Deep, The (1977)

Director Peter Yates, best known for Bullit, teams with writer Peter Benchley, best known for Jaws, in this elementary and overlong contemporary sunken treasure hunt story. Whilst the underwater sequences are well shot, the rest of the film is a pedestrian good (white) guys vs bad (black) guys adventure story given very a 70s treatment, with Nick Nolte made up to look like a surfie boy, Jacqueline Bissett, in Ursula Andress mode, giving an outstanding wet T-shirt performance and Robert Bolt hamming it up as an eccentric treasure hunt guru.

Surprisingly, this was one of the Top 10 grossing films of the year, which says much more for canny marketing and the tastes of the time (Jaws had been a box-office bonanza) than the merits of the film.

 

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