GREAT WHITE aka THE LAST SHARK (1981) Reviews and overview

What do you think of this movie? Click on a star to rate it
  

great white 2

Great White – aka The Last Shark, The Last Jaws, L’ultimo squalo – is a 1981 Italian action horror film directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring James Franciscus and Vic Morrow. The film is extremely similar to Jaws.

lastshark

An enormous and angry 35-foot Great White Shark begins attacking humans when they build a beach just for swimmers by Port Harbour, a coastal town. Despite repeated attacks, the mayor does nothing to stop it as he doesn’t want tourists to hear about it and stop coming.

Enter the heroes: Peter Benton (James Franciscus), a novelist who wrote a book about sharks, and Ron Hamer (Vic Morrow), an old sea dog who has a personal grudge against this shark and wants it dead. They sail into the middle of the ocean to save stranded people and stop the monster.

Eventually, Ron drowns, but Peter, remembering the explosives inside his wetsuit, feeds Ron’s corpse to the shark and ignites it, blowing the shark to pieces. Peter swims to Port Harbour and returns home…..

great white

Universal pictures sued to have the release of this movie in North America blocked, accusing the makers of Great White of plagiarism of Jaws. The studio won the case, and the movie was pulled from North American theaters shortly after its release by Film Ventures.

It has never been legally released on video in North America, nor shown on North American television, though bootlegs are regularly available on the internet. It has received a Scandinavian DVD release.

lastshark5

Reviews:
“Sure, Great White is just a great big goofy rip-off, but it’s so blatant and, at times, incoherent, that it’s hard to stay angry for long. Enzo G. Castellari is a perfectly capable director, and while he’s rarely flashy, he always delivers the goods – even if they sometimes end up being a bit ragged.” Daily Grindhouse

” …it doesn’t bother to pretend to be anything other than what it is, a rip-off that so closely resembles it’s original that it could qualify as a remake. It’s bluntly honest. And that’s all that any true fan of bad cinema can ask for, the truth… and maybe a couple of bloody shark attacks thrown in for good measure.” Cool Cinema Trash

horrors of the deep piranha the last jaws tentacles

Buy Horrors of the Deep: Piranha + The Last Jaws + Tentacles DVD Collection from Amazon.co.uk

last jaws dutch vhs front & back2

Last Shark dvd

For YouTube reviews, the trailer and more movie info click the page 2 link below

MOVIES and MANIA provides previews, our own film reviews and ratings, plus links to other online reviews from a wide variety of trusted sources in one handy web location. This is a genuinely independent website and I rely solely on the minor income generated by internet ads to pay for web costs and cover yet more movies. Please support us by not blocking ads. Thank you. Oh and as an Amazon Associate, I earn a tiny amount from any qualifying purchases.