Piranha (1972)

Having watched 'Piranha, Piranha' just last night, when I look at film sites online about it, and see all of these so-called cinephiles so upset because they felt the title was a ripoff (don't worry, I'm not going to give any spoilers), and that the film is an unenjoyable mess, 'to each his own', I say, for I really enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong, it's no 'Piranha', 'Jaws' or 'Moby Dick', but for what it does have, and what it does try to do, I give full marks for.

Like Jack Palance and Henry Silva, William Smith is one of those presences that no matter how much you hate, you have to respect, and deep down inside, no matter how good you are, or think you are, you wish you were. Nothing phases them, and they're in complete control of their destinies. If someone bothers them, they are eliminated, and if they want someone, they reach out and grab them. This is one of those films that fully endorses that mythology, in Smith's character, Caribe.

The film is an intriguing blend of 'Deliverance' and 'The Most Dangerous Game'. It's no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it's nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. And it's no ripoff to Dante's thriller, because it came out six years beforehand (and three years before 'Jaws' made this type of movie so popular). What is very difficult for me to grasp is that around this same time, in an even more desolate area of South America and with even more temperamental actors, Werner Herzog was making a masterpiece in 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God'...