Jaws 2 (1978) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 45 titles created 07 Apr 2012 a list of 35 titles created 27 Jun 2012 a list of 23 titles created 25 Aug 2013 a list of 33 titles created 17 Dec 2014 a list of 38 titles created 1 month ago Search for " Jaws 2 " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. The sons of police chief Brody must protect civilians at a SeaWorld theme park after a 35-foot shark becomes trapped in the park with them.

Director: Joe Alves Chief Brody's widow believes that her family is deliberately being targeted by another shark in search of revenge. Director: Joseph Sargent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X A giant great white shark arrives on the shores of a New England beach resort and wreaks havoc with bloody attacks on swimmers, until a part-time sheriff teams up with a marine biologist and an old seafarer to hunt the monster down. Director: Steven Spielberg Searching for a cure to Alzheimer's disease a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the bait as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back. Director: Renny Harlin The beaches of the Baltic Sea are terrorized by a shark. The military manage to destroy it, but the shark returns in spectral form. Directors: Sergey A., Ivan Yakovidish Stars: Sergey A., Krolik Black, Eldar Bogunov Three people attempt to stop a gigantic crocodile, who is terrorizing residents in Black Lake, Maine. Director: Steve Miner While Sheriff Brackett and Dr.

Loomis hunt for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to hospital, and the serial killer is not far behind her. Director: Rick Rosenthal Edit Storyline Four years after the events of the original "Jaws", the town of Amity suddenly experiences series of mysterious boating accidents and disappearances. Chief of Police, Martin Brody, fears that another shark is out there, but he is ignored by the townsfolk. Unfortunately, he's right. There is another Great White in the sea. And it wants revenge. Written by darkmage7280 Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... See more » Genres: 16 June 1978 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Did You Know? Trivia Although the first film was commended for leaving the shark to the imagination until two thirds of the way through, Jeannot Szwarc felt that they should show it as much as possible because the dramatic "first image of it coming out of the water" in the first film could never be repeated. Szwarc believed that the reduction of the first film's Hitchcockian suspense was inevitable because the audience already knew what the shark looked like from the first film.

See more » Goofs In the very beginning, as Brody travels to the party, an aerial view of the truck reveals the shadow of the camera perched on the railing of the bridge, along with several crew men. See more » Quotes Martin Brody : That boat's gonna take you in. Where the hell are they? Hendricks : About ten degrees off your starboard bow. You take... Martin Brody : Don't give me that shit, point! (Toronto, Ontario) – See all my reviews It's strange, I wonder how this film would have been received if it was directed by Spielberg instead of an unknown. Because this film is about as intense as they come. Granted, it lacks in the personal relationships and that is what made Jaws such the classic that it is. We all know that there is no way a sequel to Jaws could ever live up to what we experienced with Jaws, but this film is about as scary as they come. Here, I must admit that the characters take a back seat to the shark. But is that necessarily wrong?

We have already seen the shark in the first one so the mystery is gone, so now the only thing to do is make sure the audience is scared out of their minds. And that I can assure you is done with just as much perfection and attention to detail as the original. Take for example the opening scene where two divers are looking in the Orca ( Quint's sunken ship from the first film ). They are playfully taking pictures in front of the sunken ship. Then suddenly, a shot from behind them, and the ominous music. You know they are going to be eaten, but the scene is done with so much tension and perfect pacing that you are scared all over again. And when the shark finally does strike, we experience that primal emotion all over again. The story is a fairly simple one but affective at the same time. Brody ( Roy Scheider ) is convinced there is another shark in the waters off Amity and he is having a hard time convincing the town idiots that he is right. But this time his two sons are a little older and they will be involved in the final confrontation with the shark. There is one other scene that I wanted to point out and that is a scene where a picture is being developed.

Brody is given a camera of the missing divers from the beginning. The developer then tells him that the pictures are about to be processed. As he stands in the red room, waiting for the pictures to develop, he knows. He has that feeling. Something is going to show up on the picture. And sure enough we see it. The mouth. The black, doll-like lifeless eye appears in the corner of the frame and Brody knows. He knows what it is. This is such a powerful scene in the film and it is directed with such skill that it looks like it could have been directed by Spielberg. I think Jaws 2 is a great film and it is just as scary if not a little scarier than the first, but what it lacks is that it's characters don't have time to develop. We don't care as much about these ones as we did about Hooper and Brody and Quint to some degree. But that is a small detail, because the film does it's job and that is to scare us. Look for one more scene where Tina and her boyfriend are boating by themselves. It will stay with you for quite some time. Maybe if this was Spielberg's film he would have done something different.

But the one thing he couldn't do is to make it more of a frightening experience than it is. So that is a compliment to Szwarc, I just wonder what happened to him. Because he has a vision and a style that is very reminiscent to Spielberg's original. If you haven't seen this by now, treat yourself to the first one and then watch this one right after. Especially to all the young people that are on the IMDb, Jaws is a classic piece of film making and I have said that it is the best film ever made, and it is. But if you want to be scared, Jaws 2 will fulfill that need just as well as the first and better than any film that has come out in the 90's. And finally, has there ever been a better tagline in the history of motion pictures? Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...... Brilliant. 61 of 80 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes Martin Brody | Jaws Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Played by: Roy Scheider Martin Brody was the Chief of Police on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts and was portrayed by in a film adaption based on the Amity Incident in the film Jaws . Also appeared in the sequel, Jaws 2 . Martin Brody was born and raised in the lower east side of New York City. At the the age of 18, he joined the police service. Later Brody would meet the future Mrs. Martin Brody while on duty as a night patrolman. According to Brody's own personal off-duty journal which was sold on ebay by a former female acquaintance, the following details were noted: "One night, I pulled over a car that was speeding. In the car was a woman and her date. I confiscated the keys to the man's car and drove them to their homes. The next day, I received a thank-you note from the young man's date. I then asked the young woman, Ellen Shephard, out to dinner and the movies. She accepted and I dated for several months before marrying.

I finally convinced Ellen that we should move away from New York City to the small summer island resort of Amity Beach in New England. I only hope we have better luck there then I've had here. Too much crime in NY for a family and the notion that its safe to walk to the corner market" While in New York, they began raising a family. They had two sons, Michael and Sean. an NYPD file image of Martin Brody during his time as an undercover officer with the narcotics division several years before transferring to Martha's Vineyard as Chief of police. Contents [ show ] The Amity Incident During the summer months of 1973, a rogue great white shark staked a claim near he community of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts and began to terrorize swimmers which directly affected the local economy. Local police chief Martin Brody attempted to get permission to destroy this shark, but the town's then-mayor, Lawrence Vaughn. adamantly refused to comply. After another death during the 4th of July celebrations, Vaughn finally was reluctantly pressured into allowing Brody to follow through with the contract to hire Quint. Brody requested help from the Woods Hole institute who then sent oceanographer Matt Hooper .

With Quint as captain, they set out to capture and kill the shark. According to Brody's police log, Quint was eaten alive but as the boat sank, Martin apparently used Quint's M-1 rifle to shoot the SCUBA tank in the shark's mouth, causing it to explode and blow the shark up. Martin and Hooper were then able to paddle back to the island on a makeshift raft. Although this was a true story many doubt its validity. Especially the idea that a great white shark would specifically target humans and a boat. The Second Amity Incident During the next three years, Martin's eldest son, Michael, developed a keen interest in sailing hoping to inspire his father to return to the water. In the summer of 1976, Martin began to feel another shark was responsible for a number of boating "accidents" in Amity, but once again his theory was dismissed by the re-elected mayor, Larry Vaughn and the town council. Brody's refusal to ignore the problem finally lead them to dismiss him from the police force as acting chief.

Citing a cover-up due to mafia and real estate developers interests in turning Amity into a more commercial region, Brody went into hiding following an interview with the NY times which was meant to expose the corruption on Amity and lead to Vaughn's impeachment. The article was never printed and the editor of the paper was replaced for unknown reasons. While in hiding, Brody learned that both his sons had quietly joined another group of teenagers on an unauthorized sailing trip and were trapped out at sea apparantly being attacked by the very shark Brody had warned the mayor about once again. Brody found the marooned group near a power station built on a rocky outcropping in the center of the ocean which locals had nicknamed 'Cable Junction'. After a short battle with the shark Brody was able to subdue the animal by electrocuting the shark with a loose cable from the nearby station. In gratitude for Brody's efforts he was re-instated as Police Chief, but was described by close friends as being a shell of his former self. JAWS: Film production In May of 1974, production began on the Universal Pictures motion picture adaption of 'The Amity Incident'.

After an exhaustive search for the lead role was inadvertently discovered by Spielberg at a dinner party, the actor was cast to play Martin Brody. In addition the Island of Martha's Vineyard was portrayed as the quaint summer Island of Amity. Fact and fiction Following the second 'Amity Incident', Brody was said to have been last seen at a lower Manhattan theater watching JAWS in the back row during a midnight screening, and has not been seen or heard from since. Apparently Brody had gone into hiding following threats thought to be from organized crime syndicates unhappy with the real estate deals on Martha's Vineyard having gone sour due to fear of sharks by tourists, and Mayor Vaughn not being re-elected for a third term. There were rumors that he died of a heart attack as depicted in the film Jaws: The Revenge , however, these were later found to have been merely delusions based on Ellen Brody's subsequent mental breakdown after learning of her sons sailing trip and encounter on the high seas.

The ill-faited sailing trip during the factual 'Second Amity Incident' in the summer of 1976 was incorporated into a screenplay for the action packed finale in the film Jaws 2 , which was released by Universal pictures in the summer of 1978,. Martha's Vineyard public records note that the factual Mrs. Ellen Brody was eventually confined to a Haddonfield mental institution in the fall of 1976 by one Dr. Samuel Loomis. The fictional Ellen was played by actress Lorraine Gary and is portrayed as being a stronger more balanced woman than the factual Mrs. Brody. This was due to the fact the director had wanted audiences to be inspired rather than depressed had the characterization been more fact based. According to an article printed in Rolling Stone's March 1993 issue Ellen Brody was shown the film 'Jaws: The Revenge' while interned at Smith's Grove Sanitarium in Illinois, and supposedly screamed the words "Dammit Martin!" then promptly vomited on the television screen.

Further unsubstantiated rumors have circulated that it was the factual Martin Brody posing as a Smith's Grove Sanitarium orderly whom had been the person screening a Jaws: The Revenge DVD for Ellen instead of her regular nightly episode of Cheers. Supposedly Brody was hoping this would shock her back into reality, and had this been successful Brody had hoped a release hearing would be considered so that she could join him in seclusion. Security camera footage for that date mysteriously disappeared from Smith's Grove so this rumor has never been clarified. See the Cast of 'Jaws' Then and Now See the Cast of 'Jaws' Then and Now October 5, 2013 @ 2:35 PM Universal Released in 1975, Steven Spielberg 's 'Jaws' terrified audiences with its depiction of a killer great white shark with a hunger for humans. A local police chief hires an oceanographer and a shark hunter to help him put an end to the massacre off the shore of the tranquil town of Amityville. Almost 40 years later, 'Jaws' remains one of the greatest horror films ever made. Join us for a look back at the cast of the film and see where they are now.

Roy Scheider, Martin Brody Universal/WireImage Then: The role of police chief Martin Brody was offered to Robert Duvall, but the actor was only interested in playing shark hunter Quint. Charlton Heston wanted the part, but Steven Spielberg wanted to cast actors who weren't too prominent. The role eventually went to Roy Scheider, a former boxer and star of 'The French Connection.' Now: Scheider went on to reprise his role in 'Jaws 2' and starred in the films 'All That Jazz' and 'Naked Lunch.' He had a recurring role on the television series 'SeaQuest DSV.' Unfortunately, Scheider passed away in 2008 at the age of 78 -- his last role was in the 2011 film 'Iron Cross.' Robert Shaw, Quint Universal/Getty Images Then: The role of gruff shark hunter Quint was offered to Lee Marvin and Sterling Hayden, but both actors turned it down. The producers of 'Jaws' had previously worked with Robert Shaw on 'The Sting,' and suggested him to Spielberg. Now: In addition to acting, Shaw was also an accomplished novelist and stage actor.

After 'Jaws,' Shaw appeared in 'The Deep' and 'Force 10 from Navarone.' He passed away unexpectedly in 1978 at the age of 51. Richard Dreyfuss, Matt Hooper Universal/Getty Images Then: Spielberg wanted Jon Voight for the part of oceanographer Matt Hooper, but the actor turned it down. Jeff Bridges was also considered, but Spielberg's friend and fellow filmmaker George Lucas suggested Richard Dreyfuss, who starred in Lucas' 'American Graffiti.' Dreyfuss initially declined, but after he saw his own performance in 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,' he was apprehensive about how he would be perceived, so he signed on for 'Jaws.' Now: Dreyfuss went on to appear in Spielberg's 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' and has appeared in the films 'What About Bob?' and 'Mr.

Holland's Opus.' He appeared in the sixth season of the Showtime series 'Weeds,' and co-starred with 'Weeds' actress Mary-Louise Parker in the film 'Red.' Lorraine Gary, Ellen Brody Universal/Getty Images Then: Lorraine Gary was the first actor cast in 'Jaws' -- Gary's husband was then-president of Universal, Sid Sheinberg. Now: Gary reprised her role for 'Jaws 2' and 'Jaws: The Revenge,' and appeared in Spielberg's '1941.' She remains married to Sheinberg.

Jeffrey Kramer, Hendricks Universal/Getty Images Then: Jeffrey Kramer landed his first major acting gig as local police officer Hendricks in 'Jaws.' Now: Kramer reprised the role in 'Jaws 2,' and also appeared in the films 'Halloween II' and 'Clue.' He had a recurring role on 'Happy Days,' and eventually became a television producer, working on the shows 'Ally McBeal' and 'The Practice.' Susan Backlinie, Chrissie Watkins Universal/Getty Images Then: Susan Backlinie, a stuntwoman and animal trainer with a willingness to appear nude, was cast as Chrissie Watkins, the young woman who is killed by the shark in the opening scene of the film. Now: Backlinie appeared in Spielberg's '1941,' and in the films 'Grizzly' and 'The Great Muppet Caper.' Backlinie retired from acting in the 80s and became an accountant. Jaws 2 (1978) - Film on Freeview @ viewfilm.net Our listings are provided by our friends over at nextfilm.co.uk .

Jaws 2 (1978) 11:30-13:35 Sun 1st Jan 2017 145m ITV1 Synopsis Just as Amity Island begins to rebound from a spate of deadly shark attacks, a pair of missing divers and a boating accident lead police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) to suspect the worst, but his warnings go ignored by the mayor (Murray Hamilton). Sure enough, another great white lurks in the local waters, this time with its sights set on a group of sailing teens -- including Brody's two sons. Jeannot Szwarc directs this blockbuster sequel. Our Users Recommend Jaws 2 (1978) | Download Film Ganool Download Film Ganool Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

00:00:00 / 01:56:26 Jaws 2 (1978) Jaws 2 (1978) 5.4 / 10 by 181 users Title Peter Benchley (characters created by), Carl Gottlieb, Howard Sackler Release Plot Keyword : mayor, island, police chief, sailing, boat accident, dying and death, panic, current, aggression by animal, sequel, rescue, shark, great white shark, high-tension current, tourism, teens Homepage Jaws II Plot Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters. Characters : Police Chief Martin Brody Actor : Roy Scheider Open Water Open Water 5.3 / 10 by 171 users × PLEASE SIGN UP TO WATCH FULL MOVIE! Member Login Please wait... Wrong Username or Password High Quality Movies All of the Movies are available in the superior HD Quality or even higher! Watch Without Limits You will get access to all of your favourite the Movies without any limits. 100% Free Advertising Your account will always be free from all kinds of advertising.

Watch anytime, anywhere And You Call Yourself a Scientist! - Jaws 2 (1978) JAWS 2 (1978) "Im telling you  and Im telling everybody at this table  that thats a shark! And I know what a shark looks like, because Ive seen one up close!" Director: Jeannot Szwarc Starring: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Joseph Mascolo, Jeffrey Kramer, Collin Wilcox Paxton, Mark Gruner, Marc Gilpin, Ann Dusenberry, Gigi Vorgan, Donna Wilkes, Gary Dubin, Gary Springer, Keith Gordon Screenplay: Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler Synopsis: Two divers find the wreck of the Orca. As they pose in front of the boat, photographing each other, something glides through the water towards them . Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) arrives late at a function for the Amity Shores development, with which his wife, Ellen (Lorraine Gary), is involved.

Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) introduces developer Len Peterson (Joseph Mascolo) to the guests, then invites Miss Amity, Tina Wilcox (Ann Dusenberry), to cut the ribbon on the project. The next morning, Brody receives a report of an unmanned boat, and sends his deputy, Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer), out to investigate. Later, Hendricks shows Brody a camera found beneath the deserted boat. Out on the water, a fin breaks the surface behind a waterskier. Suddenly, the girl is dragged beneath the waves. The driver of the boat, the girls mother, sees only that her daughter has fallen off, and circles around to find her. There is no sign of the girl beyond her floating ski. At that moment, the womans boat is rammed by a gigantic shark. Screaming in terror, the woman tries to drive the animal away, first by throwing a fuel-drum at it, then by firing a flare gun. The flare ignites some spilled fuel, and the woman, the shark and the boat go up in flames. The boat then explodes.

While he questions the witnesses, Brody has his subordinates drag the water in the vicinity of the accident, but they only succeed in snagging an electrical cable. The teenaged Mike Brody (Mark Gruner) and his friends sail out to a lighthouse, which stands on a small sandy island. As Tina and her boyfriend, Ed (Gary Dubin), run through the dunes, they are horrified to stumble over the mutilated remains of a killer whale. Dr Elkins (Collin Wilcox Paxton) is called in to examine the animal. Brody points out the large bite mark on the whale, but Elkins refuses to concede that a great white killed it  or that a shark killed it at all. The worried Brody embarrasses Mike by ordering him off the water in front of his friends. Brody then tracks down Mayor Vaughn at the town hall, and tells him of his fear that another great white shark is in the waters off Amity, but Vaughn refuses to listen. Brody drives along the shoreline, and stops when he sees some floating debris.

Overcoming his fear of the water, he wades in to grab the debris  only to recoil in horror as a badly burned body also lurches towards him. It is the woman from the boat. That night, Brody prepares a batch of cyanide-tipped bullets. He also tries to put through a call to shark expert Matt Hooper, but learns that he is incommunicado in the Antarctic. The next day, Vaughn, Peterson and Ellen take some potential investors in Amity Shores to the beach, where they are dismayed to find Brody in the shark tower. Even as the three try to convince their clients that there is nothing out of the ordinary in the police chiefs presence, Brody sees a dark shape in the water offshore and rings the alarm bell. Then, shouting for the panicked beach-goers to get out of the water, he runs towards the water, pulls his gun and fires . Comments: Jaws 2 is, to me, a "blah" movie: not good enough to really enjoy, but not bad enough to really get stuck into.

However, since I want, in time, to move onto the far more rarefied stupidity of Jaws 3D and Jaws: The Revenge, anality (is that a word?) dictates that I deal with their predecessor first. After the monumental success of Jaws, the makers of the sequel were, in many ways, on a hiding to nothing here. There was no way that they were ever going to duplicate the effectiveness of the original (particularly not in the absence of Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss, both busy at Devils Tower in Wyoming); but there was money to be made, and so naturally they took a shot at it. Jaws 2 suffers from a very obvious case of sequelitis, being both far too similar to its model, and not similar enough: too similar, in that it duplicates much of the originals story in way that is wholly unbelievable; and not similar enough, in that it jettisons nearly everything else that made Jaws itself work so well. But there is some good stuff here, although it tends to come only in patches, instead of in long sequences.

The one consistently enjoyable thing about Jaws 2 is Roy Scheiders reprise of the character of Martin Brody, which anchors the film and gives it an intensity and a focus that it sorely needs. From the instant the dead whale is discovered, Scheiders eyes take on a wonderfully panicky oh-dear-God-not-again expression. This is rapidly followed by Brodys discovery of the floating debris  and its appendage  which is prefaced by a nicely executed reminder of Brodys hydrophobia, as he takes endless minutes to psyche himself into going into the water to grab the debris, even as the tide drags it ever further from the shore. (As the mutilated body lurched towards the horrified Brody  and the camera - I found myself editorialising, "I cant imagine why he hates the water.") This in turn leads to the films one truly effective and imaginative scene, the debacle at the beach when what Brody thinks is the shark turns out to be nothing more threatening than a school of blue-fish.

The viewer can only wince as the humiliated Brody is deserted, one by one, and left alone on the beach, by the people who should be supporting him  including his own wife, painfully caught between her husband and her employer, and his eldest son. This scene has a particularly sweet and poignant coda. The one person who does not desert Brody is his younger son, Sean  from whom Brody implored a therapeutic kiss in Jaws  who joins his father and kneels silently beside him, helping him collect the spent cartridges from his gun. The only other scene in this film Id classify as clever is the showing of the photograph to Vaughn, Peterson, and the select committee. Of course, we, like Brody, know that its a picture of a shark  but for all that, its truly not that clear. The photo is rather like one of those "Can you find Jesus in this picture?" cards: once you see Him, you can never un-see Him; but until then . When the female committee member says apologetically, "I just dont see it", we cannot blame her, even though we know shes fatally wrong.

Interestingly, the only other sequence in the film that matches the beach scene for emotional credibility also involves Sean Brody. Late in the story, as a group of stranded teenagers fight for their lives against the marauding shark, Sean becomes separated from the others. Terrified into immobility after witnessing a fatal shark attack, he does nothing to help his companions help him; until finally, one of the teenaged boys becomes so consumed by fear for the child that it turns into rage, and he bellows furiously, "GODDAMMIT, SEAN, YOU GET OVER HERE NOW!!"  only, when the boy obeys, to envelop him in a smothering hug and break down into tears of relief. Another believable touch follows the first fatal shark attack upon the teens, when Tina Wilcox sees her boyfriend dragged to his death. After a few frozen moments of inexpressible horror, Tinas first thoughts are, unromantically but perfectly naturally, for herself; and she sinks back into the boat, whispering over and over the mantra, "Make it go away, make it go away, make it go away ." And whats bad about Jaws 2?

Well, unfortunately, thats pretty much a case of "Where do I start?" Perhaps at the top, with director Jeannot Szwarc. Now, of course, criticising Szwarc for not being Steven Spielberg makes about as much sense as criticising a cat for not being a dog. The problem is not so much that Szwarc is a lesser director, but what kind of director he is. While he has helmed a number of cinema releases (including William Castles final film as producer, Bug, and the classic campfest, Supergirl), the bulk of Szwarcs career has been spent directing made-for-TV movies, and endless episodes of television drama (including JAG Down Under. For mercys sake, someone keep this man away from the water!). And in a sense, thats one of the major problems with Jaws 2: it looks like it was shot for television. Theres a flatness about it, a lack of imagination in the camera set-ups and the establishing shots; and this, along with an over-reliance on travelogue-y fun-on-the-water inserts, robs this film of much of its potential visual interest.

(In fairness to Szwarc, he was brought into the project late after the original director, John Hancock, was sacked; so quite a few of the films shortcomings might have been beyond his control.) A second, and still bigger, problem is Bruce II. As you might recall, in my review of Jaws I speculated about what kind of movie that might have been if Bruce The Mechanical Shark had worked better. Well, in Jaws 2, we find out. Far from the slow build-up and climactic revelation of the shark that made Jaws so effective, here, from the twentieth minute onwards, we are given a series of long, loving close-ups of this patently fake animal (proving, if nothing else, that familiarity truly does breed contempt); enough to let us contemplate its plasticky nature, the way its teeth bend and wobble, and (again) its inability to pull back its lips when it attacks, as a real great white would. But obviously, none of this was enough for Szwarc who, during one of the sharks assaults on the teenagers late in the film, gives us one shot straight down its throat  allowing us all a nice long look at the mechanisms that make it go.

If this is clear and obvious in a crappy TV print, I can only shudder at the thought of what it must have looked like on the big screen. Jaws 2 might have overcome many of these deficiencies, however, or at least been a better film, had it put more effort into its characterisations. Although it kicked off the ever-increasingly dumbed-down "summer blockbuster" phenomenon, Jaws was a film for and about adults. Three years later, sadly, things had clearly changed; and its sequel simply swarms with teenagers, none of them the slightest bit interesting. Now, since Jaws 2 was also released in 1978, I guess we cant blame this (as we are wont to blame so much) upon the success of John Carpenters Halloween. Still, this was an ominous sign of things to come in the American movie industry, presaging the increasing  and today, overwhelming  tendency to pitch almost everything at the lucrative youth market.

During the climactic scenes of Jaws, the viewer is bound heart and soul to the three men aboard the Orca; during the climactic scenes of Jaws 2, the viewer doesnt give a rats ass whether any of the kids survives or not. In fact, speaking of Halloween, what Jaws 2 most resembles is a slasher movie (to the extent that in some quarters its been dubbed "Jaws the 13th"): lots of boring teenagers, few of whom are ever properly identified, none of whom has anything resembling a personality, some of whom die. (In this respect, Jaws 2 pales beside a genuine slasher, where at least were assured that 95% of the obnoxious teens will die.) And sure, when the shark makes its assaults on the flimsy, tied-together boats on which the kids are stranded, it is horrifying, in a primitive, common-humanity sort of way; but theres no real emotion involved; we dont truly care. (Just as an aside, is really there anyone out there, of any age, who particularly enjoys watching films about teenagers?

Im not all that fond of people of that demographic now, but when I was a teenager, I hated them [and myself] with a passion. The very last thing I wanted to see in a film was more teenagers. Yet clearly, somewhere along the line, someone must have decided that the only way to attract their target cash cow---uh, I mean, audience into the cinema, was to focus films almost exclusively upon that age group. I wonder who it was ? [Probably the same person who decided that twenty-something Noo Yorkers were endlessly fascinating and funny.]) And things are little better back on land. One of the most annoying things about this film is the contrived repetition of the we-cant-close the-beaches plot thread from the original, as personified by His Weaselness, Mayor Larry Vaughn. (Hes still in office!? Whoo, Diamond Joe Quimbys got nothing on this guy!

[Its good to see, by the way, that Vaughn is still supporting the local economy by shopping at the same clothing store as always  "Bad Taste Is Us".]) Vaughns mixture of scepticism and greed worked in Jaws, where no-one had any real reason to think there might be a shark around; and even here, its acceptable in the developer, Peterson, who is, we infer, new in town. However, this attitude is farcical in anyone who lived through Amitys previous nightmare summer - and even more so in a man whose son (inevitably named "Larry Jr") spends all of his free time out on the water. (Apropos, not content with trotting out Vaughns refusal to listen to Brody, the screenplay also has him dismiss the deaths of the mother and daughter with, "That was just a boating accident." Heh!) If, before, the townsfolk worried that the word "shark" would start a panic amongst the summer visitors, wouldnt they now be just as paranoid as Brody, and ready to head the panic themselves?

But "conflict" was required, and so a very familiar "conflict" we have, culminating in Brodys sacking as Chief of Police. (This subplot would have been more interesting if Peterson had threatened to sack Ellen, and forced Brody to choose between keeping his mouth shut, or wrecking his wifes career.) Naturally, in next to no time, Brody is proved right and is tearing to the rescue once again, making this plot detour all the more frustratingly pointless. What else is wrong with Jaws 2? Well, apart from the sharks behaviour, which is like that of no other shark that ever graced the face of the planet (Im particularly fond of the moment when the animal drags one victim through the water and deliberately slams him into the side of a boat, presumably to "tenderise" him), theres the fact that weve seen well-built vessels smashed effortlessly by this animal  yet it cant seem to penetrate the pathetic safety raft the kids construct for themselves from their capsized boats. How convenient.

Still, the kids obligingly serve themselves up as victims, being unable to grasp one simple principle that might have saved their lives: when under siege by a killer shark, do not stand up in the boat! On a technical level, aside from the over-use of Bruce, there are an incredible number of continuity errors---oh, Lord, those endless, endless continuity errors! Most obvious in this department, is the way boats tend to put themselves back together following  or in one case, during - shark attacks (this is also true, as it happens, of the Orca itself, which is in much better condition at the bottom of the sea that it was on top of it); but theres also the mysterious way that clothing  shoes, jackets  tends to come and go between shots. On top of this, theres the strange inclusion of at least two scenes where the shot has been reversed  as with Brodys sprint to the dock, when the signs on the buildings behind him are clearly backwards.

And theres something else about Jaws 2 that really gets up my nose--- Now, I have to be fair here, and concede that this is not the films fault; but as with the Spring-Loaded Catï¿½ in Alien, and the One-Smashed-Radioï¿½ in Jaws itself, theres something in Jaws 2 that has subsequently been copied and re-copied so many times, it makes me want to scream  the helicopter crash, ever since an unshakeable fixture of seemingly every killer-animal-in-the-water film, right through to Lake Placid and Deep Blue Sea, more than twenty years later. (Although it does occur to me that the destruction-of-a-helicopter clichï¿½ may actually have been instigated by Grizzly, two years earlier, and copied by Jaws 2 in the first place  a copy copying a copy.) Hmm .in retrospect, there was even more to complain about in this film than I realised when I was actually watching it. So, to balance things, can I find some other positive things to say about it? Well, theres Lorraine Garys performance.

She doesnt get much to do, beyond being "supportive", but she and Roy Scheider have a couple of nice moments. The relationship between the Brodys is lightly but appealingly drawn at the beginning of the film, when Martin arrives very late for Ellens big night, the Amity Shores development celebration. "Try to look like youve been here all along," whispers Ellen to her errant husband. "Look bored." Later, as the two dance, Martin suggests they "get outta here". Ellens response is a receptive smile and a murmured, "Wanna fool around?" And "get outta there" they do  except they have to stop and collect the dozing Sean, whom we see cradled in his fathers arms as Martin and Ellen leave. As a brief sketch of a long-married but still-loving couple, these scenes are quite charming. Unfortunately, the bulk of the film focuses upon the town teens, and theres not much to be said for the remainder of the cast, beyond the recognition of a few familiar faces.

Ann Dusenberry, "Tina", is a perfectly believable small town beauty queen, pretty without being anything extraordinary; however, her characters ability to be on the spot whenever anything dramatic happens grows increasingly gigglesome. Another of the kids, "Doug" (I think) is played by Keith Gordon, future star of Dressed To Kill and Christine, here making his film debut. I also recognised Donna Wilkes (aka She Who Screams Incessantly), although I couldnt immediately place her. Then, about halfway through the film, I remembered: she was "Angel", wasnt she? (Or one of the Angels, anyway - the one that didnt have a head-on collision with a Max Factor truck .) Speaking of familiar faces, Dr Elkins, the expert called in to inspect the dead orca, is played by Collin Wilcox, who was Mayella Ewell in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Wilcoxs brief, matter-of-fact performance is nice, but they stick her with the silly movie convention that insists that biologists only ever refer to animals by their Latin names  as in, "Im having trouble finishing this review, because my Felis domesticus keeps trying to sleep on the keyboard". (There is also a line of dialogue in Wilcoxs scene that, in later years, would come back to haunt this series of films. Brody, his fear taking over, brokenly questions Dr Elkins about sharks "sensing things", only to be cut short with an abrupt, "Sharks dont take things personally, Chief." Oh, yeah? Try telling that to the makers of Jaws: The Revenge .) John Williams is back on board in Jaws 2, and while his score isnt as effective as the original, that darn da-dah chord can still send shivers down your spine.

And finally  and yes, I am rather clutching at straws  Jaws 2 has one of the all-time great movie taglines  "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water ."  although it is not, naturally, as good as the tagline for - Blood Beach . Footnote: Reality check: the Sun-Herald, Sunday September 15th, carried a report of an encounter between some Sydney fisherman and a great white shark off Long Reef, up on the northern beaches. Sounding more aggrieved than terrified, the fisherman were quoted as complaining that the shark "grabbed the biggest schnapper they had fought all day". And as further proof that we know how to keep things in perspective here, this story was a throwaway paragraph at the end of a story entitled "Breakthrough In Preservation Of Slimy Mackerel".

Question: Who played Police Chief Martin Brody in the 1978 film ‘Jaws 2’?
Answer: Roy Scheider