The Deep

Review by James Anthony

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This movie had it all for teens of the mid-to-late '70s. Beaches, sharks, scuba diving, treasure and Jacqueline Bissett. Aoooh, those were the days.

Even today, this tale of a young tourist couple (Bissett and Nick Nolte) who accidentally discover treasure troves of gold and drugs after a storm has moved a modern day shipwreck to reveal a hidden Spanish galleon is a really good adventure.

Set in Bermuda and laced with a Donna Summer-inspired soundtrack, The Deep was a follow-up to Jaws that replaced the great shark with a ferocious bottom-feeding drug dealer called Laroche (Louis Gossett jnr).

Gossett is particularly chilling as the nasty who is determined to get his hands on the thousands of morphine ampules found by the duo in the sunken World War II hospital ship and will kill anyone who gets in his way.

Fortunately for our inexperienced pair, there's a crusty old sailor, Treece (Robert Shaw) who will look after them, and his own interests, and make life as difficult for Laroche as he can.

The film work is excellent, the storyline above average and the cast work very well together.

Conclusion: Movie: 75% DVD Extras: 40%

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