Mako: The Jaws Of Death (1976)

A surly recluse (Richard Jaeckel) has a passionate and psychic connection to sharks. They are his only friends. He renounces society and goes on a rampage protecting his shark friends, even if it means murder. Directed by William Grefe (THE NAKED ZOO), this exploitation rip off of JAWS is shockingly bad. And not fun bad, just bad bad. While one can appreciate its (arguable) viewpoint that sharks are the innocents and man is the predator, the movie is so inept on every level that its "message" is neutered. I've always liked Richard Jaeckel, a reliable character actor and sometimes more than that (his Oscar nominated performance in SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION) and I'm at a loss as to what he's doing in this trash. It's not the kind of movie where the performances matter much but to call the acting amateurish is an insult to amateurs. The worst offender is Buffy Dee as an obese bar owner but Jennifer Bishop as his wife isn't much better. I doubt even connoisseurs of bad movies could defend this one. With John Chandler, Luke Halprin and Harold Sakata.