Jaws Quadrilogy - Part 1

So, a lot of people have seen the movie Jaws. Released in 1975, this movie quickly entered pop culture with a band and will not leave anytime soon. Since I've been trying to keep these posts relegated to movies that most people haven't seen, I'm not here to critique Jaws and tell you things that you already know. Instead, I'm going to compare the book to the movie.

The novel Jaws was written by Peter Benchley who went on to write many novels about the oceans and sharks, but Jaws was his debut novel. It was an instant success, and two producers (David Brown and Richard Zanuck) both read the novel and wanted to make it a movie. After one failed director, Zanuck and Brown got Steven Spielberg to direct.

The script went through many versions which is normal, but the versions it went through were interesting. Peter Benchley wrote the first draft of the script. He was told to cut out the backstory and make it a simple A-Z adventure story. So, he did. Spielberg read the book, then wrote a complete script of his own, which very little stayed in the movie from. Howard Sackler, the great playwright, made a draft, but asked that his name be kept off the credits because he couldn't commit entirely to the movie. Carl Gottlieb wrote a draft of the script as well, and actually has a part in the movie (Meadows, the reporter). Also, John Milius, Sackler, and Robert Shaw wrote parts of the USS Indianapolis speech. Filming was never-ending, as it took about 8 months to film. But when it was released, it was an immediate sensation.

The story, on the other hand, was similar to the book's, but it deviated many times for many reasons. It's hard to say which was the biggest change. In my opinion, the interactions of the characters was the biggest. In the movie, Hooper and Brody become good friends very quickly, whereas the book shows them constantly about to jump at each other, mostly out of jealousy and distrust. Quint is like a hired hand in the book who doesn't really care about anything but making a little money for his trouble until the very end. Another big difference is the change of backstory. In the book, Hooper was from the island as was Ellen. Ellen and Hooper's older brother once dated, and when Hooper comes back to town, they start a tryst (which is where the distrust comes between Hooper and Brody). In the movie, Ellen and Brody are not from the island. Also, they are new to the island, whereas the book puts them in their fourth year on the island, so they know a lot about the island. Another bit that I don't think worked was Mayor Vaughn's ties to the mob. It was an interesting idea, but not necessary for this movie. The two things that I thought were great in changing were the leaving out the Mayor's mob ties and the Ellen/Hooper tryst. Because of those two elements, I felt like the book lost its focus. Another difference was Brody's children: the book had three (Billy, Martin Jr., and Sean) but the movie had two (Michael and Sean). The attacks were different too: the July 4th attack in the movie was much worse than the book's. The whole boat scene was different in that they came ashore every night in the book, which didn't give you the idea that there was any real sense of danger. The book also had Hooper die when the cage is attacked, which doesn't upset the reader because he isn't the nice guy he is in the movie. The ending of the book is rather subtle and anticlimactic. The one thing the book has over the movie is the town politics. If the shark runs off the summer crowd, the town dies, and a conspiracy is hatched to quiet it down, which Brody doesn't like, but he has to go along with it. Similar to the movie, but in the book his hands are figuratively tied, which is why the scene in the movie with Brody and Mrs. Kintner is so powerful, but I don't like the scene without some of the buildup from the book. Reading the book makes that scene more powerful.

The movie is an impressive achievement in filmmaking, and everything in it seems to work. Everything from the acting, the dialogue, the music, the lighting. It has a timeless feel, and very little of it is really dated (maybe some hair styles). There is rich character development in the movie and the characters (even the unlikeable ones) are great. The opening scene is one of the best openers. The lack of seeing the shark is a great idea, even though it was unintended. The shark kept breaking, so they couldn't use it as much as planned, but that only added to the Hitchcock feeling.

All in all, this is one of the best movies ever, and certainly one of the best thriller/horror of all time. My opinion is that the book is pretty good, but it lacks so much. If in doubt as to whether to read it or watch it, I say watch the movie. This is one of the only times that the movie is a hundred times better than the book.

Here is a link to the original long trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt_JTkUVL6I