AllMovie

Intended as the pilot for the proposed weekly series "Peter Benchley's Mystery of the Deep," the made-for-TV Hunters of the Reef bears traces of such best-selling Peter Benchley novels as Jaws and The Deep. Much of the action is devoted to a race between two salvage-boat captains -- one poor, one rich -- to recover the valuables in a ship wrecked off the Florida coast. Needless to say, the waters surrounding the wreck are infested with sharks; it is perhaps also unnecessary to observe that among the "scavengers" is a gorgeous marine biologist (Mary Louise Weller) who happens to be a knockout in a diving suit. Filmed on-location in Key West, FL, Hunters of the Reef originally surfaced as part of NBC's prime-time schedule on May 20, 1978.