Tintorera (1977)

[ManchestrMorgue]

I watched this film a few nights ago after having it sit in my collection for years. I remember seeing it when I was quite young, but could remember nothing about it except for the fact that it was about tiger sharks and came along not long after Jaws.

Anyway, I thought I would provide a brief synopsis and review, as it is not the most commonly seen film (at least not in Australia).

****** SPOILERS *********

I went into this film expecting a killer shark movie, a la low budget Jaws. It certainly was low budget, but the killer shark proved to be a diversion at best.

The film is about an American businessman who is holidaying in Mexico on his sizeable boat. He befriends a local playboy/shark hunter after they vie for the same woman (who is subsequently eaten by a tiger shark without either of them really noticing).

Anyway, they both befriend another holidayer (Susan George) and share a menage a trois. They take her shark-hunting, however the playboy gets eaten by a tiger shark. The menage a trois subsequently dissolves, and the American businessman undertakes a personal crusade to kill the tiger shark (and any other shark he can find along the way, it would seem).

That is the basic plot (which is, to say, basic). There are a few more romantic/sexual encounters but this is the general gist.

While my synopsis emphasises a pivotal role of sharks in this film, this overstates it a bit. The film is more concerned with sleazy 70's swinging relationships than it is with sharks. Sharks seem to be present to stop this film being correctly construed as a soft-core movie.

The film comes across as a sleazy misogynistic sex fantasy, with bits of shark drama badly spliced in. The shark scenes somehow feel out of place, as if they were from a different concept altogether.

All the shark footage appears to be real. No mechanical Bruce here.

Sadly, the killing of what appears to be numerous sharks also appears to be real. As does the slaughter of a turtle and a ray. I felt that the animal slaughter was pretty much in line with the euro cannibal films of a similar vintage.

The villainous tiger shark that is the stated focus of the film is also described as one of the largest seen. I have read that a lot of the tiger shark footage was actually stock footage. It certainly did not seem as large as they were purporting - I have dived with a tiger shark which appeared to be larger than this one!

Another thing that baffled me was that when this tiger shark was present on screen, there was a raspy breathing sound, which I could only assume was meant to be coming from the shark. Did this shark have asthma? We will never know, as it was killed before a respiratory physician could examine it. Maybe with some Ventolin it may have become less angry and left the swimmers alone. Truly a misunderstood creature.

Anyway, the movie was a bit of fun in a sleazy way, but unpleasant in its wholesale slaughter of real animals. I know this is a controversial subject here but knowing the difficulties that some shark species are having these days, it is probably more disturbing now than it was at the time this film was made.

[Ferox13]

I have a love for Mexploition films and definally for the Cardona family but you are right this one is definally pretty dull..

[ManchestrMorgue]

Yeah it has a cheesy 70's charm about it for sure. But in the end the characters are empty, the plot has more holes than a Sydney shark net, and not
an awful lot happens.