Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Best movie of this year hands down!

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

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.

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.

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.

Fuller really fails in this strangely flat boating drama. It probably has something to do with the really unattractive old crow who is supposed to seduce young Burt into her and her husband's hare-brained scheme to...well, it's all a little foggy, really. I guess they wanted Burt to do all the heavy lifting and to fend off the shark on their treasure hunt but seeing as there is nary a scene with a real maneater anywhere near Burt (all of the big Shark footage is painfully obvious unmatching stock material) you'll have to use your imagination. Arthur Kennedy is actually interesting...given the horrendous standards of everything else, he's probably the best thing in this soggy fish story.One of the biggest mistakes of the story (perhaps necessitated by the non-existent budget) is that so much of the movie concerns the recruitment of Burt rather than the actual shark attack and undersea footage. Frankly, it's very boring to see all the lengthy and talky scenes in a bar and stunning to see it in the usually laconic and better-paced Fuller's work. Burt does have limited charm but somehow he's just wasted. Amazing to think that only three years later Reynolds would give the remarkably nuanced and charismatic performance of his life in the mind-blowing DELIVERANCE. He sure doesn't seem to have a clue here. There might be a certain level of camp value here but somehow even that doesn't quite come off. I guess I can't think of anyone I would recommend this to except for die-hard Burt fans. And are there any of those left after STRIPTEASE, etal? Skip this one and re-watch JAWS or THE NAKED KISS.