Friday night we watched Sharky’s Machine. This is 100% a Burt Reynolds vanity vehicle – directed by and starring Burt, he has maybe three spoken lines and spends most of the movie smoking silently in a hotel room on stakeout watching a high-class prostitute.
So why would we even bother to watch this poorly-edited, poorly-acted cop film? Because it was shot primarily in Downtown in the late ’70s. There are some cool scenes of Five Points, Kenny’s Alley, Trinity Avenue, the Westin, Peachtree Center, and the old viaducts. The only time the story leaves Downtown is an outside shot of Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, which in the film is a heroin binge den/prostitution ring hub. Everyone speaks with cliched NYPD accents even though the film is set in Georgia. (Well, everyone except for Ralph, a tranny prostitute.) But I would rather be confused by Brooklyn accents in the APD’s vice squad than hear terrible forced, fake Southern accents, so we let that inconsistency go.
Here are the first ten minutes of Sharky’s Machine to get you hooked. Recognize anything? (It’s easier to spot familiar buildings and sights when watching on non-pixelated DVD.)
Warning: Swear words and violence! Someone gets murdered on a MARTA bus.
There are also cameos from Atlanta’s star newscasters of that era: Monica (Kaufman) Pearson, Wes Sarginson, Dave Michaels, and Forrest Sawyer.
We watched it at the invitation of “Kaneharvest,” noted Downtown expert and inventor of the parking deck tour. If you don’t know the C&S building from a hole in the ground then be sure you screen this film with someone who does, otherwise it won’t be fun.
(According to some sources, Mark Wahlberg is remaking Sharky’s Machine. It supposedly won’t be set in Atlanta so who cares?)
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Tags: burt reynolds, downtown, sharky's machine
I was working downtown when this was being shot and it was quite exciting. They used the skeleton of that old hotel on Luckie as the site for a big car crash, which was the first use it had seen in many moons. The old timers grumbled that it interfered with their cocktail hour at the Little Mug.
This was shown as part of the Burtathon triple feature that the Alamo Drafthouse sponsored at the Starlight a couple of years ago. Preceded by Smokey & The Bandit, and followed by White Lightning, it made for a fun second act (I hadn’t seen this one before). Unfortunately, I had to duck out of Lightning early to get some sleep– I had to be back at the drive-in early the next morning to take off on the SatB-themed road race/scavenger hunt to Texarkana!
I was growing up in Newport News, VA when I saw this movie. One of my memories of the film was the scene filmed at the old Braves stadium during a team or pre-game batting practice. I thought that was neat because the Braves were my baseball team, courtesy of Ted Turner’s TBS.
I also think Sharky’s Machine made the classic blunder of showing the best stunt in the trailer (The Westin scene). You sat through the entire movie waiting for the stunt and it was so anti-climatic when it does happen
You should still care. Sharky’s Machine was written by William Diehl. Not only did he also write Primal Fear, thus leading us to fully appreciate Edward Norton, but he was a longtime Georgia resident, and spent a fair amount of time living in Atlanta. So the local connection remains.
My brothers were extras in Sharkey’s Machine and a scene from the movie was filmed across the street from my house. You can’t imagine the excitement that caused. Burt Reynolds was swaggering around and turned to wave at the crowd once or twice. I couldn’t wait to get to school the next day and tell everyone, “Burt Reynolds waved at ME!” I was so mad when the movie came out and I was too young to go see it. My brothers and sisters made a big deal out of going, then came home to complain about how awful it was. I think I still have an autographed glossy of Burt Reynolds around somewhere.