La mort au large

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.

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

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.

This movie is really worth the money! I went to a DVD store one day and found this movie amongst splatter movies. I read the cover describing it as a real success at the 80's and how mad Spielberg was when the movie got released. I can't believe this movie got that low rating! It may be cheap, it may be campy, but it's really truly entertaining! When I watched the movie I almost smiled the whole time. And that scene with the helicopter... the gore... his legs! Amazing! Laughed my tears out! Sure it isn't as great as Spielberg's Jaws, but it sure beats the guts out of the bad Jaws sequels! Those who thinks my comment is stupid are just the ones who don't understand how bad can be good. Worth watching!

When it was released, The Last Shark (aka Great White) got quickly pulled from theaters due to threats of a lawsuit from Universal Studios, producers of the Jaws movies. Having seen the film on DVD, I can see why. The writers of The Last Shark basically watched the first two Jaws movies and stole every good scene from them, even going so far as to clone characters.

All the main elements from Jaws are here. The gnarled seaman...check. The heroic everyman...check. The corrupt government official who tries to cover up the attacks...check. Even some of the attack scenes mimic specific scenes in Jaws I and II.

These things are made worse by the fact that the Italian studio behind this film had nowhere near Spielberg's budget. Consequently, we have an obviously fake shark model that appears every time the shark sticks it's head out of the water, which is quite often. The underwater shots are accomplished by a mixture of stock shark footage and very fake looking stop motion animation.

Making things even more ludicrous is that the shark appears to be intelligent, engaging in uncharacteristic shark behavior such as trying to trap people in caves with rocks and using ropes as tow lines. At times, it comes across as a comedy.