Where’s the Shark?

You must have heard the iconic line from the 1993 movie, Jurassic Park. ‘Where’s the goat?’ It marks the end of the lull before the storm in the movie. Soon enough, we find out what happens to the goat and after that, things are never the same.

What I wanted to talk about, though, is the 1975 movie by the same director, Steven Spielberg. Jaws. About the man-eating great white shark that wreaked havoc on a beach community off Long Island. The mechanical ‘sharks’ used in the movie (there were three of them) were nicknamed Bruce, after Spielberg’s lawyer. They had been tested in a water tank in the studio and were found to be functioning properly. Yet when the time came for them to perform in the Atlantic Ocean, they malfunctioned repeatedly. It was thought to be due to the effect of salt water on the machinery of Bruce.

Whatever the cause, the malfunctioning machines delayed the shooting and raised the budget of the movie considerably. Richard Dreyfuss, one of the stars of the movie, said that they were always hearing announcements on the radio microphones: ‘The shark is not working’. Spielberg compared the shark to an actor who would not come out of the trailer. In his frustration, he had taken to calling it ‘the great white turd’. The shark was later put on display in Universal Studio’s tour. And according to Spielberg, it functions much better on that tour than it ever did when they were making the film.

Eventually, there was very little footage of Bruce that could be used in the movie. Instead, shots of the still water of the Atlantic Ocean were used to strike fear in the audience’s hearts. They could never be sure when the deadly beast would break through the placid surface. As a result, they were always on the edge.

It was all for the best, though, because Jaws is widely regarded as the first summer blockbuster. Even when things do not work, sometimes it all works out.