Customer Reviews

Shark

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A young man, scuba diving in the Red Sea off the coast of Sudan is killed by a shark. Anna (Silvia Pinal) who with "the Professor" (Barry Sullivan) had been his employer is seen paying off his mother...now the two must find someone new to help them in their hazardous (and semi-secretive) operation, but none of the locals are interested, understandably. But wait! Here's Caine (Burt Reynolds), an American gun-runner who winds up in town tired, dirty and broke after losing his truck and weapons shipment after a chase at a border crossing - maybe he's just the sucker they need!. Anna tries to seduce him, while Caine is trying everything to get passage out of this little town, and back to civilization. He meets Doc (Arthur Kennedy) a drunken American ex-pat who may or may not be a real doctor, and Runt (Carlos Barry), a kid who tries to steal his watch but soon becomes a fast friend, and the two become his only real allies as he eventually falls in with Anna and the Professor's underhanded schemes, and eventually must face...SHARKS!

How and why the great, great Samuel Fuller ended up cowriting and directing this Mexican-produced low-budget piece - his first since his 1964 masterpiece The Naked Kiss - I don't know. The stories go that he had lots of problems with the film, and it was taken away and recut by the producers. Certainly the end result isn't very satisfactory, and it's no wonder he wanted his name taken off it (though that never happened). The whole thing is suffused with cheapness - most of the secondary cast is pretty bad, the marketplace that is a major set for a couple of scenes is laughably tiny, the underwater footage is all obvious stock material that doesn't mesh with the rest of the film, and the film is all, or nearly all, postdubbed. The narrative has quite a few abrupt elisions; it's simple enough that I don't think anybody's going to have trouble following it, but certainly it makes the film choppy. The odd music by Rafael Moroyoqui doesn't really evoke Africa where the film is set or Mexico where it was filmed.

But it's not a total loss. Reynolds manages to rise a little above the material with charm and a sort of lazy animal sexual charisma; this was the fourth film he made that was released in 1969, very much his breakout year - and those who find his physical charms enticing will be glad to know that he's bare-chested through much of the film. And Arthur Kennedy is excellent as the worn-out, cynical drunk Doc, and he seems somehow to fit into this low-rent "Casablanca"-type setting, almost enough so that you can imagine him and Reynolds for a moment or two in an earlier, bigger-budgeted noir or exotic drama of the 40s, back when they could turn out this stuff every week, and do it a lot better than Fuller managed in 1969. There are a couple of decent action scenes where the old, punchy Fuller style seems in evidence, and the dialogue isn't bad when it's more about the characters and not so much about driving the simple plot forward.

I have the old, crappy VHS - apparently the Troma DVD isn't any better; both are full-screen, though I'm not sure what the original aspect ratio was - probably not Cinemascope or anything. I can't recommend this really to anybody but big fans of Fuller or Reynolds; I've seen most of the former's work and love it, and this is one of his weakest films. I'm glad I have it, it's not without some small merit - but I wouldn't be missing much if my copy went swimming with the sharks.

** 1969. Written and directed by Samuel Fuller. Sudan. Two treasure hunters hire Burt Reynolds to help them find a treasure lying at the bottom of the Red Sea. Completely reedited by its producers, SHARK! was disavowed by Samuel Fuller. If you really want to discover Fuller, one of the most underrated American directors, buy Pickup on South Street - Criterion Collection, Forty Guns or The Naked Kiss - Criterion Collection which are true masterpieces.

The Troma edition I've bought here presents an awful copy of the film, not much better than my old VHS, with interviews as bonus features. The different stakeholders, I understand them very well, prefer to talk about Samuel Fuller than to try to convince us that SHARK! is of some interest.

A DVD zone completists only.

Burt Reynolds, Barry Sullivan, Silvia Pinal, Arthur Kennedy - WOW!!!! - What a cast ! I can really see why Mr. Reynolds was considered for the James Bond part (1969); after seeing him in this action flick. Although, Sam Fuller had problems finishing this low budget movie - he still got the job done. While the story is uneven at times; Arthur Kennedy is a total delight as a(n)alcoholic physician (with a heart of gold !). This movie can be purchased for a very small amount of change - It's well worth it. One of my favorites !

Burt Reynolds does an excellent job in this 1969 shark/adventure movie.It's a must see!!