Mystery/Thriller The JAWS Appreciation Thread

[titansupes]

I didn't say "another part of the same islands". I said "a different island very similar to Amity". The obstacles would be similar, but not necessarily 100% identical to the first ("This is a summer town, we need summer dollars."). The city council might take the threat more seriously than they did in Amity, but they still wouldn't want to shut the beaches down unless they absolutely had no other choice.

I just don't want a sequel where the town mayor and city council insist on keeping the beaches open despite there being several shark attacks off their coast, even after the events of the first two films. There's no way any community leader could be that stupid/greedy as to serve up their population to a giant great white as a smorgasbord.

Which is all still, seriously, the same thing as the first ones.

Imagine how great a sequel to jaws would be if instead, they told the film from the Sharks perspective

Now there's an idea.

 

[The Joker]

Quint's death is still harrowing to watch all these years later.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

The best thing Spielberg did was put more focus on the characters so that we cared about what happened to them. That's what makes Quint's death so impactful.

The book characters are just a bunch of jerks.

 

[Schlosser85]

Quint's death is still harrowing to watch all these years later.

Absolutely. It's a horrible way to go, especially the way it's his old WWII nightmare coming back for him.

 

[Schlosser85]

The best thing Spielberg did was put more focus on the characters so that we cared about what happened to them. That's what makes Quint's death so impactful.

The book characters are just a bunch of jerks.

Yea, you don't give a **** about Hooper or Quint in the book because they're scumbags anyway.

 

[Schlosser85]

Robert Shaw's acting really feeds into making Quint's death so awful too.

The whole movie leading up to it, he's this grizzled old hardass man of the sea who never loses his cool, but in that last scene, he's terrified.

It makes it more impactful and harrowing to see this old badass desperately trying to grab onto everything, in a panic, and screaming his head off.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Robert Shaw's acting really feeds into making Quint's death so awful too.

The whole movie leading up to it, he's this grizzled old hardass man of the sea who never loses his cool, but in that last scene, he's terrified.

It makes it more impactful and harrowing to see this old badass desperately trying to grab onto everything, in a panic, and screaming his head off.

Definitely.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

A lot of attention has been paid to the Indianapolis speech over the years and rightfully so, but another of my favorite moments in this film is right before that where Hooper and Quint are bonding over comparing their scars. It humanizes these characters in a way that most blockbusters do not do.

 

[Erzengel]

I like how his voice cracks when he says how many men were lost that first night.

For the first time, yesterday I was wondering what he meant by "I'll never put on a lifejacket again." I figured it was more of, I'd rather of drowned that have to go through that ordeal?

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Yeah, I understood it as he'd rather drown.

 

[Venom75]

Honestly,I hated the book. With the exception of the detail and horror in the attack scenes,which were awesome,the rest was crap. The characters were all so unlikeable.

 

[Hobgoblin]

Agreed. JAWS is the one time where the movie is better than the book, imo.

 

[titansupes]

^ I haven't read it, but I always heard that Forrest Gump was better than the book.

 

[Thoix]

I caught my mom was watching this on AMC the other day and she was on the night scene on the Orca. Quint's Indianapolis speech and watching him, Hooper, and Brody sharing scares and singing a song together instantly had me hooked. I just stood there until it went to commercial and immediately ordered the Blu-ray. I haven't had the chance to watch Jaws in it's entirety since my film class in 2011 now, so I am beyond excited to finally getting the chance to watch it again.

 

[Jochimus]

Honestly,I hated the book. With the exception of the detail and horror in the attack scenes,which were awesome,the rest was crap. The characters were all so unlikeable.

Altogether, it's not very good, no, and in fact I think Spielberg was the one who openly admitted that the only character in the book worth rooting for was the shark (even Brody seems to come off as a somewhat-alcoholic, somewhat-potty-mouthed paranoid...it's no wonder Ellen sleeps around on him with Hooper). Benchley, being a diver himself, did well enough with the shark scenes, but it feels like he essentially trotted out the most clichéd tropes of your average '70s-vintage dime-store novel - corruption, adultery, the Mob - with everything else in the book.

I'm pretty sure its bestseller status - aside from being enhanced by the unquestionable marketing draw of "...but THIS one has a killer shark in it! ...And a naked woman on the cover!" - had more to do with Zanuck and Brown buying up ****-tons of copies to give to their friends so as to pad out interest in the book, and therefore interest in the movie.

 

[Hypestyle]

Imagine how great a sequel to jaws would be if instead, they told the film from the Sharks perspective

how would that work in movie form?

 

[Venom75]

The original script for Jaws 2 was much darker with more shark attacks in it. I would've liked to have seen that instead of what we got. Although,what we got wasn't bad. Wasn't great either. Jaws 2,at least with me is so-so. The highlight for me was the water skier attack,but even with that moment the shark went from a deadly ocean predator to a runaway mechanical bath toy.
But I've always had this idea that they should've ended the movie with the cliffhanger that both sharks in parts 1 and 2 were....babies! That would explain their overly aggressive behavior. But that would've set up a Megalodon story for part 3 nicely.

 

[Thundarr]

I'll show my appreciation for Jaws via this gif:

I love this gif.

 

[Jochimus]

The original script for Jaws 2 was much darker with more shark attacks in it. I would've liked to have seen that instead of what we got.

Well, there's always the Hank Searls novelization or the Marvel Comics adaptation of J2, since both were presumably based on the earlier "darker" versions of the script (although the Marvel comic downplays a lot of the subplot that's in the novelized version in favor of the shark action). But yeah, there definitely would've been a higher body count, and some of it actually DID get shot before Jeannot Szwarc took over (there's a photo out there of Billy Van Zandt's character, Bob, clinging to his upturned boat as the shark charges him down, confirming his claims that he was indeed on the 'kill list' originally).

 

[Drizzle]

Well, there's always the Hank Searls novelization or the Marvel Comics adaptation of J2, since both were presumably based on the earlier "darker" versions of the script (although the Marvel comic downplays a lot of the subplot that's in the novelized version in favor of the shark action). But yeah, there definitely would've been a higher body count, and some of it actually DID get shot before Jeannot Szwarc took over (there's a photo out there of Billy Van Zandt's character, Bob, clinging to his upturned boat as the shark charges him down, confirming his claims that he was indeed on the 'kill list' originally).

Speaking of Jaws comics, has anyone seen the Japanese manga adaptation of the original film from the 70s? Talk about darker...

 

[titansupes]

Ouch...

 

[Lord]

Didn't know they did a manga adaptation of Jaws, daamn that's realy dark

 

[divan]

To be fair here, Jaws was a pretty dark (and bloody) movie already. It's just that, due to a combination of technical problems, great soudntrack and magnificent editing, it leaves stuff to the viewers' imagination, but we still got to see things liek the ocean getting red from a child's blood and Quint's fate.

That manga looks pretty interesting, though.

 

[Supernova]

Jaws still holds up and im tempted here in maryland cinemark is doing a rerelease of it later this Month for $5 a ticket. Bever saw it on the big screen but I might make an exception.

 

[Thundarr]

Speaking of Jaws comics, has anyone seen the Japanese manga adaptation of the original film from the 70s? Talk about darker...

That artwork is awesome. Is that second page supposed to be Quint? Or is that the boater who was eaten in The Pond (or whatever the "kiddie pool area" of the beach was called in the movie)? Not that it truly matters, I'm just curious.