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Saturn 3 (1980)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2015 2:53 pm    Post subject: Saturn 3 (1980) Reply with quote




This movie doesn't get to sit at the table with the popular kids because nobody likes it.

Well, almost nobody. I thinks it's enjoyable, even though it's flawed.

Kirk Douglas does a pretty good job as the aging and rebellious loner who is satisfied with his near-solitary life on a remote space outpost with a just few simple pleasures, like books and music and Farrah Fawcett in a baby doll nightie that let's her famous backside play peek-a-boo.



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The arrival of Harvey Keitel and the most ungainly robot anywhere, bar none, complicates the lives of the happy couple.

The plot moves as slowly as the robot, and neither one seems overly intelligent, but the idea that the maladjusted man transferred his sexual quirks to the robot does create an unusual drama. And the ending isn't entirely predictable, so it's worth sitting through at least once.

If you haven't done so already, watch it here from Youtube. Very Happy



_______________________ Saturn 3 (1980)


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_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:39 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________

Enjoy this trailer for the movie. Very Happy
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___________________ Saturn 3 (1980) Trailer


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And just for fun, here's that deleted scene in which Farrah wears an outfit that rivals anything Barbarella wore! Shocked


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___________________ Saturn 3 Ecstasy scene


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_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 12:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Saturn 3 is not a great movie, but I'm hoping this article from Starlog #33 will have some interesting things to say about it. I'll read it in a day or so and let you guys know if it's good.

Click on each page here to see a large, easy-to-read version you can zoom in on. Click on the large version again, and then zoom in as close as you want!

Below each image you'll see this:

Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.
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~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.



~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.



~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.





~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.



~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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mach7
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I watched this back 1980 I thought it a miss that tried hard.

It was enjoyable, but could not cross over to memorable.

When I rewatched it about 10 years ago it was better than I remembered but still not great.

Too much Farrah Fawcett dialog, but not enough Farrah Fawcett
in various states of undress.

I think the robot was creepy, but mostly well done.

Its probably time for another re-watch.

For some reason this movie and Outland disappointed me because they did not live up to their potential. They should have been better.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 10:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

My feelings exactly concerning both movies, Mach7. Very Happy

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

This movie isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it certainly has some interesting behind-the-scenes stories connected with the production. The article above is well worth reading for those stories, along with other interesting facts. Very Happy

For example, the usual manner for casting a major role like the one played by Farrah Fawcett certainly didn’t happen for this film. Producer/director Stanley Donen sent the script to potential backers Lord Lew Grade and Martin Starger, hoping they'd like it and pony up the dough.

Grade took the script with him when he flew from Los Angeles to New York, and he spotted Farrah Fawcett and her agent sitting across the aisle . . . so he walked up, gave her the script, and asked her to consider taking the role.

Gosh, what ARE the odds, eh? Shocked

By the time the plane landed, Farrah had agreed to be the sexy lemme fatale.



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The article discusses at length the film’s weakest link — that hugh, clunky, tube infested, walking chrome car bumper. The robot’s design was supposed to allow it be very mobile, as well as manually dexterous. Sadly, it was neither one. It was complex as hell, expensive to build, and literally painful to look at.

Reading the article will make intelligent fans of futuristic design involuntarily wince at the sad difference between the intended design and the failed results. Rolling Eyes

I can’t for the life of me understand how the experienced professionals involved in the design and construction of the robot ever thought they had a good design, or that the colossal mass of metal and colored tubes would be able to move around like anything other than a sleepy drunk who needed help getting home.

I looked for a picture that displayed the robot's design, complete with good lighting that highlighted the details. Damned if I could find a single one. This is as close as I got.

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My artwork is just a hobby, but I think any of the designs below would have worked better than the one that appears in the film.








_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Jun 11, 2023 10:42 am; edited 5 times in total
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
____________________

_____________________ Saturn 3 (trailer)


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___________________________ SATURN 3


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Some people think this sci-fi film about the future had an influence on later sci-fi films in the eighties, such as ALIENS (1986) and ROBOCOP (1987).

However, it's more realistic to believe that this awkward, very average sci-fi thriller was itself green-lit due to previous films like the first ALIEN (1979) and THE BLACK HOLE (1979). It's definitely the lesser of most of the sci-fi pictures of this period, suffering many behind-the-scenes problems which damaged it even more.




Most of the film takes place on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. There, two scientists, older Adam (Kirk Douglas) and young Alex (Farrah-Fawcett) are working on alternate forms of food for Earth's burgeoning population. These two are also lovers, even if Adam should be strictly a father-figure to Alex. Their life, though very solitary, is quite idyllic.

Or, it was.

Along comes Captain James (Harvey Keitel), there to ostensibly check on their progress. James, unknown to the two lovebirds, is not really James, but Benson, a disturbed psycho, having just committed a murder in the previous scene. Benson brings along some cultivated brain tissue, a main ingredient for the soon-to-be-constructed Hector, first of the 'Demigod' class of robots.

Uh-oh.




Benson, either by default or accident, comes to represent the unpleasant atmosphere of this future society, since we barely see any of it other than these 3 characters. He takes strange drugs ('blues') and makes very odd remarks, such as "wanting to use Alex' body" for his pleasure, as if this is routine conversation of the future.

Adam, the old guy, represents the old-fashioned past to an extent, but even he speaks of being close to his "abort-time" — the code-speak for euthanasia?

There are ideas here, sure, but they're unfocused and scattered (again, due to problems while filming). Benson transfers his psychosis to the new robot and, of course, things become very unpleasant and bloody.



I really didn't see any point to much of this, except to have a robotic Frankenstein's monster-type plodding around menacingly (it is a bit creepy, with its headless appearance).

And, towards the end, this seems to suggest that unwanted programming exists in mankind's future, if technological advancement continues. This was all done better in the Terminator and Matrix films.


______________________

______________ Saturn 3 - Hector the Robot


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One of the problems was that John Barry, the composer, originated this project, but he left after disagreeing with star Douglas, and Stanley Donen took over.

Harvey Keitel's distinctive Brooklyn-accented voice was then dubbed over by Roy Dotrice, resulting in a dull performance.

Farrah does show some skin and usually wears something skimpy, but this didn't help with the box office gross (much like with her previous films, Sunburn & Somebody Killed Her Husband).

Kirk also shows a lot of skin in one scene, unfortunately, but he was in great shape for an old guy. Don't expect too much, unless you're curious to see Farrah in her prime.

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There were also filmed scenes which were removed prior to release, showing Farrah in a provocative outfit during a strange dream sequence (or drug-influenced scene). Producer Lew Grade did not like these and had them removed. There were other scenes removed, as well. In the trailer for this film, which is on at least one DVD edition, we see Farrah in that outfit.

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10



BoG
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Last edited by Bogmeister on Sun May 19, 2019 12:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bogmeister wrote:
There were also filmed scenes which were removed prior to release, showing Farrah in a provocative outfit during a strange dream sequence (or drug-influenced scene). Producer Lew Grade did not like these and had them removed. There were other scenes removed, as well. In the trailer for this film, which is on at least one DVD edition, we see Farrah in that outfit.

I've read several reviews which claim (as BoG's does) that the scene in which Farrah wears the sexy outfit was a "dream sequence" or "drug induced".

But that not at all true.

The YouTube clip of that scene starts with Farrah and Kirk cutting big blue pill in half to share a drug the couple calls a "blue dreamer", but we never see it have any real effect on the two. They just laugh and kid around like a happy couple would, but they don't act particularly stoned.

Then Farrah says she's going to go put on an outfit that Kirk "hasn't seen before", and a few moments later she presents herself to a suitably impressed Kirk. But she doesn't behave like a woman a woman who knows looks insane sexy and who's trying seduce her lover — in fact, she acts more like a girl showing her boyfriend a new dress. Very Happy

She even asks Kirk if he thinks the outfit looks "too old fashioned! Shocked

Farrah sits down across from Kirk, and he calmly compliments on her on how good she looks.



Then he goes over to her and playfully pours a little of his drink into her mouth, but at that moment (in this partial clip with no sound in the last 30 seconds) they look over at something off camera and act as if Harvey Keitel came in and spoke to them.

In short, the scene contains nothing to suggest a dream or a drug-induced hallucination . . . and the couple don't even start fooling around! I can't imagine why producer Lew Grade objected to the scene. If anything, the scene just depicts the loving relationship between Farrah and Kirk . . . and the fact Farrah's character is so young innocent she doesn't realize that her appearance is capable of spontaneously starting forest fires! Cool

Perhaps there is a second deleted scene from later in the film, in which Harvey Keitel has an erotic dream about Farrah in that awesome outfit. But I can't find any confirmation of this.

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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scotpens
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bogmeister wrote:

Benson, either by default or accident, comes to represent the unpleasant atmosphere of this future society, since we barely see any of it other than these 3 characters. He takes strange drugs ('blues') and makes very odd remarks, such as "wanting to use Alex' body" for his pleasure, as if this is routine conversation of the future.

Keitel's actual line is "Yes, you have a great body. May I use it?" I think the guy really needs to work on his pickup approach.

He also speaks an odd, stilted, pseudo-technical jargon: "no taction contact" means "don't touch"; "wheel and peditate" means "turn around and walk." WTF??


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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The model of the small spaceship does not match the full scale set, one has three legs, the other has four legs.

The moon base set was very large, and fully enclosed. They had to issue maps of the set to the crew, so they could find their way around, and how to get out of it. Laughing

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 11, 2023 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I watched this movie today on YouTube (great picture quality!) while writing this post, and I've decided that's much better than I previously thought. It's flaws spoiled my enjoyment during previous viewings, but when you accept its failings, you start to notice its virtues. Very Happy

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
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~ Hector the robot stood over eight feet tall, and cost a little over $1 million to make.

Note from me: Hector is complex as hell, but its very unappealing and extremely ungainly. You'd think a million bucks would buy a better robot. Rolling Eyes

~ It took twenty people to animate Hector the robot.

Note from me: Robby needed a little off-camera assistance in some scenes — but for Pete's sake, TWENTY people? Shocked

~ Kirk Douglas reportedly directed this movie for two days after John Barry left the project.

Note from me: Well, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Rolling Eyes

~ Executive Producer Lew Grade had two scenes removed because he thought they were distasteful. In one scene, Hector mutilated Benson's corpse on a laboratory table. The other was a dream sequence in which Alex and Adam murder Benson.

Note from me: That does indeed sound distasteful.

~ Elmer Bernstein wrote an hour of music for this movie, much of it progressive and experimental, but most of it was unused after the opening sequences until the movie's last half hour. Bernstein removed some of the cues after the movie was extensively re-edited, because they did not work in truncated form, while others appear to have been removed by Producer and replacement Director Stanley Donen.

Note from me: I watched this movie on YouTube while writing this post. Mr. Bernstein's music was not impressive. It was an obvious attempt to sound like a modified version of Also Spach Zurathustra, and it played during several shots of a large spacecraft moving slowly over the camera — an obvious copy of the opening scene in A New Hope.

~ A few years after the release of this movie, Farrah Fawcett was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), in which Johnny casually poked fun at Fawcett's movie choices. "I remember you did a picture, I think it was called 'Saturn 3'."

The audience laughed a bit as Fawcett squirmed, answering, "Originally they had a very good script, it was called 'The Helper', and it was a lot different from what we ended up shooting."


Note from me: There are several trivia items that describe the way this movie changed during production, and not for the better.

~ It took 79 craftsmen four months to build the massive interior set for the moon research station.

Note from me: I must admit, the sets are gorgeous. They're well designed and interestingly lit.

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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