I have no idea how, but I had never actually heard of 1977’s The Deep until my grandfather brought it up when I went to visit him recently. He was flicking through the channels and it was on and he asked if I had ever seen it. He told me it was written by the same guy who wrote Jaws, Peter Benchley, and that he thought it was good and I should watch it.
How to Download The Deep (1977)
The Deep was released on June 17, 1977. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
I found the DVD for dirt cheap and finally got around to watching it. Now, I do not want to anger anyone, but let me say, that The Deep was not the 70s classic that I thought it was going to be. I did not dislike the movie at all and I can see why all the underwater stuff in the movie back in the late 70s was groundbreaking and blew people’s minds. However, I thought that it was just ok.
The story here is kind of fun. We have this couple, David and Gail played by Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset who are on a scuba vacation, checking out shipwrecks near Bermuda. These are two likable people and let me tell you, I can see why people talk about a certain scene with Gail and her white t-shirt as much as they do.
The Plot of The Deep
What starts as a standard scuba trip, looking at an old shipwreck turns a bit strange. They come across some strange treasure that is dated 1714 and Gail is grabbed by this strange looking creature so they take off. I will admit that when I saw this part, I thought that I was in for some kind of creature feature, especially as this is the guy who gave us Jaws, but that is not the case.
David and Gail end up meeting a man called Romer who is a treasure hunter and he knows exactly what this is and they end up making a trio and decide that they are going to try and get more of this ancient Spanish treasure. Romer is played by Robert Shaw and for me, he is the man who leads this movie and who has the most screen presence.
The Characters and Conflict
Now, things take a bit of a twist as on this island there is this big time voodoo criminal called Cloche who is played by the awesome, Louis Gossett JR. You can tell that he was having a great time with this role. It turns out that this shipwreck graveyard has more than people think and there are millions of dollars of morphine down there that he wants, even though it is very dangerous to get as there are explosives down there too.
There is some trouble and Romer ends up getting pulled into trying to get the morphine for Cloche and as you would expect, things go sideways. The stuff with Cloche and Romer is the best stuff in the movie in my opinion. Actually, this is a pretty standard movie with a few very exciting parts, there is a scene where a lighthouse gets its top blown off and that was a ton of fun and so crazy to see.
Action and Pacing in The Deep
I also liked a few of the fight scenes too. There is some legit exciting stuff here, but some of those underwater diving scenes go on for what feels like an age. Also, the reveal that the “sea monster” is just a large eel was super lame! I am not sure what I was expecting and I was not expecting something like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, but a large eel was a real letdown.
While I did not love The Deep as much as I thought I would, I am glad that I did watch it and I am happy to have it in my collection. At the same time, I can see why if someone saw this when it was released in the late 70s or even if they saw it in the 80s, they will love it. For me, I think that it is one of those movies that I saw too late.
