A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Jaws | |
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_logo.png){kind=logo} Official franchise logo | |
| Directed by |
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| Written by |
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| Based on | Jaws by Peter Benchley |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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Production companies | 1–2: Zanuck/Brown Company Universal Pictures 3: Alan Landsburg Productions MCA Theatricals Universal Pictures 4: Universal Pictures |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date | 1975–1987 |
Running time | 478 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $80 million |
| Box office | $798.4 million |
Jaws is an American thriller film series that started with a 1975 film that expanded into three sequels, a theme park ride, and other tie-in merchandise, based on a 1974 novel. The main subject of the saga is a great white shark and its attacks on people in specific areas of the United States and The Bahamas. The Brody family is featured in all of the films as the primary antithesis to the shark. The original film was based on a novel written by Peter Benchley, which itself was inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916. Benchley adapted his novel, along with help from Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler, into the 1975 film Jaws, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. Although Gottlieb went on to pen two of the three sequels, neither Benchley nor Spielberg returned to the film series in any capacity.
The first film was regarded as a watershed film in motion picture history; it became the father of the summer blockbuster movies and one of the first "high-concept" films.[1][2] The film is also known for the introduction of John Williams' famous theme music, which was a simple alternating pattern of the E and F notes of a piano. Williams' musical score won an Academy Award. The film won two other Academy Awards, and was nominated for Best Picture.
The success of Jaws led to three sequels, and the four films together have earned nearly $800 million worldwide in box office gross. The franchise has also seen the release of various soundtrack albums, additional novelizations based on the sequels, trading cards, inspired theme park rides at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Japan, multiple video games, and a musical that premiered in 2004. Although the first film was popular with critics when it was originally released, critical and commercial reception went downhill with each sequel. This reception has spread to the merchandise, with video games seen as poor imitations of the original concept. Nevertheless, the original 1975 film has generally been regarded as one of the greatest films ever, and frequently appears in the top 100 of various American Film Institute rankings.
However, Benchley later regretted he ever wrote the original book considering it encouraged a widespread public fear of sharks. As such, he spent most of his life promoting the cause of ocean conservation.
Background
Peter Benchley had been thinking for years "about a story about a shark that attacks people and what would happen if it came in and wouldn't go away."[3] Doubleday editor Tom Congdon was interested in Benchley's idea of a novel about a great white shark terrorizing a beach resort.[4] After various revisions and rewrites, Benchley delivered his final draft in January 1973.[5] The title was not decided until shortly before the book went to print. Benchley says that he had spent months thinking of titles, many of which he calls "pretentious" such as The Stillness in the Water and Leviathan Rising. Benchley regarded other ideas, such as The Jaws of Death and The Jaws of Leviathan, as "melodramatic, weird, or pretentious."[3] According to Benchley, the novel still did not have a title until twenty minutes before production of the book.[3]
The Book of the Month Club made the novel an "A book," qualifying it for its main selection, then the Reader's Digest also selected it. The publication date was moved back to allow a carefully orchestrated release. It was released first in hardcover in February 1974,[6] then in the book clubs, followed by a national campaign for the paperback release.[5] Bantam bought the paperback rights for $575,000.[6]
Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, film producers at Universal Pictures, heard about the book at identical times at different locations. Brown heard about it in the fiction department of Cosmopolitan, a lifestyle magazine then edited by his wife, Helen Gurley Brown. A small card gave a detailed description of the plot concluding with the comment "might make a good movie."[7] The producers each read it overnight and agreed that it was "the most exciting thing that they had ever read" and that, although they were unsure how they would accomplish it, they had to produce the film.[8] Brown says that had they read the book twice they would have never made the film because of the difficulties in executing some of the sequences. However, he says that "we just loved the book. We thought it would make a very good movie."[7]
Films
| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaws | June 20, 1975 | Steven Spielberg | Carl Gottlieb & Peter Benchley | David Brown & Richard D. Zanuck |
| Jaws 2 | June 16, 1978 | Jeannot Szwarc | Carl Gottlieb & Howard Sackler | |
| Jaws 3-D | July 22, 1983 | Joe Alves | Carl Gottlieb & Richard Matheson | Rupert Hitzig & Alan Landsburg |
| Jaws: The Revenge | July 17, 1987 | Joseph Sargent | Michael de Guzman | Joseph Sargent |
Jaws (1975)
The original Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, is based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. It tells the story of Police Chief Martin Brody (portrayed by Roy Scheider) of Amity Island (a fictional summer resort town), in his quest to protect beachgoers from a great white shark by closing the beach. This is overruled by the town council, headed by the mayor Larry Vaughan (Murray Hamilton) that wants the beach to remain open in order to sustain the local tourist economy. After several attacks, the police chief enlists the help of marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw). The three voyage out onto the ocean in Quint's boat – the Orca. The shark kills Quint, but Brody manages to destroy it by shooting at the highly pressurized air tank that he has wedged in its mouth. In the end, Brody and Hooper are seen swimming away from the sinking Orca, having both of them managed to survive the shark attack on the boat uninjured.
Jaws 2 (1978)
The first sequel, Jaws 2, depicts the same town four years after the events of the original film when another great white shark arrives on the shores of the fictional seaside resort of Amity Island. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc and starring Roy Scheider again as Police Chief Martin Brody, who, after a series of deaths and disappearances, suspects that the culprit is another shark. However, he has trouble convincing the town's selectmen. Once fired, he has to act alone to save a group of teenagers, including his two sons, who encounter the shark whilst out sailing. Brody then manages to kill the shark at Cable Junction upon pulling up one of the underwater cables.
Steven Spielberg was asked to direct Jaws 2, but he said he would only make another Jaws film if it were a prequel focusing on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.[9][10]
Jaws 3-D (1983)
The plot of Jaws 3-D moves away from Amity Island to SeaWorld in Florida, a water themed-park with underwater tunnels and lagoons. As the park prepares to open, it is infiltrated by a baby great white shark which attacks and kills water-skiers and park employees. Once the baby shark is captured, it becomes apparent that a much larger shark, the mother, is present. The characters of Martin's sons from the first two films are developed further in this film: Michael Brody (Dennis Quaid) is the chief engineer of the park and his younger brother, Sean (John Putch), arrives at the resort to visit him. The events of the earlier films are implied through Sean's dislike of the water because of "something that happened when he was a kid." The events and character development from Jaws 3-D are independent from the rest of the series.[11]
Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
The fourth film, Jaws: The Revenge, sees the storyline returning to Amity Island, but ignores all plot elements introduced in Jaws 3-D. No mention is made to Michael's girlfriend from the previous film, Kathryn Morgan (Bess Armstrong), or his career change from an engineer at SeaWorld to a marine biologist. In fact, one of the Universal Studios press releases for Jaws: The Revenge omits Jaws 3-D entirely by referring to Jaws: The Revenge as the "third film of the remarkable Jaws trilogy."[11] By the start of the film, Martin Brody had died of a heart attack, although his wife, Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary), claims that he died through fear of the shark. Her youngest son, Sean (Mitchell Anderson), now working as a police deputy in Amity, is dispatched to clear a log from a buoy. As he does so, he is attacked and killed by a shark. Ellen becomes convinced that a shark is deliberately victimizing her family for the deaths of the first two sharks. Michael (Lance Guest) convinces her to spend some time with his family in The Bahamas. However, as his job involves a lot of time on and in the sea, Ellen fears that he will be the shark's next victim. When her granddaughter, Thea (Judith Barsi), narrowly avoids being attacked by a shark, Ellen takes a boat in order to kill her family's alleged stalker. Hoagie (Michael Caine), Michael, and his friend Jake (Mario Van Peebles) find Ellen and then proceed to electrocute the shark, driving it out of the water and impaling it on the prow of Ellen's boat.
Cast and crew
List indicator(s)
- A dark gray cell indicates the character was not featured in the film.
- An A indicates an appearance through previously recorded material.
- A U indicates an actor or actress was uncredited for their role.
Principal cast
| Characters | Films | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jaws 3-D | Jaws: The Revenge | |
| Chief Martin Brody | Roy Scheider | Roy ScheiderAU[12] | ||
| Ellen Brody | Lorraine Gary | Lorraine Gary | ||
| Michael "Mike" Brody | Chris Rebello[13] | Mark Gruner[14] | Dennis Quaid[15] | Lance Guest[16] |
| Sean Brody | Jay Mello | Marc Gilpin | John Putch | Mitchell Anderson |
| Jay MelloA | ||||
| Mayor Larry Vaughn | Murray Hamilton | |||
| Mr. Posner | Cyprian R. Dube | Cyprian R. Dube[17] | ||
| Deputy Jeff Hendricks | Jeffrey Kramer | |||
| Mrs. Taft | Fritzi Jane Courtney[18] | Fritzi Jane Courtney[19] | ||
| Harry Wiseman | Al WildeU | Al Wilde | ||
| Matt Hooper | Richard Dreyfuss[20] | |||
| Quint | Robert Shaw[21] | |||
| Harry Meadows | Carl Gottlieb[22] | |||
| Mrs. Kintner | Lee Fierro[23] | Lee Fierro[24] | ||
| Polly | Peggy Scott[25] | Edna Billotto[26] | ||
| Alex Kintner | Jeffrey Voorhees[27] | |||
| Chrissie Watkins | Susan Backlinie[28] | |||
| Leonard "Len" Peterson | Joseph Mascolo | |||
| Dr. Lureen Elkins | Colin Wilcox | |||
| Tina Wilcox | Ann Dusenberry | |||
| Eddie Marchand | Gary Dubin | |||
| Larry Vaughn Jr. | David Elliott | |||
| Tom Andrews | Barry Coe | |||
| Grace Witherspoon | Susan French | |||
| Andy Williams | Gary Springer | |||
| Jackie Peters | Donna Wilkes | |||
| Brooke Peters | Gigi Vorgan | |||
| Marge | Martha Swatek | |||
| Timmy Weldon | G. Thomas Dunlop | |||
| Doug Fetterman | Keith Gordon | |||
| Paul "Polo" Loman | John Dukakis | |||
| Bob Burnside | Billy Van Zandt | |||
| Patrick | Ben Marley | |||
| Lucy | Cynthia Grover | |||
| Kathryn "Kay" Morgan | Bess Armstrong | |||
| Kelly Ann Bukowski | Lea Thompson | |||
| Calvin Bouchard | Louis Gossett Jr. | |||
| Philip FitzRoyce | Simon MacCorkindale | |||