Customer Reviews

Sharky's Machine [VHS]

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have always been a fan of Burt Reynolds. Sure, the guy has made some of the biggest bombs in Hollywood history, such as "Stroker Ace," "Cop and a Half," and several others too painful to mention. When I say I am a fan, I am not necessarily referring to his best known films like "Smokey and the Bandit,"...or "The Longest Yard." I like Reynolds's seedy looking films, those low budget action flicks that look like they cost five dollars to make. "White Lightening," "Heat," and "Gator" are always worth watching. I used to list "Sharky's Machine" as one of Reynolds's best efforts until I watched it again recently for the first time in many years. This 1981 action/thriller should give the viewer the best Reynolds has to offer: he directed it, starred in it, and made sure to assemble a stellar cast including Richard Libertini, Brian Keith, Charles Durning, Rachel Ward, Vittorio Gassman, and Henry Silva. In fact, you will recognize so many faces in this movie that you will start to wonder how Reynolds got all of these guys together without spending his entire budget on salaries. Unfortunately, Reynolds's directorial debut drags in spots due to the inclusion of decidedly non-action elements and slow pacing. "Sharky's Machine" is the film version of a book written by author William Diehl.

Reynolds plays Atlanta police detective Tom Sharky, a tough as nails cop attempting to crack down on the city's heroin trade. After a failed drug buy results in the death of an innocent bystander, the department ships Sharky off to the vice department as penance for his reckless heroics. Located in the dingy basement of police headquarters, the vice room is about as filthy as you could imagine. The other police officers consider vice as the bottom of the barrel, and so does Sharky until he uncovers a prostitution ring with links to a gubernatorial candidate...

The cast is the main reason to watch "Sharky's Machine." Libertini is a hoot as the scatterbrained Nosh, Durning plays Sharky's supervisor Friscoe with lung shattering intensity, Brian Keith is the always hungry Papa, and Bernie Casey plays the philosophical Arch. Rachel Ward is effective as Dominoe, and Vittorio Gassman oozes his way through the role of crime kingpin Victor. Henry Silva steals the movie as the ominous killer who possesses no scruples whatsoever. Silva was born to play bad guys on the silver screen, and that is what he has done throughout his career, but in "Sharky's Machine" he turns in the performance of a lifetime. It is regrettable that Silva does not get more screen time. Until I rewatched the film, I thought Silva appeared in nearly every scene but that's only because his performance is so over the top that it dominated my memories of the movie. If you watch "Sharky's Machine" for no other reason than Henry Silva's performance, you will still get a thrill out of this movie.

With the exception of a few of the characters and a several gritty scenes of violence including chopped off fingers, a gory shotgun blast to the head, and some shootouts, "Sharky's Machine" is a good, not spectacular, movie. I took particular offense with the romantic subplot between Sharky and Dominoe. These scenes seemed to drag on forever, with heavy doses of melodrama piled on top of a mountain of implausibility. Are we really supposed to believe that these two will get together? I recognize that most films always rely on a romance to help propel the narrative, but in a sleazy story like "Sharky's Machine," I want that interaction minimized. Too much emphasis on the relationship between Dominoe and Sharky seriously hampers the flow of this movie.

The DVD version is weak, with zero in the way of extras and a full screen picture transfer. How about having Burt Reynolds do a commentary for a widescreen edition? Since Reynolds directed and starred in the film, I am sure his insights would be more than sufficient in explaining the nuts and bolts of the movie. I would secretly appreciate a contribution on a potential commentary track from Henry Silva, but that will surely never happen. If you can stomach the cheesy disco soundtrack and the large injections of romantic interludes, you will probably enjoy watching "Sharky's Machine." At the very least, you get to see Burt Reynolds crack some heads and that is always fun.

In "Sharky's Machine" Burt Reynolds plays Sgt. Tom Sharky, a case-hardened (tough outside, soft inside) Atlanta vice cop investigating the possible extortion of a gubernatorial candidate. During wiretaps and stakeouts Sharkey falls in love with Dominoe (Rachel Ward), the candidate's spoiled call girl girlfriend. When the candidate offers to take Dominoe out of 'the life' and to support her, Dominoe's gypsy owner/trainer Victor feels his control over the candidate threatened. Victor arranges for Dominoe's murder. By coincidence Dominoe escapes, Sharkey hides Dominoe, and they work together to end Victor's reign of terror.

Burt Reynolds directed "Sharkey's Machine" and he plays Tom Sharkey with his "Deliverance" bravado but without the hard edges. Burt assembled a strong cast. Rachel Ward is *stunning* as Dominoe. Brian Keith, Bernie Casey and Richard Libertini are Sharkey's police buddies -- his 'machine' which is destroyed in the process of bringing down Victor. Vittorio Gassman plays cold threatening Victor and Henry Silva plays his Dilaudin/cocaine-wired shootist associate -- both deliver extremely strong performances. And Darryl Hickman effectively uses brother Dwayne's 'Dobie Gillis nice guy' persona in an interrogation/torture scene.

Years have passed since Burt Reynolds' football days and Burt has played many characters. Burt still plays rough today. "Sharkey's Machine" is a superior showcase for Burt Reynolds' many talents.

Like his pal Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds tried his hand at directing & does a pretty good job here, In this he is Sharky, a vice detective who is after a drug & prostitution kingpin played by Victor Gassman, while pursuing the case, he is soon spying on one of Victor's high priced call girls(Rachel Ward), hoping for a lead, but soon begins to be smitten with her, he soon discovers a local politician who is campaigning to be a Senator is involved with not only her, but Victor as well, this complicates things as Victor soon has his deranged coke-addicted brother(Henry Silva in a chilling role) kill what seems to be Ward in an effort to blackmail the Senator into a agreement, it is Ward's friend who is killed instead as Reynolds soon discovers & takes Ward to a safe place where they begin to fall for one another, one of the best scenes is Reynolds confrontation with Victor, in which we see Victor taunt Reynolds in such a way as he tells him that he owns him & the whole police force & Reynolds responding back about how he plans to rid his town of his kind is powerful to say the least, what makes this film work is the realism of it all, with Reynolds as the underdog taking on a big kingpin, who has much power & influence that Reynolds can only trust those close to him as he has his own team of cops to help him, Ward & Reynolds share a unique chemistry & we learn why Victor has such a hold on her, Henry Silva is at his best as Victor's coke-addicted brother who can as a result of his addiction take several gunshots & keep going is chilling, as Reynolds & his team take Silva on, Reynolds proved that he could be more than the "Bandit" here & in the little seen 1985 film "Stick" as well, but his career went south do to personal problems in his personal life, but made a comback in 1997's "Boogie Nights" & should have won on Oscar night, but this one is a good police drama that is rarely seen in today's Hollywood, & should be rereleased in a widescreen format on DVD, but for now, it is a keeper!!

Burt Reynolds continued his love affair with Georgia's capital by setting his ultraviolent crime saga in the city of the South. The Atlanta background is only window dressing for a tale that could occur in any metropolis in the U.S.

Reynold's directing is tight and he does well in the title role. Great support comes from Rachel Ward, Brian Keith, veteran heavy Henry Silva, Bernie Casey, Reynold's longtime friend Charles Durning, and the always reliable Earl Holliman.

The film may not make any "best of" lists, but it is still an enjoyable cop drama, with exciting twists and turns, plus it provides an early '80's glimpse of crime in urban America..

Burt Reynolds rose from the "good ol' boy" quagmire to deliver this hard-edged crime drama. Easily his best directorial effort, Reynolds invests "Sharky's Machine" (1981) with a strong sense of ensemble, gritty Atlanta locations and some truly memorable stunts. Unfortunately, Burt's commendable police thriller has been given the budget-DVD treatment - resulting in a standard full-frame transfer and no extras. Warner Home Video should release "Sharky's Machine" in its original widescreen format as a 30th anniversary "special edition."

This is your standard hard-boiled, renegade cop versus the world story, but is so packed with great performances, chemistry, and unexpected plot twists that it delivers consistently from first to last frame. Burt Renyolds has always been a better actor that he's been given credit for, and this time he manages to put a few turns on the stock-cop antihero -- he alternates the standard brutal violence and sarcasm with shyness and romanticism -- so that the character never becomes a tedious, Mike Hammer-like caricature. But the best thing is the supporting cast, from
sultry-innocent Rachel Ward, who figured prominently in my adolescent fantasies (whatever happened to her anyway?) to the motley crew of misfit, exiled, burned-out cops Shakey assembles into his crime-fighting "machine" (Brian Keith, Charles Durning, Earl Holliman, Bernie Casey, and RIchard Libertini fit together hand-in-glove). On the other side is the ultra-smooth, ultra-decayed arch-villain played by Vic Gussman, who controls the city but can't quite get a handle on Sharkey, and his PCP-snorting psychopath of a brother, the always evil Henry Silva, who gets a handle on just about everybody in the movie (this guy kills more cops than Arnold Schwarzenegger did in "The Terminator"). The shoot-out at the end, between a Silva so pumped up on every kind of drug he just will not die, and Sharkey's fast-dwindling machine, on the top of an Atlanta skyscraper, is also a classic. If you like cop movies, expecially ones that don't completely abandon realism for the sake of blowing things up and gigantic body counts, this is for you.

This is probalby Burt Reynold's best performance. It's a shame they don't release this movie in 1.85:1 format so it would look nice on a widescreen HDTV.

Movie begins automaticly when you put in DVD.
Sargeant Tom Sharky walks to bad neighborhoods of Atlanta, Georgia, posing as someone there for drugs. The drug dealer shows up. Just as the dealer gets suspicious, another car pulls up unexpectedly. It is Smiley (Darryl Hickman) and he calls out to Sharky by name and blows his cover. Gunshots are exchanged and a foot chase begins. Sharky finally gets his man on the city bus.
Sharky talks with Joe (Joseph Mascolo) at the police station, however he is still demoted downstairs to the Vice Department.
Their is a serial killer out there called "Billy Score" (Henry Silva) who preys upon female escorts.
Sharky and his team are investigating a woman, Dominoe (Rachel Ward), who is having a relationship with a candidate for Governor (Earl Holliman). Sharky is watching her from the apartment building across the way, recording her 24 hours a day and watching her though binoculars as well as taking pictures.
What they find out will shock them.

One of the best Burt Reynolds' movies.

Also in the cast: Charles Durning, Bernie Casey, Brian Keith, Richard Libertini, Vittorio Gassman, Carol Locatell, John Fiedler, Robert Duncan McNeill, Forest Sawyer.
Author, William Diehl appears as "Percy".

This is the 2nd movie of 11 with Charles Durning and Burt Reynolds.

Carol Locatell also appeared in the Burt Reynolds movies, Paternity [VHS] (1981) and Best Friends (1982).

Joseph Mascolo is in the movie, Jaws 2 (1978) and appears in the Burt Reynolds movie, Heat (1986). He continues to play the role of "Stephano DiMera" (1982-85, 1988, 1993-2001, 2007-Present) on NBC's Days of Our Lives.

Henry Silva is also remembered in the movie, The Manchurian Candidate (Special Edition) (1962). He is also in the Burt Reynolds movies, Cannonball Run 2 (1984) and Mad Dog Time (aka Trigger Happy) (1996).

Rachel Ward is best rememebered in The Thorn Birds (1983tv) and Against All Odds (Special Edition) (1984). She is also in the Burt Reynolds movie, Johnson County War (2002-tv).

Update: A remake of SHARKY'S MACHINE is in the works for 2012. Produced by Mark Wahlberg, Directed by Phil Joanou.

This is the movie in which Burt Reynolds put all of his considerable (but often underused) talent to work, both as actor and director. Surrounding himself with colorful characters, Reynolds plays it appropriately cool. As a director, he coaxes excellent performances from his co-stars (Bernie Casey's improvised monologue is among the highlights) and his direction is taut and confident. The film desperately needs remastering. With a remake in the works, maybe it will get one.

Sharky's Machine is the kind of film that Burt Reynolds desperately wanted to transition to while he was at the top of the box office in the late 70's/early 80's, and it's easy to see why he wanted to make more movies like this, and less like the good-old boy Smokey and The Bandit and Cannonball Run films. This is a movie with grit, heart, very good performances, and definitely a change of pace for a guy who was known for his jokes and quips as much as he was for action.

And there isn't much funny about Sharky's Machine, based off of the best-selling novel by William Diehl. Reynolds plays Sharky, an Atlanta cop who loses his rank after a very public bust goes very bad. He ends up in the Vice Squad, but runs across a prostitution ring that has government connections, drugs, and a deadly hitman, played by Henry Silva. The Machine is the group of cops and experts that help Sharky break the case, and they are played by Brian Keith, Bernie Casey, John Fiedler, and Richard Libertini. Rachel Ward plays the love interest and Vittorio Gassman plays the pimp behind it all.

Full of action, tension, tragedy, and some humor, Sharky's Machine could have been a great transition to a great new level of Reynolds' career. But he kept making mostly good-old-boy films until he wore out his welcome. At least Sharky's Machine shows what might have been.