A Retrospective of the Jaws Films: Loving Jaws, Hating Jaws 3D, and Hooking the Copycat Films

From Steven Spielberg’s masterwork original to the blah Jaws 2, to the utterly broken Jaws 3D to a shark chasing Ellen Brody all the way to the Bahamas in Jaws: The Revenge, we swim through the bloodied waters of the Jaws film franchise.

We note the harrowing sense of human loss in the shark attacks of the original, discuss the electrifying scene of the three main characters swapping scar stories and then Robert Shaw delivering the devastating story of being on the U.S.S. Indianapolis when it sunk, laugh at the terribly inept special effects of Jaws 3D, and enjoy Michael Caine slumming it up in the 4th one. It’s a video you can really sink your teeth into!

Join your hosts William Hunter and Chad Love as they jump the shark.

Drop a quarter in the slot & hit player two at The Dot Eaters: Video Game History 101 with William Hunter: https://thedoteaters.com

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Topic Index:
00:00 – Intro
01:07 – Jaws
02:11 – The shark is not working
02:50 – It’s a horror movie, so randy, dope-smoking teenagers have to be punished at the beginning
03:30 – The opening sequence of Jaws is just so damn perfect!
05:04 – Jaws is one of the perfect films, particularly the acting by Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss
06:25 – Jaws director Steven Spielberg remembering his Hitchcock
08:05 – The human loss in the wake of the shark attacks
09:12 – Don’t be the mayor from Jaws!
09:53 – The brilliant way Jaws is constructed as a film
11:47 – The great reveal of the actual shark
12:31 – The Mandela Effect: Brody says “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” not “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
13:03 – A bit of humour in Jaws
13:40 – The incredibly suspenseful scene where Quint get a nibble on his deep-sea fishing line
14:58 – The great one-shot of Brody on the ferry with the mayor
15:46 – Incredibly, Jaws was only Steven Spielberg’s 2nd feature film
17:03 – Introducing each of the main three characters in such great ways
22:16 – The electrifying scene of all three of them drinking at night on the boat
24:49 – Martin Brody’s hilarious parting words to his wife as they’re leaving to hunt the shark
25:10 – Another suspenseful scene Spielberg makes, without revealing the shark
26:10 – The shooting stars scenes
27:45 – Jaws isn’t afraid of trafficking in jump scares
28:22 – Chad’s personal story of being dragged as a kid to watch Jaws, The Car and Survive!
32:12 – Jaws as the first summer blockbuster movie
33:44 – A look at Jaws the book, by Peter Benchley, and differences between it and the film
40:23 – Jaws film co-writer Carl Gottlieb, aka Iron Balls McGinty
40:45 – Jaws 2
41:37 – In order to get people into the water to eat, Jaws starts goosing people
42:29 – Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro in Jaws 2
42:52 – Jaws 2 set-piece, the water-skiing scene
45:25 – Sheriff Brody freaks out over some bluefish
46:20 – Another great set-piece from Jaws 2, a girl screams sh-sh-SH-SH-SHAAAAARK!!!
49:47 – The shark takes out a helicopter
50:40 – The shark fries and burns at the end of Jaws 2
51:42 – Jaws III
52:05 – For what’s it’s worth (not much), the plot of Jaws III
53:30 – Jaws III was originally pitched as an Airplane!-type spoof film
54:33 – Lea Thompson, for whatever reason, takes a shine to Mike Brody’s idiot brother
55:23 – Jaws…. in 3D! Look out!
55:46 – A rundown of the TERRIBLE effects in Jaws III, including scenes where objects disappear due to the optical process. AND THEY LEFT IT IN THE FILM!
56:50 – The bent shark they left in the film
57:28 – The one sequence in Jaws III that isn’t totally inept
58:09 – The time in Jaws III where the shark swallows a scuba diver whole and he’s hiding inside the shark
58:37 – The shark explodes. Watch out for the flying guts!
59:12 – Jaws: The Revenge
59:51 – The shark takes out Sean Brody
1:00:19 – Starring Lance Guest, from The Last Starfighter
1:01:28 – Ellen Brody is traumatized by sharks, so why not vacation in the Bahamas?
1:02:03 – Michael Caine slumming it in this trash
1:03:07 – The novelization of Jaws: The Revenge offers a crackpot reason why the shark chases Ellen Brody
1:03:33 – The roaring shark of Jaws: The Revenge
1:05:15 – The inexplicable exploding shark at the end of the movie
1:05:44 – Jaws Copy-Cats
1:06:00 – The great Roger Corman-Joe Dante Jaws knock-off Piranha
1:10:30 – Piranha Part Two, first directing gig for James Cameron
1:11:07 – The terrifying horror film Free Willy
1:11:44 – Orca, a movie about a vengeful Killer Whale hunted by Richard Harris
1:13:44 – Bo Derek gets her leg bitten off
1:14:15 – Great shark attack movie The Shallows, starring Blake Lively
1:15:16 – The Landshark, from SNL
1:16:37 – The terrible shark movies they make nowadays, like Sharknado, Cocaine Shark and 6-Headed Shark Attack
1:18:07 – The wrap-up