Jaws Oscars: Editing, Score, and Sound Behind the Shark
A great white shark threatens Amity, and a police chief, a marine biologist, and a shark hunter head out to stop it. In Steven Spielberg's Jaws, the music signals the shark's presence even when the animal is invisible. The Jaws Oscars went to film editing, musical score, and sound. Verna Fields won for editing, and John Williams won for the score. The film also received a Best Picture nomination. Released on June 20, 1975, it turned a difficult production at sea into a major summer success.
The journey began with Peter Benchley's first novel. Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, together with Universal, acquired Jaws for $250,000 and a share of the profits. Spielberg joined the project after directing The Sugarland Express for the producers. He had spent years working in Universal's television division and had made only one previous feature. John Sturges and Dick Richards had also been considered to direct. Long before the Jaws Oscars, the production was a literary adaptation taking shape through the choices of producers who needed a filmmaker to bring a shark's attacks and a seaside community to the screen.
Casting the expedition took several turns before Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw became Martin Brody, Matt Hooper, and Quint. Dreyfuss initially turned down Hooper, and other actors considered included Jon Voight, Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, and Joel Grey. Charlton Heston expressed interest in Brody, while Joe Bologna and Robert Duvall were approached. The producers had concerns about Scheider playing an anxious police chief because he was usually associated with tougher roles. Lee Marvin declined Quint, and tax difficulties prevented Sterling Hayden from accepting it. The eventual trio brought local authority, scientific expertise, and shark hunting experience into the same boat.
The script also moved away from the novel. A romance between Ellen Brody and Hooper disappeared, along with material about island residents and summer visitors and the mayor's political connections. Carl Gottlieb polished Benchley's screenplay with contributions from the cast about their characters. Howard Sackler contributed the scene in which Quint recalls the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, although he declined screen credit. John Milius and Shaw also worked on that speech. Another memorable moment came from Scheider's improvisation about needing a bigger boat. Dialogue and character work were taking shape alongside the physical challenge of putting the adventure on the water.
Principal photography began on May 2, 1974, around Martha's Vineyard and at sea. Filming continued into early November 1974, with mechanical breakdowns and bad weather heavily affecting the schedule. The production filmed at sea and in a tank. The production also used live shark footage filmed off Australia by Ron and Valerie Taylor, identified in the film's credits. A dangerous incident involving Hooper's double halted that part of the filming, although some footage without the double remained in the cage sequence. The Jaws Oscars would eventually honor the finished film, but getting usable images meant working through difficulties well beyond the Massachusetts location.
The mechanical sharks created another set of problems. Three models, nicknamed Bruce, were designed to serve different camera angles: one for the right side, another for the left, and a third for angled shots. Robert Mattey and art director Joe Alves created them, with an underwater platform and hydraulic crane arm providing movement. The mechanical sharks corroded easily, and sunlight bleached their skins, which needed weekly replacement. Breakdowns disrupted the schedule along with bad weather. Costs climbed beyond the original budget, and Spielberg considered leaving during production. The machinery built to embody the central threat repeatedly became an obstacle to filming that threat.
Many people associated with the production agreed that Fields's editing and Williams's ominous score greatly enhanced the completed film. The musical figure signaled the shark even when it could not be seen. The figure went on to become one of the most iconic pieces of music in cinema history. John R. Carter and Robert Hoyt received sound credits, with Bill Griffith credited for recording and John McDonald as boom operator. The Jaws Oscars followed a release featuring Westrex sound, Technicolor, and a Panavision widescreen image. The finished adventure ran 124 minutes and received a PG rating, a decision that drew complaints from some viewers over its violence.
The film opened to strong reviews and became a box-office blockbuster. By September 1975, it had become the most successful motion picture in the history of the US and Canadian industry, taking over from The Godfather. Benchley's novel had already created interest, while the film combined suspense with qualities associated with disaster movies. Its success reached beyond that season's audiences. Film historians have linked Jaws, together with Star Wars, to an industry pattern of launching action adventures with major commercial potential at the beginning of summer holidays, turning a release slot into a recurring opportunity for large-scale moviegoing.
- Jaws (1975): American Film Institute Catalog — catalog.afi.com
- Jaws (1975): Amblin film archive — amblin.com
- Jaws: Nathan Wardinski's National Film Registry essay — www.loc.gov