''Sharks' Treasure'' is a 1975 American

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

written, produced and directed by

Cornel Wilde Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker. Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited app ...

and starring

and

Yaphet Kotto Yaphet Frederick Kotto (born Frederick Samuel Kotto; November 15, 1939 – March 15, 2021) was an American actor known for numerous film roles, as well as starring in the NBC television series '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' (1993–1999) as ...

Plot

Eccentric charter skipper Jim Carnahan (

) and his team of hard-luck dreamers battle

sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...

and their own greed to recover sunken

treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

off the coast of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Cast

as Jim Carnahan *

as Ben Flynn * John Neilson as Ron *

Cliff Osmond Cliff Osmond (born Clifford Osman Ebrahim; February 26, 1937 – December 22, 2012) was an American character actor and television screenwriter. A parallel career as an acting teacher coincided with his other activities. Early life Osmond wa ...

as Lobo *

David Canary David Hoyt Canary (August 25, 1938 – November 16, 2015) was an American actor. Canary is best known for his role as ranch foreman Candy Canaday in the NBC Western drama ''Bonanza'', and as Adam Chandler in the television soap opera ''All My Ch ...

as Larry * David Gilliam as Juanito

Production

Wilde says he came up with the idea for the film in 1969 but could not raise the finance until ''Jaws''. "I would rather have had the field to ourselves, without ''Jaws''," he said. He called the film "a very down to earth treasure hunting story of today... It shows guys who get hooked on to a real find, hock everything they have, give up jobs... The characters and incidents are based on a lot of true accounts." Much of the film was shot near

Bonaire Bonaire (; , ; pap, Boneiru, , almost pronounced ) is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west ( leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC i ...

in the

Dutch Antilles Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People ...

. "It was the most dangerous picture I've ever worked on," said Wilde. "Working 70 feet underwater, surrounded by sharks, you're pressured by all sorts of possible hazards... but I was much more excited than I was afraid."Treasure-hunting star: Cornel Wilde talks about the vivid sea epic he wrote, directed, stars in Local sharks join in Based on true experiences A Hollywood do-it-all By David Sterritt. The Christian Science Monitor 1 Oct 1975: 19.

Reception

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called the film "crude, violent, energetic and usual." After seven weeks of release in three major markets in the United States, including California and Florida, the film had grossed $2 million.

"Money, Money"

The opening theme song "Money, Money" was written by Wilde (under the pseudonym Jefferson Pascal) and sung by British musician and voice of the much-loved children's character

Postman Pat ''Postman Pat'' is a British stop-motion animated television series first produced by Woodland Animations. The series follows the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman who works for Royal Mail postal service in the fictional village of Greendal ...

Ken Barrie Leslie Hulme (9 January 1933 – 29 July 2016), known professionally as Ken Barrie, was an English voice actor and singer. He was best known for singing the theme tune of the BBC television programmes ''Hi-de-Hi!'', ''Postman Pat'' and ''Charli ...

References

External links

* * * *
Review of film
at

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Sharks' Treasure
at Letterbox DVD
Sharks' Treasure
at BFI 1975 films Films directed by Cornel Wilde United Artists films 1970s adventure films Films set in Honduras Films set in the Caribbean Films scored by Robert O. Ragland Films about treasure hunting Underwater action films 1970s English-language films {{adventure-film-stub