We have here what might be the first Jaws cash-in.
A charter fishing boat is doing a normal business when a Mako shark is spotted. The fishermen try to reel the predator in, but it swims away. A diver comes up and is cussed out by the boat's captain. Despite this, they take the man aboard.
That's when it is made clear that the man (and his knife) are responsible for the shark's escape. One short and brutal fight later, the sharks are well fed and the diver swims away with his pockets heavier.
Later at the local watering hole, the diver (Richard Jaeckel) is greeted by the bartender Butter (Milton Smith). The diver, now revealed as Sonny Stein, pays with the scraps he took off the fishermen, although Butter seems to imply he knows where Sonny gets his money.
Boating back to his small shack on a channel island, Sonny is greeted by Dr. Whitney (Bob Kronen) and his assistants, Pete (Harold Sakata) and Charlie (John Chandler). Whitney has a proposition for Sonny. The way the doc hears it, there's not a man on the Seven Seas who knows sharks like Sonny. He needs Sonny and his affinity for sharks as he wants to observe a wild shark giving birth, something no man has ever seen before.
Sonny dismisses the man, besides, he argues, he's seen shark births all the time. Why should he help? Because, the doc argues, unless sharks are better understood the government might start issuing bounties for the sharks as they seem to be under the impression the fish are all dangerous killers.
This is enough to get Sonny's attention and he agrees to help. Of course, things may not be what they appear to be, as Pete and Charlie seem to have something else in mind for the sharks but the doc insists they be quiet until they're away, at which point "they can have all the fun they want"...
Sonny goes into town and another bar. This one has a large tank in the center. Inside the owner's (Buffy Dee) wife (Jenifer Bishop) swims before a totally indifferent crowd. Sonny spies the wife, Karen, being hassled by Pete and Charlie. She gets away, but when Sonny is driving away himself he sees her being hassled again. Getting involved, Sonny drives them off.
Karen is grateful, but annoyed as Sonny insists on driving her to his house first before taking her home. He has rounds and promises to keep after all. He feeds some sharks under his house and explains to Karen how he was adopted into a shark tribe during his service in the Philippines.
Karen makes it home, where dear hubby is more annoyed at her absence than her near assault. She does give him a good idea for the bar's tank. Why not a shark act?
Then there's the doc's plans, which is less study and more killing any and every shark they can find. When Sonny finds out, well, he doesn't take it too well...
Huh. Grefe swore he did the story before Jaws was even a thing, which is possible. When your most sympathetic character is a bartender who has life five lines, well. Sonny comes across more as a simpleton whereas everyone is as sleazy as possible. By the end you just don't care anywhere, plus the rumored use of actual dead sharks can leave the viewer feeling grimy.
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