An enormous and exceptionally scarce original Japanese billboard for Bruno Vailati’s 1976 Italian shark documentary “Uomini e squali / Sharks and Men” – a mondo‑style deep‑sea odyssey released at the height of the Jaws craze.
Issued in Japan by Towa / Tohotowa as a Finvalco–Tohotowa co‑production, this monster single‑sheet measures a huge 187 × 127 cm, designed to dominate a cinema façade or lobby as a “tokudai” (extra‑large) display. The artwork is by noted Japanese illustrator Susumu Masukawa (増川進), whose dynamic, painterly style is prized by collectors but survives on only a handful of titles.
Most striking of all is the red Japanese tagline running across the bottom border, which reads:
本物《ジョーズ》の迫力が襲いかかる！ドキュメントの限界を破った凄絶な人間対人喰いザメの死闘！
Roughly translated:
“The real Jaws power strikes! A brutal, no‑holds‑barred death struggle between man and man‑eating sharks that smashes the limits of documentary film!”
Perfect for anyone building a high‑impact display of Japanese paper, shark cinema or 1970s exploitation graphics – this piece has true “museum lobby” presence.
Poster Details
Title: Shark! (シャーク！ / Sharks and Men / Uomini e squali)
Country / Year: Japan, 1976 first release
Format: Original Japanese oversize billboard / “tokudai” poster, single sheet
Dimensions: Approx. 187 × 127 cm
Studio / Distributor: Finvalco / Tohotowa / Towa (東宝東和・TOWA logo at lower left)
Artwork: Susumu Masukawa (増川進) – dramatic painted key art created specifically for the Japanese campaign
Description
At this colossal size the design feels less like a poster and more like a wall‑scale painting.
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The upper two‑thirds are dominated by a towering great white shark, mouth agape, teeth picked out in hard white triangles against a cool blue sea. Masukawa lets the nose of the shark almost break the top border, so that in person it feels as though the animal is erupting out of the wall toward the viewer.
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To the right, a wetsuited diver is flung backwards, mask slipping, as blood streams from a savage leg bite – a direct visual echo of the staged attack footage seen in the film’s climax.
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In the lower section, another great white thrashes inside a collapsing cage, twisted bars and rigging framing the gaping maw. The blood‑streaked water and jagged composition push the image right to the edge of horror, overselling the documentary with full exploitation energy.
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Above, the bilingual title treatment layers turquoise block letters “SHARK!” over a slashing red katakana 「シャーク！」, with the credit line “A FINVALCO–TOHOTOWA CO‑PRODUCTION / SHARKS AND MEN” beneath.
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Along the black footer runs the vivid red tagline translated above, with additional white technical credits and the blue TOWA diamond logo anchoring the corner.
Seen from across a room the poster reads instantly: two gigantic, near‑life‑size sharks, a doomed diver and an exploding diagonal of motion from top left to bottom right. Up close, Masukawa’s brushwork and the vintage Japanese litho printing – visible Ben‑Day dots, soft gradations in the water, hand‑lettered blood spatters – give it real painterly charm.
Rarity
Japanese material for “Sharks and Men” is scarce in any size; even the standard B2 posters surface only sporadically compared with other mid‑70s shark and ocean titles.
This 187 × 127 cm billboard format is on another level of rarity:
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It corresponds to a special “tokudai” / giant cinema‑front size used in very small numbers for opening runs and major city theatres, typically pinned or pasted to exterior boards and discarded after the engagement.
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Reference sites and dealer archives document B3 and B2 Masukawa posters for this title, but this huge single‑sheet is not catalogued there at all – the only directly documented example in recent years is this exact poster.
While an exact census is impossible, in practical collecting terms this format should be considered extremely rare, and quite possibly a survivor from a tiny original print run.
Condition
Condition: Very Good / Excellent for this fragile, oversize format – folded as issued, presents strongly.
Front:
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Colours remain excellent – the deep ocean blues, bright whites and blood reds are still vivid, with no major fading.
Verso:
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Even age toning across the sheet, a little stronger along some fold lines and in a vertical band to the right of centre, with a light patch of staining but very limited show‑through to the front.
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A few small pieces of old tape on the reverse reinforcing parts of a vertical fold near the lower section; again with minimal impact on the image side.
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No significant paper loss and no major tears intruding into the central artwork.
Given the sheer size, age and ephemeral nature of this format, the poster is very well preserved and would respond beautifully to professional linen‑backing or conservation mounting for display.
Cinematic Significance
“Sharks and Men” (Uomini e squali, 1976) is an Italian underwater documentary directed by Bruno Vailati, shot across locations including the Red Sea, the Yucatán, Tahiti and Australia.
Marketed worldwide in the wake of Jaws, the film blends nature‑documentary footage of bull, hammerhead and great white sharks with more sensational “mondo” elements – staged attacks, close‑quarters feeding, and sometimes graphic sequences of captured sharks being killed or dissected. The English‑language version was narrated by actor Joseph Campanella, with a moody score by Daniele Patucchi, whose work on Italian genre cinema has a cult following.
Japan leaned hard into the Jaws connection, retitling the film “Shark!” (シャーク！), foregrounding the great white and selling it as a terrifying man‑versus‑shark battle “beyond the limits of documentary” – an approach embodied perfectly by Masukawa’s ferocious design here.
Additional Information
Authenticity: Guaranteed original, first‑release Japanese theatrical poster printed in 1976 for the domestic run of Shark! / Sharks and Men; not a reproduction or later reprint.
Configuration: Single, giant oversize sheet as issued (not assembled from smaller pieces).
Dimensions: Approx. 187 × 127 cm (about 73½ × 50 inches).
Provenance: From a private collection; ideal candidate for archival framing or linen‑backing.
A truly statement‑level piece: a towering Japanese shark billboard combining the rarity of a near‑unobtainable format with one of Susumu Masukawa’s most powerful images. For serious collectors of Japanese cinema paper, Jaws‑era memorabilia or 1970s exploitation graphics, opportunities to acquire this design at this size are vanishingly few.
