MovieChat Forums > Jaws (1975) Discussion > Who's read the Book? VERY Different fr...

Who's read the Book? VERY Different from the movie....

posted 8 years ago by shanehall
41 replies | jump to latest

I really enjoyed the book - and would suggest that both fans and critics of the movie should read it if they haven't yet.

I found the book way creepier

Quint is also much more extreme in the book - especially his foul language - he swears A LOT - but then again, so would I faced with a shark like that!

I'd like to see Jaws remade - and for the remake to follow the book exactly.

Here's some key differences in the book (SPOILERS) :-

1. Hooper dies - he is eaten right out of the shark cage
2. Quint drowns - he isn't eaten
3. The shark isn't blown up - it simply dies in the water.

Would like to hear anyones thoughts on the above and discuss? :)

[–] imstillmatic 8 years ago

your opinion lost when you wanted a remake ..only a brain dead moron would want to remake jaws and thankfully Spielberg has said he would never allow it.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 6 years ago

Yet Spielberg has the gall to remake an equally great classic "West Side Story."

And to the OP...the book is bubblegum junk. Only Spielberg's genius turned it into a great film. Same thing in
case of Eastwood's filming of "The Bridges of Madison County." Cruddy book; fine film.

[–] octo_gone 8 years ago

Quint is also much more extreme in the book - especially his foul language - he swears A LOT - but then again, so would I faced with a shark like that!

HOOPER

i have a ten minute posting quota because I called the imdb staff scumbags

[–] benGsboat 8 years ago

HE'S THE GUY THEY CALLED

[–] mplo (2372) 7 years ago

I liked the movie better than the book, frankly.

[–] atd8vii (593) 3 years ago

So does 99.999% of the world.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21721) 3 years ago

Are you sure about that?

[–] atd8vii (593) 3 years ago

Yes!

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21721) 3 years ago

Ok good. I want to feel secure citing that figure in future discussions.

[–] MillerJones (560) 3 years ago

Only because those people are lazy and dont want to read it.

This has always been the case it is very rare a movie is better then the book yet people do not know this or even care.

The movie had some very good moments but at times and did cut out and lot of sub stories the book had but the whole ending was stupid really with the super shark.

I laugh at quint death it feels forced.

A remake would never work a lot of these types of movies worked because of the era they was in a it fit the audience plus the setting now people know sharks are nothing like this also you would be seeing them do product placement also trying to set out points maybe even suggest hugging the shark its attacking due to its feelings.

[–] SnagsWolf (1172) 7 years ago

Another difference: Hooper and Brady's wife have an affair in the book. That's why Hooper has to die.

People forget that the book was HUGE before the movie came out. Everyone was talking about it, and it dominated the media in 74 and 75. It's success caused the anticipation for the movie,.

[–] jekporkins (1985) 6 years ago

The affair is the biggest thing I recall from the book. I'm actually glad they took it out of the movie. I also remember there was some mob side story? Anyone remember that?

I recall it being a very quick read and the ending more realistic. I believe they ran the shark into the ground instead of it blowing up.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

The shark dying in the water is probably more realistic, but I guess it wasn't dramatic enough for Spielberg and the writer.

[–] atd8vii (593) 7 years ago

The book is ok in parts, but the movie is way better. There is alot of smut in the book and I remember reading about Ellen fantasising about not wearing any panties and feeling the breeze blow up her dress and getting her wet. I just thought, wow, that's really unnecessary and stupid and it just took me out of the story. There's so much dross in the book that I really don't want it adapted more faithfully into a new movie.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 7 years ago

I read it and didn't appreciate the "getting together" of Hooper and Mrs Brody. Completely unnecessary.

[–] fleischwolf (294) 7 years ago

The book is really shlocky. The whole Hooper and Ellen infidelity story is horribly out of place. It's also badly written. When Hendricks pukes on the beach Brody says "I think I join in", before puking his guts out. I mean, who says that when getting sick. It's kind of like the Godfather, which was another great movie made from a badly written novel.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I thought the shark attack at the beginning was way better in the book but the rest not so much. This movie could've easily been just another 70's shlock movie and forgotten if someone else had made this instead of Spielberg. Peter Benchley was kind've a hack writer IMO. His books are fun timewasters but not classics in any shape or form, just grocery store reading fodder of it's time.

[–] fleischwolf (294) 7 years ago

Sorry, but the first shark attack was prefect in the movie. How was the book better?

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

It was better in the sense that you were experiencing the attack from the girl's point of view, you felt her shock and fear a lot more than what the film portrayed psychologically. As a reader you know what's going through her mind during the attack and movies just can't do that, that's why I usually prefer the books more. You just get a more complete experience, same goes for The Exorcist where the book is much scarier IMO. In Jaws the novel, it describes her(after getting bit) feeling for her leg and then realizing her leg has been bitten off which is very terrifying, the movie lacked that little piece of psychological horror. You also get a much better description of what that shark did to her and it's very upsetting and disturbing. Don't get me wrong, the opening in the film is classic and scary as hell but the book was far more psychologically disturbing/horrific and uncomfortable.

[–] fleischwolf (294) 7 years ago

That's right, but as you said this can never be depicted in a movie3 like it is in a book.

Another thing I found funny is how graphic the sex stuff is. Benchley really got into that it seems, hehe.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

The affair thing was strange and took up too much of the book in the middle, what was the point of it? It's Jaws, not Fifty Shades of Brody. It's not as bad as the kiddie orgy in Stephen King's IT, that is infamous!

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

The book was okay and some parts were better but the movie was better as a whole. In the book Quint was very extreme in his methods as someone else has already mentioned. They glossed over the fact that he used dead whales and baby dolphins to bait the sharks. There was a scene in the movie that implied he was using illegal bait/chum. I will say this but I prefered the book ending but I suppose the ending of the movie with Brody blowing up the shark was more dramatic.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 7 years ago

Jaws the novel was an overstuffed mess in my opinion. The Godfather comparison is especially apt considering Benchley had the town council acting like the mafia.

Years later, I read Benchley’s Beast, was which struck me as the novel Jaws should’ve been (man vs. nature without all the side-drama).