Sharks' Treasure

Okay, a few things. First, the biggest problem with the movie seems to be its editing. Like a freshman essay, there are clearly parts that drag because they're nothing but obvious padding. Who knows how much footage Cornel Wilde -- who wrote, directed, and stars in this movie -- shot that ended up being badly assembled later. This is obvious because on a shot for shot level, the film is not incompetent. It's the patchwork assembly that makes it struggle.

Beneath that baroque mess is a fairly conventional plot. A ragtag group of treasure hunters goes looking for gold in open waters while a group of escaped convicts stand in essentially for pirates. There's the usual tough captain and tense grousing among the crew until the male bonding kicks in. This is also a movie where old fashioned masculinity is on display. Despite what a lot of seemingly young viewers might think about a gay subtext, it was pretty common among tough guys (or the ones playing them onscreen) to exhibit themselves, one part of out narcissism and one part out of intimidation. Sure, it's comical by today's standards, but it was taken more seriously in the 50s, 60s, and even parts of the 70s depending on generation.

That leads to the violence, too. We get to see not just the human stuff, tedious as it is, but more than a few sharks and other fish killed in sometimes brutal ways. It may happen in real life, but it just seems gratuitous here to demonstrate another silly masculine trope that killing something minding its own business somehow makes someone a man. The characterizations follow suit. Wilde's captain comes across as an overbearing nut, but if you know anything about his generation and pay attention to the script, it's mostly an act. For instance, his seemingly psychopathic need to control cigarettes aboard his ship is supposed to -- wink, wink -- show he really cares about his crew, as one of them, indeed, quits without initially realizing it.

In the end, the movie is a mess but not merely as much as some might think. It's competently if not imaginatively acted and directed, and while the recycled music makes for a patchwork score, there are a few moments where everything actually works. For the mid-1970s, that alone is remarkable given that Hollywood couldn't figure out if it wanted to make traditional movies or imitations of the low budget films the French, Italians, and Japanese had made in the 50s and 60s.

Sheesh! What a dreadful movie. Dodgy camera work, a script with more corn than Kellogg's, and acting so hammy you could open a pig farm with it.

To cap it all, it doesn't know which audience to aim at - we have Cornel Wilde - or is that Corny Wilde? - getting on his soap box about the hazards of smoking any time someone lights a cigarette, dear oh dear, and in another awkward scene we have the baddie, Lobo, forcing his, ahem, if you will, 'male friend' to do a striptease dressed in a bikini. Try explaining that one to the kids...

Throw in an overly contrived Treasure Island-cum-Jaws type storyline, and the result is a film so unintentionally funny, it's enjoyable - I shouldn't expect a Special Edition DVD any time soon, though.

The story of SHARKS' TREASURE is simple enough: four guys look for sunken treasure in the Caribbean sea. They have fun and the occasional quarrels while looking for the treasure. Midway into the movie, a bunch of escape cons (or pirates) hijack the boat and its crew and forces the foursome to continue on with the search while they eat their food and hide on the boat. Eventually, the original crew makes a pack with one of the ex-cons and they escape and a cat & mouse chase occurs on a nearby island.

SHARKS' TREASURE is not a great film by any means. But it's not a bad film too. It's hopelessly average. The direction, by Cornel Wilde, is competent, with some nice camera-work here and there but it's really uninspired and looks like a TV movie of sorts for most of the film, until the climax at the beach which was well made: we see the men trying to escape the gang of ex-cons with just the sound and image of the roaring waves crashing on the beach. No music. Nice.

The big problem with the film is the limited space of the boat and the really corny acting by Cornel Wilde. The acting by everyone else was good, with Yaphet being the stand-out here but Cornel's acting belongs in the 1950s, not a film made in the gritty 1970s. He stood out more often than not as a sore thumb. To make things more annoying, Cornel (the director/actor) filmed himself prominently, really wanting to impress god knows who that he was still in great shape at his then old age. Fortunately, the film never becomes a total vanity project for Cornel but it sure comes close to it. And the other annoying thing about the film was the song. It's probably the worst song I've ever heard in any film. Extremely corny. The ending is also corny: after everything they went through, you'd think they wouldn't go back looking for the treasure. Aside for those weak points, the film was OK.

I watched SHARKS' TREASURE on a specialty satellite channel from beginning to end without changing channels, which should tell you that it held my attention for 90 minutes, which is more than I can say with majority of movies I watch.

Since this movie will inevitably be associated with "Jaws" contrasts are inevitable, so here's one for you: In Spielberg's classic the shark is mechanical while the characters are real. In Cornel Wilde's film it's the opposite. Fortunately, as the title suggests, Wilde spends quality time with the sharks. Give it a C plus.

PS...You haven't lived until you've heard the Slovakian born star of this film channel his inner Randolph Scott.

Below average Cornel Wilde adventure/thriller movie filled with underwater scenes , astonishing fights , well handled sharks scenes and violence . This is a violent adventure movie that earned notoriety because of on location , a sea pleny of hungry sharks , as stunt divers were really injured by sharks . It deals with a band of hustlers and escaped convicts (all-male support cast) led by Jim Carnahan (60-year-old Cornel Wilde who demonstratre his fitness by doing one-handed press-up on deck) commander a boat filled with gold . He's stuck there when a buch of risible pirates assaul the boat . As these desperadoes are also attempting to retrieve gold bullion that lies deep in shark-infested waters . See the most sensational shark fight ever filmed!

Very failed and unexceptional adventure/thriller except as a virtual one man show by Cornel Wilde . It is a typical Cornel Wilde film with action-infested dumbness with plenty of thrills , brawls and violent confrontations . The naivite and oddity of the screenplay can scarcely cope with the diverse strands of script queueing up and waiting to be dealt with : underwater searches for treasures , confrontation themselves and with some nasty pirates . In making this underwater adventure yarn , in freak weather conditions , were hired some stuntmen , and experimenter divers to shot the dangerous Shark Sequences on exotic locations in Coral Sea, South Pacific, Pacific Ocean . Notorious underwater explorer Jacques Costeau commented that despite its cruelty , he had never before known a white killer shark attack a man in so vicious a manner . Rather unified is Wilde's homespun philosophising : the perils of nicotine and drink and the virtues of keeping fit . Two-fisted and tough acting by Cornel Wilde as a drifter who carries out a risked raid on a sunken ship in the shark-infested waters . He played several adventure movies , such as : ¨The greatests show on the earth¨,¨Treasure of Golden condor¨, ¨Passion¨, ¨Sword of Lancelot¨, ¨Omar Khayyam , ¨At sword's point¨ , ¨A thousand and one nights¨ , ¨Norseman¨, ¨The fifth musketeer¨ and directed/acted the classic ¨The naked prey¨ and other successes in all kinds of genres as ¨Leave her to heaven¨, ¨Forever amber¨, ¨Road house¨, ¨Big combo¨, ¨Wintertime¨ , ¨A song to remember¨, ¨High Sierra¨.The film benefits itself from a nice support cast , such as Yaphet Kotto , Cliff Osmond , David Canary , David Gilliam , John Neilson and brief appearance by recently deceased Carmen Argenziano .

It contains an anti-climatic and inappropriate musical score . The movie displays an evocative cinematography , being extremely necesary a perfect remasting . Shot on location in Bonaire, Dutch West Indies , Coral Sea, South Pacific, Pacific Ocean . The motion picture was regularly made by Cornel Wilde . Here he starred , wrote , produced and directed . Always primitive , Wilde's movies seem to operate increasingly in a strange limbo with no points of reference outside his own simple view of the world . In Shark's treasure Wilde does a little effective job both as actor and filmmaker . He is especially credited as a good actor but also known for directing some acceptable flicks . His later films were of varying quality, and he ended his career in near-cameos in minor adventure films . As he directed adventures as¨Maracaibo¨ ,¨Lancelot and Guinevere¨, ¨Sharks' Treasure¨ but also Noir Cinema as ¨The Devil's Hairpin¨, ¨Storm Fear¨ and Sci Fi : ¨Blade of Grass¨. And a real oddity : ¨The naked prey ¨ , it Is an amazingly well done movie , being Cornel Wilde's best movie as a filmmaker .