The Jaws Log

The Jaws Log - by Carl Gottlieb

I was in 3rd grade when the movie “Jaws” came out.  Half the kids at school had seen the movie (some, multiple times) and half could not because their parents thought the movie too scary.  I stumbled across this paperback in the grocery store around this time and was incredibly attracted to it because, the book had pictures.  I had no idea what this book was about, no idea what a “log” was, all I knew was - it had pictures.  One must remember that in the days before internet and cable t.v., there were no resources at all such as pictures from a blockbuster movie.  So I plopped down my hard earned 75 cents, and soon my book was the most popular amongst all the third graders at school. The book got passed around from third grader to third grader, everyone wanting to flip through the pages looking at all the pictures from the most popular movie (at that time) of all time.

At some point, after the Jaws phenomenon died down, the book got tossed somewhere in the back of my closet, and never saw the light of day until many years later.  When I rediscovered it, I was very glad that I had held onto it.  I was now old enough to know exactly what this book was, and the purpose behind writing it.  I then devoured it in a couple of sittings, and realized that the world can be eternally grateful that such an insider account actually exists about a movie that still resonates as one of the most popular films of all time, 40 years after it was released.

Carl Gottlieb was one of the screenplay writers of the movie.  He actually has a bit part in the film as the newspaper guy, Harry Meadows (he’s the guy with ugly light-blue suit).  Because Carl was so deeply involved in the movie, both on and off screen, he serves as an excellent recorder of the events that made this project into such a masterpiece.  Because he’s a professional screenwriter it’s actually much more advantageous than what might seem.  He has an incredible gift with the written word that manages to encompass this story on so many levels.  History has shown us that this movie was an absolute nightmare to make, and Gottlieb records all of the trauma, yet his humor and light handed approach makes this book, like the movie, very enjoyable despite all of the setbacks and headaches.

In addition to a detailed account of the making of the movie, Gottlieb also gives us a very enjoyable exposition on the movie business as a whole.  He begins this book by telling us how movie studios select scripts whenever there might be a best-seller on the charts in the book market.  This was the case with Jaws, as it was a popular book for more than a year before the movie was released.  He then details all sorts of issues that those in the business only know - scouting locations, casting key principles, nightmares with unions, trying to get an untested mechanical shark to work, and encouraging extras to pretend their enjoying themselves in 60 degree water, while make believing that it’s summer time.

Much of the details and anecdotes of the accounts are a bit dated 40 years later.  When Gottlieb gives examples of “current” actors, methods, and popular movies, someone unfamiliar with the times of the 1970s may get a bit lost, but that doesn’t really hinder the book that much.  In fact, this book was re-released around 2005, and Gottlieb goes back and adds several relevant end notes that help educate someone unfamiliar with the times.  His end notes are very valuable, and worth a re-read if you’ve already read the original.  We must remember that back in 1975, for example, nobody really knew who Stephen Spielberg was, and it’s a bit fun to read Gottlieb describe him as a “kid” (he was 26 when he made the movie).

This leads me to my one and only complaint about the new, expanded edition.  The pictures from the original book are mostly gone.  I’m not really sure why.  Maybe the negatives were unavailable?  The book does have a picture section with many photos not in the original book, but it’s a huge injustice not to have the original photos featured here.  There was such a treasure trove of shots that, to my knowledge, were never seen anywhere else.  So even if you do buy this expanded edition, I would still grab a dog-eared, weather beaten paperback if you come across one at a garage sale.

One wishes that every movie, or at least every great movie, had such a detailed, insider’s account of how it all came to be.