Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Shark

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Shark



    Released by: Cheezy Flicks

    Released on: December 5, 2006.

    Director: Samuel Fuller

    Cast: Burt Reynolds, Silvia Pinal, Arthur Kennedy, Manuel Alvarado, Barry Sullivan

    Year: 1969

    Purchase from Amazon


    The Movie:


    An early starring role for Burt Reynolds, Samuel Fuller's Shark predates Spielberg's better known killer shark movie Jaws by roughly six years. Whereas in Spielberg's movie the creature was chowing down on anyone and anything in its path, innocent or not, here its dinner treats are a band of no good criminals trying to salvage a lost shipment of gold resting on the ocean floor off the coast of Mexico.


    A scientist and his pretty blonde assistant lose their diving helper when he falls prey to the titular beast, and that's when an American named Kane (Reynolds) comes on board. He takes a job with them but soon thinks he can outsmart them and horde the booty for himself when he learns of its whereabouts. Soon everybody is double crossing everybody else in order to get to the treasure without being eaten on the way.


    The main reason that Shark remains a fairly well known film isn't because it's all that good (though it's not all that bad either) but because of the controversy surrounding the death of a stunt man who was killed by a live shark on the set. Samuel Fuller disowned the movie when the producers used the accident to promote the film, thus assuring it a little bit of controversy and therefore a little bit of box office.


    Samuel Fuller made a few memorable action/adventure movies, sadly Shark isn't one of them. It's not that it's truly terrible, it just isn't memorable. No one is very good in front of the camera and while the underwater photography is nice and the sharks have a fascinating screen presence, the rest of the movie looks rather flat and lackluster.


    If it had been a truly horrid movie it might have been saved in a sense by some serious camp appeal, as the potential is there for some quality MST3K moments but it never really reaches those horrible depths either and just sort of stumbles through its ninety minutes half heartedly shrugging its shoulders as if it doesn't care. Some more tension and stronger performances could have made it a good actioner but Fuller just doesn't pull it off here. It's an ok watch for a rainy Saturday afternoon if you can't think of anything else to do, but there are a whole lot of other movies out there you'll probably want to check out first.


    Video/Audio/Extras:


    The film is presented fullframe and sourced from what appears to be an old tape. It's soft, muddy and shows some pretty serious color fading. Had a proper transfer been done, it probably would have made the film more interesting to watch as there are some cool underwater scenes here, but as they lack detail and are murky, they're not really as nifty as they should have been.


    The English language Dolby Digital Mono track isn't anything to get too excited about but it works - you can follow the dialogue easily enough and the score sounds decent. Things are a bit flat here and there but otherwise, this will do.


    Extras are slim, limited to a couple of intermission spots and an eight minute preview reel featuring clips from other Cheezy Flicks DVD releases. Menus and chapter stops are also provided.


    The Final Word:


    Shark should have been a better movie than it is, but it's not. Instead it's a fairly tepid action/suspense film featuring some neat ideas and a few cool cast members but it never catches fire the way you want it to. The weak transfer doesn't help matters much, but sadly it's never looked good on home video (and it's public domain status means there's a good chance it never will) - maybe someday it'll get restored but until then…




















      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X