Friday, August 2, 2019

Shark Week: Tintorera (1977)

Tintorera (1977) dir. Rene Cardona, Jr., Conacine/Hemdale




Moving into the cash ins, this one might be the most NSFW film featured here.



Steven (Hugo Stiglitz) has just sailed into a small resort town somewhere on the Mexican coast. Colorado (Roberto Guzman) is a local fisherman and deckhand. He's annoyed that his latest catch is a bit lighter, as evidenced by the massive bites taken out of them.

Steven doesn't think too much about it and hits the town to score with chicks. He gets lucky, in more ways than one, when he meets Patricia (Fiona Lewis), a British tourist. They quickly fall in love or at least lust but Steven can't decide if he wants to settle down with her. The decision is made for him when Patricia catches the eye of Miguel (Andres Garcia), a local swimming instructor. Patricia is even more physical with Miguel than she was with Steven.

Steven broods over this on his boat. While he's doing this, Patricia figures to do some skinny dipping in the morning surf and meets a rather large and hungry tiger shark. Steven never sees her again, but he gets over it.

He confronts Miguel, who is similarly brooding but they both get over it when Miguel introduces his newest friends to him, namely sisters Kelly (Jennifer Ashley) and Cynthia (Laura Lyons). The foursome turns literal as they spend some time on Steven's yacht. The tiger shark is nearby too, but it fails to attack.

Steven and Miguel decide to go into business together. The business of banging broads and killing sharks that is.

The duo meet Gabriella (Susan George) and take her back to the boat. She's turned off by the hunting and turned on by them. She proposes a deal-they both sleep with her but no falling in love. The terms are acceptable. The threesome have fun for a while but the honeymoon ends with Miguel being ripped in half by the same tiger shark that's been stalking them.

Gabriella figures this is a sign to leave and does so. Steven takes this as a sign to kill as many sharks as he can. Things build to a climax on the beach in more ways than one.

More sexploitation than sharkploitation but were 1970's audiences really ready for a ménage a trois in their monster flicks?

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