Joe Alves (Actor)

Reviews of Joe Alves Movies

Looking for reviews of Joe Alves movies? Cinafilm has a total of 20 reviews across 2 movies.

Movies starring Joe Alves have generally received positive reviews and hold an average score of 81%.

The Making of 'Jaws' - released in 1995 - is Joe Alves's highest rated movie, with a score of 82% based on 2 reviews.

The lowest rated film from Joe Alves is The Shark Is Still Working - released in 2009 - with a score of 80% based on 18 reviews.

Actor Biography

Joe Alves (born 21 May 1936, San Leandro, California) is an American film production designer, perhaps best known for his work on three of the Jaws films. He directed Jaws 3-D.

Alves has designed three features for Steven Spielberg, firstly for The Sugarland Express. He designed the three mechanical sharks for the movie Jaws (1975) with mechanical effects man Bob Mattey supervising their physical construction in Sun Valley CA. After the sharks were completed, they were trucked to the shooting location, but unfortunately they had not been tested in water causing a series of delays that have become quite legendary over time.

He was nominated for the Academy Award and won the BAFTA for Best Art Direction for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Alves worked on Jaws 2 (1978) in the capacity of both production designer and as second unit director. After John D. Hancock, the initial director of Jaws 2, was sacked, it was suggested that Alves co-direct it with Verna Fields (who edited the original Jaws). Jeannot Szwarc was hired, however, to complete the film.

The model of New York he created for John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981) has been described as "memorably derelict", and he was visual consultant on Carpenter's Starman (1984).

Joe Alves has acted in films with Steven Spielberg, Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and John Williams.

Joe Alves has worked with these film directors: Laurent Bouzereau and Erik Hollander.