Jaws Unmade

Jaws Unmade: The Lost Sequels, Prequels, Remakes, and Rip-offs by John LeMay, 302 pages

Jaws is sometimes regarded as the first summer blockbuster, and, as such, the prototype for all those that followed.  Whatever caveats ought to be attached to that claim, it was certainly wildly successful (indeed, the highest grossing film in unadjusted dollars to that point) and like successful movies before and since it spawned a legion of imitators, some more flattering than others, from its own sequels and major studios' attempts to bottle the same lightning to the inevitable parade of Italian rip-offs.

Jaws Unmade chronicles these more or less misbegotten children of Bruce, both legitimate and illegitimate, not only describing the movies that did get made but, just as intriguingly, all those projects that miscarried.  There are the well-known early versions of Jaws 2, one featuring Quint's son and another angry mobsters.  There's MST3K favorite Devilfish (aka Monster Shark, not to be confused with Bert I Gordon's aborted project Devil Fish, which is also discussed).  There's the legendary unmade spoof Jaws 3, People 0, which Universal spent 2.5 million dollars developing before cancelling the project for fear of alienating Steven Spielberg.  There's Bruno Mattei's 1995 film Cruel Jaws, sometimes marketed as Jaws 5 ("This time it's even more personal than the last time."), which piles on subplot after subplot seemingly without purpose, until, that is, you learn that the main plot rips off 1981's The Last Shark to the point of actually stealing entire sequences of footage.  There's Joe Dante working on Piranha and James Cameron working on Piranha II and John Sayles working on anything that pays the bills.  There's Roger Corman and Dino De Laurentiis and a surprise appearance by John Carpenter.  There's George Clooney and Laura Dern getting eaten by a giant grizzly bear.

If this is your idea of fun, it is tremendous fun.  It isn't clear how extensive or accurate LeMay's research is (his cites sometimes go no further than an IMDB trivia page), and the book is riddled with homophonic errors that suggest the proofreading was limited to a spellcheck, but the author's love of this material, as misplaced as it seems at times, is truly infectious.

Jaws 2

Jaws 2 by Hank Searls, 244 pages

"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."

The small town of Amity, New York, is still recovering years after a series of deadly shark attacks gave it an unfortunate reputation with the summer tourists it depends upon to survive.  The town's hopes are now pinned on legalized gambling, with a real estate developer already beginning construction on a new casino in anticipation of Albany's consent.  Police Chief Martin Brody, the man who killed the killer shark, is also recovering after his traumatic experiences, as is his older son, Mike, who saw a man eaten alive mere feet away from him.  At least there isn't much police work in the quiet town, until an ornery vacationing cop shoots a seal on the beach, and Brody ends up with a wounded baby seal convalescing in his garage and an angry cop cooling off in his jail.  Brody's stubborn unwillingness to drop the case leads to trouble with the state authorities, endangering the casino deal, and this concerns some shady characters who provided some of the developer's financial backing, the kind of men who are willing to take drastic measures to protect their investment.

And, also, a shark is eating people.  

The film Jaws 2, sometimes derisively referred to as "Jaws the 13th" for its aping of slasher movie tropes, is a very different beast from its novelization.  The movie largely rehashes the first film's plot, with Brody recognizing the danger and fighting to take the necessary precautions against the resistance of the mayor and town council, who fear the financial disaster that will result, all while the shark picks off victims a couple at a time.  In the novelization, Brody doesn't even know another shark is out there until three-quarters of the way through, just in time for the climax.  The involvement of organized crime in the Amity real estate market, which is the real focus of the novelization, was alluded to in the original novel Jaws, and was apparently part of an early script for Jaws 2 before being dropped, leaving behind the vestigial character of Len Peterson, the real estate developer who is Ellen Brody's boss in the film (but not the book).  Although Searls deserves credit for not merely repeating what was done before, he negates that goodwill by reducing the killer shark to a mere subplot, especially when his main plot is not particularly interesting.

Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming, pages 247

This is the second book in the James Bond series by Ian Fleming. It follows closely after Casino Royale and in fact the casino adventure is mentioned in conversation. Again this book also has a movie of the same title though parts of it, like Leiter being attacked by a shark, were used in other movies.

When I first picked up the book from the Central stacks the theme song from the movie was playing in my head. As I immersed myself in the novel thankfully the song faded and I was able to bring my full attention the Flemings writing. Like Casino Royale, it is quite evident that this novel takes place in the late 50s to early 60s. Fleming spends some time describing how the African American population is just coming into its stride with notable scientists, doctors and writers, but still uses terms such as "negro" and "negress." His portrayal of that community is also very stereotypical.

As far as plot goes live and let die is a fast paced thriller that follows Bond as he tries to uncover and expose the elaborate smuggling ring of Mr. Big. This takes him on a terror filled journey through New York, Florida and finally to Jamaica. Along the way he meets the lovely and mysterious Solitaire who is a prisoner of Mr. Big. With some help from the CIA he confronts Mr. Big in an action packed conclusion that has sharks, a damsel in distress and fiery explosions.