The Jaws of Death (1976)

"You gotta be way dumb to swim out here." - Fisherman

aka: Mako: The Jaws of Death
A man that can talk to sharks realizes that no one likes him.
Starring: Richard Jaeckel, Jennifer Bishop, Buffy Dee, sharks

Link to IMDB

Sonny Stein lives a private life on a secluded island, spending most of his time taking care of his friends... And his friends are sharks! Sonny was given a medallion by some mystical shaman that lets him communicate with the sharks of the sea, so when he's not busy being a shark activist he's swimming peacefully with them... Oh, and he also kills people! Well, technically the sharks are doing the killing, but it amounts to the same thing! The opening scene shows Sonny tossing three fishermen off their boat to be violently chomped up by the sharks! This crazy idiot is our hero, and he has no problems with spilling blood in order to protect the sharks of the world.
A scientist is pressuring Sonny to help him research the private lives of sharks, and Sonny agrees to lend him one of his friends with the hope that the research will prevent the government from putting a senseless bounty on the sharks. The scientist seems to have ulterior motives though, and is planning something nefarious.

While relaxing at the local bar, Sonny gets into a fight with two bozos that are harassing a lady (there are no sharks in the parking lot so he's gotta just use his fists.) The lady is Karen, and her and Sonny begin to bond and she's fascinated by Sonny's shark-whisperer skills. Karen thinks a shark would help spice up her underwater erotic dance show, and once again Sonny agrees to lend a shark as though it was just a Night Court DVD and not a dangerous living animal.

"Hey shark boy, I'm gonna break your fin." - Pete

Karen and Barney

Barney, Karen's husband, is happy to have a shark in his bar's aquarium to bring in business, but he's also a cruel bastard and tricks Sonny into giving him legal ownership of the animal.

Dammit, this movie is slower than molasses and awkward as hell. Besides the opening scene, there has been zero shark action and very little of anything in general. It's maddening how Sonny can't see that everyone is taking advantage of him and they're going to abuse his sharks for their own personal gain, but the poor guy thinks he's being helpful.
Finally, the movie delivers something more interesting when Sonny realizes that he wants his sharks back but no one is willing to return them alive. Now Sonny wants revenge!

There are moments that really shine and made me laugh, but they are rare and mostly just involve Richard Jaeckel's odd portrayal of Sonny. The rest of the movie is just people treating Sonny like crap, and him talking to the sharks surface of the water. It's boring!
It's also a mess thematically, because the movie is confused about what it wants to say. We're supposed to be rooting for Sonny but he's the one doing all the killing to protect sharks, and by murdering people with sharks he's just proving that they are man-killing beasts that need to be destroyed. At least it's not just another Jaws rip-off, so it does get some points for originality, but it's too bad that the potentially fun idea of being able to control sharks is wasted.

Be sure not to miss:
- Harold Sakata has a small role, and the opening credits even remind you that he played Odd Job.
- "What is... is."
- The music is wild. It's mostly just screeches, thuds and underwater piano warbling.

Internet review:
"It's a feeding frenzy of abysmal performances!" - transeint-2

Should I watch it?
Don't bother.

Where can I find it?
The vidzi link here.

Jaws of Death gets...