Mares Sangrentos

This little cheapo used to turn up regularly on late night LA TV, much to McDowell's chagrin, I expect. After all, from glossy MGM to miserly Monogram represents quite a tumble. Actually, the movie's not so bad, except for some of the acting that appears at times by the numbers. I just wish someone had put a cork in Galindo's (Maestro) mouth since he appears to confuse shrill giggling with acting.

Young Ted (McDowell) strives manfully to redeem himself after causing a fishing boat mishap injuring his dad and a deck hand. You know he's in trouble when he hires veteran bad guy Fowley (Bracado) to boss a new crew of cutthroats. At the same time, Laurette Luez, of the notorious Prehistoric Women (1950), drifts around the edges as eye candy.

What the production does best is approximate a seedy Mexican waterfront. It must have been done in LA since I can't imagine Monogram actually popping for location filming. The shipboard and shark scenes are occasionally interesting, causing me to wonder whether old movie freak Steven Spielberg saw A-picture possibilities in this little Monogram programmer. After all, stranger things have happened.

There is little about Killer Shark that is any way recommendable .It was made on a shoestring budget and it shows .

The theme is a variation on the classic Captains Courageous .A young College student spends the Summer working on his fathers rusting old shark fishing boat and is responsible for a serious accident which sees two men-including his father-severely injured.This places at risk his fathers ability to repay the loan on his vessel and so he resolves to put a crew together and go out in search of shark himself.Unfortunately he hooks up with a crew of robbers who plan to make away with the cargo themselves.

Poorly acted ,flat and ugly in its lighting and with a crude anti intellectual message this is a tedious experience that makes then same directors brilliant Randolph Scott Westerns from the same era all the more remarkable by contrast.

Give it a miss.

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.

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

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.