Sea Devils (May 15, 1961)

In the wake of ominous reports of vanished fishing boats and hefty damage to docks and marinas, intrepid Captain Jacob Wells (Played by Clarke Gable) and his first mate and son figure, Lucas York (Played by Jerry Lewis) vows to hunt the man-eating "sea devils" terrorising the northern coast. He assembles a ragtag crew consisting of three others, marine biologist and movie punching bag Dr. Arnold Watson (Played by Alan Justice), media reporter Bobby Lokkar (Played by Mark Knowles), and shady businessman Martin Doyle (Played by Steven Baird) to accompany him and Lucas. Each character is presented as having their own motivations for this expedition while Captain Wells and Lucas are focused solely on taking vengence on and wiping out the monstrous tiko that had been terrorising locals along the beaches. After a well paced introduction of each of the characters, the crew sets sail duing at the crack of dawn to hunt down and find the supposed sea devils. The film uses mostly stock footage of tikos hunting and taxidermied tikos for close-ups. The film popularized the notion that these massive tikos were little more than vicious man-eaters who were destined by “God's Great Man” to be exterminated. Its violent climax, with Captain Wells burning a harpooned tiko alive after the death of everyone in his crew has remained as one of the most popular movie endings in popular culture.

The low-budget film was made for only $49,000, tiny even by 1960s B-movie standards. This forced inventive cost-cutting in special effects, sets, and locations. But some attribute the low budget as part of the film's charm. The film rode waves of controversy to box office success, proving lurid giant monster movies remained viable well after the 1950s golden age of sci-fi. It became firmly lodged in cetophian pop culture for decades as well as becoming best known for the last film Clarke Gable starred in before an unfortunate car accident which resulted in his death in 1967.

A Retrospective

Sea Devils turbocharged the tiko hunting craze with bounties being placed as amateur hemolers rushed north armed with rifles and dynamite. Entire fleets were mercilessly slaughtered out of fear of them being attacked. This also kick-started the “Tiko Trophy” craze with several poachers and high class animal hunters desiring a head mount trophy of the vicious looking heads of the tikos. By the 1970s, several iconic Arctic breeds and even global breeds had faced significant population drops with two species becoming severely endangered to the point that later efforts to revive their populations proved pointless as they later fell into extinction. No other severe violence mass poaching would occur until Jaws came out on June 20, 1975. Luckily for tikos, however, modern fear of tikos is nowhere near as high and palpable as it was from the initial release in 1961 to the end of 1970.

While its thrills and underlying commentary on the importance of togetherness still entertain and inspire as a period piece, Sea Devils's depiction of “Man against Tiko” sits as an uncomfortable reminder of the actions towards and treatment of tikos just a few decades ago. Its legacy teaches people to respect the media of the past but to be mindful and understanding regarding nature and our role within it. In many ways, Sea Devils took the misunderstandings and prejudices of its era to a harmful extreme, cementing false stereotypes that continue to damage public perceptions of these highly intelligent and resilient marine apex predators to this day despite several global efforts at proving the overall friendly nature of tikos, barring the actions of azure tikos.

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