Little did I realize that the schlocky 1980 science fiction epic Saturn 3 was scripted by none other than that mad dog Englishman Martin Amis. I wish I could somehow tie it all up, and find in Saturn 3 the germ of an exegesis to Amis' body of work, but it's been about 8 years since I've read any of Amis' books (the fantastic Time's Arrow, which probably could make a pretty good movie), and more than 20 since I've last seen Saturn 3 (which I remember as being laughably bad, but nothing more than that). What Amis got out of the endeavor was, of course, a Hollywood paycheck, but also the background for his novel Money, where the movie's actors Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett, and Harvey Keitel were reimagined in the novel as Lorne Guyland, Butch Beausoleil, and Spunk Davis. As Amis later said: "It just seemed to me that when I was working on that film I was head-doctoring and kissing ass, and writing these characters as they saw themselves, as they idealised themselves."
Art imitates life, or in this case imitates trash. I haven't read Money, but it may mark my return to the Amis ouevre, perhaps in tandem with a re-viewing of Saturn 3. In any case, we can admire this Polish poster of Saturn 3, which gives it more of a pop-art Barbarella feel than I remember the movie having. The film's director, Stanley Donen has an impressive pedigree as a director of musicals for MGM in the 50s and sophisticated entertainments like Charade and Two for the Road. Donen received an honorary Oscar in 1998, more than likely not for his efforts on Saturn 3.
