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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
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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…
