Watch at Home 03.28.2025

Tarpon

Directed by Christian Odasso, Guy de la Valdene
Film Movement Classics
1973
54 Minutes
USA
English
Documentary
Not Rated

The first of the modern fishing films, Tarpon, was shot in the wild panorama of 1970s Key West. 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. Authors Richard Brautigan, Tom McGuane, and Jim Harrison join with legendary flats guides, Woody Sexton, Gil Drake, and Steve Huff as they pose questions about life, art, nature, and catch-and-release fishing. Jimmy Buffet composed original music for the film and Jim Harrison narrated his own text.

In 2008, the film was rescued from a barn in Normandy where it had been for 30 years. In 2022, the A/B negative rolls were used to create a 4K scan with image and sound restoration work by Goldcrest Post Production in NYC. The restoration premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2023.

Director & Cast

  • Director: Christian Odasso
  • Director: Guy de la Valdene
  • Starring: Richard Brautigan
  • Starring: Jimmy Buffett
  • Starring: Jim Harrison
  • Starring: Thomas McGuane

Where to Watch

Trailer

Photos

Reviews

  • "Tarpon is a timeless and beautifully executed film about life, sport and culture. You'll be moved, amused, outraged and, most of all, entertained."
    Tom Brokaw
  • "This long-lost gem of a film has acquired cult status in the fly-fishing world, and with good reason. It has the most breathtaking footage of the tarpon-stalking experience that you'll ever see. Like the fish itself, this is a work of art."
    Carl Hiaasen
  • "Tarpon is a gem and, frankly, a window on better days. Without a profound respect for tarpon, this celebration of their majestic power and the enchantment of their pursuit, could never have been made. Tarpon fishing was and is a dream, and this may be the only time it's been captured."
    Thomas McGuane
  • "I believe that Tarpon is the best film ever made that concerns itself with fishing."
    Jim Harrison
  • "This is mid-seventies cool at its finest: a cult film about cult authors catching cult fish in the legendary Florida Keys."
    Jason Woloski, DiscLand
Official Selection
Telluride Film Festival
Official Selection
Key West Film Festival