The Last Shark

Director: Enzo G. Castellari Enzo G. Castellari

Overview

A quaint little beach town is terrorized by a bloodthirsty great white shark in the infamous Italian Jaws rip-off The Last Shark. As usual, the powers that be turn a blind eye to it for tourist reasons, although eventually even they cannot escape the ocean of blood at their doorstep. Cue novelist Peter Benton (James Franciscus) and shark hunter Ron Hamer (Vic Morrow), who valiantly seek to kill the beast. Best known for the Universal Pictures lawsuit that found the film's North American theatrical release cut short and subsequent releases barred due to the blatant similarities to Steven Spielberg's blockbuster and its sequel, The Last Shark lives on in movie legend and Japanese laserdisc bootlegs for those who can find it.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/15/2015
UPC:	0644827690220
Original Release:	1980
Source:	Reel Vault
Language:	English
Sales rank:	19,246

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Giancarlo Prete	Actor
James Franciscus	Peter Benton
Micaela Pignatelli	Actor
Vic Morrow	Ron Hamer
Joshua Sinclair	Mayor Wells
Thomas Moore	Actor
Guido de Angelis	Composer
Maurizio De Angelis	Composer

Technical Credits

Marc Princi

Enzo G. Castellari	Director
G. Pozzi	Special Effects
Marc Princi	Screenwriter
Maurizio Amati	Producer
Ugo Tucci	Producer
G. Ferrari	Special Effects
Antonio Corridori	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

Enzo Castellari's Jaws rip-off opus The Last Shark lifts much from Steven Spielberg's classic terror-in-the-water flick, though that won't stop B-movie revelers from getting much enjoyment out of this ultra-derivative schlock fest. There's plenty to link the two -- the beach town, the characters, the day-for-night shots, the red balloon substituting for the barrels, and so on and so forth. What truly makes the picture is two-fold: Castellari's willingness to push the outrageous envelope on the explosive deaths (you will believe a dummy can fly!), and Vic Morrow's Quint-like character, complete with an out of this world Scottish accent. The shark itself is a mammoth beast of a fake monster, with a large gaping mouth that is repeatedly shown breaching the surface of the water right near an unsuspecting swimmer. For all its brazen faults, it does eat a helicopter, which is always an impressive feat for a fish -- even if the scene was stolen from Jaws 2. There most certainly have been bigger rip-offs in the world of Jaws lore (see Cruel Jaws for proof), but no other movie had the gall to follow up the classic series as quickly as this one did (in the theaters, no less!). Fanatics would be wise to hunt down this curiosity to see how low a near master of Italian crime and Western cinema such as Castellari once sank.

All Movie Guide - Jeremy Wheeler