Sharky's Machine is a 1981 motion picture directed by Burt Reynolds, who stars in the title role. The movie is an adaptation of William Diehl's first novel Sharky's Machine (1978), with a screenplay by Gerald Di Pego.
Diehl, who was age 50 when he wrote the novel, saw the movie shot on location in and around his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. Its cast included Vittorio Gassman, Brian Keith, Charles Durning, Earl Holliman, Rachel Ward, Bernie Casey, Henry Silva, and Richard Libertini.
It has been the most successful box-office release of a film directed by Reynolds.
Plot
Tom Sharky is a narcotics cop in Atlanta who is demoted to vice after a botched bust. Another member of the force, Smiley, shows up unexpectedly during the sting, causing the suspect to run and Sharky to give chase, ultimately shooting the suspect on a city bus.
In the depths of the vice-squad division, led by Friscoe, the arrest of a small-time hooker named Mabel results in the accidental discovery of a high-class prostitution ring that includes a beautiful escort named Dominoe who charges $1,000 a night. Sharky and his new partners begin a surveillance of her apartment and discover that Dominoe is having a relationship with Hotchkins, a candidate for governor.
With a team of downtrodden fellow investigators that include Papa, Arch and Nosh, referred to by Friscoe sarcastically as Sharky's "machine," he sets out to find where the trail leads. A mysterious crime kingpin called Victor comes to Dominoe's apartment. He has been controlling her life since Dominoe was a young girl, but now she wants out. Victor agrees but forces her to have sex with him one last time.
A shotgun blast through her door the next day leaves Dominoe's body on the floor, her face beyond recognition. Sharky has privately been developing feelings for her while viewing through binoculars and listening to her bugged conversations.
The man who shot her, known as Billy Score, is a drug addict and Victor's brother. He answers to Victor, as does Hotchkins, who is in love with Dominoe but remains a powerless political stooge under Victor's rule.
Dominoe suddenly turns up to Sharky's surprise. While she was away, a friend used her apartment and is the one who is dead. Dominoe is convinced that if Victor wants her dead, she is going to be dead, but reluctantly leaves with Sharky to be hidden away at his childhood home.
Sharky confronts Victor and vows to bring him to justice. Victor smugly knows that Dominoe is dead and can't testify against him, but is stunned to be told by Sharky that she is still alive. Sharky turns up with Dominoe at a Hotchkins political rally, to the candidate's considerable shock. Hotchkins is placed under arrest.
Two men spring an attack on Sharky and he is knocked cold. He awakens on a boat, where he is held captive and tortured by Smiley, who turns out to be working for Victor.
Smiley is responsible for killing Sharky's old narcotics division boss, JoJo, and also reveals that Nosh is dead as well. He demands to know where Dominoe can be found and cuts off two of Sharky's fingers.
Sharky manages to escape. Billy Score, in a agitated state, kills his brother Victor. He is pursued in an Atlanta high-rise building, where like a ghostly apparition he appears and disappears, shooting both Papa and Arch. He ultimately is gunned down by Sharky, crashing through a window and plummeting to his death.
In the end, Sharky returns to his childhood home, where Dominoe is now apparently living with him.
Cast
Production
At 220 feet, the stunt from Atlanta's Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel still holds up as the highest free-fall stunt ever performed from a building for a commercially-released film. The stuntman was the legendary Dar Robinson. Despite it being a record-setting fall, only the briefest moment of the beginning of the fall is used in the movie. The bulk of the fall from the skyscraper as shown on film is clearly of a dummy.
Music From The Original Soundtrack
TRACKS: 1. Street Life - Randy Crawford; 2. Dope Bust - Flora Purim and Buddy De Franco; 3. Route 66 - The Manhattan Transfer; 4. My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker; 5. High Energy - Doc Severinsen; 6. Love Theme From Sharky's Machine - Sarah Vaughan; 7. 8 To 5 I Lose - Joe Williams; 8. My Funny Valentine - Julie London; 9. Sexercise - Doc Severinsen; 10. Let's Keep Dancing - Peggy Lee; 11. Sharky's Theme - Eddie Harris; 12. Before You - Sarah Vaughan and Joe Williams.
Remake
A remake of the film is in production, directed by Phil Joanou and produced by Mark Wahlberg.[1]
References
External links
