Tarpon

Tarpon; remastered to DVD, shot at Key West in 1973 and co-directed by Christian Odasso and Guy de la Valdene, with appearances by Richard Brautigan (Trout Fishing in America, Thomas McGuane (Ninety-two In the Shade), and Jim Harrison (Legends of the Fall), and original score by Jimmy Buffett. 53 minutes, $34.95.

The first of the modern fishing films, Tarpon features early guides and anglers as they fly fish for tarpon in the wilderness of the Florida Keys. The film captures the essence of the sport in dramatic footage and in the appearance and commentary of popular authors Thomas McGuane, Jim Harrison and Richard Brautigan. Colorful scenes of Key West from another era with treasure hunters, smugglers, hippies and eccentrics are background to stunning cinematography and tarpon fishing at its finest. To top it off, Jimmy Buffet also composed original music for the film.

The film was born from a 1972 visit to the Florida Keys by filmmaker Christian Odasso and Guy de la Valdene, an avid angler who already had a few years of experience in fly fishing for Keys tarpon. Enraptured by the aesthetics and ethics of the catch-and-release fishing, Odasso paired with de la Valdene to co-direct the film. With a mostly French crew, the shoot took approximately seven weeks and the resulting film was edited in Paris. Saved by the filmmaker's daughter from a dripping barn in the Normandy countryside where it lay untouched for the last 35 years, the film was recently restored and digitized for DVD by Guy de la Valdene.

While the footage focuses on the magnificence of tarpon, the directors chose to interview many of the top guides and conservationists of the era and include their observations and concerns about the future of the fish they pursued. The film's message about the importance of releasing fish was far ahead of its time and prescient in highlighting the increasing pressure on fish by sportsmen, tourists and boaters. It reinforced an ethic among thousands who managed to get a pirated copy of the film in the 35 years since its making. The sharp contrasts drawn by the film perhaps best exemplified by a scene in which tourists recoil in fascination from party boat crew members clubbing and throwing sharks and sport fish into barrels made it difficult for the producers to find a distributor when the film was completed. At the time, PBS was interested in screening the film in the U.S., but most distributors expressed reluctance to work with the film unless the producers removed scenes like this, which highlighted the wasteful practices of the era.

Besides including some of the only footage of Richard Brautigan, the cult 60s poet and novelist, Tarpon also features commentary by legendary guides Woody Sexton, Steve Huff, Gil Drake, Vaughn Cochran, as well as Page Brown, an ardent Keys conservationist.