''Sharks' Treasure'' is a 1975 American

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

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 ap ...

and starring

and

Yaphet Kotto Yaphet Frederick Kotto (November 15, 1939 – March 15, 2021) was an American actor for film and television. His films include the science-fiction horror film '' Alien'' (1979), the neo-noir action thriller '' Across 110th Street'' (1972), the ...

Plot

Eccentric charter skipper Jim Carnahan (

) and his team of hard-luck dreamers battle

sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

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, kidnapping, and murder, e ...

and their own greed to recover sunken

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

off the coast of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

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, screenwriter, and acting teacher. Early life Osmond was born in the Margaret Hague Medical Center in Jersey City, New Jersey ...

as Lobo *

David Canary David Hoyt Canary (August25, 1938November16, 2015) was an American actor. Canary is best known for his roles as ranch foreman Candy Canaday in the NBC Western drama ''Bonanza'', and as Adam Chandler in the television soap opera ''All My Child ...

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 is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...

in the

Dutch Antilles Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

. "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'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 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, animated children's television series first produced by Woodland Animations. The series follows the adventures of Pat Clifton, a Mail carrier, postman who works for the Royal ...

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 voicing the titular character and several other characters in the children's television series ''Pos ...

References

External links

* * *
Review of film
at

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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 English-language adventure films {{1970s-adventure-film-stub