MovieChat Forums > L'ultimo squalo (1982) Discussion > Just plain awful

Just plain awful

posted 18 years ago by scott-a-murdock
16 replies | jump to latest

I have always been a huge fan of JAWS ... when i was about 10 years old
i saw an advertisement for the movie "Great White" and i was really psyched to see it .... I never got a chance and for years i tried getting a copy of the
movie .... well, about 7 years ago i finally got a copy of the movie and believe me ... it's just terrible , pretty much unwatchable.

On this page i saw a user comment that said it was about on par with JAWS 2 .... uh , no .. not even close ... this isn't even as good as JAWS 3 ...

if you get a chance to see it you will know what i mean ... just a terrible movie .... a real piece of garbage ... i wish i had never seen it and still had the idea in my head that there was another good shark movie out there .... this isn;t even on par with the movie Shark Attack ...

i do like the original Great White poster though ... a girl on an inflatable raft with a huge shark seen underwater ...

[–] jawsfan 18 years ago

that's your opinion. however, I loved the film and completely disagree with you.

[–] prsguitar123 17 years ago

LOL! Well either you are crazy, you are just joking.... or you like sharks that look like blow up toys in a movie.

Which is it?

[–] Mislav383 10 years ago

Or maybe he just has a different opinion you idiot.

[–] jimb14 8 years ago

Or he just has way way way better taste than you.

"No matter where you go, there you are."

[–] Woodyanders 18 years ago

I find this perfectly putrid picture to be quite enjoyable simply because it's so stupendously stinky. Whether it's Vic Morrow chewing up the scenery with lip-smacking hammy aplomb as a crusty, macho, rough'n'tumble Robert Shawesque old sea salt fisherman ("I've been killin' sharks for most of my life!"), James Franciscus sleepwalking through his part as a drippy shark expert, the clumsy use of slow motion which sucks all the impact and tension out of scenes that are meant to be harrowing and suspenseful, or the gloriously preposterous moment where the hilariously fake-looking shark jumps some thirty feet up into the air to bite a guy who's hanging out of a helicopter in half, this delightfully dopey'n'dreadful doozy provides loads of absolutely gut-busting unintentional belly laughs.

"Warren Oates died for our sins"

[–] deron1971 18 years ago

We must be the same age (35), because I have exactly the same memories you do of this film. It came out briefly and then got pulled due to the Universal lawsuit. I remember being at another movie, while Great White was out, and opening the theatre door for a quick second to see a guy wind surfing. All these years, I've wanted to see it. I think the mystique combined with the wait had me thinking this would be on a par with Jaws, only gorier. Well, I bought it off eBay and you are totally correct in your review...it blows. It's so bad that you can literally hit pause every couple of minutes and pick out stuff that makes no sense or looks bad. Franciscus and Morrow are good actors, but they couldn't save this. The mayor is okay, but the rest of the acting is horrid. The wife of Franciscus is about the worst actress I've ever seen. The underwater scenes are too dark and the stock footage of the shark is of a different shark every time. If you look closely, they use a dolphin twice!!! The slow motion editing gets annoying really quick. Well, I could go on and on. The advertising campaign for the movie was the best part about it. The poster is cool.

[–] smurdock-1 18 years ago

yeah , actually we are the same (35) .... i will say this about the movie ....
it provided me with a lot of laughs because it was just so bad .... the scene where the guy is hanging from the helicoper and then gets bit in half may be the funniest scene i have ever seen in my life ..... that shark looked like a bunch of kids made a paper mache shark ...

i remember wanting to see this for years .. finally my brother's friend foudn a copy but it had an Italian title (The Last Jaws) ... i was trying so hard to
think that this couldn't have been Great White ... but turns out it was ... what a major disappointment ..

[–] MaratSade 17 years ago

I saw this at a preview in Times Square, and my friend's car was towed during the film, but it was worth it, at least to me. Better by far than any intentional parody, we(along with most of the audience) were screaming with laughter throughout.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] buckaroobanzai50 17 years ago

"I've been killin' sharks for most of my life!"
One of the funniest things in this movie. LOL!

[–] dimsum73-1 14 years ago

Grade Z film making at its finest.

[–] nicolas28 13 years ago

I saw this movie when I was 8yo and its awsome!! the best scene is when the shark rip off the legs of that bigoted guy who hangs from the helicopter!!

And still remember Vic Morrow saying "Damn you!!" and only God knows why he jumped out of the boat while he cursed, and pressing the detonator, to blow up the shark!!! Awsome!! HAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!

[–] dalldorfw 13 years ago

Yep, the only good part was when Vic Marrow punched the *beep* reporter in the face. Other then that this is a really bad movie from a usually great director.

[–] Mr_Blonde3 10 years ago

I've seen much worse films than this, and I like it better than Jaws 3 and 4. Michael Caine can't save the 4th one and the 3rd is just all around bad.

Even though it's a basic rehash of the first 2 Jaws films, it's still different enough to entertain, and I thought Franciscus and Morrow were great. Quint's my favorite character, so seeing a riff on the character was nice, and he's a bigger part of the story in the knock-off.

They even made the mayor less of an @sshole, which was also kind of neat. And they don't mess around. Everyone knows in the first 10 minutes there's a shark.

I love to love my Princess.

[–] dalldorfw 10 years ago

This one board me for the most part and reminded me that the only other Castellari movie I've see that I've hated was 'Shark Hunter'. I'm thinking he should just stay away from shark-movies. He shouldn't even be shooting movies in summer during 'Shark Week'; it's just not his specialty.

[–] wallacesawyer 10 years ago

I enjoyed it. I think it would be awesome if Universal re-released it under the JAWS name. If Universal bought it after the lawsuit that is.

http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/