Sharky's Machine (film)
Encyclopedia
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.
bus only after the wounding of the bus driver. In the aftermath, Sharky is demoted to vice-squad, which is considered the least desirable assignment in the police department.
In the depths of the vice-squad division, led by Friscoe, the arrest of small-time hooker 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 running for governor.
With a team of downtrodden fellow investigators that includes Papa, Arch, and Nosh, referred to by Friscoe sarcastically as Sharky's "machine," he sets out to find where the trail leads. During one of the stakeouts, a mysterious crime kingpin known as 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.
The next day, Sharky witnesses (what appears to be) Dominoe blown away by a shotgun blast through her front door, killing her and disfiguring 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, and is told that her friend Tiffany used her apartment and is the one who was mistakenly shot by Billy Score. 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 in the West End neighborhood. Meanwhile, Nosh informs Sharky that most of the surveillance tapes have disappeared from the police station, leaving both of them wondering if the investigation has been compromised. Nosh is then confronted by Billy Score, who kills him offscreen.
Sharky confronts Victor at his penthouse apartment in the Westin Peachtree Plaza
and vows to bring him to justice. Victor smugly knows that Dominoe is dead and cannot testify against him, but is stunned to be told by Sharky that she is still alive.
While attempting to find Nosh at his home, 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 informs him of the killing of Sharky's old narcotics division boss JoJo (who was run over by a car), and reveals that Nosh is dead as well. He cuts off two of Sharky's fingers while demanding to know where Dominoe can be found. Sharky attacks and shoots Smiley, and he manages to escape. Later, Sharky turns up with Dominoe at a Hotchkins political rally, to the candidate's considerable shock. Hotchkins is placed under arrest, and Victor finds out about it on the evening newscasts.
Billy Score, in an agitated state, shoots and kills Victor. Almost immediately, Sharky and other police officers arrive at Victor's penthouse in an attempt to catch Billy. He is pursued through the upper floors of the Westin, where like a ghostly apparition he appears and disappears, killing Papa and seriously wounding Arch. Billy ultimately is gunned down by Sharky, crashing through a window and plummeting to his death nearly 700 feet below. In the end, Sharky returns to his childhood home, where Dominoe is now living with him.
from Atlanta's Hyatt Regency Hotel (doubling for the Westin Peachtree Plaza) 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.
The famous wrestler El Mongol played the part of the limo driver in the film.
and produced by Mark Wahlberg
.
1981 in film
-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....
motion picture
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
, who stars in the title role. The movie is an adaptation
Adaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
of William Diehl
William Diehl
William Diehl was an American novelist and photojournalist.He had two childern, a boy and a girl from whom he was estranged....
's first novel Sharky's Machine (1978), with a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Gerald Di Pego
Gerald Di Pego
Gerald Di Pego is an American screenwriter and producer.-Feature film screenplays:*W , Cinerama, 1974*Sharky's Machine, Orion, 1981*Phenomenon, Buena Vista, 1996...
.
Diehl, who was age 50 when he wrote the novel, saw the movie shot on location in and around his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. Its cast included Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman Knight Grand Cross OMRI , popularly known as Il Mattatore, was an Italian theatre and film actor and director...
, Brian Keith
Brian Keith
Brian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...
, Charles Durning
Charles Durning
Charles Durning is an American actor. With appearances in over 100 films, Durning's memorable roles include police officers in the Oscar-winning The Sting and crime drama Dog Day Afternoon , along with the comedies Tootsie, To Be Or Not To Be and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the last two...
, Earl Holliman
Earl Holliman
-Early life:Earl Holliman was born at Delhi in Richland Parish of northeastern Louisiana. Holliman’s biological father died before he was born, and his biological mother, living in poverty with several other children, gave him up for adoption at birth...
, Rachel Ward
Rachel Ward
Rachel Claire Ward, AM is a British actress, columnist, film director, and screenwriter who has primarily pursued her career in Australia.-Early life:...
, Bernie Casey
Bernie Casey
Bernard Terry "Bernie" Casey is a professional actor who initially had a career as an interscholastic, intercollegiate and professional football player. Casey was also a record-breaking track and field athlete for Bowling Green State University...
, Henry Silva, and Richard Libertini
Richard Libertini
Richard Libertini is an American stage, film and television actor known for playing numerous character roles and his ability to speak in numerous accents....
.
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 working on a transaction with a drug dealer. Another member of the force, Smiley, shows up unexpectedly during the sting, causing the drug dealer to run and Sharky to give chase, ultimately shooting the suspect on a MARTAMetropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority or MARTA is the principal rapid-transit system in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the ninth-largest in the United States. Formed in 1971 as strictly a bus system, MARTA operates a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting...
bus only after the wounding of the bus driver. In the aftermath, Sharky is demoted to vice-squad, which is considered the least desirable assignment in the police department.
In the depths of the vice-squad division, led by Friscoe, the arrest of small-time hooker 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 running for governor.
With a team of downtrodden fellow investigators that includes Papa, Arch, and Nosh, referred to by Friscoe sarcastically as Sharky's "machine," he sets out to find where the trail leads. During one of the stakeouts, a mysterious crime kingpin known as 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.
The next day, Sharky witnesses (what appears to be) Dominoe blown away by a shotgun blast through her front door, killing her and disfiguring 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, and is told that her friend Tiffany used her apartment and is the one who was mistakenly shot by Billy Score. 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 in the West End neighborhood. Meanwhile, Nosh informs Sharky that most of the surveillance tapes have disappeared from the police station, leaving both of them wondering if the investigation has been compromised. Nosh is then confronted by Billy Score, who kills him offscreen.
Sharky confronts Victor at his penthouse apartment in the Westin Peachtree Plaza
Westin Peachtree Plaza
The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta is a skyscraper hotel in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, on Peachtree Street adjacent to the Peachtree Center complex and the former Davison's/Macy's flagship store...
and vows to bring him to justice. Victor smugly knows that Dominoe is dead and cannot testify against him, but is stunned to be told by Sharky that she is still alive.
While attempting to find Nosh at his home, 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 informs him of the killing of Sharky's old narcotics division boss JoJo (who was run over by a car), and reveals that Nosh is dead as well. He cuts off two of Sharky's fingers while demanding to know where Dominoe can be found. Sharky attacks and shoots Smiley, and he manages to escape. Later, Sharky turns up with Dominoe at a Hotchkins political rally, to the candidate's considerable shock. Hotchkins is placed under arrest, and Victor finds out about it on the evening newscasts.
Billy Score, in an agitated state, shoots and kills Victor. Almost immediately, Sharky and other police officers arrive at Victor's penthouse in an attempt to catch Billy. He is pursued through the upper floors of the Westin, where like a ghostly apparition he appears and disappears, killing Papa and seriously wounding Arch. Billy ultimately is gunned down by Sharky, crashing through a window and plummeting to his death nearly 700 feet below. In the end, Sharky returns to his childhood home, where Dominoe is now living with him.
Cast
- Burt ReynoldsBurt ReynoldsBurton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
as Sharky - Charles DurningCharles DurningCharles Durning is an American actor. With appearances in over 100 films, Durning's memorable roles include police officers in the Oscar-winning The Sting and crime drama Dog Day Afternoon , along with the comedies Tootsie, To Be Or Not To Be and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the last two...
as Friscoe - Vittorio GassmanVittorio GassmanVittorio Gassman Knight Grand Cross OMRI , popularly known as Il Mattatore, was an Italian theatre and film actor and director...
as Victor - Brian KeithBrian KeithBrian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...
as Papa - Bernie CaseyBernie CaseyBernard Terry "Bernie" Casey is a professional actor who initially had a career as an interscholastic, intercollegiate and professional football player. Casey was also a record-breaking track and field athlete for Bowling Green State University...
as Arch - Rachel WardRachel WardRachel Claire Ward, AM is a British actress, columnist, film director, and screenwriter who has primarily pursued her career in Australia.-Early life:...
as Dominoe - Darryl HickmanDarryl HickmanDarryl Gerard Hickman is an American film and television actor, former television executive, and child star of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:...
as Smiley - Earl HollimanEarl Holliman-Early life:Earl Holliman was born at Delhi in Richland Parish of northeastern Louisiana. Holliman’s biological father died before he was born, and his biological mother, living in poverty with several other children, gave him up for adoption at birth...
as Hotchkins - Henry Silva as Billy Score
- Richard LibertiniRichard LibertiniRichard Libertini is an American stage, film and television actor known for playing numerous character roles and his ability to speak in numerous accents....
as Nosh - John FiedlerJohn FiedlerJohn Donald Fiedler was an American voice actor and character actor in stage, film, television and radio. He was slight, balding, and bespectacled, with a distinctive, high-pitched voice and a career lasting more than 55 years.He is best remembered for four roles: as the nervous Juror #2 in 12...
as Twigs - Hari RhodesHari RhodesHari Rhodes was an American author and actor whose career spanned three decades beginning around 1960....
as Highball - Joseph MascoloJoseph MascoloJoseph Mascolo is an American musician and dramatic actor. During his long career, he has acted in numerous motion pictures and television series. He is best known for playing Stefano DiMera, a role he originated in 1982 on NBC's long running Days of our Lives.-Early life:Mascolo was born and...
as JoJo - Carol LocatellCarol LocatellCarol Locatell is an American actress who has starred in films, television and on Broadway. She is perhaps best known for her role in the 1985 horror movie Friday the 13th: A New Beginning as the foul-mouthed mean lady named Ethel....
as Mabel
Production
At 220 feet, the stuntStunt
A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat, or any act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes in TV, theatre, or cinema...
from Atlanta's Hyatt Regency Hotel (doubling for the Westin Peachtree Plaza) 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
Dar Robinson
Dar Allen Robinson was an American stunt performer and actor. Robinson broke 19 world records and set 21 "world's firsts." He invented the decelerator which allowed a cameraman to film a top-down view of the stuntman as he fell without accidentally...
. 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.
The famous wrestler El Mongol played the part of the limo driver in the film.
Music From The Original Soundtrack
TRACKS:- Street Life - Randy CrawfordRandy CrawfordRandy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist...
; - Dope Bust - Flora PurimFlora PurimFlora Purim is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Chick Corea's landmark album Return to Forever...
and Buddy De Franco; - Route 66Route 66 (song)" Route 66", often rendered simply as "Route 66", is a popular song and rhythm and blues standard, composed in 1946 by American songwriter Bobby Troup. It was first recorded in the same year by Nat King Cole, and was subsequently covered by many artists including Chuck Berry in 1961, The Rolling...
- The Manhattan TransferThe Manhattan TransferThe Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal music group. There have been two manifestations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of both... - My Funny ValentineMy Funny Valentine"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green...
- Chet BakerChet BakerChesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
; - High Energy - Doc SeverinsenDoc SeverinsenCarl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...
; - Love Theme From Sharky's Machine - Sarah VaughanSarah VaughanSarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
; - 8 To 5 I Lose - Joe WilliamsJoe Williams (jazz singer)Joe Williams was a well-known jazz vocalist, a baritone singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs, and jazz standards.-Early life:...
; - My Funny ValentineMy Funny Valentine"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green...
- Julie LondonJulie LondonJulie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...
; - Sexercise - Doc Severinsen;
- Let's Keep Dancing - Peggy LeePeggy LeePeggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
; - Sharky's Theme - Eddie HarrisEddie HarrisEddie Harris was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. He was also fluent on the electric piano and organ...
; - Before You - Sarah Vaughan and Joe Williams.
Remake
A remake of the film is in production, directed by Phil JoanouPhil Joanou
Phil Joanou is an American film director. He is also well known for his work with Irish rock band U2, having directed their rockumentary/live tape Rattle and Hum, one of three videos filmed for "One", and the video for "All Because of You"...
and produced by Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...
.