While wreck diving off the coast of Bermuda tourists David Sanders and his girlfriend Gail Berke explore a ship not in the guide book; it is the Goliath; a second world war era ship that was carrying a large quantity of explosives; it was also carrying several thousand ampoules of morphine and finding one of these is the beginning of all their troubles. Haitian Henri Cloche wants the ampoules because of the drugs they contain and is willing to do what it takes to get them David and Gail aren't that interested in the morphine though; they are more interested in a medallion they found on the site; it is much older than anything on that ship should be. They take it to local treasure hunter Romer Treece and eventually they determine that there are two wrecks there; The Goliath and a French vessel called the Griffin which was transporting treasure as well as her declared cargo. Further dives produce more treasure but if they are to prove it is the lost Spanish treasure they will have to find an item from the list of lost pieces... they will also have to avoid sharks, Cloche's henchmen and a particularly mean moray eel!
I expected this to be another dangerous underwater animal film being rushed out to cash in on the success of 'Jaws' but thankfully it was much better than that; it is really a decent treasure hunting adventure with some drug dealers thrown in to increase the danger. Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset are officially the stars of the film, and they aren't bad, but it is Robert Shaw who steals the show as Treece; a character that isn't dissimilar to the role he played in 'Jaws'. There are also notable appearances from Eli Wallach and Louis Gossett Jr. The underwater scenes are well shot and when there is action it looks confused enough to feel real. Above water there are some nice shots of Bermuda but it never feels like it is trying to act as a tourist brochure by showing all the best sites. The story is fairly simple but it is told well and there is a good amount of action... including a rather scary scene where somebody is attacked with an outboard motor! There are also a couple of references to real Bermuda treasure; the gold and ruby cross is a clear reference to the gold and emerald 'Tucker's Cross', which was found by Teddy Tucker who had a cameo as the harbour master.
I expected this to be another dangerous underwater animal film being rushed out to cash in on the success of 'Jaws' but thankfully it was much better than that; it is really a decent treasure hunting adventure with some drug dealers thrown in to increase the danger. Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset are officially the stars of the film, and they aren't bad, but it is Robert Shaw who steals the show as Treece; a character that isn't dissimilar to the role he played in 'Jaws'. There are also notable appearances from Eli Wallach and Louis Gossett Jr. The underwater scenes are well shot and when there is action it looks confused enough to feel real. Above water there are some nice shots of Bermuda but it never feels like it is trying to act as a tourist brochure by showing all the best sites. The story is fairly simple but it is told well and there is a good amount of action... including a rather scary scene where somebody is attacked with an outboard motor! There are also a couple of references to real Bermuda treasure; the gold and ruby cross is a clear reference to the gold and emerald 'Tucker's Cross', which was found by Teddy Tucker who had a cameo as the harbour master.