SHARK!

US, 1969, 92 minutes, Colour.
Burt Reynolds, Arthur Kennedy, Barry Sullivan, Silvia Pinal.
Directed by Sam Fuller.

Shark! predated Jaws by seven years. However, it is remembered for tragedy associated with the film, the death of one of the cameramen during filming. Their followed a dispute with the director, Sam Fuller, who did not want the death used in the advertising for the film. The producers insisted. When Fuller left the film, it was recut by the producers and the director disowned it.

Shark! then becomes a footnote in the career of Sam Fuller who directed some tough action films in the 1950s and made his autobiographical classic The Big Red One in 1980, covering World War One and World War Two.

Burt Reynolds was at the beginning of his film career at this stage. Arthur Kennedy and Barry Sullivan were veterans. Silvia Pinal was a Mexican leading lady.

The film does not contribute particularly much to the shark genre.

1. The emphasis of the title and audience expectation? The alternative title was Caine (as well as Maneater) focussing on the hero. Which more appropriate?

2. The film’s adventure qualities? Average or more?

3. The importance of locations, Africa and its terrain, the town and its atmosphere, the Red Sea?

4. The initial shark sequences and their impact? Their reprisal during the film? The chorus of the shark swimming close? The shark as the instrument of retribution?

5. What type of hero was Caine? The way that he was introduced? His desire to get out of the town? His friendship with Runt? Relationship with the doctor and the police? Working for the professor? Relationship with the woman? His quest for the gold?

6. Was his character well developed? The Burt Reynolds type? The twists in the characterization, especially the ending?

7. The sultry and selfish woman? Her own ends? The retribution?

8. The professor, a conventional character, his death?

9. The portrayal of the doctor, the drunk in an out-of-the-way town? His contribution to the plot, the operation?

10. The picture of the police, and the twist of the corrupt police chief?

11. The emphasis on the people in the town? The flavour and the atmosphere?

12. The impact of the diving sequences, the climaxes?

13. The quality of the film as entertainment, story, types?