Great White (film)
Encyclopedia
Great White is a 1980 Italian
horror film
directed by Enzo G. Castellari
and starring James Franciscus
and Vic Morrow
. The film is extremely similar to Steven Spielberg
's Jaws
.
begins attacking humans when they build a beach just for swimmers by Port Harbor, 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 seadog 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 Harbor and returns home.
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. 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.
by Film Ventures International
in March 1982.
The film has a cult following in the United States
because of its brief 1982 theatrical release and a proliferation of publicity materials, especially stills showing the titular shark's enormous prop, many times larger than any actual known species, on the internet.
The film was released on DVD
in its native Italy
in 2007http://www.amazon.it/dp/B0015U80PQ and on May 21, 2008 it was released on DVD in Sweden. It wasn't available on any format until 2011 when Amazon released a video download and a twenty-dollar, burn on demand copy of the film on their site. The disc is burned from a blank one upon ordering, but still, can't be bought in stores unless bootlegged.
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Enzo G. Castellari
Enzo G. Castellari
Enzo G. Castellari is an Italian film director. He became famous during the 1960s by directing several spaghetti westerns with such titles as Go Kill and Come Back Enzo G. Castellari (born July 29, 1938) is an Italian film director. He became famous during the 1960s by directing several spaghetti...
and starring James Franciscus
James Franciscus
James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in the series The Naked City and The Investigators, and in feature films.-Life and career:...
and Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
. The film is extremely similar to Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
.
Plot
An enormous and angry 35-foot Great White SharkGreat white shark
The great white shark, scientific name Carcharodon carcharias, also known as the great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. It is known for its size, with the largest individuals known to have approached...
begins attacking humans when they build a beach just for swimmers by Port Harbor, 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 seadog 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 Harbor and returns home.
Lawsuit
Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
sued to have the release of this movie in North America blocked, accusing the makers of Great White of plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
of Jaws. The studio won the case, and the movie was pulled from North American theaters shortly after its release. 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.
Release
The film was briefly released theatrically in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Film Ventures International
Film Ventures International
Film Ventures International is an independent movie production and distribution company originally situated in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1970s. FVI garnered a notorious reputation within the industry for producing films which were highly derivative of many blockbusters of the era...
in March 1982.
The film has a cult following in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
because of its brief 1982 theatrical release and a proliferation of publicity materials, especially stills showing the titular shark's enormous prop, many times larger than any actual known species, on the internet.
The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in its native Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 2007http://www.amazon.it/dp/B0015U80PQ and on May 21, 2008 it was released on DVD in Sweden. It wasn't available on any format until 2011 when Amazon released a video download and a twenty-dollar, burn on demand copy of the film on their site. The disc is burned from a blank one upon ordering, but still, can't be bought in stores unless bootlegged.
External links
- The Last Shark, The Last Shark (1980) review by Barry Meyer