Shark's Treasure (1975)

 

After a man (John Neilson) finds shipwrecked gold at the bottom of the ocean, he recruits the help of an eccentric skipper (writer/director Cornel Wilde) to go back and find the whole shebang. They need two more divers for the job, so Yaphet Kotto and David Canary sign up for the adventuring. The only problem is the school of sharks guarding the treasure. 

Pesky sharks with their treasure-guarding habits.

The other problem the group will encounter on their journey is the group of five escaped prisoners. 

Rolling into the plot like...

The treasure hunting rules the first half of the film. And during that time you'll see a LOT of sharks killed on screen. This is 1975, so no CGI sharks to be found. If you're a shark advocate or shark lover of any sort, it's probably best to skip this one. 

And this isn't even the worst of it.

This first half is also where we get some brief attempts to Treasure of the Sierra Madre the plot as the main characters squabble gently over their greed. But it's in the second half, when the escapees show up where the tension jumps up slightly. These fellows have their own problems, including a sadistic leader who brutally beats a man who, the film heavily implies, is his romantic partner. 

After that beating, the remaining adventurers are joined by the beaten escapee and all do their best to get away from their captors to kick off the third act. 

Yep, I said "remaining." Who do you think will survive?

While not a great action film, the pace of the movie does keep things interesting as the treasure hunters are faced with challenge after challenge in their hopes of staying alive and becoming rich at the same time. The four leads have pretty good chemistry with Kotto and Wilde as the most interesting of the lot. 

Yaphet Kotto takes everything he's in up a notch.

The ending falls pretty flat, but I'm assuming no one's going into this film with the idea that it'll wrap up with a huge explosion or even a decent gunfight. Recommended for a lazy Sunday afternoon, or if you have some weird, unnatural hatred for sharks and want to watch more than a few of them die on-screen. Not recommended for people who dislike Yaphet Kotto, are expecting The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, or women in their movies (seriously, there's only one woman with a line in the entire thing).

Available for free on Tubi.