Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46185 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-10-20
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 122 minutes

Customer Reviews

Good saturday nighter, poor DVD
Burt Reynolds' riposte to Clint Eastwood encroaching on his redneck comedy turf with his orangutan comedies was to make his own Dirty Harry in Chicago-style thriller, Sharky's Machine. Originally intended for John Boorman but in the end directed by the star himself, it's an out-and-out commercial package with Reynolds a narc who gets busted down to the Vice Squad (literally - they're in the basement) who sets out to nail a mysterious crime lord who is backing Earl Holliman as the next governor. You can guess the rest, but while Reynolds tends to lose sight of the story at times he has a good eye for individual scenes and almost gets a performance out of Rachel ward as the high-class hooker he falls for. The romantic subplot is unusually well developed, there are a couple of good action scenes and some nice touches, such as having Vittorio Gassman's lookalike villain a mirror image of the hero or Reynolds and a killer both staking out a witness from adjacent apartments in the same building. One of the star's better films from his glory days, it's no classic but it makes for a more than efficient Saturday night special.

Sadly, Warners' Region 1 NTSC DVD is a disappointing fullframe transfer.

The serious seedy flipside to "Stakeout"
This is Burt Reynolds finest hour.A totally undervalued film,Burt stars in and directs this classic.It tells the story of a Cop with a heart who puts together a team of "burnouts" and officers who have bucked the system to tackle a crime boss who takes young girls and turns them into high class prositutes.His latest scam involving control of the state Governor elect.Whilst keeping one of the girls "Dominoe" under surveillance,Sharky (Reynolds) discovers this,he also witnesses her attempted murder by the villain's sadistic hitman brother.At the same time Sharky falls in love with his subject (Reynolds you old dog!!)Who can he trust?The corruption goes all the way to the top!MY FAVOURITE,A MUST SEE FOR ANY COP ON SURVEILLANCE.

Sharky's machine
Probably one of the finest Burt Reynolds performances and overall one of the most underated films ever made.The characters portrayed by the 'Team' are first class, superbly cast and acted. Listen carefully for the wonderful interactive script between the 'machine'. I've watched it hundreds of times and it still impresses me.I'm not a Reynold's fan but he is excellent. Add to that a superb music score featuring the 'Crusaders' STREET LIFE. Would like this one on DVD please! This could easily have followed in the Dirty Harry mould with a series of sequels.