''Shark!'' (also known as ''Caine'' and ''Man-Eater'') is a 1969 Mexican-American

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Samuel Fuller Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and actor. He was known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made outside t ...

and starring

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

and

Silvia Pinal Silvia Pinal Hidalgo (12September 193128November 2024) was a Mexican actress. She began her career in theatre before venturing into cinema in 1949. She became one of the greatest female stars of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and, with her p ...

. In the film, a stranded gunrunner is recruited for a

treasure hunting Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. One of the most popular types of modern day treasure hunters are historic shipwreck salvors. These underwater treasure salvors try to find sunken Shipwreck, shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts ...

expedition in the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

. The mission requires him to dive into shark-infested waters.

Plot

Caine, a gunrunner, becomes stranded in a small port on the

. While there, he meets an attractive woman, Anna, who propositions him to dive into shark-infested waters off the coast. Though she alleges the purpose of the dive is scientific research, Caine eventually realizes that the woman and her partner are actually

treasure hunters Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. One of the most popular types of modern day treasure hunters are historic shipwreck salvors. These underwater treasure salvors try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with both c ...

, and sees an opportunity to utilize the riches from the wreck they hope to raid to compensate for the earlier loss of his cargo.

Cast

as Caine *

Arthur Kennedy John Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage", especially in the origi ...

as Doc * Barry Sullivan as Professor Dan Malair *

as Anna *

Francisco Reiguera Francisco Reiguera (November 9, 1899 – March 15, 1969) was a Spanish actor who is best known for playing the title role in Orson Welles’ unfinished film version of ''Don Quixote''. He also appeared in the films ''Simon of the Desert'' (19 ...

as Joseph (credited as Francisco Reyguera) *

Enrique Lucero Enrique Lucero (October 9, 1920 – May 9, 1989) was a Mexican actor who appeared in over 120 film roles. He was nominated for the Ariel Award for Best Actor for his role in the film '' Canoa: A Shameful Memory'' (1976). Biography Lucero was ...

as Inspector Barok * Manuel Alvarado as Latalah * Carlos Barry as Runt

Production

Development

The film was based on the novel '' His Bones are Coral'' by

Victor Canning Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific British writer of novels and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews. ...

. This was serialized in 1954 and published in 1955. The original screenplay was written by

Ken Hughes Kenneth Graham Hughes (19 January 1922 – 28 April 2001) was an English film director and screenwriter. He worked on over 30 feature films between 1952 and 1981, including the 1968 musical fantasy film ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'', based on th ...

. In July 1966 it was announced Gaumont Pictures would make a film from the novel, directed by

Byron Haskin Byron Conrad Haskin (April 22, 1899 – April 16, 1984) was an American film and television director, special effects creator and cinematographer. He is best known for directing '' The War of the Worlds'' (1953), one of many films where he ...

, starring George Montgomery and produced by Mark Cooper. It was to be called ''Twist of the Knife'' and to be filmed in Mexico in July. Filming did not proceed.

Sam Fuller

In April 1967 it was announced ''Twist of the Knife'' would be produced by Skip Steloff for Calderon-Stell and directed by Sam Fuller, his first film since ''

The Naked Kiss ''The Naked Kiss'' is a 1964 American neo-noir melodrama film written and directed by Samuel Fuller and starring Constance Towers, Anthony Eisley, Michael Dante and Virginia Grey. It was Fuller's second film for Allied Artists after his 1963 f ...

''. The cast would include

, Arthur Kennedy and Barry Sullivan. The film was to be the first in a series of co productions between Skip Steloff, Marc Cooper's Heritage Productions, and Jose Luis Calderon's Cinemtographia Calderon. When Sam Fuller joined the project, he rewrote the script and retitled it ''Caine''. He shared writing credit with John Kingsbridge. Fuller later said "I liked the idea of making a story where, for once, the hero is really the heavy, the heavy is the girl, there's another heavy, and you find out in the end they're all heavies." He elaborated, saying he liked "doing a story about four amoral characters... to show not only a double cross on a double cross but when we think we know who the heavy is, we find out the real heavy behind it all is the girl... I have the hero not only allow her to die, but he shrugs it off. I thought that was exciting... I had such fun because I went beyond the average switch of revealing the villain. I also didn't have the guy just let the girl go to jail; he lets her be eaten by sharks." Even before filming began, the producers announced they had signed Fuller to a four-picture deal, including a sequel to ''Caine''.

Shooting

Filming took place for nine weeks in 1967, in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, which stood in for the Sudan. It has been claimed that while shooting in the waters of

Isla Mujeres Isla Mujeres (, Spanish for "Women Island", formally “''Isla de Mujeres''”) is an island where the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea meet, about off the Yucatán Peninsula coast in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is approximately ...

, one of the film's stuntmen, José Marco, was attacked and killed on camera by a shark that broke through protective netting. This supposed attack was said to be captured on film and prompted a photo spread in ''Life'' magazine. It has been claimed that the title was changed to ''Shark!'' to cash in on the controversy. However, in an investigation published in ''Skin Diver'' magazine, dive-shop operator Dewey Bergman claimed to have been unable to find any record of the supposed attack, receiving statements from local port authorities and medical officials which denied any knowledge of such an incident. Bergman concluded that the photographs published in ''Life'' were "of a dead or drugged grey shark", and later received a statement from ''Life'''s editorial counsel that the story "may, it turns out, have been a hoax". Marine biologist Richard Ellis wrote that " was a perfectly harmless sequence in which no one was hurt except the shark, which subsequently died", and claimed the photographs published in ''Life'' were accomplished with "lots of ketchup".

Post-production

Fuller supervised editing in Mexico City for four weeks. His cut was later re-edited by Herbert L. Strock without Fuller's approval. When he finally saw the version that was released to theaters, he said he thought it was "terrible. I told them I wanted to restore my original cut. They said they didn't know if they could get it from Mexico." Fuller demanded the producers take his name off it. The producers refused.

Release

Critical reception

The ''New York Times'' thought the film "still suggests the imagination of" Fuller.

Re-releases

The film was re-released by Hallmark in 1975 as ''Man-Eater'' to cash in on the success of '' Jaws''. Advertising focused on the supposed death of the stuntman in the film. The ''Los Angeles Times'' called this version "threadbare".

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* *
Richard Brody on the 1969 film at The New Yorker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shark! (Film) 1969 films 1969 action films 1969 adventure films 1969 independent films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films 1960s Mexican films American action films American independent films English-language Mexican films Mexican action films Troma Entertainment films Films directed by Samuel Fuller Films based on British novels Films set in Sudan Films shot in Mexico Films with screenplays by Samuel Fuller Films about shark attacks Films about treasure hunting Underwater action films English-language adventure films