Jaws was a hot commodity before its debut in summer of 1975. In 1973, Universal purchased the rights to Peter Benchley’s novel for $175,000 ($1.3 million in 2026). However, Universal quickly realized that they may have made a mistake. Jaws’ problem-filled production is infamous. Almost every aspect of the film was troubled, with Bruce aka “Jaws” himself causing most of the problems.
The first obstacle to overcome was finding a director. Universal looked at veteran director John Sturges, who turned the project down. They moved onto new director, Dick Richards, who had made his directorial debut the year prior. However, he kept referring to Jaws as a whale instead of a shark, which annoyed them. Finally, newish director, Steven Spielberg heard about the project and approached Universal, wanting the job. By the end of the meeting, he was hired. One problem down.
The next problem to overcome was adapting Peter Benchley’s novel into a workable screenplay. Some subplots were dropped, such as Hooper having an affair with Brody’s wife. Spielberg was concerned that the adultery would undermine the camaraderie between the men on The Orca during the film’s final act. Benchley himself wanted to write the screenplay. While he produced three different drafts, he did not produce the final draft. He admitted that while he was able to outline the basic plot and most of the climactic ocean scene, he was not sure how to flesh out the characters. Eventually, Spielberg hired his friend, writer Carl Gottlieb, then a writer on The Odd Couple, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Howard Sackler to improve and polish the script. Gottlieb was able to produce a final filmable screenplay. Additional scenes, 27 in fact, were added to the story that weren’t in Benchley’s novel. Finally, Robert Shaw who was cast as Quint in the film, also contributed to the script in the form of his monologue about his time on the USS Indianapolis. While Shaw didn’t write the entire monologue, he is credited with editing and rewriting his speech to what appears in the final film.
The casting was the next obstacle. Peter Benchley (of course), wanted big stars like Robert Redford, Steve McQueen, and Paul Newman to play the men on The Orca. However, Spielberg wanted to cast lesser known (but still known) actors, with more of an “every person” quality to make the story more realistic and drive home the idea that a shark attack could happen to anyone. The smaller roles in the film were cast with Lorraine Gary (as Brody’s wife Ellen. She was also the wife of the Universal president), Murray Hamilton as the mayor, and stuntwoman Susan Backlinie as Chrissie, the skinny dipper who was Jaws’ first victim.
For the larger roles, Universal started with offering the lead Brody role to Robert Duvall. However, he turned it down, stating he was more interested in the Quint role. However, he was deemed too young for Quint. Charlton Heston wanted the role, but Spielberg turned him down, thinking his personality was too large for the part. Roy Scheider, who would be cast as Brody, won the role after attending a party with Spielberg and overhearing him talking about the film. Quint would be offered to both Lee Marvin and Sterling Hayden, but they turned it down. Universal then suggested Robert Shaw, but Shaw was hesitant because he disliked the book! However, he accepted the role at the urging of his wife. She was right about From Russia With Love that he made in 1963.
Finally, there was the role of Hooper. Richard Dreyfuss was hired after Jon Voight passed. Dreyfuss famously was difficult to get along with during the production. The issues with the shark only compounded the issue.
Then there was Jaws aka “Bruce” the shark. The problems with Bruce are legendary and almost as big as the film itself. I’d like to mention that I’ve “met” Bruce at both Universal Studios Hollywood and the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. While the Jaws sequels featured different Bruces of varying sizes, this article is specifically about the OG Bruce in the 1975 film. Weirdly, later after Jaws’ production had long since ended, a large, hollow, fiberglass Bruce was found in a junkyard. This Bruce, dubbed “Junkyard Bruce” is the one now displayed in the Academy Museum. This is the only known surviving full scale model of Bruce.
Bruce was an animatronic shark who appears in most of the film except in the scene with Hooper in the cage: Bruce had a stunt double. A real Great White Shark stepped in and performed those scenes. This actually wasn’t planned, it just happened while filming. One animatronic Bruce was designed to be moved via a barge to simulate swimming. Other animatronic Bruces were designed to be moved using a mechanical platform and arm. The arm was attached to the sea and at one point, it broke, causing the whole thing to sink and have to be rescued.
Every day, Bruce’s rubber body sustained tears and needed to be mended. If he wasn’t torn, then his color was coming off due to the salt water and he needed repainted. The weight of the water caused his fins to fall off or loosen. There are other scenes where they had to allow water to rush out of Bruce’s eyes when he emerged from the water. This was done to maintain the pressure. Unfortunately for Bruce, his inability to get it together and cooperate led to him having only 4 minutes of screentime. However, despite Bruce’s physical infirmities, he was a bit of a super shark. Unlike real Great White sharks, Bruce could survive in fresh water, like when he attacks the man in the estuary. He could also sink a boat. Bruce also exhibited super strength to pull three floatation barrels. Finally, he is supersized at 25′. A normal Great White shark is typically between 16-20′. But how much fun would a normal sized shark be?
Despite all the production issues, Jaws is still just as exciting and thrilling now as it was 50 years ago. Bruce can look a little hokey, but his limited screentime is to the film’s benefit as John Williams’ iconic score (Da…Da. Da….Da. Dadadadadada) makes it feel as if Jaws is always around and always ready to attack. This music makes the film, aside from the fantastic performances and excellent direction by Steven Spielberg. Even though I have seen this film dozens of times (even multiple times in the theater), it is still a lot of fun. This is my annual Fourth of July film.
