Today's feast for the eyes is not the first in the rip-off parade (or even the best) but the one that Universal felt so threatended by that they sued. Today we watch GREAT WHITE aka THE LAST SHARK (1981).
At the sea side town of Port Harbor a townie youth is
killed by a great white shark...wait that's JAWS.
This film concerns the attempts of our hero and
a shark hunter in convincing the local authority that
a shark threatens the community...wait, that's JAWS again.
This film is about a giant shark that...never mine, it's JAWS.
There is no way to cut it, Great White is a pure rip-off of JAWS. It's not mean spirited. It's not meant to be insulting to the original. It doesn't even seem like the filmmakers were trying to be outright exploitative (filmmakers, not producers. Totally trying to exploit). But none of that matters when you step this close to the line.
Made in Italy (shocking), this film is famous among our other rip-offs in that the film was so close copying that JAWS magic that Universal studios decided that they could sue the filmmakers to prevent the North American release. The court agreed and the film was banned from American shores for years. In fact, it's hard to even find copies of the film currently. But not impossible.
If any of you feel brave try searching for the film under its other title The Last Shark (why two titles? Who knows?) and you can easily find one. For my money the teaser says all you ever need to know about Great White.
Fun Fact: This film was so JAWS-like that in Japan the film was released as a direct sequel (despite featuring no other characters from the original).
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