Les dents d'acier

Rene Cardona Jr's TINTORERA (1977) is one ridiculous JAWS ripoff made by this Mexican film maker who is also known (among many other films) as the director of jungle exploitation film TREASURE OF THE AMAZON (1985), a much better film.

TINTORERA stars Susan George and the film involves a bunch of people having a vacation on some paradise island in which there seems to be nothing but happiness and beautiness and not a trace of the outside world. Soon, however, after some 30 minutes of the film, finally the nasty shark starts to eat and kill people and also return the vacationers back on earth from their dream world. What really amazes me in this film is how long it takes for the shark to finally arrive because as far as I know, this was supposed to be another "shark film" that would appeal to the same audience than Spielberg's JAWS (1975) did.

The film has absolutely incredibly slow pace and it will be too much for most to watch without falling asleep. There is plenty of scenes depicting sharks being killed by people or each other and also the "sharks attacking human being" scenes are pretty dull and thus funny. There's plenty of naked skin and bodies and also some blood so the exploitation elements are there as they were in TREASURE, too. And exploitation TINTORERA is almost as much as it is trash. Very much, that is!

Still the Mexican locations and beaches are truly wonderful and very beautiful and by watching them it is much easier to sit the film through. Rarely has nature's beauty been captured this stunningly on trash film like this, so the film isn't completely without its merits. Otherwise I'd recommend this for fans of ultra low budget grade Z cinema only and of course for fans of the Cardonas. 3/10

The technical ocean photography portrayed real sharks in action, seeking anything in sight, made JAWS look like a Disney flick. This picture had a great deal of realism and presented a very clear picture of the world in which the sharks of the ocean dwell. Susan George and Priscilla Barnes held you spellbound with love and romance and the fear of being eaten alive by the "TINTORERA". If you are a Susan George fan, view this picture.

I missed this movie on its original release way back in 1977 (?) - I was really pleased when I found out it was (finally) getting the DVD treatment. The DVD finally arrived last week and I settled down with beer in hand to watch.... Well - It certainly is no JAWS movie - very little shark attack action at all - more of a soft porn movie with a few shots of a large Tiger Shark swimming around. It is beautifully photographed and the underwater shark shots are cool but that is about all....We get one attack sequence that is obviously a homage to the JAWS opening sequence -but it is certainly not of the same standard. Not a bad little movie if you like a double dose of "cheese" - pleased I bought it for my collection but it will never be hailed as a Shark "classic" !! Give it a go - you may like.... ??

The original book "Jaws" actually had quite a bit of sex in it which Steven Spielberg left out of the famous film (other the than one impossible-to-make-out nude swimming scene at the beginning). There is nothing wrong therefore with adding a little sex and nudity back into the shark movie formula. Unfortunately, what this film does is add a few shark scenes into what is basically a swinging 70's sex movie. Two Mexican prettyboys spend their time seducing bikini-clad British and American tourists (played by some admittedly very attractive actresses). They don't seem to notice that a giant tiger shark is making short work of the cast until halfway through the film. In one ridiculous scene, for instance, the girl one of the men has fallen in love with(played by Fiona Lewis)goes for a nude swim after bedding down with the other man and (of course) is eaten by the shark a la the opening of "Jaws". But the one guy doesn't seem to notice that her clothes are still in the house, while the other doesn't stop to wonder what has happened to the girl he earlier fell for.

Several other reviewers have already commented on the homoerotic aspects of the film. The two guys are naked more than the women (and almost as much as the shark). They go from sleeping with the same woman (Lewis), to "switch-hitting" with two women (one of who is played by Priscilla Barnes), to finally having sex with the same woman at the same time (Susan George). The 25th Anniversary DVD edition came out this year (it's actually the 27th anniversary but whose counting?)and they apparently added a bunch of additional footage (even though the movie is slow as molasses already). I suspect some of this additional footage might involve these two swingers just getting it over with and having sex with each other. But I'm not complaining about the sex, the nude scenes, or the even homosexual subtext--this is supposed to be a shark movie! What about the shark?!

Most of the action takes place on land, and nothing of substance happens there. The film is lowbrow to the extreme (every single female character is an airhead that's ready to go to bed with a stranger THE MINUTE she meets him - the ultimate male fantasy, perhaps?), but at least you get to look at some beautiful landscapes, and of course there is also a lot of nudity to keep you going between the all-too-infrequent shark attacks. (*1/2)