Shark (1969)

A Disappointing Continuation

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A diver is killed, and a marine biologist and his female assistant require someone to take on the dangerous task. Literally exploding into the country, Burt Reynolds soon causes a stir in the local town with his petty thievery and obnoxious ways. He quickly forms a relationship with a young boy, Runt, and the inhabitants of a seedy hotel (a drunken doctor, a mad Arab, and "Fatso" the owner). Soon Reynolds is joining the fishing crew, but trouble comes in the form of a corrupt policeman and double-crossing between friends.Okay, I didn't know what to make of this. The packaging intrigued me. First of all it looked like a JAWS rip-off, but I soon found it was made before JAWS. There was also a ridiculous note that the film was dedicated to injured stuntmen - a marketing ploy if ever I saw one. And then there was Burt Reynolds. Trust me, Burt is the one thing which redeems this film and stops it becoming an unwatchable mess. Because Burt is THE king of cool. Whether he's fighting off greasy thugs or cracking wise-ass jokes, Burt sure knows his stuff.The rest of the plot is inconsequential really. There's a heck of a lot of character building. The shark of the title is seen swimming around and eats a couple of people, but that's about it. The main plot is about Burt and his relationships in the town. There's little in the way of suspense, but quite a lot of action fighting scenes. Arthur Kennedy also appears. I don't know why this film had a 15 certificate, as the only gory bit of it was when someone was getting attacked by a shark and a load of what looked like red paint was coming off him. The young boy was pretty endearing though. If you're anything of a Burt Reynolds fan, then this film is for you. I wasn't a fan before I saw his performance, but my opinion is definitely changed now I have.

I've read some about Sam Fuller, and I derive that he is best known for directing movies about WWII. However, "Shark!" is the first of his movies that I've seen. Contrary to what the title may imply, it is not really about people battling an elongate elasmobranch - although there are some such scenes in the movie - but rather an incomprehensible story of smuggling in a small Sudanese town with lost treasure off the coast. Burt Reynolds plays his usual macho role as the man caught in the middle of the imbroglio.Does the movie make any sense? No, not really. It seems like the sort of movie where they had several different people writing the script, and none of them knew what the others were writing. It may be a pretty stupid movie, but believe me it's cool! Not only because of Reynolds's modus operandi, but because Silvia Pinal is REALLY hot! In fact, there's a "From Here to Eternity" moment (at least that's what I would call it). Why didn't they show her wearing less?! Anyway, it's basically a terrible movie, but pretty neat. Worth seeing as a historical reference

The majority of this Fuller film takes place in a little Sudanese village where Burt Reynolds can't seem to leave because of a little arms smuggling incident. He plays his usual tough guy role which is amplified ten times because this IS a Sam Fuller film. It all concerns a rather ridiculous plot involving sunken treasure in shark infested waters. What actually hat makes up 90% of this film is just a lot of macho, stupid and funny moments revolving around theft, fighting, drinking and romancing in a foreign land. Man Eater a.k.a. Shark! is an entertainingly mindless piece of celluloid that will probably go down better with a few drinks and some friends who can appreciate the trashier things in life.

A friend of mine gave me this as a joke when he moved from the midwest and I have to tell you it is the worst film in the history of film-making. Note Burt's beard in the chase scene early on in the desert. Also, check out the bazaar chase scene when the kid steals his watch. Did you really need to crash into that table?Anyway, if you love bad movies then this one is for you. That's how we came across it actually. We used to have a bad movie night once a week. This won hands down. As a matter of fact, we stopped doing it after this one. Nothing could ever compare.Sometimes I intentionally watch a bad film or two to purge my system in preparation for a good one. Well, this is like the Ex-Lax of films for this type of activity.