Great White, aka The Last Jaws (1981 film)

Only the greatest movie poster ever!

Gentlemen, absolutely nothing is going to happen. - Wells

Here we have another film that I actually hadn't heard of until I read Horror Hound Magazine, first in an article covering horror films that hadn't received a DVD release yet, then mentions in the 1981 tribute issue I mentioned yesterday.  From what I read, this movie was only in theaters a short time before Universal (owners of the rights to the original Jaws) filed a lawsuit against the makers of this film for being too much like theirs, resulting in the film being pulled from screens all over the United States.  Upon reading that, I started wondering if I'd ever get a chance to see the film.  Luckily, Amazon came to the rescue!  Thanks to them, I have my own copy of the film to bring a review to you.

The film is, of course, about a Great White shark terrorizing the coastal town of Port Harbor.  Our heroes this time are a writer, Peter Benton, and a shark hunter, Ron Hammer, who try to take the fight to the great white.  Naturally, there's an authority in town who doesn't want to hear about a shark attack, William Wells, as it would be bad for the upcoming wind-surfing regatta he had planned.  Will our heroic duo be able to stop the shark in time, or will the town become a shark's smorgasbord?

The film was interesting.  Other than the fact that it features a great white attacking people near a city near the ocean, it doesn't really seem to have that much in common with Jaws to me.  Ron Hammer is, however, definitely similar to Quint, but no other characters match up that well to anyone else from Jaws.  The events are different, the characters and victims are different, just about everything feels different, outside of the shark.  But Universal decided, since Great White was making some big money when it hit theaters that it had to give them a cease and desist.

James Franciscus played Peter Benton, and he played the part really well.  He was also in The Cat o' Nine Tails, Beneath the Planet of the Apes and the Judgment Night episode of The Twilight Zone.  Vic Morrow played Ron Hammer, and he did really well channeling his inner Quint.  Vic Morrow was a really well-respected actor, and he died tragically on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie.  When filming a sequence late at night with a pair of child actors, the three of them were killed in an accident with a damaged helicopter.

I enjoyed this film.  The effects and the acting were good.  The shark was more visible here than in the original Jaws (they must not have had the same troubles Spielberg had with his mechanic shark), edited in with some shark stock footage where appropriate.  I give the film a 4 out of 5.  Tomorrow, we have another beach movie, another forgotten classic of 1981: Blood Beach.  Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... you can't get to it!  Until then, this is Red Hawk signing out!