Best movie of this year hands down!

I'll tell you why so serious

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Magnus Dens (a fine and engaging performance by Leigh McCloskey) suffers troubling and nightmarish memories of his traumatic childhood. Magnus joins up with crusty scientist Dr. Paulis (nicely essayed with cranky aplomb by Burl Ives) and his hearty assistant Eric (a delightfully robust portrayal by Carl Weathers) to investigate what's been causing unexplained disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. Meanwhile, Magnus meets and falls for the beautiful and enigmatic Jennie Haniver (bewitching Connie Selleca), who has an unusual link to what's going on in the triangle.Director Tom Kotani, working from a quirky and engrossing script by William Overgard, relates the compellingly idiosyncratic story at a hypnotically deliberate pace, makes excellent use of the breathtaking Bermuda locations, and ably crafts an eerie and poetic dreamy mood. The doomed romance between Magnus and Jennie gives this picture an unexpectedly haunting and poignant quality (Jennie's lonely plight and inability to form permanent emotional connections in particular rates as quite tragic and touching). Moreover, the filmmakers deserve extra praise for putting a welcome and refreshing emphasis on characters and atmosphere over cheap scares and fancy pyrotechnics, with the action involving a giant turtle occurring in the last third. The special effects are pretty rough around the edges, but do the trick just the same. Ruth Attaway does well as sage and superstitious local Delia while ravishing former Playboy Playmate Julie Woodson contributes a respectable turn as Eric's concerned wife Doshan. Kudos are also in order for Jeri Sopanen's striking underwater photography as well as the gently spooky and melodic score by Maury Laws. An admirably unique and affecting little item.

Leigh McCloskey plays Magnus Dens, a young man who returns to his childhood home in Bermuda to investigate his father's mysterious death. He meets up with two of his father's colleagues(played by Burl Ives & Carl Weathers) who are marine biologists looking into reports of giant sea creatures, and in particular a giant turtle. He also meets up with a beautiful and mysterious young woman(Connie Sellecca) who had been a friend of his from childhood, and has a strange and deadly connection to the giant turtle, which is no myth...Effective and eerie TV film became a legend among viewers back in the late 70's as "that giant turtle movie", since the actual title was forgotten, and this film seldom seen. Has a memorably melancholy air of mystery and loss, and a haunting song "Jennie" about the ghostly and doomed woman Magnus is in love with. Scenes with the turtle are well done and exciting, and this film is worth seeing on DVD, from Warner Archive collection.

Also a child of the 70's (born in 71) I am not sure which airing I caught of this movie but must have been around 79. Not sure I saw the whole thing but remember certain parts of it, the huge turtle, the girl, etc. For years I had strange dreams about this movie and like most others, nobody else could remember it. Interestingly enough, the 'haunting' music that some reference, for me, wasn't "Jenny", but rather the the whale song played throughout and at the end of the movie. I think I had repressed the memory in my 20's and 30's, until the past couple of years. My ten year old son has a a selection of books on prehistoric creatures, and as soon as I saw the 'Archelon' section it all came flooding back and my quest began to find this movie. I found this review site and was amazed at such similar stories. To wrap things up, I found at Amazon for a good price and watched it with my family last night. Kids were less than enchanted at the special effects, and my husband was looking at me like "really? you were 'haunted' by this?" My mom was here from Minnesota and only vaguely remembers the end, she must have been busy in the kitchen at the time I watched it as a kid. Needless to say, she dozed off during Family Movie Night! But I still loved it, was great to see it again, cheesy as it may be. Like a solved mystery for me.

Like many of the rest of you, I thought this movie may have been a dream while I was a child. I saw it only once on TV and then never again. It was the best movie, thank god i remembered Carl Weathers or I'd never have known how to search it. All I could remember was the beach and the bubble which ended up bearing the turtle and the initials in his shell which i used to think were written in chalk! And of course Jenny's flowing dress in shreds with the giant harpoon hole in her side. this was a mystical movie that just brought kids into a completely different world and there were very few of these in the 70s and perhaps that is why it meant so much to so many. Please release this onto DVD. We should lobby whatever network this was broadcast on and beg to have it mass produced.