O Último Tubarão

The Last Shark otherwise known as Great White was quite a controversial movie around the time of it's release.

Considered a Jaws (1975) ripoff and even released as a faux Jaws sequel in Japan (Complete with Jaws in the title) a lawsuit unsurprisingly hindered it.

Ranked in many worst movies ever made lists I expected something a lot worse than this. In fact truth be told it looks about on par with Jaws itself and almost managed to spawn a sequel.

Telling the story of a coastal resort that comes under attack from a great white shark during a wind surfing contest it's pretty generic stuff but not all that awful.

The effects are considerably better than I expected, the performances are okay and if it weren't for the fact it was so unoriginal it might be considered a passable film.

In a world awash with terrible shark movies, this isn't actually one of them.

The Good:

SFX are great for its time

The Bad:

No originality

Soundtrack keeps sounding like Dolly Parton is about to regale us with 9 to 5

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The confederates were big wind surfing enthusiasts

By walk out of the hospital I'm pretty sure he meant that she'd hop

Helicopters can't land on water

The Last Shark would actually be pretty great if it had a better editor: the heroes leave port to kill the shark and return unsuccessfully so many times it will make you seasick. However, this is still an enjoyable Italian rip-off of Jaws (and Jaws 2, for that matter), featuring some decent attack sequences and gory moments, not to mention Vic Morrow as a hilarious ersatz Captain Quint.

One great thing about the shark in this film is that it appears to be jet-propelled (at least that's what it sounds like when its conical head breaks the surface) and has the ability to blast watercrafts fifteen feet into the air. Hilarious! If you're looking for camp, The Last Shark certainly doesn't disappoint.

And, while the animatronic shark isn't on par with Bruce from Jaws, it's not bad for a knock-off.

I was fortunate enuff to see THE LAST SHARK on a double bill with BEYOND THE DOOR (an Italian ripoff of The Exorcist) ad as many have commented here - Last Shark was threatened with a lawsuit by Spielberg's studio and was yanked from theatres so it is not always easy to see it. For fans of bad movies that are soooo bad that they are enjoyably hilarious - this is a winner. There are many long, drawn out scenes where absolutely nothing happens and yet there are tons of scenes of really bad special effects, hammy acting, and some decent attempts at gore. I love the fact that they try and tie the whole plot around a WINDSURFING CONTEST! So lots of talk about windsurfing, who is the best windsurfer, how excited the whole town is, etc. Vic Morrow (god rest his soul) shows up as the obvious Robert Shaw Cap'n Quint character but Morrow (who appears good and soused) does one of the worst accents I've ever heard - sometimes it's Irish, other times it is a thick Scottish brogue, other times, who knows what it is - the mayor of the town - sorry the Governor in this version - is this fey, badly dressed guy who looks like more of a fashion designer than a powerful politico. The scenes of the actual attacks (especially when the Governor's snotty assistant gets it) is hysterically bad. So as long as you don't go in thinking you are going to see anything of true quality, you should have fun. It is a mess - a true frothy shark toothed mess!!!

A quaint little beach town is terrorised by a bloodthirsty great white shark.

Universal Pictures' Jaws law suit aside, the film became the 72nd highest-grossing film in Italy 1980-1981. Enzo G. Castellari's offering suffers from the usual Italian ripoff trappings poor editing and ill-fitting music. Sadly the cut away stock footage of sharks really spoils an already chummy film. That said, it has some redeeming features including some of the shark special effects and James Franciscus performance.

Somewhat nicely done Italian derivative of 'Jaws' shares many of the same themes and set-ups and compresses them into 90 minutes, but is still worth a shot for advocates of Nature-Runs-Amok movies. As history states, this film was notoriously crowbarred out of its cinema release by Universal for being *too* like the Spielberg film (and also its sequel).

In its own right, 'L'Ultimo Squalo' is an entertaining - if not trashy - killer shark movie which throws in some of the typical Italian touches of humour and ambitious technical trials. The shark - when it appears - is only marginally less convincing than Spielberg's Bruce, but looks okay from high angles and while it's under the surface. Also, the stock footage of real fish is used to better effect here and shows the savagery of the shark attacking the many pieces of meat that varying characters attempt to lure the creature with.

Unfortunately, the evident budget used here hampers some moments: underwater and night shots are hard to make out and the toy helicopter that crashes into the water is pretty obvious. The shark chomps 7 people, drowns an 8th, and destructs a pier, a surf board, a couple of boats, and sub-aqua cave.

Final verdict, a nice distraction if you don't mind skipping some logic. 6/10.