[Retro Review] GREAT WHITE (L’Ultimo squalo / The Last Shark)
Being a bit of a Jaws obsessive, I’d often heard over the years about Enzo G. Castellari’s “homage” / “remake” / “rip-off” entitled, depending where you are in the world, either Great White, The Last Shark or L’Ultimo squalo. I’d heard it was ‘so bad’ that it was the very cinematic definition of “so bad that it is actually good”. I’d wanted to get my hands on it for sometime. I would like to point out that I wanted to see it long before Castellari came ‘back in vogue’ thanks to Quentin Tarantino and Inglorious Bastards (Castellari directed the original version of that film, which serves as an “inspiration” to Tarantino for his upcoming movie!).
Seeing Great White isn’t easy though. Presently (and quite possibly forever) it exists in only ‘bootleg’ form due to a lawsuit (that still stands) with Universal. If it is true that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ then Castellari and company wanted to “flatter” the living shit out of the Jaws franchise with this movie. On seeing this movie, Universal were less then amused and sued the people behind Great White, arguing that whilst there were many films that tried to mimic the successful Jaws formula, Great White was the only one that boldly and evidently lifted entire scenes and plot points from both Jaws and its initial sequel. The lawsuit was successful and Castellari’s version was withdrawn from U.S. release.
As a result of the legal action, Great White has never had an official re-release/video/DVD release in the US. However, thanks to the wonders of the Internet, a simple online search will usually throw up a variety of different bootleg versions. Because of its ‘hard-to-acquire’ status and obviously helped along by the resurgence of interest in Castellari following Tarantino’s “endorsement”, Great White has taken on quite the reputation as a “cult movie of worth”, with movie-lovers haranging Universal for withholding a “truly great B-movie” from them out of pettiness?
So, what exactly is the score with Castellari’s Great White, aka L’Ultimo squalo, aka The Last Shark? Are Universal really withholding a B-movie of worth from us? Is this flick worth a look? Are the Jaws comparisons arbituary?
Now you know me right? I’m ALL for supporting the underdog and I’d love nothing more then to sit here and type away, telling you what arseholes Universal were for acting over the top in getting this film stopped etc. [Many a fanboy often cites that the only reason Universal ever stopped Castellari's movie was because they saw it as competition for their own Jaws 3-D] I can’t do that though. You see, what is left out of the “rumour-mill” regarding the fight between little ‘David-like’ Great White and big ‘Goliath-like’ Universal, is that Universal – as the ‘bad guys’ – weren’t actually that bad at all. They saw the content of Great White and realised that it had crossed the line a little and wanted payment made to use the rights for the Jaws material, seeing as it “swam so close” to the source material. The makers of Great White refused. They were in the wrong.
Remember years ago, the quaint cuteness of those kids making a scene-by-scene remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark? Well, Great White plays like that.
I mean, come the fuck on, just take a look at the synopsis: an enormous and angry 35 foot Great White Shark takes revenge on humans when they build a beach just for swimmers by a coastal town. After several shark attacks, and the Mayor does nothing to stop it, a dedicated shark specialist and a crazy weary fisherman set out in pursuit to stop it.
Let’s go further into detail: Jaws had a lone voice trying to tell everyone that there was danger at sea and the beaches should be closed. So does Great White. Jaws had an ignorant mayor who is only interested in how he looks and what profit he is making, and not the safety of his residents. So does Great White. Jaws had a sort of semi-crazed veteran fisherman with a weird accent who dedicates himself to hunting and killing the shark. As does Great White. Jaws 2 had teens go off alone in their boats and get into trouble with said shark. As does Great White. Jaws mixed stock footage of sharks and shark attacks within the narrative. Great White ‘tries’ this too. Jaws evolved its storyline into a finale featuring one man facing off alone against a giant shark, before blowing it up. Great White evolves its storyline into a finale featuring one man facing off alone against a giant shark, before blowing it up too. Jaws 2 saw a helicopter get eaten by a shark. Great White has that too! Hell, Jaws had a main character whose wife was a distinctly average looking blonde who you wouldn’t go out of your way to seduce but you wouldn’t turn down if the opportunity arose. Wow, Great White has a main character whose wife was a distinctly average looking blonde who you wouldn’t go out of your way to seduce but you wouldn’t turn down if the opportunity arose… but with bigger breasts!
Great White is a flat out awful movie in the ‘common sense’ – it is atrociously acted across the board (god only knows what accent Vic Morrow is doing, other then trying to “be” Robert Shaw!) and the script is consistently awful. Bad acting and bad script work converge in a scene whereby James Franciscus’ character, Peter Benton, sits at his daughters bedside, post-shark attack, and delivers a monologue so awful it has to be seen to be believed: something about how he remembers teaching her to ride a bike, and how she fell off and scraped her knee, but now she doesn’t have a knee to scrape. Because the shark ate it. It really is a scene that tipifies the entire movie: a car crash. A delightful car crash that you cannot take your eyes off.
Then there’s the shark itself. It’s initially a pretty impressive effect to behold until you realise that it does only one thing – it comes up through the water with its mouth open. That’s it. It doesn’t matter what the sequence or set-piece is or what angle Castellari is shooting from, the shark does the same thing. It comes up. Through the water. With its mouth open. The biggest frustration with Great White though is that you’d expect, for a cheap Italian exploitation flick, for it to at least differentiate itself from Jaws with excessive shark attacks and lashings of casual gore. It disappoints here because, on both the shark and the gore front, it is lacking more then you expect of it.
But, you know what, despite the fact that 85% of this review is an out and out attack on the film, I didn’t hate it. Honestly. In fact I kinda admired it. I really took to the shoddy shark model by the end of the movie. My foot started to involuntarily tap to the clunky musical score. And I was just won over a little by the fact that this existed to show what Jaws would have been without masterful performances, strong scripting, excellent sound design and… a budget! It’s a bad movie, yes. But it is a bad movie, so bad, that it is worth watching!
Castellari is a talented B-movie director. There’s no getting around that. He’s not elliciting good performances or anything like that, but he knows how to shoot the shit out of something in order to keep an audience captivated. And, truth be told, despite the shoddy shark effects, the god-awful acting, the phenomenally bad script and pretty much everything about it, Castellari has made a very watchable piece of fodder.
Yes it’s shit, but it is watchable, fun, shit. And it is STILL better then Jaws: The Revenge
2 Responses to “[Retro Review] GREAT WHITE (L’Ultimo squalo / The Last Shark)”
Dude, that’s such an awesome poster. And the film sounds pretty cool too. I’m gonna track this one down, Gazz.
Ebay has copies often for pennies!
Here’s one of the cheapest (Link)
It’s often best to search under “The Last Shark” then it is under any of the other titles!
It’s a great piece of trash though Chris! The hospital monologue is makes it worth it, just for that!
Trackbacks
What's Your Opinion?