The JAWS Log by Carl Gottlieb

The summer has definitely arrived, and it's time for me to take a break from the kindle and enjoy catching up on the ever-increasing stack of paperbacks I have here. There's just no better feeling than catching a cool breeze in the shade while dipping in and out of a book. Wes M over at Plutonium Shores  is diving head first into film documentaries currently, and inspired me with his break downs to get back into this book that I started a few weeks back.Besides, if there ever was a film or novel that truly feels like 'summer', then surely it's Jaws?


Anyone who has even a passing interest in the film (that's about 80% of the world) knows that the film had a troubled production. If you've ever dug deeper than just anecdotal stories in film magazines and watched the documentaries on the DVD releases, then you have a pretty good idea of what happened, and how a bright young director managed to salvage a shoot and create one of the most iconic films of all time. We've heard it all at this point: how the shark wouldn't function when it was needed, how Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss just didn't get on, even down to how Stephen Spielberg begged the studio to give him cash to re-shoot the moment when Ben Gardner's head pops out of the sunken boat. The documentary, The Shark is Still Working is as exhausting as you could ever want it to be on the subject, and if you haven't seen it, get to it. However, I feel sometimes that when these guys get in front of the camera after 30 years of telling a story, it starts to feel just like that - a well told story.

Carl Gottlieb looks to dispel the rumours and here say with this book, and even though it was written shortly after the film wrapped, he has gone back and made amendments to those rumours that still go around about the film to this day. Being in on the production from early on as screenwriter and actor, he does a great job of showing the process of getting the rights to the novel and getting it to the point of where they were ready to roll a camera. For anyone who works in the film industry, it really is a fascinating look into how films were getting made in the early 70's. Things have definitely changed. We find out all sorts of great little details on behind-the-scenes of how the production worked, down to info on who was sharing the house with Spielberg, and the meals they were eating every evening. We even get details on who was dating the guy who was too drunk to get in the water in the opening scene.

It's not all just titbit's of info that you get here. You get a really good sense of the scale of a production like Jaws. The logistics that it takes to get accommodation for the huge crew,shooting permits and then even ferrying cast and crew out to filming spots is all documented here. One moment I loved was when the production manager began building the set for Quint's shack on the waterfront, after obtaining the appropriate permit. He was then told that, as the structure had a support beam in the water, that he would need a separate permit, and would have to pull the structure down. Despairing, the production manager asked how long it would take the judge to put the paperwork through for the structure to be pulled down. He was told, '6 weeks', at which he said fuck it, as they were going to be finished filming in a week anyway. On a shoot, you really have to think on your feet...

Other humorous moments included a story involving Murray Hamilton mistaking a skunk for a dog, or how Richard Dreyfuss would spend his evenings chasing tail in the local bars. A lot of the information is quite candid, though I'm sure the passing of time has lessened the impact it would have on the lives of those involved. One big rumour that Gottlieb stomps on is the involvement of John Milius in the script, and especially in the famous 'USS Indianapolis' speech, made by Shaw. Legend has it that Milius wrote it, and was uncredited for it. Gottlieb claims that Milius' sole contribution to the script is 'I'll find him for three, and I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten'. The one who wrote that legendary monologue? Shaw himself. Gottlieb was in charge of the script, and came away with the drafts in which all the notes were made from, so he seems like a reliable source...

If you are a Jaws fanatic, then you need to read this book. This might all sound like unnecessary padding by my description, but it all feels so natural when you are reading it. You can imagine everyone in their cut-off, faded shorts, bearded, soaking in the sun on Martha's Vineyard, having an absolute blast. Because, you know, they were making a movie. And that's what you want to get from it; you want to be there, with them, step-by-step. It's the kind of book that will get you excited about films again, especially if you work in the industry. Much like the shark itself, which seemed like an impossibility, the filmmakers managed to make a film that they were told that couldn't be done. The Jaws Log is a perfect testament to the power of movie magic.