The other night I decided to watch both JAWS and JAWS 3 as I hadn't seen either one in a long, long time. I kind of like JAWS 2 the best of the three and have seen it so many times. The reason for wanting to pop in those movies was this first book featured below. I've been reading it off and on for the last several weeks. Also, there are two other equally fascinating and very different reads on the first big summer blockbuster, the phenomenon that is Steven Spielberg's JAWS (1975).
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE: A JAWS COMPANION
By Patrick Jankiewicz
Softcover; 236 pages; B/W
The author has fashioned a damn fine read on one of the scariest movies of all time. The first 130 pages is devoted to Spielberg's sea beast horror epic. Excerpts from many key contributors behind the making of the picture are included as well as the authors own observations. But the book itself isn't limited to the first JAWS picture, this tome also covers the other films in the series as well as countless minutiae about the four films themselves. Everything you ever wanted to know about this series is covered in depth.
But this great little book isn't simply relegated to the JAWS series. There's also chapters on related merchandising and the influence the films had on other forms of media including comics and television and other movies as well. Another section covers movies that were either very similar, or down right shameful rip offs (We're looking at you Enzo G. Castellari). There's also a section on scripts that were never made into their proposed JAWS entry.
The various pictures seen here are shots from the movies themselves, photographs of the production cast and crew, lobby cards, bubblegum cards and comics to name some of the images found inside. There's only one small error found in the rip off section. In the small space given to TENTACLES (1976), Bo Svenson is listed as one of the stars, but it's actually Bo Hopkins. JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE is a great book, one for any JAWS fan and one for the shelves.
This next book I used to have the original pocket book which was given to me by a relative. It was my absolute favorite book at the time and it contained some delicious photos showcasing the behinds the scenes making of the movie. This is....
THE JAWS LOG: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
By Carl Gottlieb
Hardcover; 224 pages; B/W
I remember flipping through this book dozens of times marveling at the many photographs and especially one which perplexed me for years. It was a photo of a scene that was ultimately scrapped and reshot in a less violent form. The scene in question is the death of the man in the boat. Originally, the shark was going for Michael Brody and this fisherman got in the way and the shark took off with him with Mike hanging on; the man bleeding profusely from the mouth. It was removed and replaced with the shot of him having his leg hit the ocean floor instead. That photo is nowhere to be found here and several others I recall being in the original edition have been replaced with other, equally interesting behind the scenes pics. The description below is verbatim from amazon and sums up this hardcover Anniversary edition best...
The only book on how 26-year-old Steven Spielberg transformed Peter Benchley's #1 bestselling novel into the phenomenal movie it became, Gottlieb's chronicle of this extraordinary year-long adventure was first published in 1975, generating 17 printings and selling more than 2 million paperback copies. Long out of print, a new, expanded paperback edition was published in 2000 to mark the movie's 25th Anniversary, featuring a 22-page behind-the-scenes photo album, a new afterword by Gottlieb updating readers on the fates of the filmmakers, and an introduction by Peter Benchley.
Gottlieb's book is like a diary from the pictures beginnings all the way up to its release. Every aspect of the production is covered in detail. A must own for any JAWS fan. I only wish I still had that original pocket book edition.
Finally, it's one last trip back to the beach with this Bloomsbury Movie guide...
NIGEL ANDREWS ON JAWS
By Nigel Andrews
Softcover; 183 pages; color & B/W
Andrews book covers even more information on Spielberg's killer fish movie and includes even more great behind the scenes photos including one of the deleted scene mentioned above regarding Mike Brody, the man in the boat and the shark. There's also storyboards reproduced inside for key scenes from the movie. The book also covers (as does the one at the top of the page) the slight controversy surrounding the Indianapolis speech and just who wrote it, or who contributed to it.
Also, among the many chapters, the aftermath of JAWS and the changes in movies made in its wake are discussed by the author. One of the books best attributes is the section where Roy Scheider speaks about his involvment with the movie. His anecdotes cover the film from start to finish and a small bit of his part in JAWS 2. All in all, this book is also a highly recommended read and fits comfortably beside the above two entries on the book shelves.
UNTIL NEXT TIME....
DETROIT 9000 (1973)
Alex Rocco (Lieutenant Danny Bassett), Hari Rhodes (Sergeant Jesse Williams), Vonetta McGee (Ruby Harris), Scatman Crothers (Reverend Markham), Robert Phillips (Inspector Morgan Chalmers)
Directed by Arthur Marks
A group of thieves steal $400,000 from a number of supporters at a fund raising event for black congressman, Aubrey Hale Clayton. Tensions rise when racism is questioned as being a key component in the crime being committed as well as it being prevented. Lieutenant Danny Bassett is partnered with Sergeant Jesse Williams to solve the case. With anxieties already high, the strained partnership only adds to the problematic caper.
Arthur Marks strikes again this time delivering a vastly important topical crime thriller with some volatile ideas and performances. Easily one of the best black oriented motion pictures of the 1970's which imports some elements from the exploitation end of black cinema that became popular at the start of the decade. It's a thought provoking, sometimes ferocious, yet quality police procedural with controversial subject matter.
Mark's thought provokingly violent movie is a police thriller with attitude. Possessing an incredibly uncomfortable air of race hate on both white and black, the script is an ingenious concoction of infighting between black pride and white supremacy. But it's not confined to black and white. There's also discussion that the heist was a black on black crime. From start to finish, there are oodles of conversations and heated debates about racial discrimination and how it figures into society, the business world and also the political world.
All sides presented are positive and negative. For every good, honest cop, there's an equally crooked and seedy policeman. Ditto for the politicians. The only constant are the criminals, they're all bad. It's in a similar vein to the correspondingly gut punching, but even more violent police thriller, ACROSS 110TH STREET from the year prior. One of the finest aspects of this production is the amount of subterfuge especially the finale where everything is not as it seems leaving the audience to answer for themselves the question raised during the closing moments. The reason behind a dismembered corpse found inside a trunk in the river is another plot device that turns out to be not as it seems.
DETROIT 9000 (whose title refers to an officers distress call) is often lumped in with the blaxploitation genre of movies. That's not in any way being detrimental to the many mindless action films that propagated during that period, just that there's a lot more going on here than simple blood, guns and breasts that defined the more famous entries the genre was known for. There's still a good number of action scenes including a dynamite shoot out conclusion that's spread out all over Detroit from a railway to a cemetery with cops on foot, in cars and even on horseback!
"There you see'em...the ultimate product of your jive ass honky establishment, your house nigger."--Sgt. Williams is shocked that little has changed with some of the older generation in the way they interact with whitey
It does have some elements you'd expect from the films such as a handful of bloody shoot outs and chases and a risibly funkadelic soundtrack. Also the litany of racial slurs and innuendo are prevalent. In many cases, this is just an extension of the characters expressing their emotional state. One such sequence is when Bassett goes to visit his mentally unstable wife whose in a mental hospital. Needless to say, she has little respect for anyone other than the "right people".
Critical and carefree Lt. Danny Bassett sits in on a radio talk show called "Buzz the Fuzz" and answers a question regarding the heist at the black congressman fundraiser....
Lt. Bassett: I don't, uh...really give a damn.
Caller: You mean you a honky racist like the rest o' the pigs! You don't care what happens to black people looong as they keep their place, huh?
Lt. Bassett: No, what I mean is I don't care whether the bastards are black, brown, blue, yellow, or green. When an asshole commits a felony I'm gonna do my goddamndest to bust'em! That's what I mean!
Bassett tries to console his racist and mentally disturbed wife, Maddy, who now resides in an institution
The performances are good across the board with an occasional wooden line exchange here and there. Alex Rocco (THE GODFATHER, RETURN TO HORROR HIGH) is spot on as the begrudging, terminally frustrated Lieutenant with a chip on his shoulder. Foul mouthed and aching to be left alone, the character of Bassett is one of the best parts of the movie. Robert Phillips plays the chief Inspector and 70's action fans will recognize him from a slew of movies playing predominantly bad guys. It's a refreshing change of pace to see him play a good guy for a change.
"Go on, try it. Go for it, you bastard. Gimme an excuse to waste a goddamn cop killer!"
Ruby's services are required by the shady Aubrey Hale Clayton. Scatman Crothers (left) plays the not so holy Reverend Markham
Vonetta McGee plays a call girl with a lot of inside information. She's not in the movie much, but is integral to the solving of the big heist. McGee was the object of interest in BLACULA (1972) and also in the ultra violent Italian spaghetti western classic, THE GREAT SILENCE (1967). Bob Minor is on hand yet again in a bloody shootout chase sequence early in the movie.
Stuntman/actor extraordinaire Bob Minor
DETROIT 9000 (1973) is a thoroughly entertaining and stimulating action-police drama. It's subject matter is just as topical today as when the movie was released. It also has elements found in the best of the blaxploitation movies, but Arthur Mark's incendiary police procedural really doesn't belong there. Highly recommended.
This review is representative of the Miramax DVD
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