10 Screenwriting Lessons You Can Learn From The Original Blockbuster – JAWS!

Posted on March 5, 2013 | by admin

Would it be blasphemous to admit that I don’t hold Jaws in the same high regard as the majority of the cinema-going public? That’s not to say I don’t like it. I actually enjoy the movie whenever I watch it. I just don’t think it’s AMAAAA-ZING. When you break it down, it’s actually a strange little screenplay. The goal here is to get rid of the shark. However, we have to wait for the final third of the film for the characters to physically go after that goal. I’m not sure we’d be able to wait that long in today’s market. As a result, a lot of the film takes place back in the town, where our police chief (Martin Brody) goes toe to toe with the Mayor on whether to close down the beach or not due to the attacks. While the characters ARE actively trying to solve the problem, they’re basically relegated to waiting for the next shark attack to happen. – The script itself has about as “Hollywood” a path as they come. Peter Benchley, who wrote the novel, was brought on to write the screenplay. Spielberg didn’t love his draft and hired numerous writers to punch it up, basically changing everything that comes before the final shark hunt. He also brought in comedy writers to make it funnier. Even Robert Shaw, who played Quint, rewrote a lot of dialogue. In the end, Carl Gottlieb got the “official” nod, punching up scenes daily on the set throughout the shoot. – The draft I’m reading is the “final” shooting draft, credited to Peter Benchley. Although much of it is what you see in the film, there are some differences here and there, which I may decide to include in the lessons.

1) Bonus points if your character’s fear is the opposite of his goal – Whatever your character’s goal is, make his fear the opposite of that. Here, Brody’s goal is to kill the shark. Therefore, his fear is that he’s afraid of water. It’s a simple yet effective way to create conflict within your hero’s pursuit.

2) I’ve never seen a perfect marriage in a movie – Marriages are wrought with issues. Something’s always pulling on them, creating a problem that needs to be resolved. These problems usually fester underneath the relationship, un-talked about, creating subtext throughout the characters’ conversations. Here, Brody’s wife wants to leave this town. She wants a better life for them in a nicer place. But he wants to stay. And that grinds on their marriage. Always try and add some sort of issue to your hero’s marriage.

3) Use suspense to drive your story – As you know, I prefer a character goal to drive a story. Get the hero out there and after an objective and he’ll take the story with him. While it means a slower story, you can use suspense to drive your story as well. One way to do this is to link together a series of looming disasters. That’s essentially what drives the first 2 acts of Jaws. True, our characters are trying to find the shark and stop it, but what we’re really waiting for is that next shark kill.

4) Conflict is good. Forced conflict is bad. – Conflict is good, WHEN IT’S NATURAL. Audiences can feel when you’re trying too hard though – when you’re pushing some artificial conflict in there to juice up the story. In the book, Benchley had Hooper (Richard Dreyfus) have an affair with Brody’s wife. Everyone felt that would be too much and nixed it for the screenplay. Good choice. It would have detracted from the story instead of added to it. Any conflict that you add should feel organic and natural. If it feels like you’re adding conflict just to add conflict, you probably shouldn’t do it.

5) URGENCY ALERT – It’s a SIN not to include urgency in a blockbuster (popcorn) film. So in Jaws, our ticking time bomb is the 4th of July weekend. That’s the biggest weekend of the year, the weekend all the tourists show up. And it’s coming soon! Therefore, the film’s urgency comes from Brody needing to find and kill the shark before that weekend (even though he eventually fails to do so).

6) Where’s your Quint? – The more scripts I read, the more I realize that the best scripts have one extremely memorable character. Someone who stands out because he acts different, talks different, does his own thing – a character who sort lives in his own world as opposed to the one you’ve created. A character like Quint, or Hannibal, or Han Solo, or Lloyd Dobler, or Clementine, or Rod Tidwell or Jack Sparrow or Alonzo Harris. This character is almost always a secondary character. Find him and put everything you have into making him as unique as possible.

7) Prevent your hero’s task (goal) from being easy – A common mistake new writers make is allowing their heroes to do what they want unimpeded. As a writer, your job is to do the opposite. Look for ways to make your hero’s job tougher. So here, Brody learns that there’s a shark attack. Okay, simple solution. Close down the beach. The bad writer allows this to happen. The good writer introduces the mayor character, who tells our hero, “You can’t do that. That beach is our income.” Now our hero’s job becomes tougher. He can’t just close down the beach. He has to find and kill a shark.

8) “DON’T GO IN THERE!” – Again, dramatic irony is when we know something the characters do not. Any time you can create a scenario where the audience wants to get up and scream, “No, don’t go there!” Or “Get out of there!” or “Don’t do that!” to warn the characters, you’ve essentially created a great dramatic irony situation. The reason Jaws is inherently dramatic is because it’s driven by dramatic irony. We know the shark is coming to kill these unsuspecting beachgoers, but they have no idea.

9) Always place your problem at the worst possible time it could be – These shark attacks aren’t happening at the tail end of summer with a few scraggly beach-goers getting a last-second tan. It’s happening at THE BUSIEST TIME OF THE YEAR, making it the worst time this problem could’ve happened.

10) If a character is going to tell a story, it better be one hell of a story – Movies are about characters DOING THINGS. They’re not about characters TALKING ABOUT DOING THINGS. Therefore, don’t have your characters tell stories. I see so many amateur writers have characters tell stories that are so boring I want to cut my eyes out. So if you dare to bring your screenplay to a grinding halt while a character tells a story, it better be the best f&*%ing story in the universe! Quint’s famous monologue here about sitting in shark infested waters for 110 hours while everyone around him was eaten by sharks worked because it was a damn good story. Please don’t bother having your character tell their own story unless it’s as good as this one.

These are 10 tips from the movie “Jaws.” To get 500 more tips from movies as varied as “Aliens,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “The Hangover,” check out my book, Scriptshadow Secrets, on Amazon!

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http://twitter.com/kinnygraham Graham

On the money again Carson – great stuff.

You’ve covered ‘memorable character intros’ before in other articles but thought I’d mention Quint’s here – the ‘scrape the nails down the board’ thing might not be exactly the first time you see him – or maybe it is (been so long since I seen the movie) but, anyway, damn does it tell you that character has arrived…..
JakeBarnes12

A fundamental story problem with the “monster” in Jaws is that if you stay out of the water, pretty easy to do if you think about it, it can’t get you.

Contrast that with the alien on the Nostromo — all the characters are trapped in there WITH the monster so they have a clearer, more active, goal — get this freakin’ thing off the ship.

Kay Bryen

Great point Jake. Sure, the writers made it (eventually) work, but I’d advise any of us newbies to ensure our premises are, well, watertight.

IgorWasTaken

We’re gonna need a bigger O-ring.

Malibo Jackk

I’m probably missing the point.
The Exorcist was the scariest movie of all time
– and all you had to do was stay out of that room.

Poe_Serling

Hey Malibo-

Congrats on making your way up the WOTS ladder. I also see AF submission La Mujer (The Woman) is in the hunt, too.
JakeBarnes12

But in The Exorcist someone’s daughter is at immediate risk. In Jaws, if you stay out of the water, NOONE is at immediate risk.

In The Exorcist, presumably the demon can pass from person to person, making it potentially a threat to anyone in the world. In Jaws, there’s a clear boundary line the monster can’t pass.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the movie, I just find some of the plotting contrived.
FD

Exorcist was grand, but even scarier was Sam Raimi’s 90,000 dollar debut “The Evil Dead”.

Greg Klein

…but it’s a movie, so they don’t stay off the water ;)

http://www.facebook.com/kevin.lenihan1 Kevin Lenihan

Things I remember:

1) the scene where Quint tells his story Indianapolis is crucial. It pulls the whole film together and is kind of the emotional center. Quint has been giving Hooper a hard time, so the audience is eager to see him finally accept the young researcher, and he finally does as they compare scars. It’s an important bonding moment before the big battle. It’s also when we find out why this shark is becoming the purposely named Quint’s white whale. Now Brody is not only fighting the shark, but is dealing with Quint’s mad obsession. There always seems to be a human antagonist to go along with the shark.

2) the fact that the chief knew the town should clear the beaches, and was talked out of it by the mayor, which resulted in a boy dying…this really upped the stakes. Brody would now do anything to purge that guilt, even go out to sea to hunt the shark, despite his terror of the water. So the hero making a mistake, despite his better judgment, one that has tragic consequences…that seems a useful tool.

3) set ups and pay offs: Check out when they first take to the sea, and the film sneaks in the stuff about the gas tanks.

4) extremely effective how the story puts the weight of the world on Brody’s shoulders. When the shark finally dies we really feel the burden lifted, the relief. Very well done.

5) the opening scene with the girl in the water…having the drunk kid fall asleep on the beach, that’s a fantastic choice, as the audience collectively screams “wake up!”

Somersby

Good points all.

…And of course there IS that extra element that made this film so memorable, something that had nothing to do with the writer: That incredibly suspenseful score, used to perfection. Gonna have to dig this one out and view it again. It’s been a long time.

http://www.facebook.com/kevin.lenihan1 Kevin Lenihan

Oh, yeah, that was huge. I was like 10 at the time, and every kid knew the Jaws score.
ThomasBrownen

Yeah, when I think of Jaws, I think of the music. I might be able to recall some of the scenes or lines, but the music definitely stands out.

Saint Croix

Can you imagine if Spielberg had actually done a flashback and shown the Indianapolis story? Horrible. Beyond horrible. You can’t even imagine it, that’s how horrible it is. So this is a rare instance in filmmaking where it’s better to hear about a scene than to actually see the scene.

In a way it’s rather like the shark’s fin is scarier than the shark. Our imagination takes over, and we are more horrified by what we see in our minds than what the filmmakers could show.

But yeah, the scene works so well because it explains why Quint refuses to wear a life preserver. That’s the whole point of the story. After hearing that story, we know he’s got a mad obsession, and he’s prepared to die. No need to show us the shark, because the scene isn’t about the shark. It’s about Quint.

filmklassik

“Can you imagine if Spielberg had actually done a flashback and shown the Indianapolis story? Horrible. Beyond horrible.”

Oh my God you’re right. I can easily hear some borderline-retarded studio exec or dipshit producer or young director giving that note today.

“Tolliver and I got to talking about the script — which we love, by the way, it’s BRILLIANT — and we both had the same idea about the Quint story. Listen to this. Okay, instead of the audience just HEARING about the ship going down and the sharks attacking the crew — what if we actually SAW it?”

It is to weep.

Greg Klein

Number five is a great opening image. Still memorable today.

klmn

11) Write a script based on a best-selling novel.

klmn

Addendum. It’s been a long time since I read the book, but I believe the conflict with the mayor is included there, and was taken from Ibsen’s An Enemy Of The People.

Kay Bryen

I’m with you Carson; I watched Jaws and my own jaw dropped to the floor, like: “Did I buy a bootleg copy? Surely this can’t be what the fuss has been about??” I tried to rationalize it by saying maybe previous generations had lower cinematic expectations; but this movie’s hype has been going for four decades now — and if anything it’s gaining immortality with time. Besides, any cine-snob will claim that movies are getting worse with time, despite blatant evidence to the contrary.

Anyway I still hold Spielberg in high esteem, which is strange because I thought his Lincoln should have been borrowed by Bigelow for her torture sequences in Zero Dark Thirty. Now I’m in the middle of watching his War Horse; but then again, I started it on Sunday so you can see how well that’s going.

MrTibbsLive

I still would take Lincoln over War Horse :)
Somersby

I find Spielberg hit and miss. His weakness, his fault is that he frequently favours emotional manipulation. He doesn’t seem to trust the story or the characters to deliver, so he adds layers of additional elements to drive home whatever emotional impact he wants the viewers to remember.

Thankfully, Jaws wasn’t like that but The Colour Purple, Lincoln, Saving Private Ryan and even Schiendler’s List had enough emotional overplay to choke a (war) horse.

Ken Levine said in his blog recently, “Steven Spielberg is a great filmmaker when he’s not trying to make great films.” I think there’s some truth in that.

Mind you, the guy’s made a shitload of movies so, all things considered, he still has a few things to teach the rest of us.

New_E

“I find Spielberg hit and miss. His weakness, his fault is that he frequently favours emotional manipulation. He doesn’t seem to trust the story or the characters to deliver, so he adds layers of additional elements to drive home whatever emotional impact he wants to make.”

Agree with that 100%. Doesn’t stop him being one of the all-time great, thanks to, among other things, the way he infuses his films with dramatic tension, and his eye for scope and visuals.

Like everyone else, I like his family films, but I prefer his darker, more adult material. He’s definitely at his best when he reins in his tendency to be saccharine.

E

filmklassik

“I watched Jaws and my own jaw dropped to the floor.”

The way mine just did when I finished your comment. And the part that REALLY got to me was this one:

“I tried to rationalize it by saying maybe previous generations had lower
cinematic expectations; but this movie’s hype has been going for four
decades now — and if anything it’s gaining immortality with time.
Besides, any cine-snob will claim that movies are getting worse with
time, despite blatant evidence to the contrary.”

We’re talking JAWS here, right Kay? A few quick points: JAWS is regarded — correctly, in my opinion — as one of the two or three greatest American thrillers of the last 50 years. The plot, the pacing, the characterizations, the rising suspense, the set-ups and payoffs, not to mention that PERFECT ending… I don’t know what you could do to improve them.

And movies overall, on balance, aren’t worse today than they were in the 1970s. They are MUCH worse. The evidence is almost empirical.

grendl

This is a response to Kays post.

Blatant evidence to the contrary? Are you kidding me with this?

What evidence? You’ve got a movie up your sleeve to compare to the “Godfather”, “Halloween”, “The Exorcist”, “Rocky” “All the Presidents Men”, “Young Frankenstein”,

“Jaws”, “Alien”, and this is just the seventies.

Movies aren’t getting better, they’re running out of imagination.

Let’s put your “Great and Powerful Oz” movie against my “Wizard of Oz”, okay?

Cause I’m going to claim the past, you claim the present Kay. Or mention one kids movie as good as that movie, or “Mary Poppins” made in the last ten years.

Better today, bah. Corporate prepackaged swill meant for mass consumption and nothing more.

filmklassik

Well said. And what’s disturbing is that Hollywood ISN’T running out of imagination. Strong original ideas exist — probably in great abundance. What’s been lost is the willingness on the part of executives to put those ideas on the silver screen.

Why are the suits so risk-averse now? Because production costs, always high, are now stratospheric.

Cfrancis1

Kay, really???? What exactly is wrong with Jaws. I understand the “technical” problems the Carson talks about with the script. But, at the end of the day, a movie is actually a lot more than just the script. Jaws delivers on all levels. The directing is great. The acting is amazing and the script is really good. Are rules broken? Of course, but it doesn’t matter. There’s no such thing as a perfect script. No such thing as a perfect movie. But there are still great movies. And Jaws is one of them!
http://www.facebook.com/kevin.lenihan1 Kevin Lenihan

Kay, watch it again with a writer’s eye. I understand why it might seem slower to a modern audience used to a certain level of blood and adrenaline, I really do. So I am not knocking your opinion. But if you watch this movie closely you’ll see how expertly crafted every scene and every line is. It really is a masterpiece, especially in the horror genre.

Greg Klein

The suspense point is definitely worth considering. Way too many horror stories throw out the monsters right away and it gets rid of all the suspense for the rest of the film.
http://www.facebook.com/kevin.lenihan1 Kevin Lenihan

Yup. Right on. The hero has to venture into a dangerous world to do his duty. Well said.
MrTibbsLive

I’ve seen Jaws a total of once and that was when I was a kid so I really don’t remember much except the theme music. So if you’re planning to write a blockbuster, I recommend hiring Clint Mansell or Hans Zimmer to do the soundtrack.
DrMatt

What we are dealing with here, is a perfect story; a very well-written screenplay. It’s really a miracle of the old Hollywood system. All this screenplay does is excel at entertainment, scare the crap out of you, and stay in your memory forever, and that’s all.

This was the first movie where I learned what plot points were, as demonstrated in a Lego Movie Maker booklet. What I think it does so well is feel epic while also feeling very character-driven. And the goal isn’t to get rid of the shark. The goal is simply to stop the shark from killing people. And they’re ALWAYS after that goal. Brody just uses different tactics as the story progresses. His first instinct is to close the beaches. But because of the ticking time bomb they can’t do that, so they use extra staff. When that proves ineffective, and finally when his own son almost falls victim to the shark, he snaps, and begins to confront his fear of the water. His tactics change again as he decides to go with someone to hunt and kill the shark. Even then, the tactic is to catch the shark as a trophy. It’s not until Brody fully confronts his fear that he reaches his last resort, which is to completely destroy the shark. All of these turning points and goals and story beats are all dictated by character motivation. The Mayor wants money. The town’s people want their lively hood intact. Brody wants people to be safe. Even Mrs. Kitner has a goal: revenge. And her goal motivates a huge chunk of the first act.

It’s a model for blockbuster storytelling that has continued to this day:

Open with a bang – a girl getting eaten

Inciting incident – Mrs. Kitner’s son is eaten, prompting everyone to go shark hunting and prompting Matt Hooper to pay a visit

End of the first act – Hooper’s suspicion about the caught shark leads him and Brody to cut open the shark and realize they caught the wrong one

Mid-point – Brody’s son is almost killed and Fourth of July weekend is a disaster, prompting the Mayor to cave an approve hunting the shark

End of the Second Act – the shark severely damages the boat and it starts to sink, and Quint finally realizes they can’t catch it, they just have to kill the damn thing

Climax – Brody is the only one left and has to either kill the shark or die

The best part about it is that none of those moments, except maybe the mid-point shift, feels like an obvious structural pillar. They all develop naturally out of the story because of actions the characters take, motivated by their own needs and wants.

The thing I always take away from Jaws is that you can’t depend solely on plot to form the structure for your script, and when you introduce too many forced circumstances that aren’t a result of a character’s behavior, it feels empty and unearned. Whether I have been able to incorporate that lesson in my own work has yet to be seen : )

DrMatt

In the haze of loving this movie so much I forgot to mention: great points about using location to your advantage. When I’m writing I always have a tough time working out beats unless I have a very clear and precise vision of the location and what said location is capable of affecting.

That would be a cool article, Carson! Take a few films and show how visualizing the location and its effects can help shape a story. Die Hard would be a great example of this.
ArabyChic

I see what you did there with that first paragraph… well done, Doctor.

Poe_Serling

Holy Richard Dreyfuss!!!

I really missed the boat on this one. I’m not one to point fingers, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t get my morning wake-up call from Ms. Scriptshadow featuring the “It’s time to post, Poe” message.

So, Carson, exactly what is the email for the SS complaint department?

Okay, enough with the fun and games. It’s time for me to put on my $24.95 shark hat from Universal Studios and get serious.

JAWS…

What’s left to say about this film? Well, let’s see…

It’s a true blue classic from the skinny dipping opening to the final kick to the shoreline. Moviemaking at its best. A summer blockbuster that changed the film industry. The original Terminator (of the sea that is)…

“All this machine does is swim, and eat, and make little sharks.”

Eco-horror reached its peak in the ‘70s. It was the kitchen sink decade of ‘when nature strikes back’ films.

Night of the Lepus. Frogs. Piranha. Squirm (worms). The Swarm . Phase IV (ants). Grizzly. Alligator. And so many more.

Smack in the middle of this ‘animal attack’ era and undisputed champ both financially and critically… Jaws.

When I started my DVD collection, the first five films I purchased were Dead of Night, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing From Another World, The Haunting, and Jaws.

And it’s still a film that I revisit at least once or twice a year. Just as fresh and exciting as it was so many years ago.

carsonreeves1

I’ll talk to Scriptshadowette and let her know to call you next time.

Poe_Serling

Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. ;-)
Greg Klein

You guys kinda dropped the ball on this one…

Marija ZombiGirl

“When I started my DVD collection, the first five films I purchased were
Dead of Night, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing From Another
World, The Haunting, and Jaws.”

I love you. In a film fanatic way, of course :-)

My first DVDs ? The ALIEN LEGACY box set and I didn’t even own a DVD player yet…

Poe_Serling

Hey MZG-

Alien and Aliens make a great base to start building your DVD collection from the ground up!
Deaf Ears

My first DVD was THE EXORCIST, and I also got it even though I didn’t have a DVD player yet cause the stupid director’s cut of THE EXORCIST had just been released and I was afraid the original would soon become unavailable.

THE EXORCIST, JAWS, and ALIEN would make for a pretty damn good night in.

Deaf Ears

I’ve gotten into the habit of watching it every year on July 4th. That way I’m guaranteed a great time even if my fat ass doesn’t get invited to a barbeque.

Poe_Serling

lol.

ripleyy

Really cool article. It’s also good to make your goal achievable by accomplishing it through mini-goals.

Your character wants something (the goal) but in order for that to happen, they actually have to complete mini-goals which will allow them to achieve the (main goal). This works best if you feel your goal is too easy. From A to C they actually have to go from A to B to C otherwise the main goal is completely unreachable.

Anyway, again, good article!
shaneblackfan

“The goal here is to get rid of the shark. However, we have to wait for the final third of the film for the characters to physically go after that goal. I’m not sure we’d be able to wait that long in today’s market. ”

This is the problem when you apply the scriptshadow filter. Not every movie follows the same patterns, it may have the same ingredients, but they are mixed differently.
The first goal is to investigate the attacks, but then the goal changes, Brody has to go out to sea and, if I remember correctly, physically going out to sea happens at midpoint and not the third act…? Correct me if I’m wrong.
grendl

Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions but if you don’t like “Jaws” seriously what are you doing writing movies?

I’m not suggesting it’s overly cerebral, but it’s cerebral enough with a great message of facing your fears and by opposing ending them. And the fact that it’s the Everyman Martin Brody doing it means that all these kids that are talking about being bullied by others could learn something about life.

There are times in life when you can’t rely on Twitter and society to defeat the bullies in life. Because there’s always going to be another one right around the corner. And how you deal with them ultimately determines your fate and defines you.

Brody blamed the shark for the first death of the night swimmer, and rightly so. It was what he did after where his fatal flaw reared its ugly head. He failed to close the beaches, giving in to the Mayor and business community of Amity when he should’ve been focused on getting rid of the problem.

Which meant acknowledging there was a problem to begin with. He wanted to belief it was a boating accident, something Hooper scoffed at. Seriously Chief? There’s half a torso left of this girl.

Brody spends the entire second act doing everything in his power not to have to face the bully who’s swimming just offshore, waiting for the school bell to ring. He’s not coming out of the classroom though. He enlists the shark hunters, and gets slapped in the face for his cowardice in not closing the beaches. Branding him personally responsible.

That’s why he’s the one who has to kill the shark. It’s only an act of redemption if the guilty party performs it. Father Damien Karras can’t be redeemed for his failure of faith and letting his mother die alone in the “Exorcist” if he let’s the wisened Father Merrin dispatch the devil. It has to be him. Just like it has to be Brody.

Again this is the narrative cosmos we’re talking about. In reality anyone can kill that shark, but in a story where a chief of police’s cowardly decisions lead to the deaths of innocents, only he can rectify the results of his fear.

Stories are about facing fears. Acts of courage are what climaxes are all about. And it’s only by doing so that Brody can kick to shore at the end and say in confidence to Hooper, as the Orca sinks to the bottom along with the bits of blown up great white ” I used to hate the water”.
Now he doesn’t. End of story, unless you want to make a ton of money rehashing the same dynamic four times and re-instill a fear he already exorcized once.

Greg Klein

You can’t fault some people for having bad taste.

Citizen M

I watched this for the first time ever last year and like Kay was underwhelmed. Not that it’s a bad movie; it just didn’t live up to the hype.

I thought the “fear of water” wasn’t followed through and was just bolted on to the story to buy some cheap sympathy.

Hitchcock should have made this movie, not Spielberg, because it’s a suspense movie, not a tug-at-your-heartstrings emotion fest. Martin Brody’s phobias and marriage were not really germane to the plot.

Your Point #6, Where’s your Quint? is an important one. Avatar was a runaway success partly because the Stephen lang character Col. Miles Quaritch was such a charismatic villain, IMO.

Citizen M

Amazing how many SS commenters have Down syndrome.

Greg Klein

Uh what?

filmklassik

“Brody’s fear
should have been fear of confronting authority and fear of speaking in
public, because he needed to do these things in response to the threat.”

Citizen M — I have been visiting this site for years but am hardly a regular on it. I don’t pretend to know everyone’s online “persona” and I certainly don’t know yours, so please forgive me if this turns out to be a stupid question…

But you’re kidding, right?

Citizen M

No I’m not kidding, but I may be mistaken. The thing is, I’m operating from a dim memory of seeing Jaws once, a year or two ago, and I don’t remember much. Everyone mentions Brody’s fear of water. I don’t remember it.

Grendl quotes Brody saying, “I used to hate the water”. And I hate Brussels sprouts. Cats hate water. It’s not a significant thing.

What Brody does have to do is stand up to the mayor and address the townsfolk. This involves two fears everyone can relate to. Fear of confrontation, particularly an authority figure, and fear of speaking out in public.

If he was portrayed as a weak man whose wife lost respect for him because he wouldn’t push himself forward, that would be a relevant flaw for his character.

But the movie is really about tension and suspense, so the character arc isn’t that important.

Malibo Jackk

Spielberg is on the phone. Line 2.
Citizen M

There’s more…

Scenes we’d like to see

EXT. QUINT’S BOAT – DAY

Brody and Quint step aboard. Brody gags.

BRODY
Gah! What’s that smell?

QUINT
Bait. Why?

BRODY
I have a weak stomach.

Brody runs and vomits over the side of the boat.

QUINT
Jesus wept. Anything else I
should know about you?

BRODY
I get sea-sick.
(brightly)
But I do think sharks are some
of God’s noblest creatures. So
sleek, so powerful, such
perfectly-designed killing
machines–

Quint strangles Brody with the anchor chain.

JakeBarnes12

You’re working from the outside in, G, which is more how film critics approach stories. You’re starting with, this is a movie and Brody’s the protagonist, so that’s why he must act this way.

Instead, try working from the inside out. If you’re Brody, you have a problem, but if tourists stay out of the water for a while, the problem will go away. All Brody needs to do is put up a big sign saying enjoy the beach but stay out of the water, folks, we’re having some shark problems at the moment.

They do this in beach areas of places like Australia all the time and the local town economy doesn’t suffer.

That’s why parts of Jaws feel so contrived — there’s little really at stake if they just leave the shark out there and the screenplay has to work to manufacture obstacles and to get people out into the water.

Again, very different from a movie like “Alien” from only a few years later where the characters MUST deal with the problem, not based on the fact they’re in a movie story, but because they truly have no choice but to face the monster.
NajlaAnn

Good points to remember. Thanks. The first time I watched Jaws I actually closed my eyes when the shark attacked as their boat became water logged. Plenty of suspense. And I agree with what others have already pointed out – the music was memorable.
New_E

I like MUNICH. Harking back to the best political films of the 70s and 80s dealing with espionage and hostage situations. Think THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, etc..

Great acting by all. Strong tension. And he managed to rein in his tendency to go for the overly emotional.

On the other end of the spectrum is A.I., which I thought was a failure. Hard to reconcile Kubrick and Spielberg. A relentless cynic and an incurable optimist don’t go hand in hand. Much prefer MINORITY REPORT, which may very well be my favorite recent Spielberg film.

I don’t think he’s done anything better since.

E
Paul Clarke

I agree. His behaviour is actually very realistic, it is the behaviour of the shark that isn’t.

When a shark attacks in real life, we keep people out of the water. The shark moves on, finds another source of food. People go back. But in the case it’s not just any ordinary shark. It has some vindictive anger that it focuses on humans.

Once it is established the shark isn’t simply going to move on, then they must take greater measures, heading out and tackling it head on.

Also, no one has pointed out that Sheriff Brody’s wonderful character flaw – his lack of responsibility. It’s not rammed down our throats like some character flaws, but there none the less. There’s a great little moment just before he gets on the boat where he tells his wife not to use the fireplace because he hasn’t fixed it. Why not? He clearly knows it’s broken. Just a little hint. Love it.
J.R. Kinnard

I think “Jaws” is probably my favorite Spielberg movie because it has so much good character stuff between Brody, Quint and Hooper on the boat. Most Spielberg action flicks descend into kinetic energy in the final half and I get bored to tears (see: Jurassic Park). “Jaws” continues to give us tasty character morsels until nearly the very end. No offense, Quint. ;-)
jridge32

“So if you dare to bring your screenplay to a grinding halt while a character tells a story, it better be the best f&*%ing story in the universe!”

Haha, such a good point. “Lincoln” had about 810 story moments that were definitely NOT the best in the f-ing universe. No wonder it felt like it took a few years off my life.
Midnight Luck

Haven’t seen it yet. Amazing since I am the biggest movie buff and have seen more movies than anyone I have ever met. I have a library that would sink the Titanic; and the library includes a special something-or-other edition of Jaws! Just haven’t gotten around to watch it, too many other movies to watch. I know it is one of the almighty’s. A must see. Didn’t really excite me. Once I do see it I may kick myself for having waited so long, then again my intuition might be spot on, it usually is. I think I might be bored for a lot of it, and that is something you do not want with a horror movie (though this is probably closer to a thriller) and definitely don’t want for a summer blockbuster. Spielberg just hasn’t landed many that I enjoy. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, the first INDIANA JONES, ALWAYS, SCHINDLER’S LIST(Maybe), and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, were by far his best. Catch Me was definitely his best, followed by Indiana and Close encounters, I am still debating how much I liked Schindler’s. So, Jaws still sits there, waiting.
Saint Croix

What makes Jaws such a powerful horror story is that all the people in the story are likable and human. So many horror stories have unlikable characters, and the “horror” is really just a punishment spectacle. You’re invited to cheer as people are slashed or killed. For me, anyway, much of the horror genre is just an exercise in sadism. You’re pulling for Freddie or Jason or whathaveyou. Jaws isn’t like that. You’re not pulling for the shark. So it’s the pure horror of a mother losing her son. In fact, Jaws does an amazing job of putting children at risk–including the sheriff’s own son. Innocent children die in this movie.

In a lot of horror movies, you are prepared for people to die. You go in expecting people to die. But what Spielberg does is get us emotionally invested in his characters. This is really tricky, because if you care about characters, you don’t want them to die. So how do you handle the horror aspects, if we like the characters? The way Spielberg handles this is by killing off extras. We’re afraid that the sherrif’s son is going to die. But he doesn’t die. A kid we don’t know dies instead. That’s highly effective.
Of course, you can’t just kill off extras. Or it becomes a joke, like the redshirt on Star Trek. But what makes Jaws so masterful is how the deaths escalate. The skinny dipper who we don’t know at all. The almost-death of the sherrif’s son, and the emotionally-analogous death of another child (who dies off-camera). And then the death of Quint. That’s actually the first (and only) death of a major character. And we’re prepped for it. Quint has a death wish, and he’s a madman. So we can get an illicit thrill as we watch the shark chomp on him.

Deaf Ears

Yep. What I like is there are no pure (human) villains in JAWS…. even the mayor gets a sympathetic moment – “My kids were on that beach too, Martin.”

Midnight Luck

And a TOTALLY unrelated side bar, Dexter’s Ending? So sad, though it did start to really sag with the sixth season. The Fifth was the absolute best one and I really thought up until then it was just getting better and better. Then 6 came along and just burst my bubble. It wasn’t terrible, but had None of the thrill the other years had. Haven’t seen the latest years, but just heard about it ending and it shocked me. This was one of the best shows out there (along with Breaking Bad). Let’s hope the reinvention of Arrested Development keeps some good TV coming. Sorry for a totally unrelated post, but man I didn’t want to see it go. Though I sure do hope they are / were able to bring Dexter back to some of it’s glory with Season 7 and 8 and now the final 9.
JakeBarnes12

I’m not looking for real life; I’m looking for a monster that poses a more credible threat (the alien on the Nostromo isn’t real life either but MUST be dealt with).

Not to say I don’t enjoy “Jaws,” I just find some of the plotting contrived.

But we’ll agree to disagree.

filmklassik

Jake — watch the film again. That shark wasn’t just munching on swimmers at the town’s “official” beach sites, it was devouring drunken college kids, dudes in rowboats, and even one experienced sea salt in a FISHING BOAT, for God’s sakes (Ben Gardner). In other words, it was like a 20th century version of Moby Dick, except with gills, and no amount of signage by the life guard station was going to end its carnage.

JakeBarnes12

The shark in fact wasn’t munching on anybody, fk, unless the writer decided so; what I’m doing is looking at those plotting choices and saying for me some of them felt forced or contrived, especially if you know something about real shark behavior.

I then traced the contrivance problem back to its origins, which I suggest is the nature of the monster — it is by definition sea-bound so the film’s creators had to work, and I think force too hard, to get their main characters into the water.

No such problem exists when the monster has the ability to hunt you on land.

This doesn’t ruin the movie for me. I still enjoy it, but I can feel the writer’s hand in places forcing the plot.
IgorWasTaken

I clicked the up-arrow, but also decided to put this in a word – Exactly.

(Carson, if you read this… PLEASE find a system that allows the UP and DOWN votes to have names attached, as was the case before. The way it is now, it’s like we each do a stage act and then wait for the applause meter. Before, it was more of a community with conversations. I like to know who voted up/down on this or that comment someone posted.)

DD

I know it’s off-topic, but if anyone has the script THE SPECTACULAR NOW by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, I would like to read it and can trade you something in return. Please let me know!

Thanks

ardorenfest at gmail
Greg Klein

Suggestion for your next article: 10 screenwriting tips from whatever Charlie Kaufman film you love the most (I assume Eternal Sunshine or Adaptation). Might be a challenge for you ;) .
ArabyChic

I love Spielberg but I agree with a lot of y’all’s comments. For Spielberg minus the saccharine overload we’ve come to expect, check out SUGARLAND EXPRESS, from the 70′s. Slow but very well directed drama that manages to be entertaining at the same time.
Dane Purk

It’s nice to see someone talk about Jaws for more than 30 seconds without saying:

“Hey guys, did you know that one of the most artistically effective milestones of the movie, the fact that you never see the ‘monster’ until the end, only happened because the shark was BROKEN the whole time? So it was ACCIDENTAL BRILLIANCE. Did you guys know that? I bet you didn’t. Can you believe it? OH. EMM. GEEEEEEEE.”

Whew. :)
kidbaron

This brewery I go to every so often

http://www.pioneerbrewingcompany.com/pioneerbeer.html

has Quint’s monologue written out on a chalkboard. Everytime I go there I study its beats. How it turns and keeps your attention and how it wraps up. Written out, the monologue is huge. It’s probably a page long. Supposedly Shaw was hammered when he delivered it.

What does it look like on the script page, Carson? Is it broken up by direction?
guest

Are you honestly trying to tell me the midpoint of Jaws is not Chief Brody’s son getting attacked? That’s the point of no return, not the act break, silly.

Are are confused. Allow me to help you.

01:03:28:21 – Chief Brody pulls Michael out of the water.
01:06:19:01 – Brody arrives at Quint’s shack.
01:09:23:19 – Brody sets foot on the Orca.
01:12:04:19 – Orca sets sail.

Final third of a 2 hour and 4 minute movie, huh?

Get the facts straight before calling me a liar. You’ll look less of an idiot next time.
Deaf Ears

I’m not sure about greatest ever made, but I would say it may be the most purely entertaining movie ever made, with the possible exceptions of CASABLANCA and NORTH BY NORTHWEST. I feel utterly giddy every time I finish watching it, just about every moment is chocolate-covered cinematic scrumptiousness.
http://www.facebook.com/kevin.lenihan1 Kevin Lenihan

Just going on foggy memory, but wouldn’t act 3 begin right after the Indianapolis story? Yes, Brody going out to sea to face the monster also makes a perfect turn, though it does come kind of early for a typical third act. But the final thing that is needed is for the 3 man team to come together to face the enemy. This is also kind of a point of no return in that it’s starting to become clear that Quint has made this personal.

Of course, none of this “turn” stuff is that important and kind of like semantics for film people. Fun for discussion, not much useful beyond that.
http://www.facebook.com/seansshack Sean Ryan

Jaws is one of my all time most favourite films. You can learn a lot from JAWS – perfect example of how to write characters – make them real people! You can read why here: http://seanryanmovies.blogspot.ie/2011/02/movie-that-changed-my-life.html