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The Deep

Play trailer Poster for The Deep PG Released Jun 17, 1977 2h 3m Adventure Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
42% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 39% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Undersea adventure about a couple who become involved in a dangerous conflict with treasure hunters when they discover a deadly shipwreck in Bermudan waters. When they realize that the cache includes morphine, the pair enlist the help of an old treasure hunter to escape the drug dealers who hid their product amidst the sunken wreck.
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The Deep

The Deep

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Critics Consensus

Narratively shallow, The Deep is a satisfyingly disposable thriller with commendable underwater photography.

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Critics Reviews

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Empire Magazine Rated: 3/5 Jul 11, 2013 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times The story, as well as Peter Yate's direction of it, is juvenile without being in any attractive way innocent, but the underwater sequences are nice enough, alternately beautiful and chilling. May 9, 2005 Full Review Steve Warren The Barb (Atlanta) Everyone should be generally satisfied with it, and no one thoroughly entertained. May 5, 2023 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews ...a potentially-stirring thriller that should’ve topped out at around an hour and a half... Rated: 2/4 Feb 26, 2023 Full Review Tony Vandenberg Washington Blade A soggy adventure tale. May 23, 2022 Full Review Chris Ward Flickering Myth Get past the Jaws connections and The Deep is a good, but not great, underwater adventure with fleeting moments of excitement to keep you invested Sep 19, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jeffrey P The subplots are irrelevant. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 08/26/24 Full Review Blu B This should'nt be as bad as it is. There are some nice shots in this, Robert Shaw is half decent, and the premise of an underwater treasure hunt sounds like some great starting pieces for a underwater blockbuster. The death blow to this is the HORRIFC pacing. There is no suspense, tension, drama, or thrills of ANY KIND AT ALL. It just prods along alternating between boring plot expose and long dragged out underwater scenes. And I mean LONG and DRAGGED out. One of the biggest reasons the editing is terrible as well. Once you've seen one of the underwater scenes which at first is pretty cool actually, you've seen them all. They all look the same and if you rearranged them I truly would'nt be able to tell the difference. There is SOME attempt at action in this but there over in a second, done underwater and done very slowly, or are just lacking any specticle factor. It's a major reason why the cinematography isn't good because I swear half this movie is underwater or on the water and it all looks the same. The on land scenes look better and the framing, lighting, and all is good in those but it's just boring plot expose 75% of the time. One other culprit here is the terribly boring music. It's not used enough and when it is, it is so generic and forgettable it somehow makes the scene even MORE boring. The acting is probably the best thing here and is just ok. No one really has any character to them. The bad voodoo guys are forgettable and the couple really don't have much chemistry. This needed to take a lesson from Thunderball and Jaws, two blockbusters that did water scenes MUCH better overall. So it's not that they didn't know how to do it at this point. So that begs the question what the heck happened here. And how did they screw up the pacing THIS badly especially for a summer blockbuster. Underwater scenes can be great visual storytelling moments when done right to compensate for the slowness especially with a great soundtrack. I seriously can't recommend this to anyone. Skip This. It's insane how boring and dragged out this feels despite generally a simple enough plot to follow. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/13/24 Full Review David W A great cast, brilliant underwater filming and a decent script based upon the Peter Benchy novel. It's no Jaws but it is entertaining. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/24 Full Review Kevin F First rate underwater photography, a great plot, and one of Robert Shaw's best performances. As a diver, films seldom do a good job depicting scuba diving; this is one of the best. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/24 Full Review Alec B Yates does his best with the material but unlike "Jaws" this movie is probably a little too faithful to the Benchley source material (overwritten and needlessly lurid at points) to ever make the basic plot points remotely interesting. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/09/24 Full Review Audience Member This movie was made with a 1970s audience in mind. That means, there are long sequences with music and a kind of romanticism you don't find in Hollywood films of this century. It only makes the film's action scenes and climax more exciting when the pacing suddenly picks up. I saw this when I was a child and the suspense at the film's climax was equal to that of the Terminator or Star Wars (A New Hope) - awesome fun for a kid! The characters are mostly likeable and the actors do an excellent job of bringing the story to life. As far as treasure hunting films go, this is one of the best because there is emphasis on the historical value of what the main characters are finding. There are references to money and greed but the plot is more about the adventure. You can really get into the related mystery while enjoying the scenery of the ocean and Bermuda visuals (not to mention the beautiful Jaqueline Bisset!). Good escapist fun. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/09/24 Full Review Read all reviews
The Deep

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Undersea adventure about a couple who become involved in a dangerous conflict with treasure hunters when they discover a deadly shipwreck in Bermudan waters. When they realize that the cache includes morphine, the pair enlist the help of an old treasure hunter to escape the drug dealers who hid their product amidst the sunken wreck.
Director
Peter Yates
Producer
Peter Guber
Screenwriter
Peter Benchley, Tracy Keenan Wynn
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
Production Co
EMI Films Ltd.
Rating
PG
Genre
Adventure, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 17, 1977, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 16, 2012
Runtime
2h 3m
Sound Mix
Stereo
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