This Film Has Been Rated Ecch: THE DIP

Friday, June 11, 2021

THE DIP

THE DEEP (1977)
dir: Peter Yates

After the success of Jaws, there were dozens of imitations and films that took place underwater. This wasn't one of them, it was even based on a book by the same author, but it's probably only because of Jaws this was greenlit.

MAD #198, April 1978
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker

David (Nick Nolte) and Gail (Jacqueline Bisset) are a couple deep-sea diving in Bermuda. Gail is almost attacked by some sort of marine life reaching under a ship for treasure and they come up to the land for air.

They're at the library doing research on a bottle and coin they found on their dive, and find nothing. During dinner that evening they are approached by a druglord named Cloche (Louis Gossett) who knows they have these things and offers to buy them, but they lie and they say he has them confused with somebody else. They don't have any clues about the treasure and ask expert Treece (Robert Shaw) about them the next day who tells them they've found 18th century Spanish treasures. After they leave they're run off the road and kidnapped by Cloche and his gang.

Cloche has kidnapped them because the bottle contains a vial of morphine also hidden underwater. They're convinced David and Gail are hiding the treasure on them and make Gail strip (but not David for some reason). There are several more vials of morphine from the Goliath, a WWII ship that's underwater in the same location. Gail, David, and Treece locate Adam Coffin (Eli Wallach), former commander of the Goliath, asking for his help. Treece and David go back underwater to get to the morphine and the Spanish treasures. In the movie, while searching, they are attacked by a giant moray eel. Here, it's Lloyd Bridges of Sea Hunt.

Back at the hotel, Gail is sleeping and Cloche's gang, still looking for the morphine, break in and scare her with a voodoo curse, smearing chicken blood on her. David comes back and they stay with Treece, where it's safe. At his home, they do more research on the Spanish treasure and find out the coin was a medallion given to a noblewoman by the king. They deduce there are even more treasures in a Spanish ship under the Goliath.

Treece, also an explosives expert, plans to blow up the Goliath to get to the Spanish ship. Cloche has word of the expedition and wants the morphine he knows is also there, so he sabotages the expedition by coming to the same location and chumming the waters to attract sharks. Adam is on guard for Treece's dive and is helpless to do anything about it.

This leads to the climactic underwater scene of the two groups competing for different objects, the good guys fending off sharks, and after a series of explosions not knowing who is killed until Treece resurfaces and has the rest of the treasure for the nice young couple.

The British version used the movie for the cover

THE DEEEP
Cracked #146, November 1977
a: Howard Nostrand

Unlike MAD's version, this required you to have seen the movie to understand what's going on.

After attacking Gail, Treece bargains with Cloche. Leave the couple alone, let them find the Spanish treasures, and after that, the morphine is all his.

One of Cloche's henchmen kills one of Treece's divers. When Adam doesn't save Treece and his men from the sharks, his loyalty is questioned.

The dragon at the end of this is Ollie from Kukla, Fran, and Ollie

THE BEEP
Crazy #33. January 1978
w: Fred Wolfe (Paul Laikin)
a: Murad Gumen

This parody has several well-known marine characters throughout. In the splash are Charlie Tuna, the Star-Kist mascot based on Phil Silvers, and a fish that looks like Jacques Cousteau.

David and Gail don't know Cloche is a drug dealer initially, he introduces himself as an antique dealer.

Robert Shaw was also in Black Sunday that year.

-At the top is Jabberjaw, an animated cartoon character based on Curly Howard.
-Anita Bryant was a 50s pop singer more known for her anti-gay activism in the 70s.