Hey folks, Harry here... I awoke today with the rather sucky news that Peter Yates was no longer among the living. This gave me pause. Pause, because I was trying to think of all the Peter Yates films I've loved in my life and which would become the focal point.
As I strolled over to IMDB, my eyes scanned down the list of his films and when my brain hit THE DEEP... it stopped.
Don't get me wrong, I love BULLITT, MURPHY'S WAR, MOTHER JUGS & SPEED, EYEWITNESS, BREAKING AWAY, THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, KRULL, SUSPECT and YEAR OF THE COMET... but THE DEEP. THE DEEP goes deep for me.
1977.
I was a full fledged film geek by 1977. Sure, I was going through my 5th full year on Earth, but - movies were huge in my life. And in 1977, one of my first major grown woman crushes came into existence with THE DEEP. I was too young to really understand what the bumps in Jacqueline Bisset's wet t-shirt did to me, but I saw this film about 6 times double featured with JAWS at the local drive-in with my parents. They were huge fans. For me, I always thought of THE DEEP as a prequel to JAWS. To me, Robert Shaw's ROMER TREECE, was the name that Quint went under when he was a treasure hunter, before settling to kill sharks for the rest of his life on Amity Island. I know, weak, but when you're a little kid and you're watching movies, you create personal mythologies and give vision to the invisible lines that connect films in your mind.
I did not really grok that Peter Benchley wrote both, not till I got THE DEEP on Video Disc, remember those? I loved Robert Shaw in, essentially the same role in both Benchley titles. The seasoned sea pro. And as much as I loved JAWS, I'm not sure JAWS had quite the effect on me that Jacqueline Bisset's wet t-shirt did. JAWS was the better movie, but for a young budding oogler, THE DEEP had it where it counted. And THE DEEP was PG, like JAWS. THE DEEP had drug smugglers, the insinuation of interracial rape, and essentially a topless Bisset for a majority of the film. Yes, there was more to love... like Lou Gossett Jr as a really creepy bad guy - and Eli Wallach as a pitiful drunk. AND THERE WAS TREASURE!
Hunting for TREASURE was always on my mind as a kid. I think this film was fully responsible for a big heap of the love I had for THE GOONIES, because I was a treasure hunting fool as a kid. In fact, my Dad and I used to play games where he'd throw coins into a swimming pool and I'd dive in after them. When I was swimming that Barrier Reef with my Dad off the coast of BELIZE - just 2 years after THE DEEP, it was THE DEEP that kept me from reaching in or going near any holes that a giant Moray Eel would come darting out to eat me through. I wasn't scared of sharks, I would know they were coming because I'd hear their theme. (KID LOGIC) But THE DEEP was definitely going through my mind as I reached into the sad on the bottom of the Caribbean hoping to come up with a gold necklace, a crown or even morphine.
THE DEEP made me love water, love diving and swimming - and Swimming is a huge love of mine. I was that fat kid on the swim team, that won races. And to some degree, that's Peter Yates' fault for the amazing sense of costumery that he had, in placing Jacqueline Bisset in a wet t-shirt for the entire film. Somewhere in my brain the thought of swimming would equate wet titties - and even as a child, I knew I wanted those.
Is it a disservice to eulogize Yates through Jacqueline Bisset's wet t-shirt? Probably, but it was a perfect thing he gave to us. A brilliant side step of MPAA rules. One that would probably grab you at least a PG 13 or possibly an R today. But in the 70s - that shit was family fodder and precious to me.
What was your favorite Peter Yates film? Or were you someone that grew up with his SAINT or SECRET AGENT Tv shows? I didn't discover those for years, but I've wanted a Glaive for years. This man was an assistant director on GUNS OF NAVARONE and directed multiple performers to Oscar noms. He was one of the greats. To read a far more mature write up of Yates' career, I insist you check out MORIARTY'S piece over at HitFix.
