Plot: What’s it about?
One of the biggest years for films came in 1977. Big directors put on big show. William Friedkin came back from The Exorcist with a South American epic with trucks called Sorcerer, Steven Spielberg followed up Jaws with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and a young director’s second film called Star Wars changed the course of film for many years to come. Some rose as hits and remembered well, and some fell into the pit set by Star Wars. In between all of that, author Peter Benchley had another work following the success of Jaws retaining one of its most valuable players of the cast with a tale of treasure, intrigue, danger and diving along Bermuda in The Deep.
David (Nick Nolte) and Gail (Jacqueline Bisset) are on vacation and have a taste for diving. Through one of their dives they see much sea life and a few more underwater sites. Going further in the water, they spot a shipwreck and in this shipwreck, an unusual find is made of the remains of a gold medallion and a bottle. Their findings lead to explorer Romer Treece (Robert Shaw) who at first writes it off as a small find but starts to realize theres a little more to these findings. Meanwhile, another group led by a tall black gentleman (Lou Gossett) will stop at nothing to get their hands on whatever’s left down in those waters.
The Deep doesn’t try to be another Jaws and that’s the first thing that works about this film. It doesn’t rely on special effects or deaths or the appearance of a fin in the water bur would rather let pure storytelling and knowing the right moments when to throw a jolt or two and retains the same level of adventure but taking its time a little more. The pace may not be accustomed to some viewers but there’s a lot more to the film.
The beautiful score by John Barry and its gorgeous cinematography of Bermuda is eye popping and pleasing for the ear and hard to not grip a viewer with its sights and background music set in play. It’s also good to see two up and coming actors like Nick Nolte and Lou Gossett in this picture who would later go on to bigger and better things and the marvelous presence of Robert Shaw and as the female half of the couple, Jacqueline Bisset shows a strong intelligent woman who has a most memorable look with a wet t-shrt.
Through it all, The Deep follows with plenty of great sights and ideas along with a well told story that takes its time to get there and with everything good is time well spent.
Video: How does it look?
The Deep retains the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with its gorgeous palette of color without bleeding too much of the color for any of its underwater sequences or its scenery pf Bermuda and is leaps and bounds better than the flipside’s pan and scan version of the film in so many ways. With its wide shots and many details, any film shot wide deserves to be seen wide and this one is no exception. To put it in short, most 1977 movies look good through recent eyes and this film is no exception.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 2.0 track that is used has its own share of muteness in its effects and with some of that underwater sounds, but the dialogue comes through nicely through the center channels and mixes in very clearly with its surroundings and its score which in the outer channels make for a decent track.This disc has a French Dolby Digital track along with English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese, Korean and Thai subtitles
Supplements: What are the extras?
Even though a director’s cut of this film was broadcast on NBC years after its release and there were plans in the last years of laserdisc to release that cut, it was not included on this disc on either side and not a trailer or anything resembling an extra can be found.
Despite following in the shadows of the great white shark, The Deep survives its adventure on its own terms despite a few minor flaws and with its great sights and its storytelling wonderfully told by director Peter Yates, its an underrated treasure many audiences should take a view into sometime. As for the DVD, here’s hoping the director’s cut sees the light of day as well as many other extras for this fine film.
