Review of Jaws 2 (1978) by Gordon T — 25 Apr 2011

JAWS 2 is AWESOME!!!!! Of course its not the original JAWS and some turkey in News Week or Time or Variety wrote that JAWS 2 is the best film AIP (American International Pictures) Never Made (because of all the teenagers in the movie).

So then, its JAWS meets Friday the 13th (a bunch of teenagers test the limits and get picked-off one-by-one by a teeth wielding shark).

JAWS 2 was originally supposed to be directed by Michael Hancock and sets were built and scenes were filmed but David Brown and Richard Zanuck were disgusted by Michael Hancock's darker tone (Amity was all boarded-up and "owned" by the mob).

The novelization JAWS 2 by Hank Searls is based on the "John Hancock version" replete with the Brodie family keeping a sea otter in their bathtub. The Shark is killed in dense fog.

I LOVE the soundtrack by John Williams with the harp music to reflect the underwater waves. The Helicopter Attack cue ended with a four note bum-bum-dum-dum which sounded silly.

Enzo Casteralli's L'ULTIMO SQUALO (Great White) opened in theaters within a year of JAWS 2 and featured the shark eating the entire helicopter, the mayor, and the helicopter IN ONE BIG BITE . . .the shark jumps out of the water eating all three. L'ULTIMO SQUALO was blocked from being distributed in the UNITED STATES for copyright infringement and FILM VENTURES went bankrupt four years later after releasing Mutant (aka Night Shadows).

The trailer for L'ULTIMO SQUALO also features the same man doing the voice over for JAWS and JAWS 2--Film Ventures lost A TON of money, the ad campaign must have cost almost as much as the movie.

But . . . JAWS 2 is TERRIFIC especially when the shark eats the woman WHOLE.

. . . FREAKED.

. . . OUT.

(it freaked me out when I was 9 years old and watching JAWS 2 on Home Box Office with my brother in my Grandmother's room in Scarsdale, NY).

The JAWS 2 LOG (a paperback about the making of JAWS 2) was featured on GOOD MORNING AMERICA; it took me 20 years to find the JAWS 2 LOG . . . I bought it on Ebay from someone in the American mid-west.

I live(d) in Pennsylvania and I'm certain that some books (used and new) are more prevalent in diverse regions of the The United States.

Anyway, the JAWS 2 LOG discusses the Michael Hancock version in detail and has good interviews with Roy Schieder and how Roy Scheider lay out in the sun for a suntan against the director's orders and how Roy Scheider didn't get along with "Ellen Brodie" . . .

Both composer John Williams and Roy Schieder were "suckered" into doing JAWS 2 because of contractual agreement; HOWEVER, JAWS 2 would never have been a 100% without their involvement.