SATURN 3

Harvey Keitel, Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett

SATURN 3 (1980). Director: Stanley Donen. 

Adam (Kirk Douglas) and his assistant and lover, Alex (Farrah Fawcett), work on Titan, a moon of Saturn, in an experimental food research station. One day along comes "Captain Benson "(Harvey Keitel), who has apparently murdered and taken the place of the real Captain Benson for unknown reasons. Benson also brings along with him a robot, Hector, that is linked to his own brain, follows his orders, and seems to lust for Alex just as he does. Obviously things are going to go wrong. Benson seems to think he has a right to sleep with Alex, suggests that Adam is over the hill, and sets about making trouble and being obnoxious. Then the robot begins to go berserk ... 

Hector goes after Alex

Saturn 3 may or may not have been influenced by Alien, which came out the year before, but S3 suffers in comparison because the mechanical villain of the piece is nowhere nears as interesting as the monster in Alien. The film shows signs of much post-production tampering as well. The original director left and was replaced by Stanley Donen, of all people, hardly a Sci Fi specialist. Kirk Douglas is as charismatic as ever -- even showing off his naked butt (yet again!) -- while Fawcett Of All The Hair is acceptable but no more. It's impossible to judge Keitel's performance. He seems to be the best thing in the movie until you learn that producer Lew Grade didn't care for Keitel's Brooklyn accent and wanted the actor to redub his lines -- instead the lines were dubbed by Roy Dotrice, whose readings are excellent. 

Verdict: Some exciting scenes and interesting sets but relatively minor sci fi. **3/4. 

DR. T AND THE WOMEN

DR. T AND THE WOMEN (2000). Director: Robert Altman.

Dr. Travis (Richard Gere with a white-haired dye job) is a Dallas gynecologist with an exclusive clientele. His wife Kate (Farrah Fawcett) has a public meltdown -- she takes off all of her clothing and steps into a fountain -- and winds up institutionalized, after which he embarks on an affair with new golf club employee, Bree (Helen Hunt of Empire Falls). Meanwhile his family and patients are bothering him with an assortment of problems: nurse Carolyn (Shelley Long) is secretly in love with Dr. T, and his daughter, Dee Dee (Kate Hudson of The Skeleton Key), has invited her former female lover (Liv Tyler) to her wedding (to a man) as maid of honor; Dee Dee's sister thinks the marriage is a mistake,  for obvious reasons. [Bree has a supposedly open-minded but pretty stupid reaction to this whole rather contrived business.] Other cast members include Lee Grant as a shrink; Andy Richter, who makes no impression, as a buddy; Janine Turner as a neurotic patient; and Laura Dern. In its treatment of the lesbian couple the movie strikes some liberated, if awkward, sparks, but somehow it still seems old-fashioned and unsatisfying, although it's more watchable than a lot of Altman's[Popeye] movies. One interesting sequence graphically shows the miracle of child birth.

Verdict: Typically rambling and unfocused Altman with some good scenes and okay acting. **1/2.