7. George Lucas got his head stuck in Bruce's mouth
Before filming began on Martha's Vineyard, Spielberg invited industry friends (includingMartin Scorsese, George Lucas and screenwriter John Milius) to check out the mechanical shark in development. When Lucas playfully stuck his head in the shark's mouth, Milius and Spielberg grabbed the controls and clamped the jaw shut. And it stuck, trapping the rising-star director. After prying Lucas loose, the guys snuck out of the workshop, afraid they'd broken the contraption.
8. A real shark shown in the movie, caught and hung up on the dock, came all the way from Florida
Courtesy Everett Collection
Needing a big shark that the townspeople could believe might have been the perp behind the early attacks in the film, the crew was under pressure to catch one off the location shoot on Martha's Vineyard. But nothing turned up that was big enough. Turns out the closest area where sharks big enough to pass might be catchable was all the way down in Florida. The production sent two fellows down to arrange things with local fishermen, and lo and behold, they landed a big shark. Trouble was, now they had to get it back to New England before its flesh began rotting. Packaged up in its own crate with as much ice as possible, the fish flew on a private jet and was hauled out to the location and hung up for the scene. But shooting takes time, and the poor carcass was getting fouler and fouler as the days piled up. Watch the faces of some of the actors doing scenes right next to it for a clue to how much the whole business stunk.
9. Robert Shaw was shot at when he got to Martha's Vineyard
The marvelous playwright/actor had just arrived with his wife, Mary Ure, and their elegant manservant, Eric Harrison, to Martha's Vineyard to begin filming. Imagine their shock late that first night when a local eccentric fired a few rifle bullets through the front door of the rental house, which penetrated walls and even chipped tiles in a downstairs bath. The bullets weren't meant for the star, however — the local thought the place was empty. And all credit to Harrison, who was the first out the door in robe and slippers, examined the fresh bullet holes in the door, proclaiming, “I believe they're shooting, sir.” The rifleman was later fined and released.
10. Peter Benchley scored a cameo in the film
Having worked as a reporter for theWashington Postbefore writing the novel that would become a massive best seller the very summer Spielberg was filming the movie version, Benchley brought work history to his cameo as a TV reporter in the film's pivotal 4th of July Weekend beach panic scene.
11. Benchley bonded with Spielberg and company over booze and cards
Director Steven Spielberg on the set of "Jaws."
Universal/Getty Images
While the author and the budding auteur had a little static at first over some comments Spielberg had made about Benchley's original screenplay for the film, the two quickly made up once they met and enjoyed co*cktails and rounds of poker at the beach house the director was renting during the project.
12. Steven Spielberg “appears” two times in his own movie
No Alfred Hitchco*ck, who famously appears in “there he is!” cameos in his own films, the young director shows up inJawsin two arcane — and only audible — places. One: His voice crackles over the radio of Quint's boat, the Orca, as the Amity Island dispatcher that patches Brody through to his wife when the chief is out with Quint and Hooper. Two: For a scene including a local band marching through town on the 4th of July, famed composer John Williams was afraid to ask his professional orchestra to sound ... well, amateur. But Spielberg had already professed his love of playing clarinet in his high school band to Williams, and that was just the amateur touch the soundtrack needed. Spielberg picked up the clarinet again, played a Sousa march with Williams's orchestra, and several perfectly flawed bars made it into the final cut.
13. Steven Spielberg's dogs appear in his movie
Police chief Brody's dogs are played by the director's co*cker spaniels, Elmer and Zalman.
14. A lot went into making that first shark attack terrifying
Who can forget the shark's first victim, the poor girl who gets dragged back and forth in the water? To get that violent action to look real, Spielberg rigged underwater cables to literally drag actor Susan Backlinie turbulently through the water. (Further, the actor wasn't warned when the jerking would begin, so her onscreen surprise is genuine.) To get the sound of her drowning to add to the audio postproduction, Backlinie was placed in front of a microphone with her head turned up to the ceiling and water was poured down her throat from above.
15. The “real” Quint ends up owning the movie's biggest scare
A Martha's Vineyard local named Craig Kingsbury — a true salt — was the inspiration for much of Robert Shaw's style as Quint (including his improvised ramblings). Not only did Kingsbury end up with a small role as another local fisherman in the film (named Ben Gardner), but his disembodied head pops out of a sunken porthole in what's largely considered the movie's biggest scare.
16. That scary moment was filmed in a swimming pool in the editor's backyard
Looking for the ultimate scare, Spielberg had already done extra filming of the discovery of the head by Richard Dreyfuss's character in a special tank back on the mainland after location filming wrapped. But he wasn't happy with it, so his legendary editor Verna Fields offered up her backyard swimming pool as a place to reshoot the scene (they poured a gallon of milk from Verna's refrigerator into the pool water to make it look more like the real ocean). If you've seen the movie, you know this take was one for the record books (and for the record books, that's a latex recreation of Kingsbury's head).
17. The location crew formed its own Jaws softball team
As an antidote to the rigors of location work, the crew formed a softball team and on Sundays took on locals.
18. Post-Jawshysteria wasn't a publicity stunt
We were afraid to go back in the water, and sometimes things got out of hand. One Southern California beach had to be cleared by lifeguards because of a shark-sighting panic. Turns out it was dolphins. On a more serious note, the idea of a vengeful rogue shark (a fictional creation) spurred a national fervor of fear, a drop in beach tourism, and a rise in shark killings. It has taken decades of science and activism to help post-Jawsgenerations understand and respect the role sharks play in the oceans and the ecosystem overall.
19. Spielberg had nightmares later, too
While a generation of beachgoers emerged from the blockbuster film forever creeped out about swimming in ocean deeps, the director himself had nightmares for months after shooting wrapped. His dreams, though, weren't of shark attacks, but of still being in charge of the shoot. He'd awaken thinking he was still on Martha's Vineyard, riddled with anxiety and panic.
20. No one wrote the movie's most famous line
"You're gonna need a bigger boat,” uttered unforgettably by Roy Scheider, was improvised by the actor on the day of shooting.
