Shark (1969)

Sorry, this movie sucks

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Considering this film's pedigree, it wasn't surprising that it wasn't very good. Despite having the very famous and economical Sam Fuller directing the film, he and the producers had a falling out and they finished and edited it without him. Naturally, Fuller was irritated with having his name on the film--and it's clearly not among his best work. But, what from this movie IS his and what isn't? The film is about a rich jerk (Barry Sullivan) who wants to excavate a treasure using scuba equipment. The problem is, that it's in a shark-infested area and it's VERY risky. So, he gets the assistance of the very macho gun-runner (Burt Reynolds) by not telling him the full extent of the danger. Despite being an undersea film, the scuba shots really aren't very good and the film is muddy and cheap looking. While the three male leads (Burt Reyholds, Sullivan and Arthur Kenedy) are decent, none of the three have much personality--at least not enough to make the plot more interesting. All in all, a rather listless film that had me wondering repeatedly 'is it over yet?!'. Not worth your time unless you are a Sam Fuller completist--even then, you may want to skip this one.

Stranded American with dubious origins takes a job as a deckhand aboard the vessel of a marine biologist and his attractive assistant as a means to escape the Sudan. Amid all the fisticuffs and double-crossing, a few people are mauled by a rogue shark. Ostensibly a sunken treasure picture, this film was notorious at the time of its release after one of the stunt divers was fatally mauled by a supposedly sedated shark, but this notoriety doesn't warrant any serious speculation into the film itself, which lacks excitement.Burt Reynolds as the gun-running Caine, while affable, isn't given the dialogue to make a memorable impression, while his supporting cast (some of distinction), also labour pointlessly with limited material. Mexican based actress Silvia Pinal is visually striking, but her characterisation is a muddled contradiction of sympathy and cruel indifference (that perhaps is not attributable to her interpretation, but the standard of the script).The scenery is uninteresting, the minor players are obscure and hollow (with the exception of Runt, the cheeky, cigar smoking Mexican boy whom Caine befriends) and the sight and sound elements are amateurish. Director Fuller reportedly was so ambivalent about the movie, he distanced himself to the point of requesting his name be removed from the credits (which was declined). Despite this, Fuller's appreciation of film noir is evident in the characterisations, dialogue and staging, which at times, is strangely reminiscent of a film noir.Though the title "Shark" bares some (scant) relevance to the plot, it's hardly a campaign of terror; three mangled corpses does not one shark movie make. Reynolds spends most of his time fighting, shaving and berating poor old Arthur Kennedy for being a hopeless drunk. In the end, everyone gets their comeuppance to varying degrees; some in the jaws of an unimpressive (in terms of threatening appearance, perhaps two metres at most) shark, others in more subtle fashion. Perhaps inspection of the novel on which this so-called film is based ("His Bones Are Coral" by Victor Canning) might glean some light on just why some distinguished film-makers elected to participate in such a mediocre picture.

Bad Bad Bad! This picture opened in theaters October 8 1969 Starring Burt Reynolds as Caine. Caine is overseas running guns for foreign countries. He's stop by three guys dressed as cops and they go through the cargo that he has on the back of his truck. After the first look, Caine starts to leave when the three men decide to look again. While going deeper into the cargo the discover the guns that Caine is hauling. While running from the three men Caine looses his brakes and the truck goes over the side of the mountain. Now Caine not only has to find away into the nearest town he also needs to find another way to make money. Now a few thoughts on the movie itself. This was a bad bad picture to the point where I turned it off 15 minute into it. The movie has no leading lady in it and the well known star was Burt Reynolds. This was not only I a waste of Reynolds talent, this movie should've never been shown in public. I give this movie 1 weasel star only because there's no other number to use lower then 1.

Not much to this movie. Not really about sharks. Was re-released in the mid 70s during the Jaws craze. The shark attacks are at the end of the movie. They should throw this movie to the sharks. Is a very early Burt Reynold's movie but he lacked the panache which he demonstrated in later movies. In fact this movie lacks anything of interest. The acting is flat, the story line is weak and the shark action is sparse. The big shark scene is looks fake even though real sharks were used. The photography fails to draw the viewer into the drama partially because the filming was far away from the action. It also fails because the sharks seem incidental--they just happened to be there with no build up of excitement to the scene. Tragically, some poor soul died making this movie so if you watch it, watch it for his sake. If you like bad movies try this. Try Deliverance instead if you want to see Burt Reynolds.