also written for Doctor Who and created 11th Hour. Apparently it's a darn sight better than the film.

That's interesting, because it's a tie in (isn't it?) rather than the original novel. I think I'll check it out.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I actually saw it in the theatre as a kid, and I remember liking it (I recall the audience gasping when they saw a quick flash of Farrah's bare boobie in one scene). But I always thought of it as being something of a horror story in space. IIRC, it came out after Alien and I think it was trying to be in the same vein as that movie at the time.

 

[RAMA]

I thought it was scary when I saw it as a teenager, but the FX dont really hold up. I think I've also seen only murky prints of it, it needs to be restored.

RAMA

 

[23skidoo]

More likely because he's been dubbed by Roy Dotrice for no readily discernable reason...

Really? That's news to me. I was going to make a remark that I thought Keitel was so monotone and bland that it actually made me think of him as a bad actor until years later when I saw Pulp Fiction.

Problem I had with Saturn 3 was there wasn't enough character in the film. Douglas is a good actor, and Farrah was trying to move away from Charlie, but I don't recall them having particularly good chemistry. They needed a few more support actors (though I suppose it might have made it seem a bit too much like Alien).

I do remember one particularly effective scene were Keitel's robot is brought in to remove something that had flown into Farrah's eye. That was rather well done. Otherwise, it's not a film I have a particular fondness for from the era.

Alex

 

[diankra]

If you get to pick up the novelisation (doubtful, I know, after 30 years), then that's written by Stephen Gallagher, who's also written for Doctor Who and created 11th Hour. Apparently it's a darn sight better than the film.

That's interesting, because it's a tie in (isn't it?) rather than the original novel. I think I'll check it out.

Yep, it's a novelisation of the script, which tries to sort out some of the (inevitable) 'things that don't make sense' in the film.
If you're going to try and track it down, then you might need to put 'John Lydecker' into the search engine: that's the pseudonym Steve Gallagher used for the novelisations of his Who stories, and I think he'd used it earlier, possibly on Saturn 3.