The Deep (1977 film)
| The Deep | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Peter Yates |
| Produced by |
Peter Guber (producer) George Justin (associate producer) |
| Screenplay by |
Peter Benchley Tracy Keenan Wynn |
| Based on |
The Deep by Peter Benchley |
| Starring |
Robert Shaw Jacqueline Bisset Nick Nolte Louis Gossett, Jr. |
| Music by | John Barry |
| Cinematography | Christopher Challis |
| Edited by | David Berlatsky |
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Production
company |
Casablanca Filmworks
EMI Films |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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124 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $9 million |
| Box office | $47.3 million |
The Deep is a 1977 adventure film based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. It was directed by Peter Yates, and stars Robert Shaw, Jacqueline Bisset and Nick Nolte.
While scuba-diving near shipwrecks off Bermuda, vacationing couple David Sanders (Nick Nolte) and Gail Berke (Jacqueline Bisset) recover a number of artifacts, including an ampoule of amber-colored liquid and a medallion bearing the image of a woman and the letters "S.C.O.P.N." (meaning "Santa Clara, ora pro nobis" or "Saint Clara, pray for us") and a date, 1714. Sanders and Berke seek the advice of lighthouse-keeper and treasure-hunter Romer Treece (Robert Shaw) on the origin of the medallion, who identifies the item as Spanish and takes an interest in the young couple. The ampoule is noticed by the man who had rented diving equipment to Sanders and Berke, which in turn attracts the attention of Henri 'Cloche' Bondurant (Louis Gossett, Jr.), a local drug kingpin for whom the shop owner works, who unsuccessfully tries to buy the ampoule and then begins to terrorize the couple with Haitian black magic. 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 wreck of the Goliath is considered dangerous and is posted as off-limits to divers due to the danger of explosions. Treece concludes that a recent storm has exposed her cargo of morphine and unearthed a much older wreck containing Spanish treasure.
Treece makes a deal with Cloche, so they can dive in peace making him believe he will get the ampoules for a million dollars, while his real plan is to have the chance to find the treasure. Cloche gives him 3 days to recover them. Sanders, Berke, and Treece make several dives to the wrecks, recovering thousands of morphine ampoules from Goliath and several additional artifacts from the Spanish wreck. Adam Coffin (Eli Wallach), the only survivor from Goliath joins to help in the boat but his loyalty is not very clear when they get attacked by sharks and he only says "that he probably fell asleep" without noticing they were in trouble.
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Wikipedia