Some films are born classics, some achieve cult status, and some get yanked out of theaters because Universal Pictures’ legal department smells blood in the water. Great White falls squarely into that last category. It’s a 1981 Italian Jawsknock-off so brazen, so shameless, so joyfully plagiaristic that it’s a miracle Enzo G. Castellari didn’t just film a TV playing Jaws and dub Italian over it. And yet… it’s fun. In fact, it’s one of the most gloriously dumb, unintentionally hilarious shark films ever made.
The Plot: Jaws in a Fake Mustache
The story begins with a windsurfer getting turned into fish food by what the movie insists is a Great White shark, but what often looks like a grumpy pool toy from an Italian carnival. Horror novelist Peter Benton (James Franciscus) and grizzled shark hunter Ron Hamer (Vic Morrow, looking like he was born smoking a cigarette) figure out what’s going on instantly. The problem? The local mayor—William Wells, a man whose political career is powered by sheer denial—refuses to acknowledge the threat because it might cancel a windsurfing regatta.
You know, that famous coastal tradition where hundreds of tourists gather to watch people fall off boards in the wind.
Inevitably, the shark ignores the mayor’s optimistic speeches and eats another guy. From here, the film unspools like a fever dream version of Jaws: baiting the shark with dynamite, helicopter meat-hook stunts, severed limbs, and a climax where our hero literally feeds a corpse to the shark before blowing it to smithereens. Subtlety is not Great White’s strong suit.
The Mayor: A Walking Lawsuit Waiting to Happen
Joshua Sinclair’s Mayor Wells is the sort of politician who would stand in waist-deep water next to a shark’s open mouth and insist everything’s fine as long as the tourism board is happy. When the truth becomes too obvious to deny—like, say, when his own aide is eaten—he decides to go after the shark personally. In a helicopter. With a steak.
This plan goes exactly how you think it will: the shark drags him out of the chopper, bites him in half, and then pulls the helicopter into the ocean for dessert. Somewhere, even Jaws 3-D is shaking its head in embarrassment.
Our Heroes: Hemingway and Hemingway Lite
Franciscus’ Benton is a horror novelist in the same way Stephen King is a hockey goalie. He writes books, sure, but his main job here is being the Handsome Protagonist Who Knows Better Than Everyone Else. He’s paired with Vic Morrow’s Hamer, who plays the whole film as if he’s been promised a bottle of whiskey for every day on set. Hamer is tough, gruff, and clearly counting down the hours until he can blow something up.
Their chemistry is less “buddy cop” and more “two guys stuck in an elevator together for eight hours,” but when you’re facing a rogue shark, that’s enough.
The Shark: Plastic, Persistent, and Proud
The shark in Great White deserves its own star on the B-movie Walk of Fame. Sometimes it’s a rubber model, sometimes stock footage, sometimes a fin slicing through the water like it’s late for a dentist appointment. It’s never convincing, but it’s always committed. This is a shark with ambition—it eats windsurfers, docks, helicopters, and occasionally the script’s last shred of plausibility.
And unlike Jaws, which gave us long build-ups and suspenseful POV shots, Great White isn’t shy. This shark shows up early, often, and in ways that feel like it’s actively trying to upstage the human cast.
The Set Pieces: Pure Italian Cinema Madness
Say what you want about Italian exploitation cinema in the ’80s, but when it came to delivering spectacle, they didn’t hold back. Great White is crammed with scenes that would make Spielberg clutch his pearls:
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Dock Dragging Mayhem – The shark yanks an entire dock out to sea like it’s trying to redecorate its underwater condo, flinging screaming extras into the water for a mid-afternoon snack.
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Helicopter Steak Disaster – The aforementioned aerial meat-luring plan, which ends in fiery, bitey doom.
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Leg Chomp Trauma – Benton’s daughter Jenny loses a leg, which the film treats with all the melodrama of a soap opera and none of the medical accuracy.
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Corpse Bait Finale – Benton, trapped on the remains of the dock, feeds Hamer’s corpse to the shark like it’s an amuse-bouche before detonating dynamite and turning the predator into a seafood platter.
The Dialogue: Served With Extra Cheese
Italian exploitation films have a special relationship with dialogue, especially when dubbed into English. Lines are delivered with the cadence of someone reading instructions off a box of laundry detergent. Gems include ominous warnings like “That’s not just any shark… that’s a great white” (as if the title hadn’t tipped us off) and mayoral speeches that sound like campaign ads for a man running unopposed.
Vic Morrow delivers his lines like he’s trying to win a contest for World’s Most World-Weary Man, while Franciscus alternates between heroic platitudes and yelling at teenagers for being in boats. It’s beautiful.
Why This Movie Works (Against All Odds)
Make no mistake: Great White is not a good movie in the traditional sense. It’s a great movie in the same way deep-fried carnival Oreos are great—they’re ridiculous, unhealthy, and you’ll regret it later, but in the moment, they’re glorious.
The pacing never drags, the kills are inventive in a cartoonishly over-the-top way, and the whole production has that scrappy, “We’re definitely getting sued for this” energy that keeps it lively. It’s the kind of film that knows it’s derivative and leans into it so hard it comes out the other side as campy genius.
The Lawsuit: When Spielberg Bites Back
Universal Pictures, smelling the faint aroma of intellectual property theft, took one look at Great White and said, “Absolutely not.” They sued, claiming it was a blatant rip-off of Jaws, and in one of cinema history’s least surprising rulings, a judge agreed. After only a month in U.S. theaters (and $18 million in box office), the film was yanked faster than a windsurfer in shark-infested waters.
But if the goal was to bury Great White, the lawsuit backfired—because nothing makes a movie more appealing to cult audiences than telling them they can’t see it.
Final Verdict
Great White is shameless, derivative, and occasionally incompetent… but it’s also absurdly entertaining. It’s the cinematic equivalent of buying a fake designer handbag on vacation—it’s not the real thing, but it’s flashy, fun, and you can’t stop showing it off to your friends.
Watch it for Vic Morrow’s gruff charm. Watch it for the bargain-bin shark effects. Watch it because you want to see what Jaws might look like if it were remade by an Italian film crew with a rubber fin, a helicopter rental, and no fear of lawsuits.
