a.k.a. 'Caine', a.k.a. 'Man-Eater'
Tagline
A realistic film became too real!
Shark will rip you apart!
Shark Week continues!
Elevator pitch
- 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre' by the sea
Summary
A fugitive American gun runner finds himself stranded and penniless in a small town on the Red Sea coast of Sudan. A couple recruit him to help with their diving expedition, which is not all it seems and has already lost a member to the local sharks.
Trailer
Full Movie
Details
Unless otherwise stated, all full movie links I post are for free, no account required, licensed (AFAIK, IANAL) streaming VOD in English (or original language with English subtitles) and work at time of writing in my location, Mexico. Availability and language options may be different in your location. Asterisk by the one I watched.
Legal stream finders
- https://nobraincellsleft.github.io/JustWatch-Search/title/tm74445
- https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/shark
Info
Personnel
- Director: Sam Fuller
Cast
- Burt Reynolds
- Sivia Pinal
- Arthur Kennedy
- Barry Sullivan
Opinion
Sam Fuller was a significant director of noir and war movies in the 50s principally, helming 'Pickup on South Street', 'House of Bamboo' and 'The Big Red One', and inspired Jean-Luc Godard and Jim Jarmusch.
But 'Shark!' was re-edited without his consent and he couldn't get his name taken off it. Later, it was re-re-edited and released again to cash in on the success of 'Jaws' (the cut known as 'Man-Eater').
Burt Reynolds is his usual charming self, perhaps a little more abrasive than in most films, and convincing as a dirtbag with a vestigial conscience.
With a slow pace and very little shark action, this is more of a noir thriller. And even as a noir thriller, it ain't great. Who knows if it would have been any better in Fuller's (apparently lost) edit?
Moreover, the licensed versions available on free streaming have very poor image and sound quality. Hard to see in nighttime scenes, hard to see in underwater scenes, and almost impossible in nighttime + underwater scenes.
Score: 1.5 out of 5 sharks.
There are better Sam Fuller films out there, including on free streaming. See https://watch.plex.tv/person/samuel-fuller for starters.
Content warning
The producers tried to push a story that a diver was almost killed filming this movie when a shark broke through a protective net. Others have countered that the 'attack' was almost certainly fake and the more likely sequence of events was that the production used some drugged or dead sharks and genuinely stabbed them in one or more scenes.
Screenshots
This is one of the more visible shark scenes, believe it or not.
"[...] a bizarre world of violence, greed, and hungry women."
The women are hungry, the sharks merely peckish.