Jaws: The Revenge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Jaws The Revenge

Jaws: The Revenge movie poster
Directed by Joseph Sargent
Produced by Joseph Sargent
Written by Michael De Guzman
Starring Lorraine Gary,
Lance Guest,
Mario Van Peebles,
Michael Caine,
Karen Young,
Judith Barsi
Music by Michael Small
John Williams
Cinematography John McPherson
Editing by Michael Brown
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) July 17, 1987
Running time 89 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $20 million
Preceded by Jaws 3-D
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Jaws: The Revenge (a.k.a. Jaws 4) is a 1987 horror–thriller film directed by Joseph Sargent. It is the third and final sequel to Steven Spielberg's 1975 Oscar winning classic Jaws.

After a great white shark kills her youngest son, Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary) becomes convinced that the shark has a vendetta on her family. Her eldest son (Lance Guest) invites her to stay with him in the Bahamas, where he and his family again become vulnerable to a shark.

It is considered one of the worst movies ever made, with a rank in the worst 50 on the Internet Movie Database's Bottom 100.[1]

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about "Jaws The Revenge" follow.

The story returns to the Brody family in Amity Island. Martin Brody has since died of a heart attack, although his widow, Ellen (Gary), claims that "it was the fear [of the shark] that killed him." Sean (Anderson), the youngest son, works as a police deputy in Amity. Early in the film, while on an assignment to clear a log from a buoy, he is attacked and killed by a shark during the Christmas season in a graphic scene. His screams as he is attacked are unheard over the surf and carolers on the island.

Ellen is convinced that the shark had deliberately targeted Sean and visits her eldest son, Michael (Guest), in the Bahamas. He now works as a marine biologist and, fearing he will be attacked next, she hopes to convince him to take up a new job on dry land. She meets Hoagie (Caine), and they begin dating. One day, Ellen's granddaughter Thea decides to go out on a boat with her friend Margaret and Margaret's mother (played by Diane Hetfield). Suddenly, the shark attacks the boat with Thea on it and ends up devouring Margaret's mother in the process. Ellen becomes convinced that the shark has tracked her family to the Bahamas. She takes a boat out to sea on her own, intent on confronting and killing the shark.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Series continuity

No reference is made to the character development or events depicted in Jaws 3-D. In its predecessor, Michael is an engineer for SeaWorld, whereas here he is a marine research scientist.[2]

[edit] Casting

Gary is the only member of the main cast who returned from the original film, although Lee Fierro made a brief cameo as Mrs. Kitner.

[edit] Alternate versions

Several different versions of the film exist. The most significant changes are at the end of the film. In the original ending, Ellen rammed the shark with Michael's boat, mortally wounding it. The shark then caused the boat to break apart with its death contortions, forcing the people on the boat to jump off to avoid going down with it.[2] The ending had left many people confused. In his scathing review, Roger Ebert says that he cannot believe "that the director, Joseph Sargent, would film this final climactic scene so incompetently that there is not even an establishing shot, so we have to figure out what happened on the basis of empirical evidence."[3]

After test screenings, the studio had the producers reshoot the ending. In this version, the shark is again rammed, only this time it violently explodes with no apparent cause, destroying the boat in the process. Also added to this ending was footage from the first film of the dead shark sinking, and a scene where Mario Van Peebles' character, who had been clearly seen to be mauled and dragged underwater by the shark (even in the re-edited version), suddenly surfaces alive because test audiences liked the character and did not enjoy seeing him die.[2]

[edit] Television versions

The television version and VHS/DVD versions differ in some scenes.

  • The opening title sequence features more shots of the dock and under the ocean, and a narrator telling the audience what the shark is up to.[2]
  • In the television version, there is an extended arrival to the Bahamas. We see Ellen, Thea, Carla, and Michael in the taxi speaking after the driver has finished singing a Christmas carol. Carla then explains to Ellen that she will not do any cooking and working while staying with them. Michael then points outside to the boat he works on. The family then pulls up to their house.
  • Ellen and Hoagie have an extended date in the television version. It shows Ellen and Hoagie at a local dock looking at cruise ships docked. The two then head to the bar for a drink.
  • The scene at the local Casino is extended in the television version also. Ellen, Carla, and Jake overhear a crowd roaring at a crap table. Carla exclaims that its Hoagie and the group begins to walk over. Jake has an added line, "Oh! That's Hoagie all right!". We then see Hoagie rolling dice and winning a load of money. He jumps and cheers and kisses a local girl next to him. Ellen than stands next to him where she then says, "You're not betting that all?!"
  • There is an added scene in the television version that shows Michael and Jake on their day off. The two are sitting on Jake's deck, playing guitars and singing. They are also talking about the shark and that they are unable to track it. This scene is also horribly out of place, since the shark does not show up for the first time until after this particular scene.
  • As Michael works on the kitchen table, Ellen walks in and sits by the counter. She then begins to tell a joke/story like Hoagie always does. Michael doesn't find it funny and fears that Hoagie is rubbing off on his mother.
  • The ending is also different in the television version. Ellen steers the end of the boat into the shark, impaling it. Blood gushes from the shark's mouth and from the wound. Ellen, Michael, and Hoagie tumble over as the shark leans back into the ocean. The shark then sinks to the bottom dead as blood fills the ocean.
    The next shot is of a beach in the afternoon. We then see Carla, Thea, and Michael escorting Ellen to her plane home. After bidding farewell, the plane takes off. This ending is very different than the ending released on video and DVD. Jake does not survive in this ending, the shark didn't explode from the shock and the impact of the boat, and Ellen, Michael, and Hoagie never fall into the ocean.

[edit] Novelization

Title Jaws The Revenge
Author Hank Searls
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novelization
Publisher Berkley Books
Released July 1, 1987
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 195
ISBN ISBN 0425105466

The novelization was written by Hank Searls, who also wrote the Jaws 2 novel.[4] It contains some subplots that were not included in the final film.

A subplot involving Michael Caine transporting laundered money was deleted. The only reference to this now is when Michael Brody asks "What do you do when you’re not flying people?" to which Hoagie replies, "I deliver Laundry."

Michael Caine's character is actually some sort of government agent, hence the reason why he knows the island so well and the people that live there. In the movie, the government agent subplot was deleted, while the novel keeps this plot element intact.

The novelisation suggests that the shark may be acting under the influence of a vengeful voodoo witch doctor (who has a feud with the Brody family), and the shark's apparent revenge has magical implications, ergo the witch doctor is the 'revenge' and the shark is his tool. This also explains the strange psychic connection Ellen and the shark have with each other. The plot was deleted as it strayed too far away from the plot of the killer shark. Some TV versions of the movie include some of the deleted scenes involving the voodoo subplot, and, at one point in the theatrical version, Michael Brody says: “Come on, sharks don’t commit murder. Tell me you don’t believe in that voodoo.”

[edit] Reaction

[edit] Box office performance

Even though it received negative reviews, the film was able to cover costs (estimated US$23 million) with $51,881,013 in the box office.[5]

The film, though, continues the series diminishing returns. It only grossed $7,154,890 in its opening weekend, when it opened to 1,606 screens.[6] This was around $5million less than its predecessor.[7] It has also achieved the lowest total lifetime gross of the series.[8][9]

[edit] Critical reception

The film had a poor critical reception,[10] and was nominated for Worst Picture in the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards. It is often considered one of the worst movies ever made, with a rank in the worst 50 on the Internet Movie Database's Bottom 100.[11]

Roger Ebert said that it "is not simply a bad movie, but also a stupid and incompetent one." He lists several elements that he finds unbelievable, including that Ellen is "haunted by flashbacks to events where she was not present." Many of the errors in the film he identifies are listed on the Internet Movie Database. Ebert also laments that Michael Caine could not attend the ceremony to collect his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor earned for Hannah and Her Sisters because of his shooting commitments on this film. The critic guesses that he may not have wanted to return to the shoot if he had left it.[3]

Within his otherwise lukewarm review, Derek Winnert ends with "the Bahamas backdrops are pretty and the shark looks as toothsome as ever."[12]

The film contains many scenes that are considered implausible, such as the shark swimming from Massachusetts, USA to the Bahamas in less than three days, and following Michael through an underwater labyrinth, as well as the fact that it was seeking revenge. The movie was widely ridiculed at the time for a scene at the end, in which the shark "roars" repeatedly.[2]

[edit] Awards

It "won" the award for "Worst Special Visual Effects" (Henry Millar), and was nominated for six other 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards, including worst picture, director, actor ("Bruce the shark), actress (Gary), supporting actor (Caine) and screenplay.[13]

[edit] Cultural impact

The increasing number of sequels in the Jaws series was spoofed in Back to the Future Part II, when Marty McFly sees a film theater showing Jaws 19, (directed by Max Spielberg) with the tagline "This time it's REALLY personal!". McFly then says "The shark still looks fake." This alludes to the tagline of Jaws The Revenge: "This time it's personal." Comedian Richard Jeni performed a popular stand-up routine based solely on this movie.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ IMDB Bottom 100. imdb.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-29.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ken Begg. Jaws: The Revenge - Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension. Retrieved on 2006-09-20.
  3. ^ a b Ebert, Roger. Jaws the Revenge. Retrieved on 2006-09-18.
  4. ^ Hank Searls Writers Workshops. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  5. ^ Business Data for Jaws: The Revenge (1987). IMDB. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  6. ^ JAWS IV: THE REVENGE. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  7. ^ JAWS 3-D. BoxOffice Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
  8. ^ Jaws. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
  9. ^ Jaws 2. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  10. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jaws_4_the_revenge/
  11. ^ IMDB Bottom 100. imdb.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-29.
  12. ^ Winnert, Derek (1993). Radio Times Film & Video Guide 1994. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 546. ISBN 0-340-57477-1. 
  13. ^ 1987 Archive. Razzies.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  14. ^ http://www.grudge-match.com/History/jaws4.shtml

[edit] External links


The Jaws films
Jaws (1975) | Jaws 2 (1978) | Jaws 3-D (1983) | Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/h/e/Jaws%7E_The_Revenge_5bf1.html"