rcraig62

The Last Remake of Beau Geste is an old movie spoof in the Mel Brooks/Monty Python style, replete with silly songs and one-shot gags that come at you nonstop. There's not much of a sustained story here; it's a joke machine, and for the most part, a good one - there are very few groaners in the movie. Michael York and Marty Feldman play identical twins (comedy in itself), Ann-Margret is a gold-digging stepmother to the two boys, and Peter Ustinov is a sadistic peg-legged general who rides a goose-stepping horse. Some of the best moments include Avery Schreiber as a fast-talking salesman peddling his inventory of used camels on a 'Camelot' and Marty Feldman being told to "look after Isobel and guard her virginity as you would your own." But there's so much more, too much to list here. I can't really call Last Remake a great movie; it's like attending a dinner party where you're served a whole lot of hors d'oeuvres instead of a full meal, but I send my compliments to the chef just the same.

Shamus is another crummy private detective rip-off movie whose only distinguishing characteristics are the two stars, Burt Reynolds and Dyan Cannon. It may also have set an all-time record for the greatest number of poor supporting performances in a single movie; there is not one credible characterization in the whole thing beyond the two leads. The script appears to draw heavily (a charitable term for plagiarism) from other movies - Reynolds' rise-and-shine opening is taken from Paul Newman's in Harper, the sexy girl in the bookstore from The Big Sleep, etc. The plot, such as it is, is a lot of nonsense about stolen diamonds (in about as ugly a scene to open a movie as I have ever watched) somewhat connected to a military arms shipment which is never fully explained and probably wasn't meant to make sense anyway (another nod to the Howard Hawks version of The Big Sleep). When it tries to be original, it's either bland or totally implausible (a grown brother and sister living together in the same swanky apartment?). The picture really depends on the beauty and charm of Burt Reynolds and Dyan Cannon to power it through. Shamus is strictly "a star vehicle" and not much more.

I guess the title of this movie is meant to be ironic, since the only sharks appear to be the ones above ground (the fish appear intermittently but they don't dominate the picture). Burt Reynolds stars as a down-on-his-luck gun-runner who gets wind of a treasure chest of gold sunk at the bottom of the ocean and contrives to go partners with the shady couple who employ him to dive for it. The look of the picture is highly speculative; the photography is muddy and the Mexican locations are dolled up to look like the Sudan, which they don't. The action is sometimes cheesy too - there's one too many shots of Reynolds knocking over a street bazaar fruit stand that seem to be taken from the Movie Cliché Handbook. On the other hand, the performances are all very good. You can see a young Burt Reynolds fashioning his cool, detached, tough guy/wise ass movie persona, and there is real tension between the actors that bring the noir elements in the movie together perfectly (and which, oddly, is helped by the low-rent photography). Ultimately, it's the tension that drives the film and keeps you at least halfway interested in the hackneyed plot. Shark isn't great, but it can't be ignored, either. Sam Fuller deserved better from his chintzy Mexican producers.