The Last Shark (1981)

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Director: Enzo G. Castellari

Screenplay: Vincenzo Mannino

Cast: James Franciscus as Peter Benton; Vic Morrow as Ron Hamer; Micaela Pignatelli as Gloria Benton; Joshua Sinclair as Governor William Wells; Giancarlo Prete as Bob Martin; Stefania Girolami Goodwin as Jenny Benton

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies) #133

Amongst the various attempts to cash in on the success of Jaws (1975) - from a killer whale with Orca (1977), to a bear on land with Grizzly (1976), to actual shark related films - none are as infamous as Italy's The Last Shark as, taking the template of Jaws' plot blatantly, it had a few days of success at the American box office only for a cease and desist from Universal Pictures, owners of Jaws, to have it yanked off screens for plagiarism. For me, the issue of the "mockbuster" compromising another major film has never seemed that fair. Call it a natural suspicion of Hollywood, but particularly as this wasn't like Bruno Mattei's infamous TV movie Cruel Jaws (1995), which did "borrow" shots from Jaws sequels and has made it a licensing nightmare. Even then, like certain Turkish or East Asian movies, I'm still going to fight on the side of these rip-offs as it's like picking on an underdog which, even if it made money, are never going to be as big as the Hollywood films. Especially as Hollywood should be more concerned with issues like if the box office has dipped drastically or the general quality of their work has sunk, factors which are more likely to make anyone worry than a small Italian shark film.

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For me, the issue of these films being suppressed by large Hollywood studios is actually cruel and unfair especially if it lasts into the modern day, where these films would no longer be credible threats but works whose audience are now a select group fascinated by them. It's also the case that many of these films, even if they outright stole music or clips from other films are so vastly different in tone and/or plot. Abby (1974), suppressed as a rip-off of The Exorcist (1973), is a great example of this as it's taken the plot of the more lavish production but is a drastically different narrative and type of film, make it arbitrary bullying from the major studio to still keep a film like it out of public availability. Even if The Last Shark openly rips off the narrative structure of Jaws, you wouldn't confuse it with Jaws, an entirely different language in terms of production style from the Italian golden period of genre films and how Jaws was made. Instead you get a fascinating snapshot of mid-seventies American cinema, still tinged in naturalistic drama and grittiness of adult storytelling even for a blockbuster, against the colourful madness of the Italians in the early eighties, who could still have a great production and technical style to them for even the lowest budgeted, scuzziest of films. Surprisingly, contrary to most film cash-ins from the Italians which upped the gore and weirdness, this is meant to be a serious audience friendly shark film, which makes the contrast even more fascinating.

The Last Shark, as expected from this initial introduction, follows the premise of Jaws almost exactly, although frankly you can make an argument this plot template even found its way outside of natural horror in films like Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). A shark so rotund you could roll it down a hill, like a cheese wheel in some obscure English customs, terrorises an American coastal town, American actor Vic Morrow standing in as Robert Shaw, playing a grizzled shark hunter who teams with author Peter Benton (James Franciscus) to take down the aquatic beast, all the while a mayoral candidate for the next local election Governor William Wells (Joshua Sinclair) is trying to hide the shark problem so his giant publicity event, a windsurfing competition, isn't ruined.

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A film like The Last Shark shows how a lot of Italian genre cinema lives in its own world. Films which can be shot on location in the United States, even stealing eye wateringly good location scenes in places the US productions of the time couldn't afford, but show the cultural differences between Italy and the States within little details. That windsurfing is a major cultural event for this town, which has more of a sense of the producers trying to capitalise on what they themselves believe is a trend in popular culture. That and weird details like a booth on a beach dune where, when a coin is put in the slot, an actual person acts like a mechanised automaton playing a banjo. It doesn't detract from its sun-kissed, real American locations or tone, but it also shows that a lot of the charm and love for these Italian films is that they fully exist in their own realities, a pocket dimension whose various tales viewers like me will gladly watch and collect on physical media where reoccurring, frequent actors play multiple individuals and there's always a style, or score, that's worth even rewatching duds.

I openly admit The Last Shark is the poor man's version of Jaws, as while other rip-offs like Abby are very different in story and can bear the brunt of their bigger genes, this is an attempt to remake Jaws with the Giant White Shark in the room being how good Jaws was. Its particularly unfair as having yet to mention him, director Enzo G. Castellari does feel restricted here. Castellari is one of those names from the golden era of Italian genre film who was a working director, not a figure given auteur status like Dario Argento or even Lucio Fulci, but one whose name become known and iconic due to the good films in his prolific career, how even the flawed films in his career had a charm and virtues. Barring The Last Shark, his killer shark film, a giallo Cold Eyes of Fear (1971) and The House by the Edge of the Lake (1979), he rarely directed horror at all. He is known as an action director instead. For westerns. For crime films. For post apocalypse sci-fi. For war films, his most well known Inglorious Bastards (1978) the film that's helped his status become more canonised as Quentin Tarantino made a film in tribute to his work called Inglourious Basterds (2009).

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Here with The Last Shark, a director who can make incredible genre films like Street Law (1974) is stuck in a difficult position of trying to outmatch a legendary Steven Spielberg film. An impossible task which is difficult for any director of any status with any budget let alone him. He tries and you can see he's a solid craftsman, but for someone loved for his slow motion action scenes, seeing slow motion for a woman running down a beach like an episode of Baywatch isn't doing his talent justice. We still have a memorable film in appearance - the early eighties era of Italian cinema is colourful, bright and fun with the American locations actually shot in the US - but considering its premise, the potential for Castellari to show his action chops isn't fully appreciated, probably not helped by the likely fact, aping (sharking?) Jaws, that he was forced by producers to make a film like the Hollywood one and not using his entire talent.

Where The Last Shark works is in that aforementioned charm. An attempt at an already failed idea which was still executed. Guido and Maurizio De Angelis cannot recreate a score as good as John William's from Jaws, but they are great, rightly praised composers of Italian genre films, and whilst this isn't their best work they still bring a solid disco-hazed score. And the shark itself is hilariously memorable. Ironically, they decided to rip-off a Hollywood production where notoriously their elaborate, expensive mechanical shark was as reliable as a shark cage made from papier-mâché, leaving Spielberg to have to shot scenes with it emphasised off-screen or minimally, raising greater tension. There's no tension in The Last Shark, but you do get a very puffy shark¹. So large it's both absurd but also appropriately menacing for a film which decides, instead of tension, to have a Great White that bludgeons sea fairing boats and windsurf boards into oblivion. One that, when they use stock footage of real sharks, changes species noticeably. There's a pleasure in one scene of a boat being propelled into the air by quite a few feet, the dummy stand-in for a cast member propelled as if shot in the air from a cannon, that's impossible to adore. Castellari, even with a production doomed to legal suing, made a solid work and no matter how cheesy and absurd the finished result is, the best of this Italian cinema whether its legitimately great or entertaining for its failings has a higher class to it in how absurd it can be, better made cheese then everyone else's. Cheese that's taken seriously rather than half arsed like modern films.

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In context of the early eighties, The Last Shark is a well made film. Even the fact they had to use obvious models doesn't detract from the film. In fact said model work, a remote control toy clearly being used for a shark versus helicopter sequence, is actually a lot better now in terms of age. When one witnesses the awful TV film level CGI that's used for killer animal films, a higher production quality is now found as that scene, one of the most memorable, has an actual helicopter toy and a prop shark involved, including the most gruesome sequence of gore in a film that's pretty much bloodless like Jaws was. Also worth mentioning, especially for the dubbed version, how the use of American actors alongside Italian actors from Castellari's other movies does help this film. The late Vic Morrow does dub himself with a bizarre reflection in his voice, vaguely Scottish at points, but he does contribute a lot especially against a weaker lead in James Franciscus trying to replace Roy Scheider. The Italian film industry's obsession with casting known American and British actors did add a lot of personality for the films, against Italian or European actors who, even if dubbed in various voices, develop their own cults from how many films they popped up in, Castellari using a lot of regulars from his other films. Even his own daughter (and future Second Unit Director) Stefania Girolami Goodwin as a member of a teenage shark hunting club, Peter Benton's daughter whose friends make the ill advise attempt to hunt the shark with meat strapped to the end of their boat, and just shotguns and arms from their parents weapons cabinets.

Altogether The Last Shark is not one of Castellari's films by a long shot. Against the likes of Inglorious Bastards, Keoma (1976), Street Law etc. it's the curiosity in his career made infamous due to its legal suppression. But knowing this, and keeping expectations low, its entertaining. Ironically, it's better than most shark and killer animal films made now, for whilst its attempt to replicate Jaws' plot is a huge issue, the ending diminishing returns, it's such a scale higher in production quality and entertainment compared to the god-awful likes of Sharktapus (2010), irony far less interesting than a sincere attempt to rip off Jaws.

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1) Find episode 110 of The Gentlemen's Guide to Midnight Cinema, from December 2010, which covers The Last Shark. It was that episode where I first heard of the film and first heard the "puffy shark" joke from, making the time seven years later when I finally see the film worth it as the episode review is even funnier now with visual context. Particularly as they take the film seriously too, finding stuff to love as much as criticise as Castellari fans who find it one of his considerably weaker efforts.