New Making of JAWS Book -- WOW

[AndyDursin]

Just saw the info on this new JAWS book -- wow! Looks fantastic

I might even splurge for the hardcover, 1000 copy limited edition which also includes a DVD plus a piece of the ORCA itself.

http://www.mvremembersjaws.com/

[Eric Paddon]

There's now no more than 999 hardcover copies left. (I splurged only because I'm teaching a class this summer and it won't bite my wallet as much)

[AndyDursin]

I'm definitely paying the premium too Eric...just waiting to see if they might send me a review copy. Looks really one-of-a-kind and all the reviews have been glowing on top of it!

[Eric Paddon]

The value of a book like this is that it its like being able to devour the contents of a local archive with oral history recollections and have it all presented in one beautiful package. The $250 price tag has to be thought of more in the context of what would it cost to say, travel to a local archive on Martha's Vineyard, photocopy 200 pages of files and get prints of hundreds of private pictures made for yourself? Answer, a lot more than $250!!

[AndyDursin]

The value of a book like this is that it its like being able to devour the contents of a local archive with oral history recollections and have it all presented in one beautiful package. The $250 price tag has to be thought of more in the context of what would it cost to say, travel to a local archive on Martha's Vineyard, photocopy 200 pages of files and get prints of hundreds of private pictures made for yourself? Answer, a lot more than $250!!

Exactly, and it's not as if this will ever be available anywhere else at another point in time. You know, I scoff at paying $20 at times for some soundtrack that's not worth the money but I usually have a reason for doing so -- it's so I can save up for something like this that truly justifies its price tag

I also like what this book is about -- the meaning of the movie to the MV community as well as celebrating a classic film. My aunt and uncle were sailing around Martha's Vineyard at the time of the movie's production and have some terrific pictures they snapped from their sailboat at the time...I remember seeing those when I was a kid. I think I have every Jaws book in existence (even the rare JAWS 2 LOG), so I will be very happy to add this to my library.

It's one of those unique films in motion picture history because not just the movie was great, but that the story of the picture's production is so interesting and special as well. The kind of thing -- that film, that location, that period of time -- that will never be duplicated.

[AndyDursin]

Just an FYI...

Hardcover special-edition of “JAWS: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard”

Deluxe portfolio containing:

1″x1″ piece of the fiberglass hull of the Orca II (a.k.a., sinking Orca) used in the movie JAWS with note of authenticity from owners Lynn and Susan Murphy.

DVD containing eight millimeter behind the scenes footage of the JAWS production shot and narrated by Islander Carol Fligor.

Hardcover and portfolio packaged in a unique special edition case.

Limited to a series of 1000 numbered copies

12″ x 10.5″, 296 pages

More than 1,000 full color and b/w images

[Eric W.]

Impressive!

[mkaroly]

That does look really impressive!

[AndyDursin]

They're going to send me a review copy, so I can't wait for that. However I still might buy the hardcover!

Here's a cool new video showing off what's in there...

[Eric Paddon]

Good stuff! Too bad they couldn't use Williams music to underscore that little feature.

[Eric Paddon]

My copy arrived today! Can hardly wait to go into this as the forward notes that while the book is meant to reflect a local feel of the production, they rely a lot on those people from the Hollywood end like Gottlieb and Alves to flesh out the whole story.

[Eric Paddon]

Through just two chapters and this book is already the greatest making of book about a movie ever made, period.

[Eric Paddon]

Finished it all last night and it was a great ride through the whole production history of the movie, with the only thing missing is details on those scenes when no locals were involved (the Chrissie death scene is really the only one that falls in that category for scenes filmed on location). We learn about things that were just pure improvisation by the locals, and also how the script rewrites as the production proceeded results in some stray lines in the finished film that refer to scenes never fully realized in production. Remember when Brody learns that son Mike cut his hand on the swings? Originally, Mike's bleeding hand was supposed to be the thing that attracts the shark to attack the Kintner boy on the raft when they all go swimming together. But by the time they got to that scene, that was out. Remember the bike shop owner complaining about kids from the karate school attacking his fence? Originally, Spielberg shot footage of the kids attacking the fence but that got discarded. The locals also remember a scene of Peter Benchley as the interviewer trying to corral Brody for an interview on the boardwalk but Brody keeps walking away from him and they first filmed it one way with Brody bumping two locals aside on the boardwalk and then another way without them. Neither made the cut.

Who was the girl who modeled for the Amity billboard that gets vandalized? Brian DePalma's girlfriend. And the artist who sounds the alarm, "Shark! It's going into the pond!" was a local that ended up having a relationship with Joe Alves.

Mix that in with all the local newspaper clippings and memorabilia pictures and you're talking about having a giant Jaws archive at your disposal. This book is well worth the $250 pricetag.

[AndyDursin]

Joanne ordered me a copy for our anniversary but it hasn't shown up yet...something tells me they're shipping these out slowly in the order they received them so I'm not worried...yet anyway. Looking forward to reading it.

[Eric Paddon]

Mine was #216 of 1000. Let me know what yours is!

I really got a kick out of seeing how so many little things that some of these imdb dweebs will start threads about wondering about the significance of, turn out to be nothing more than silly on-set improvising by the locals and not something with big subliminal intent by the scriptwriter. There's a thread devoted to why Mike Brody in the hospital asks for coffee flavored ice cream for goodness sake! Well one of the local kids, a friend of the local kid cast as Mike was there for that scene and he says how he and his friends would get him to change the flavor with each new take. So much for some great big deep mystery that Benchley supposedly took to the grave.