Now that Memorial Day weekend is behind us, it's summer in most people's minds, if not according to the calendar (we still have three weeks to go there). If you live along either coast, one of the top places to enjoy the season is at the seashore, home of surf, sand, and in some cases, great white sharks waiting to devour humans.
That's what some might fear, at least. For that we have to thank the classic film Jaws. You remember how it terrorized many a summer movie goer:
Chilling, isn't it?
So chilling, that many a moviemaker has tried to imitate it, with little if any success. Orca (featuring a killer whale) and Piranha (featuring, well, piranha) are two notable examples of copycat carnivores, but the most obvious Jaws ripoff is the 1982 film Great White, also known as The Last Shark. This film was such a blatant copy of Jaws that Universal Studios sued the film's makers for copyright infringement and won. The film was pulled from theaters only two weeks into its release, and has never been issued on any home video format in the US (but it has been available in foreign markets for years).
Both films have a do-gooder trying to save the town, a politician reluctant to solve the problem (the mayor of Amity in Jaws, a gubernatorial candidate in Great White), and even a shark hunter who speaks with an accent (Robert Shaw in Jaws, and Vic Morrow in Great White). For more similarity, see this trailer for Great White:
The last image of the trailer is the same as the movie's poster. Both films' posters feature a beautiful woman about to get chomped by a giant shark from below. And did you listen carefully to the narrator compared to the narrator of the Jaws trailer? It's the SAME FRICKIN' NARRATOR IN BOTH TRAILERS!!
For more information about Great White, simply enter it into a search engine; there are articles about this film all over the place.
Aw, heck, click here for the whole darn film (their used to be an embed code for this link, but it's no longer there):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3266291835893231391&q=Last+Shark&ei=2qVASIGiIYamrwK29IigCQ
Next I have two examples of Jaws imitators who do so not for profit, but for fun. Here enjoy this homemade trailer for a romantic comedy that doesn't exist, but should: Must Love Jaws.
Finally, here is an awesome homemade film that was created all the way back in 1978, by two 12-year-olds no less! The film is simply titled "Shark." It's nearly 10 minutes long, but worth watching every second. An excellent job!
Stay out of the water!
2 comments:
I can’t remember ever watching one of the Jaws movies all the way through because they kind of freaked me out as a kid. I know for a fact it scared my mom after she first seen it. I think she was 13-14 ish when it came out. I know the trailer alone just scared me! Yeah that was a rip-off but I liked the fan made one.
To this day I can't see a photo of a great white shark and not jump when I see it; this movie has that much of a hold on me!
Post a Comment