Customer Reviews

The Jaws Log

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As this book surround my favorite film, I was very excited when I found it in a used book shop. I promptly bought it and read it. However, a lot of the information covered within the book wasn't completely new to me. TV specials, special edition VHS and then later DVD extras and the like had given away much of this information. I suppose I shouldn't have been so surprised, but I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more.
However, there was a particularly amusing anecdote with a drunk Murray Hamilton and a skunk that was particularly enjoyable. Obviously, however, I wouldn't really recommend this to someone without a high level in interest in the subject, particularly if you are already familiar with the bonus materials available today.

For 'Jaws' addicts like myself, this book truly allows us to experience the sheer beauty of the making of the best man vs. fish story ever told. Gottlieb tells a rollicking tale and his afterword - written from the vantage point of 25 years - is wonderful, wonderful stuff. So turn on the John Williams music, set your DVD to a low rumble in the background, crack open this book and "farewell & adieu to you fair Spanish ladies . . ."

Even though we're now in the era of comprehensive "making of" documentaries that accompany so many movies on DVD, it's still fun to pick up a good old "behind the scenes/making of" movie tie-in book from time to time. Carl Gottlieb's updated edition of his "The Jaws Log" is a good example of how entertaining such a book can be. It's nothing spectacular, just a solid, anecdote-laced account of a movie now famous for its production horror stories. Lots of new footnotes (about 20 pages worth) update the reader on what's happened since the book's original 1975 debut as well as providing further details not in the earlier edition, but it should be said that the original 1975 manuscript was still pretty candid for a merchandising tie-in.

I am a great fan of "Jaws" since it scared me when I was seven years old and it never lost it's fascination for me. I am also a great fan of all the works of Steven Spielberg, so I had to have that book.
It provides a very interesting and sweet insight into the hardships, troubles and sheer unsurmountable problems that make it almost unbelievable what a brilliant film came out of all that turmoil. The book is more concentrated on the personal and human stories. I miss a more technical insight. The filmmaking aspect is not so much described. I would have liked to read something about the way Spielberg directed the actors and Bruce the shark, of course. I would have liked to have known something about the camerawork, the editing of Mother Cutter, Verna Fields and all the other filmmaking departments. With all the little anecdotes about personal animosities or friendships, the author forgot to mention the basic, pure filmmaking process. But maybe it is to boring for filmmakers, or to embarrassing to talk about that.

All in all: I recommend this to anybody who has something to do with film. Whenever you have problems and trouble on a set, read it. You will wear a smile again and know, that nothing can come as bad as the shooting of Jaws. - And that the worst of all circumstances on set can sometimes make the best of all films.

Carl Gottlieb's book is a fascinating account of all that went on during the troubled production of Jaws is a well-illistrated account concerning all areas of production from the early begginings with Peter Benchley's screenplay to the film's worlwide box-office success. Originally written and released in 1976, this is one of those film books that instead of simply stating facts, also contains a wealth of info that makes it an enjoyable read. There are some audacious anecdotes about the clashes between the director, the stars and "Bruce", the shark that never worked. With candid opinions and numerous interesting details about the production, this book is a must-have for fans of Spielberg.

Gottleib gives a witty and insightful insider's account of the agonizingly protracted shooting schedule that produced one of the greatest films in history! His accounts of the production horrors, mishaps, over-runs, local hysteria (all these on a GOOD day of shooting) are as entertaining as the film itself. A great in-depth companion to the too-short documentary featured on the "Jaws" DVD (that documentary itself a shortened version of the spectacular one included in the Laserdisc Collector's Edition from the mid-1990's).