Very disappointing. Fantastic for the first twenty minutes when we are treated to fantastic underwater sequences with amazingly beautiful shots of fish, Jacqueline Bisset and more fish. After that first foray into the depths and all seems to be going so swimmingly, a rather underwritten tale of who gets the treasure ensues. Shaw and Nolte and in particular Eli Wallach plus, of course Bisset give it their best but despite a fine John Barry score, this is sunk as soon as the hoary old story rears its head. I would also say that if its to be underwater 'car chases' and fisticuffs, then keep it simple and keep it sexy. This gets very dull and drab and is completely lacking in humour. Makes Jaws look like a great film - which of course that is.

The Deep is another Peter Benchley success, this time involving treasure, Drugs, and mystery. David(Nick Nolte) and Gail(Jacqueline Bisset) are vacationing in Bermuda. They are diving one day, and come across a sunken ship, The Goliath.When they explore it, David finds a piece of treasure. Thinking it could be some kind of coin. He also discovers an ampule of morphine. Gail on the other hand has a run in with something that tried to pull her arm off, but got her diving stick instead. What it was is never know to the viewer? It could have been a Morey Eel, but what ever it was was big, and it almost pulled her under the bottom. When they come up from diving, Dave tells her about his discovery. When they return to shore and tells someone working on the beach, where they were the guy gives him a strange look. The guy gets very suspicious, and wonders why they were down roaming in The Goliath. That night when Gail and David go to dinner, they attract unwanted attention. During dinner a man by the name of Cloche(Lou Gossett Jr.) comes over. He introduces himself as a rare glass collector. He wants the ample of Morphine, but Dave refuses. The next day David and Gail want to find out more about the treasure he found, and info on the ample. They take it to the best treasure hunter on the island, Romer Treece( Robert Shaw). He tells them what they found is no coin, but a medallion. Treece tells them if they found the ample on the Goliath, there's bound to be thousands more. The Goliath was a military medical ship. The medallion doesn't catch Treece's attention as much as the ample does. So he, David, and Gail, go and find Coffin. Coffin was one of those that survived the ship wreck, and Treece wants to know more. It wasn't just a military ship that carried medical supplies; but one that carried a lot of ammo.Cloche also will do anything to get his hands on this, including killing anyone who gets in the way. Cloche first tries to kill Dave and Gail by running them off the road and kidnapping them. Then when Treece and Dave dive one night. Cloche sends his hench men to threaten Gail at their hotel room. While on this cat and mouse game of survival, they learn more about another sunken ship whee the medallion was found. Whit the help of Romer they find out who the medallion belonged to and the history of it and other treasures that are down there. When Coffin double crosses Treece, Treece's loyal friend joins in to help, Kevin(Robert Tessier). When they all team up the stakes get higher, and Cloche is right on their tails.This movie is excellent, not as good as JAWS; but it grabs you from the start. Robert Shaw is excellent as Treece, but to date Quit is still is best performance. I enjoyed this movie so much because of the scenery, plot, and excitement. The giant Moray Eel will get your attention, especially at the end. For those that love movies about treasure hunters, with action/suspense this is for you. It is highly recommended and you will not be disappointed. Since I have seen this movie I am reading the book. I want to know more that you just can't get from the movie. Don't pass this gem up, because your adventure awaits you IN THE DEEP.Thanks, Kris

I loved this movie when I first watched it in 1977 as a 32-year old and I love it just as much today. It has everything that a "boy's own" adventure could offer; a decent plot, a beautiful girl (let's face it, Jacqueline Bisset is gorgeous at the best of times but put her in a wet T-shirt and she's, well, WOW!, a fabulous exotic location, a dastardly villain or two and a couple of decent goodies to battle the baddies. Toss in a great music score by John Barry (that theme is brilliant) and what more could you ask for?Robert Shaw plays a great part and is equalled only by Eli Wallach; he was always an excellent baddie! Nick Nolte may not be the world's greatest actor but he does the job okay in this movie.

Now I read the book simply for the enormous moray nicknamed Percy, but I soon discovered the plot was far more intense, it involved a honeymooning couple in Bermuda, diving off shipwrecks for sunken treasure, fighting against greedy Cuban gangsters and angry tiger sharks, and it was very exciting, very thrilling, the eel though only made at least three appearances, it was dwarfed by the struggles between the human characters themselves, and barely seen. The reason people usually want to view The Deep is because they think it is a monster flick similar to Jaws, involving a gargantuan moray in place of a huge great white, but this is not the case as I learned not to my disappointment but surprise and enjoyment, it is much (excuse the pun) more deep and further than Jaws in certain respects, using a leviathan as only a minor character and not the main focus. But yes after seeing the eel, Percy as he is named, I fell fast asleep and haven't really cared about locating and viewing the movie completely since because I know that the book is good enough for me, and this film is probably pale and poor adaptation, that is all I will say.