''Night of the Sharks'' ( it, La notte degli squali) is a 1988 Italian-Spanish-Mexican film directed and co-written by

Tonino Ricci Tonino Ricci (23 October 1927 – 9 March 2014), sometimes credited as Anthony Richmond, was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Ricci was born Teodoro Ricci in Rome on October 23, 1927. He began working in film as an assistant director in ...

. The film's story takes place in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, Florida and

Cancún Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...

, Mexico, although it was filmed in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

Plot

James Ziegler has spent five years of his life planning the perfect crime,

bugging A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, or wiretapping is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and ...

the communication devices of Rosentski, an influential and rich businessman. His dream finally comes through when he records a sensitive conversation between Rosentski and the President of the United States; so sensitive that he demands $2 million in diamonds from Rosentski for a disc of the recording. Rosentski decides to pay Ziegler for the disc but instead sends his enforcer to retrieve it. The enforcer tries to kill Ziegler but fails and Ziegler successfully escapes with the disc and the diamonds. Ziegler goes to hide out with his brother David, who lives as a beach bum and shark hunter on the coast outside of Cancún. David lives with his friend and business partner Paco and has a seagoing neighbor, a man-eating shark named Cyclops. James Ziegler crash lands in a seaplane near David's shack. The plane explodes, while James survives just long enough to hand over the disc and the diamonds to David. Rosentski is displeased with his enforcer's jumping the gun. He correctly surmises that James had gone to hide with his brother David and arranges a meeting with David's ex-wife, Liz. Rosentski promises he will pay off Liz's considerable business debts as well as reward her if she recovers the disc and diamonds. Rosentski's enforcer, however, wants the diamonds for himself and leads an assassination squad against David. David abhors firearms but has no objections to fighting back using bladed weapons, booby traps,

molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...

s and his shark, Cyclops.

Cast

Treat Williams Richard Treat Williams (born December 1, 1951) is an American actor, writer and aviator who has appeared on film, stage and television in over 120 credits. He first became well known for his starring role in the 1979 musical film '' Hair'', and la ...

as David Ziegler *

Antonio Fargas Antonio Juan Fargas (born August 14, 1946) is an American actor known for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation and comedy movies, as well as his portrayal as Huggy Bear in the 1970s TV series '' Starsky & Hutch''. Early life Fargas was born in New ...

as Paco *

Carlo Mucari Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

as James Ziegler *

Janet Agren Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) * Janet (French singer) (1939–2011) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...

as Liz Ziegler *

John Steiner John Steiner (7 January 1941 – 31 July 2022) was an English actor. Tall, thin and gaunt, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed on-stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company, but was best known to audiences for his roles i ...

as Rosentski *

Stelio Candelli Stelio Candelli (born 28 March 1931) is an Italian film, stage and television actor. Life and career Born in Trieste, the son of civil servants, in 1954 Candelli enrolled at the Accademia d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, graduating in 1957. The sam ...

as Rosentski's Enforcer *

Nina Soldano Nina Soldano (born 26 March 1963) is an Italian actress. Life and career Born in Pisa to Apulian parents, Soldano made her debut in the 1987 Renzo Arbore's variety show ''Indietro tutta'', in which she played the role of Miss Sud,Giorgio Dell'A ...

as Juanita *

Salvatore Borghese Sal Borgese (born 5 March 1937, in Rome) is an Italian film actor. He is sometimes credited as Salvatore Borghese or Mark Trevor. He is noted for extensive work in the Italian film industry from the 1960s to present day, and for his work as a st ...

as Garcia *

Christopher Connelly Christopher Connelly (September 8, 1941 – December 7, 1988) was an American actor, best known for his role as Norman Harrington in the successful prime time ABC soap opera '' Peyton Place''. He stayed with the series during its entire f ...

as Father Mattia

Production

Filming took place in the

External links

*
''Night of the Sharks''
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

1988 films 1988 action films Italian action films Mexican action films Spanish action films Films about sharks Films about shark attacks Films shot in the Dominican Republic Films directed by Tonino Ricci Films produced by Fulvio Lucisano Films scored by Stelvio Cipriani 1980s Italian films 1980s Mexican films {{1980s-action-film-stub