Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.
With the HUGE success of the first film it as inevitable, I as more shocked it took 3 years.
With this sequel we see the return of the beloved character of ‘Police chief Brody’, Roy Scheider initially didnt want to but had recently left the production of “The Deer Hunter”, which led to conflicts with Universal Pictures to whom he was locked into a multi-film contract with. The studio agreed to forgive his leaving The Deer Hunter if he did Jaws 2, which they would count as the two remaining films of his contract with them.
This was a sign for things to come as lots of trouble brewed behind the scenes, John D. Hancock was originally hired to direct but seemed to piss off everyone, from locals to cast to studio executives and chairmen. This all ultimately led to his firing and the hiring of Jeannot Szwarc. It’d be interesting to see what John D. Hancock had in-store for us but ultimately Jeannot Szwarc did a great job.
The films casting is great and with the return of Roy Scheider, as mentioned above, is fantastic. His character has become this seriously paranoid persona who always seems to be on edge. It makes for great viewing and to see him face off once again with his nemesis is so entertaining, just a shame we couldn’t see the return of Richard Dreyfuss alongside him.
Yes, I know that this sequel s just av rehash of it’s predecessor but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining as a viewer. Infact I think it sits very well to the first film, it just lacks the character development of he first but we didn’t need that as much this time around and it still has many memorable scenes. Also let’s not forget the tagline it created that has been parodied millions of times since it’s release – “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…”
“Jaws 2” is a fun sequel, a-lot better than many big film sequels we’ve seen over the years from other film franchises. Give it another try, it may not be as bad as you remember.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Marc Gilpin (Sean Brody) claims that when they were shooting one of the scenes on the makeshift raft of wrecked yachts, they were being circled by a real hammerhead shark. All the actors were scared and began to scream and holler at the production crew who were filming that particular scene from a distance. The crew were oblivious to the danger and assumed the actors were simply ‘in character’ and gave them the thumbs up!
On the Brodys’ front porch is a flower planter painted bright yellow. It is one of the barrels from the first Jaws (1975).
In one of the boat scenes a young man is seen reading a book: “Jaws” by Peter Benchley.
The first sequel to actually use the number “2” in its title, as opposed to Roman numerals.
Ellen Brody tells her husband that Matt Hooper called to say he was on the Aurora. This is a reference to the first film. In the first film, Hooper turned down the opportunity to study on the Aurora in favor of studying the shark that was terrorizing the beach then.
Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss were approached to direct and star in the sequel but production on Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) was running behind and they declined to participate.
Many scenes had to be shot in the fall/winter months. As such, the actors had to suck ice cubes prior to takes to avoid having their breath seen on camera.
This marks the last film of Mark Gruner’s (Mike Brody) acting career.
The movie’s main tagline “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…” became one of the most famous and popular taglines in motion picture history. The blurb has frequently been spoofed and referenced in both social vernacular and in other movie promotions as well.
The name of the small rocky island with an electrical relay station on it was “Cable Junction” island. This was actually an artificially constructed set which caused numerous problems during filming. The island was made from plastic / fibre-glass material and was set on two barges. The surface of it was so slick and slippery that it was difficult to traverse it or even grab hold of it. This resulted in numerous retakes having to be shot, many actors slipping and falling off it constantly. Due to once not being anchored down properly, it once drifted away in the ocean, and the production had to go out and tug it back. In The Making of ‘Jaws 2’ (2001) DVD documentary, director Jeannot Szwarc recounted the day when he was informed that his island set was “on its way to Cuba”.
In a deleted scene, after the copter sinks, the shark attacks the pilot underwater. The sounds of the pilot screaming and the copter being damaged are the exact same sounds from Jaws (1975) when the shark attacks the shark cage and Hooper.
The picture was the all time highest-grossing sequel ever in history until Rocky II (1979) was released the following year in 1979.
Due to difficulties with weather and environment, most of the movie was filmed in and around Fort Walton Beach, Florida on the Northwest Panhandle. Many ocean scenes were actually shot in the Choctawhatchee Bay. “Cable Junction” was actually a floating set that was constructed for the film and kept docked at the Shalimar Yacht Basin when not needed and could be seen from the Garniers Bayou Bridge with its faux beacon flashing at night. Interior shots of the teen hang-out where they play pinball were filmed in the original location of the Hog’s Breath Saloon on Okaloosa Island. This business relocated to a new facility in Destin, Florida in recent years after the first site proved very susceptible to hurricane damage. The original building was still vacant and derelict in January 2005.
The helicopter used in aerial shots belonged to real life ex-army pilot Jerry M. Baxter. It was hired while he was running a crop-dusting business, after the filmmakers fancied a helicopter attack and spotted this one as perfect for the job. Baxter was also not only hired to fly it, but was asked to play the part of the Harbor Patrol pilot as well. In addition, he also built the full scale model that was capsized by the shark using salvage parts, and sold it to Universal at the film’s completion.
The camera operator used a cowboy saddle to be on top of the shark in a few scenes.
When shooting originally began (with John D. Hancock as director), Amity was envisioned as a near ghost-town, with boarded-up stores, crumbling facades on buildings and an economy in shambles after the events of Jaws (1975). Hancock quickly ran into problems: First, the residents of Martha’s Vineyard, where the film was being shot, refused to allow permission for their stores and houses to be boarded up. Secondly, his dailies were constantly being criticized by the studio for being “too contrasty and blue”, with perpetual requests to lighten up the tone of the film. According to Hancock, however, his eventual firing was the result of a power struggle between co-producer Richard Zanuck and MCA chairman Sid Sheinberg, in particular Sheinberg’s insistence that his wife Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody) have a bigger role in the film. Zanuck adamantly refused, and Hancock’s wife and co-screenwriter Dorothy Tristan eventually submitted a screenplay that did not include Sheinberg’s requested changes. Moreover, Hancock ran into problems on the film with an unnamed actress and had her fired; unbeknown to him, the actress was the girlfriend of an MCA executive. With a month of filming in the can, and 18 months in total already spent on the production, Hancock and Tristan were both fired, halting production on the film and leading to the eventual hiring of Jeannot Szwarc as director.
Murray Hamilton’s scenes were shot hurriedly because his wife was in failing health during production of the film.
Jeannot Szwarc and Roy Scheider did not get along, so producer David Brown asked them both to air their differences, but it resulted in a physical confrontation, which the smaller but more athletic actor had the upper hand. It ended with the director;s promise that he would spend as much time directing the star as the child actors.
The later film Somewhere in Time (1980) was made because the Universal Pictures studio owed director Jeannot Szwarc a favor because Jaws 2 (1978) had been the studio’s biggest box-office performer of 1978.
Co-starring in this sequel Jaws 2 (1978) was actress Lorraine Gary reprising her role as Ellen Brody. Gary is the only actor to appear in three of the four films in the “Jaws” series, the others being the original Jaws (1975) and the final film, Jaws: The Revenge (1987). Gary does not appear in Jaws 3-D (1983).
Around the time that this movie was in production, Peter Benchley’s The Deep (1977) was in theatrical release.
Names of vessels appearing in the movie included the small sailboat sloops “Tina’s Joy” and “Sea Witch”, the catamarans “Hot Wave”, “Sizzler” and “Green Machine” and the underwater sea wreck of the “Orca”, which was Quint’s boat from the first movie Jaws (1975).
At around US $30 million, at the time that the movie was made and released, the film was the most expensive picture that Universal Pictures studio had ever made.
Until the mid-1990s, the movie was on trade paper Variety’s list of Top Ten box-office hits of all time.
Young actors appearing in the movie who were involved in the sailing scenes undertook four weeks sailing training. When the production shoot got interrupted at various times, it was often suggested they go out and practice their sailing.
Reportedly, there was a joke that went around Hollywood when this movie was being made and released that said that the film was called “Jaws 2” and not “Jaws II” because the latter title was being saved for the next sequel after “Jaws 10”. As such, the franchise in the end only went to four pictures though.
When the crew had to go back to Martha’s Vineyard for re-shoots in the Fall of 1977, many of the trees had already lost their leaves. The crew actually put fake leaves on the trees to make it look like it was still Summer.
The lighthouse where the teenagers hang out was a specially constructed set made for the film and was 80 feet high.
The final month of the shoot during December was conducted seven days a week without any days break so principal photography could wrap on 22nd December 1977 just before Christmas.
This is Keith Gordon’s first film.
Erland Josephson was offered Richard Dreyfuss’s role but turned it down with the words: “I rather have intellectual battles with Liv Ullmann, than fighting with some shark. Ultimately, the character was cut from the film.
Not adjusted for inflation, the picture grossed at the box-office about 45% of the amount of the original Jaws (1975). On the DVD doc The Making of ‘Jaws 2’ (2001), the producers estimated the take to be around a third to 40% of the first film.
Movie versions of novels by Peter Benchley became popular in Hollywood for a brief time during the mid to late 1970s due to the box-office success of Jaws (1975), itself producing three sequels, which included this movie made during this period. Others included The Deep (1977) and The Island (1980).
According to actor Joseph Mascolo, original director John D. Hancock’s shooting script included scenes that fleshed out Len Peterson’s character; in particular, Peterson’s mob connections, as mentioned in the Howard Sackler/Dorothy Tristan screenplay. Some of the scenes were filmed with Dana Elcar, but once Hancock was fired, those scenes were scrapped, much to Mascolo’s disappointment, as he had taken over the role from Elcar for director Jeannot Szwarc.
The helicopter scene took four days to shoot.
The production shoot for this movie ran for five months, it being shot between August and December 1977. Including the original production of the film before the interval when it was shut down, the period of the shoot actually went for around 10 to 11 months.
Second of three movies related to a Peter Benchley novel produced by producers David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck. The first had been their box-office smash Jaws (1975) of which this movie was its first sequel. The third and final film was an adaptation of Benchley’s novel The Island (1980).
Original director John D. Hancock was fired and replaced by Jeannot Szwarc.
Dana Elcar was originally cast in the role of Len Peterson, which was much more darker than it eventually became. When Jeannot Szwarc took over the film and turned the character into a potential love interest for Ellen Brody, Elcar was let go and replaced with Joseph Mascolo, who had worked previously with Szwarc.
Directors John Frankenheimer and Otto Preminger were considered to direct. It was even once proposed that editor Verna Fields and production designer and second unit director’Joe Alves (I)’ might co-direct. Alves ended up directing Jaws 3-D (1983).
In the “final” draft screenplay, the helicopter pilot and Marge (the girl that rescues Sean) both survive. The pilot is able to breathe thanks to an air bubble in the copter’s cockpit and Marge avoids the shark by diving underwater. The pilot spots Marge swimming underwater, goes after her, then guides her back inside the cockpit so they can share the air.
One of the camera operators was singed by the fire during the filming of the electrocution of the shark for the film’s finale.
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