Killer Shark

Ted White (Roddy McDowall) joins his fisherman father's crew. He's terribly green and wimpy. His accident send his father to the hospital and the crew has left them. He has to find a new crew.

This has a young Roddy McDowall in the lead. That's it. That is all there is here. It's a low budget indie. The story has a questionable turn. McDowall is playing another weirdo. I would be more intrigued if he did that with the initial crew. It would lead to a final confrontation with his father. That's a better story.

I am not surprised that Budd Boetticher made this interesting little adventure drama, starring Roddy McDowall. Anyway this is a movie that any director could have made too. It is a bit flat and predictable but still interesting to watch. Useless to say that this movie is not my all time favorite from Boetticher, even from his early career, but it remains agreeable, not that lousy, just a bit flat. Just because it is from the COMANCHE STATION director; if it had been another unknown film maker, I guess such a plot would have never interested me. This film belongs to the ones that you see because of their director, only curiosity.

Taking a break from college, snobby Roddy McDowall (as Ted White) goes down to Mexico and reconnects with his shark-hunting father, wizened Roland Winters (as Jeff). After not seeing each other for a dozen years, the two have a major culture clash. When his father is injured, young McDowall takes control of the "Sunrays". This angers the crew, who decide to jump ship. Out to prove his mettle, McDowall assembles another crew, but they take advantage of their inexperienced young boss...

After his successful child star years, McDowall found himself a Monogram Pictures player for a couple of these low budget films, before moving on to television appearances. Interestingly, you can spot white-capped Dickie Moore (as Jonesy) in the bar and on the second crew. McDowall and Moore were on the same career trajectory. Note, there is no "Killer Shark" in the story; instead, footage of some men fishing for small sharks is inserted. The cast and crew do their best with the time and money.

**** Killer Shark (3/19/50) Budd Boetticher ~ Roddy McDowall, Roland Winters, Dickie Moore, Douglas Fowley

Roddy McDowell (who was also a co-producer, so he has no one to blame but himself) stars in this blah quickie from Monogram about a college student who goes to sea with his father, the captain of a shark-hunting boat, and the troubles that ensue. McDowell is, frankly, not very good in the role; his character comes across as naive, dense and rather stupid. The supporting cast is, for the most part, weak, the script is convoluted and trite, and the only remotely "exciting" thing that happens in the picture is some poorly integrated stock footage of a real shark boat hauling several large sharks--and one VERY large shark-- aboard as part of their catch. There are some phony dramatics involving villain Douglas Fowley, as a shady crew member mixed up with smugglers, and some painfully unfunny comic relief from rotund Nacho Galindo as a cook named "Maestro" who giggles and laughs uncontrollably throughout the picture.

Director Budd Boetticher--billed here as Oscar Boetticher--has done much better (much, MUCH better) work. This film isn't really worth wasting your time on; it's talky, boring and the "fight" scene that occurs near the end of the film is very poorly done. Overall, a real snoozer. Skip it.

In case you ever wonder, like I did, if Steven Spielberg's landmark "Jaws" really was the first movie ever to entirely revolve on sharks on a killing spree, you can rest assured ... it is! Samuel Fuller's interesting failure "Shark!" from 1969 features two brief attacks, but furthermore deals with human greed, smuggling and double-crossing. In 1932 already, the legendary Edward G. Robinson starred in a film called "Tiger Shark". I haven't seen it yet, but the plot synopsis makes me doubt that it contains a lot of virulent shark action. My final hope to come across a predecessor for "Jaws" was this 1950 action/adventure movie with the promising title "Killer Shark".

Alas, predictably but alas, "Killer Shark" is hardly an adventure film, let alone a thriller with worthwhile attack footage. Moreover, it's a typical product of its time, which basically means that it features a lot of stock footage of defenseless sharks getting caught in fishing nets, dying painfully, and being cut up for their valuable livers. Apart from being a fan of shark horror-movies, I'm primarily a huge admirer of the beautiful animal species, so this was actually an agonizing sight. The very young and baby-faced Roddy McDowell joins his father, whom he hasn't seen in twelve years, for a summer of hunting for sharks at sea in the Mexican Gulf. His ignorance, however, causes an accident in which his father and another crew member badly get injured. To avoid a financial catastrophe for his old man, he takes the fishing boat out to sea himself, but scouted for a crew in the wrong part of town. "Killer Shark" is okay to watch once (minus the shark-killing footage, though) for some of the supportive performances, including Dickie Moore, and the misplaced slapstick-finale.