1977 adventure film by Peter Yates
The Deep
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by
| Peter Yates
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Screenplay by
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Based on
| The Deep
by Peter Benchley
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Produced by
| Peter Guber
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Starring
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Cinematography
| Christopher Challis
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Edited by
| David Berlatsky
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Music by
| John Barry
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Production
companies
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Distributed by
| Columbia Pictures
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Release date
|
- June 17, 1977
(
1977-06-17
)
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Running time
| 124 minutes
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Countries
| - United States
- United Kingdom
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Language
| English
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Budget
| $9 million
[1]
or $8.5 million
[2]
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Box office
| $100 million
[3]
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The Deep
is a 1977
adventure film
based on
Peter Benchley
's 1976 novel of the same name. It was directed by
Peter Yates
, and stars
Robert Shaw
,
Jacqueline Bisset
and
Nick Nolte
.
Plot
[
edit
]
While
scuba-diving
near shipwrecks off
Bermuda
, vacationing couple David Sanders and Gail Berke recover small artifacts, including a glass
ampoule
with amber-coloured liquid and also a gold medallion bearing a woman's image and the letters "S.C.O.P.N." (meaning "Santa Clara, ora pro nobis", for "
Saint Clara
, pray for us") and a date, 1714. An unknown sea creature suddenly grabs Gail's wood baton as she probes the wreck's crevices. Panicked, she gets loose from the strap while the baton's end is left shredded. Sanders and Berke seek advice from historian and
treasure-hunter
Romer Treece on the medallion's origin. He identifies the item as
Spanish
and takes an interest in the couple.
The dive shop clerk notices the ampoule, which in turn attracts the attention of Henri "Cloche" Bondurant, a local
drug kingpin
the clerk works for. When Clouche unsuccessfully tries to buy the ampoule, he begins terrorizing the couple. The ampoule contains medicinal
morphine
from the
Goliath
, a ship that sank during
World War II
with a cargo of munitions and medical supplies. The
Goliath
is off-limits to divers due to the still-live explosives. Treece concludes that a recent storm has exposed the morphine and unearthed a much older wreck containing
Spanish treasure
that is beneath
Goliath
.
Treece makes a deal with Cloche to retrieve the ampoules for a million dollars, which Cloche can illegally resell for over three million, while Treece secretly searches for the treasure. Cloche gives him three days to recover the morphine. Sanders, Berke and Treece make several dives to the wrecks, recovering thousands of ampoules from
Goliath
and several additional artifacts from the Spanish wreck. They also encounter a huge
moray eel
, which lurks inside the vessel, and was what previously attacked Berke. Adam Coffin, the only survivor from
Goliath
, joins the venture, but his loyalty shifts when he feels slighted by Treece. When Cloche's men arrive and dump bait into the water to attract sharks, Coffin tells Treece he probably fell asleep without noticing they were in trouble.
Through research in Treece's library, the trio reconstruct the lost treasure ship's history and locate a list of valuable items, including a gold pinecone filled with pearls with the letters "EF" engraved on it. The initials identifies
Elisabeth Farnese
, a noblewoman for whom they were made by
the King of Spain
. Sanders is determined to locate at least one item on the list to establish
provenance
, as without it the treasure has less value. Treece plans to destroy the
Goliath
to stop Clouche from obtaining the morphine. Cloche attempts to thwart them and recover the morphine himself. Cloche's henchman murders Treece's long-time friend Kevin. Adam betrays Treece and is killed by triggering Treece's booby-trap in the lighthouse tower when he tries to steal the recovered morphine stashed there. During the final dive, Cloche is killed by the giant eel and his divers die in the
Goliath's
explosion that Treece ignites. Treece recovers a gold dragon necklace that provides the treasures' needed provenance.
Cast
[
edit
]
Two actors from the
Jaws
films
(which were also based on a
novel
by Peter Benchley) appeared in this film.
Robert Shaw
played shark hunter "Quint" in
Jaws
in 1975, while
Louis Gossett Jr.
would later go on to play
SeaWorld
park owner "Calvin Bouchard" in
Jaws 3
in 1983. Shaw's character Romer Treece was largely inspired by Bermudian explorer Teddy Tucker
[4]
who makes a cameo appearance as the Harbor Master early in
The Deep
.
[5]
Tucker's own dive boat
The Brigadier
was dressed to play Treece's boat
Corsair
and it was on that vessel that Peter Benchley partly wrote
Jaws
.
[5]
[6]
Production
[
edit
]
The original concept was developed from the story of a Bermuda shipwreck, the
Constellation
, which sank in 1942, carrying ampoules of morphine among other war cargoes, such as concrete and pharmaceuticals.
[7]
Constellation
sank after possibly striking the wreckage of
American Civil War blockade runner
Montana
, which
Peter Benchley
described as having sunk one on top of the other.
[8]
After the success of
Jaws
,
Columbia Pictures
purchased the rights to Benchley's next novel before its publication in 1976, hiring him to write a screen adaptation. After Peter Guber left his job at Columbia and signed a three-year distribution deal between Columbia and his new company Casablanca FilmWorks, he received
The Deep
as his company's first project. Benchley's screenplay was rewritten by
Tracy Keenan Wynn
and
Tom Mankiewicz
, while Robert Shaw and Nick Nolte rewrote much of their dialogue.
[9]
Filming began in July 1976 with open water diving sequences off
Black Rock Point
,
Salt Island
, near
Peter Island
, the location of the real shipwreck of the
RMS
Rhone
in the
British Virgin Islands
.
[10]
By August 1976 the production was filming land sequences on location in
Bermuda
.
[11]
Other scenes were filmed at the
Great Barrier Reef
in
Australia
.
[9]
Robert Shaw was paid $650,000 plus a percentage of the profits; Bissett and Nolte were paid $200,000 each.
[12]
After Shaw suggested that the film would be more realistic if the filming took place underwater, the entire cast and crew were taught how to
scuba dive
and filmed their scenes underwater.
[9]
Although some scenes were shot in the ocean at depths of 80 feet, many of them would ultimately be filmed in underwater sets to eliminate the need for
decompression
. The film originally had an alternate opening depicting the sinking of the
Goliath
in 1943 with a cameo appearance by Benchley, but it was cut from the film.
[9]
The production was responsible for a number of technical firsts, including Al Giddings'
Petermar
camera system and the use of specially modified 5000-watt "Senior" luminaires to provide cinematic lighting underwater.
[13]
The world's biggest underwater set was dug at the summit of a historic Bermuda hill formerly known as Hospital Island at
Ireland Island South
.
[11]
The film was marketed with a massive advertising campaign, with Columbia spending $1.3 million in television commercials and $1.5 million in print advertising. The film was marketed in
Playboy
and
Penthouse
magazine with a still of Bisset in a
wet T-shirt
, although plans to make a poster of this image were cancelled after Bisset threatened to sue. After the
ABC Television Network
released
The Making of Star Wars
, Columbia produced a similar one-hour special called
The Making of The Deep
on the
CBS Television Network
. Research data reported in
The New York Times
showed that the marketing of the film was so extensive that the average moviegoer viewing the film had already seen a full 15 minutes of it.
[9]
Music
[
edit
]
The film's score was composed by
John Barry
, who at the time was most famous for his work on the
James Bond film series
.
[14]
In the same manner of a Bond film, Barry collaborated with a high profiled singer for the film's theme song. American singer
Donna Summer
teamed up with Barry for the film's signature song, titled
"Down Deep Inside (Theme From The Deep)
". Summer was a singer under contract to the film production company,
Casablanca Record & FilmWorks
. The song was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award
[15]
and a hit on the U.S.
Dance Chart
, as well as a top-five singles hit in the UK, and a top-forty hit in the Netherlands.
Charts
[
edit
]
Reception
[
edit
]
The Deep
was released on June 17, 1977, and was well received by the public. For the first time in film history the audience saw the real underwater world filmed in Panavision. The film reportedly cost $8.5 million to market
[2]
having assured promotional partners that by opening day over 200 million people would have read, seen or heard about
The Deep
more than 15 times.
[13]
Upon its release, the film was noted for its opening scene of
Jacqueline Bisset
swimming underwater while wearing only a
thin, white T-shirt
and a black
bikini
bottom. A possibly opportunistic photo of Bisset in character taken underwater by the wreck of RMS
Rhone
was used to target the men's lifestyle market without her approval.
[13]
Producer
Peter Guber
claimed this helped make the film a box office success, and said "That T-shirt made me a rich man!"
[17]
The Deep
opened to $8,124,316 on 800 screens beating the opening weekend record set by
Jaws
, although it had opened on almost double the number of screens that
Jaws
had.
[18]
[19]
It was the
eighth-highest-grossing film of 1977
in the United States and Canada with a gross of $47.3 million.
[20]
[21]
Overseas, the film was Columbia's highest-grossing film and grossed over $100 million worldwide, although Guber complained in May 1978 that he had not received any profit participation.
[22]
[3]
Vincent Canby
of
The New York Times
gave the film a negative review, stating that "The story, as well as Peter Yates's direction of it, is juvenile without being in any attractive way innocent, but the underwater sequences are nice enough, alternately beautiful and chilling. The shore-based melodrama is as badly staged as any I've seen since
Don Schain
's
The Abductors
(1972), which is to remember incompetence of stunning degree."
[23]
Roger Ebert
praised the film for its photography and presenting a romance in a new setting.
[24]
The Deep
holds a 42% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
based on 24 reviews. The consensus summarizes: "Narratively shallow,
The Deep
is a satisfyingly disposable thriller with commendable underwater photography."
[25]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
The film was nominated for one
Academy Award
[26]
and one
Golden Globe Award
:
[15]
Comic book adaptation
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Lindsey, Robert (7 August 1977).
"The New Tycoons of Hollywood: The Day of the Almighty Mogul is Over"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
a
b
Harmetz, Aljean (26 June 1978).
"Studios Are Picking Up More Films From Independents"
.
New York Times
. p. C18.
- ^
a
b
Schreger, Charles (10 May 1978). "
'Explain' Film Deal-Making, Blow Minds".
Variety
. p. 5.
- ^
Teddy Tucker
- ^
a
b
"Did The Deep film at Mangrove Bay Public Wharf?"
. October 6, 2020
. Retrieved
2020-10-23
.
- ^
"The movie: The Deep"
. Teddy Tucker - Ocean Explorer
. Retrieved
2020-10-23
.
- ^
"Bermuda Shipwrecks ? Constellation Wreck"
.
www.shipwreckexpo.com
. Retrieved
22 March
2018
.
- ^
"What real ships inspired The Deep?"
. Retrieved
2021-12-05
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"The Deep"
.
catalog.afi.com
. Retrieved
2021-12-05
.
- ^
The Deep (1977) - Overview Article
.
tcm.com
- ^
a
b
"Where was the eel from The Deep filmed?"
. October 6, 2020
. Retrieved
2020-10-23
.
- ^
The Fathomable Film Life in 'The Deep': Film Intrigue of Underwater Life Films Follow Lure of the Deep Fathoming 'The Deep' Film
Watters, Jim.
Los Angeles Times
12 Sep 1976: v1.
- ^
a
b
c
"Where was Jacqueline Bisset's wet t-shirt scene filmed?"
. October 3, 2020
. Retrieved
2020-10-23
.
- ^
"Filmography 1970s - John Barry - The Man With The Midas Touch"
.
www.johnbarry.org.uk
. Retrieved
2020-10-23
.
- ^
a
b
"The Deep (1977) Awards"
. Movies & TV Dept.
The New York Times
. 2012. Archived from
the original
on 3 November 2012
. Retrieved
9 November
2019
.
- ^
Kent, David
(1993).
Australian Chart Book 1970?1992
(illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 282.
ISBN
0-646-11917-6
.
- ^
Griffin, Nancy; Masters, Kim (1996).
Hit & Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for A Ride in Hollywood
. Simon & Schuster. p.
85
.
ISBN
0-684-80931-1
.
- ^
Murphy, A.D. (21 June 1977). "
'Deep' Opening a 52-year Col Peak at $8.1 mil".
Daily Variety
.
- ^
Lewis, Richard Warren (July 3, 1977).
"The Selling of 'The Deep'
"
.
The New York Times
. p. 45
. Retrieved
May 29,
2023
.
- ^
"
The Deep
, Box Office Information"
.
Box Office Mojo
. Retrieved
July 4,
2020
.
- ^
Revenue Database - 1977
Archived
2009-07-08 at the
Wayback Machine
.
Box Office Report
- ^
Segers, Frank (12 April 1978). "At Three-Quarter Fiscal Pole, Col, $71,367,000 (Credit Sci-Fi)".
Variety
. p. 4.
- ^
Vincent Canby
(June 18, 1977).
"The Deep"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
2010-08-15
.
- ^
"The Summer of '77 | Roger Ebert | Roger Ebert"
.
- ^
"The Deep"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
.
- ^
"The 50th Academy Awards (1978) Nominees and Winners"
.
oscars.org
. Retrieved
5 October
2011
.
- ^
Marvel Comics:
The Deep
- Grand Comics Database
.
comics.org
- ^
Marvel Comics:
The Deep
- comicbookdb
.
comicbookdb.com
External links
[
edit
]
|
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Novels
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TV and film
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Related
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