Jaws 2
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| Jaws 2 | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Jeannot Szwarc |
| Produced by | David Brown Richard D. Zanuck |
| Written by | Carl Gottlieb Howard Sackler Dorothy Tristan (uncredited) |
| Starring | Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Jeffrey Kramer |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Michael Butler |
| Editing by | Neil Travis |
| Distributed by | Universal |
| Release date(s) | June 16, 1978 |
| Running time | 116 min. |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Jaws |
| Followed by | Jaws 3-D |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Jaws 2 is a 1978 film, the first sequel to Jaws. It is set four years after the events of the original film. Its famous tagline is: "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Sheriff Martin Brody (Scheider) attempts to convince the local politicians that a recent rash of diver and skier disappearances are the victims of another great white shark attack on the small beach resort of Amity. After he causes a panic on a public beach by mistaking a school of blue fish for a shark, he is fired from his job. A group of teenagers, including Brody's sons and the son of the reluctant mayor (Hamilton), are attacked during a sailing regatta. It even attacks and sinks a rescue helicopter. Brody again encounters the shark face-to-face, electrocuting it with a power cable which the beast bites.
[edit] Production history
The studio demanded a sequel early into the success of Jaws.[1] Howard Sackler, who had contributed to the script of the original movie but chose not to be credited, was charged with writing the first draft. He originally proposed a prequel based on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis relayed by Quint in the first film. Sid Sheinberg, however, rejected the idea.[2]
Steven Spielberg did not want to direct the sequel because he felt that he had done the "definitive shark movie."[1] Sackler recommended theatre director John Hancock (director of Let's Scare Jessica to Death), who was chosen to helm the picture.[3] However, Dorothy Tristan, Hancock's wife, was invited to rewrite Sackler's script, leaving him feeling betrayed.
Universal Studios President Sid Sheinberg suggested that his wife Lorraine Gary "should go out on a boat and help to rescue the kids". Dick Zanuck got wind of this and replied "Over my dead body". The next draft of the Jaws 2 screenplay was turned in with Gary not going out to sea.
On a Saturday evening in June 1977, after a meeting with the producers and Universal executives, the director was fired. He and his wife were unexpectedly whisked away to Rome and production was shut down for a few weeks. They had been involved in the film for eighteen months.[4]
Echoing the production of the first film, Carl Gottlieb was enlisted to further revise the script, adding humour and reducing some of the violence. It cost the producers more money to hire Gottleib to do the rewrite than it would had they have hired him in the first place.[5]
At this point, Spielberg considered returning to direct the sequel. Over the Bicentennial weekend Spielberg hammered out a screenplay based on Quint's "Indianapolis Story" speech. Because of his contract for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, however, he would not be able to film for a further year, a gap too long for the producers.[6] Production Designer Joe Alves (who would direct Jaws 3-D) and Verna Fields (who had been promoted to vice-president at Universal after her acclaimed editing on the original film) proposed that they co-directed it.[1][7] The request was declined by the DGA who, in the wake of events on the set of The Outlaw Josey Wales had instituted a ban on any cast or crew members taking over during production of a film. The reins were eventually handed to Jeannot Szwarc, best known for the TV movie Bug and Night Gallery and whom Alves knew from the Night Gallery days.[8]
Szwarc recommenced production by filming a complicated scene (the waterskier scene) which would give Gottlieb some time to write.[1] He reinstated the character of Deputy Hendricks, played by Jeffrey Kramer, who had been missing from the original script. Many of the teenagers were sacked, with the remaining roles developed.[9]
Three sharks were built for the film. The first was the "platform shark," also refferred to as the "luxurious shark." Production designer Joe Alves and sepcial mechanical effects designed Bob Mattey were able to use the same mould for the shark as for the original film. However, they had to redo the electronics as the originals had been left out on the lot. Mattey's design was much more complicated and ambitious than the original film. "Cable Junction", the island shown in the climax of the movie, was a floating barge that accommodated the mechanisms of the 'platform shark'. The other 'sharks' were a fin, and a full shark. Both could be pulled by boats.[1]
Although the first film was commended for leaving the shark to the imagination until two thirds of the way through, Szwarc felt that they should show it as much as possible because the first image of it coming out of the water could never be repeated.[1]
[edit] Scheider's involvement
Roy Scheider reluctantly returned to reprise his role as Martin Brody. He had quit the role of 'Michael' in The Deer Hunter two weeks into the production for 'creative differences.' Universal agreed to 'forget' about this if he appeared in Jaws 2, which they would count as the remaining two of his contractual obligations.[10]
The atmosphere was tense on the set, and he often argued with Szwarc. The rift was articulated in written correspondance. In a letter to Szwarc, Scheider wrote that "working with Jeannot Szwarc is knowing he will never say he is sorry or ever admitting he overlooked something. Well enough of that shit for me!" He requested an apology from the director for not consulting him.[11]
Szwarc's reply focussed upon completing the film to the "best possible" standard.
Time and pressure are part of my reality and priorities something I must deal with.
You have been consulted and your suggestions made part of my scenes many times, whenever they did not contradict the overall concept of the picture.
If you have to be offended, I delpore it, for no offence was meant. At this point in the game, your feelings or my feelings are immaterial and irrelevant , the picture is all that matters.
Sincerely, Jeannot[12]
[edit] Location
Martha's Vineyard was again used as the location for the town scenes. The majority of filming, however, was at Navarre Beach in Florida, because of the warm weather. Cable Junction Island was a floating set that was towed out from the Shalimar Yacht Basin when needed and could be seen from the Garniers Bayou Bridge tied up at night with its faux beacon still blinking. The interior shots of the teen hang-out where they play pinball were filmed in the original location of the Hog's Breath Saloon on Okaloosa Island. This restaurant has recently relocated to Destin, Florida as its original building was susceptible to hurricane damage. The original building was still vacant and derelict in January 2005. The production company had to seek dredge and fill permits from the State of Florida's Department of Environmental Regulation to sink the revised platform that controlled Brucette the female shark on the sea bottom.
[edit] Music
John Williams returned to score Jaws 2 after winning an Academy Award for Original Music Score for his work on the first film. Szwarc said that the music for the sequel should be "more complex because it was a more complex film." Williams says that this score is broader, allowing him to make more use of the orchestra, and use longer notes, and "fill the space" created by the director.[13]
[edit] Reaction
[edit] Box office performance
According to David Brown, the film made 40% of the original. This was attractive to studios because it reduced risk.[1] The film was the highest-grossing sequel in history in 1978 and an all-time top 25 box office champ for more than two decades.
[edit] Critical reception
Although the film was initially met with mixed reviews, many revisionist critics have since experienced a newfound appreciation for the film following its successful release on DVD.
The film's tagline, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...", has become one of the most famous in film history. It has been parodied in numerous films; the most notable being the one for the feature film adaptation of the television series, Flipper, "This summer it's finally safe to go back in the water."
[edit] References
- Loynd, Ray (1978) The Jaws 2 Log. London: W.H. Allen. ISBN 0-426-18868-3
- ^ a b c d e f g The Making of Jaws 2 - DVD
- ^ Loynd, R. p 24-5
- ^ Loynd, R. p 27.
- ^ Loynd, R. p 70
- ^ Loynd, R. p 36-7
- ^ Loynd, R. p 73
- ^ Loynd, R. p 74
- ^ Loynd, R. p 75-6
- ^ Jaws 2: A Portrait by Actor Keith Gordon [DVD extra]
- ^ Jaws 2 FAQ. jawsmovie.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-30.
- ^ Loynd, R. p 103
- ^ Loynd, R. p 104
- ^ The Music of Jaws 2 [DVD extra]
| The Jaws films |
| Jaws (1975) | Jaws 2 (1978) | Jaws 3-D (1983) | Jaws: The Revenge (1987) |
