“Jaws” it’s safe to say is a franchise truly run into the
ground by a combination of increasingly outlandish plots and the general
opinion that all was required to make the giant rubber shark scary was to
recycle the now legendry theme music and find ever unique ways for the human
cast to become shark chow.
So with “Jaws: The Revenge” having driven a stake through the series could there be any life left in the franchise? After all once you have your shark seemingly capable of wanting to claim revenge on the Brody’s let alone suddenly gaining the ability to roar your kind of already clutching at straws even if these ideas half as strange as some of the ideas being thrown around in the current development hell with currently surrounds the attempts to adapt Steve Alten’s prehistoric shark on the rampage series “MEG”. Where could a possible spin off go? The answer it would seem is with the character of Quint.
So with “Jaws: The Revenge” having driven a stake through the series could there be any life left in the franchise? After all once you have your shark seemingly capable of wanting to claim revenge on the Brody’s let alone suddenly gaining the ability to roar your kind of already clutching at straws even if these ideas half as strange as some of the ideas being thrown around in the current development hell with currently surrounds the attempts to adapt Steve Alten’s prehistoric shark on the rampage series “MEG”. Where could a possible spin off go? The answer it would seem is with the character of Quint.
Memorably played by Robert Shaw, who interestingly wasn’t Spielberg’s
choice having originally wanted to cast either Lee Marvin (who preferred to fish for real) or Sterling Hayden
for the role before he cast Shaw who as we all know now would go on to be one
of the most memorable characters in the film let alone steal every scene which
he was featured in. Ironically Spielberg would later go on record to state that
he would have cast local Craig Kingsbury in the role had he met him sooner and
ultimately would cast him to play Ben Gardner and who would also be highly
memorable in the film as one of the best scares when his decapitated head plays
peek-a-boo.
When we meet Quint in the original film he is a grizzled
shark hunter and captain of the “Orca” who is the first to step up to killer
the monster shark, only to get shot down by the town authorities who baulk at
his demands for $10,000 rather than the $3000 bounty originally on offer. Right
from the start he is established as being a man who only cares about himself
with a heightened dislike for men in positions of power and authority, with a
unique sense of humour as he frequent makes wisecracks and limericks for
seemingly his sole amusement.
As we get to know more about Quint during the climatic shark
hunt we also learned that he is a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis
in one of the most memorable scenes of the film and one which was used as the
basis for the rumoured “Jaws: Dark Waters” which would focus on the story Quint
tells about how the survivors of the ships were forced to fight off a pack of
sharks with the film being based around this story leading to the crews
eventual rescue.
Unquestionably from this simple moment which Shaw made unquestionably so gripping (Richard Dreyfuss admitted that he didn't fake his gripped expression) , we learn so much about
his motivation and general demeanour as it was the officer top brass who made
the mission of delivering the Hiroshima bomb so secret that no one knew the
location of the ship and in turn further delaying their rescue and perhaps goes
a way to explaining why he is so driven on hunt as many sharks as he can.
It is of course this period from Quint leaving the navy and
coming to the town of Amity that my proposed spin-off would start from as Quint
arrives in the sea side town and constructing his shack and starting up his
shark fishing business. Over the course
of the film we would see him also putting in place the other sidelines the
source novel mentions such as his moonshine and whale oil business he uses
during the off season, aswell as his frequent battles with both the mayor and
other fisherman which he fought using layman’s legal knowledge gained from
legal books in the Amity library.
The book also makes mention of another epic shark hunt which
Quint undertook prior to the events of the film, in which he battled another
large shark (if not quite the size of the film’s shark) while on one of his
charter fishing trips, with the shark equally requiring three barrels to
capture it. The hunt ultimately ending in one of Quints trademark blowouts when
the tourist wanted to claim that he caught the shark on line and reel rather
than with the use of barrels. Despite Quint in a surprising moment actually
tries to reason with the tourist who is adamant over which story they wish to
use and ultimately ends with Quint dumping the carcass overboard in a scene
which would make for the perfect ending and ultimately a lead into the original
film.
The perfect opening though for the film can also be found in
a scene removed from the original script were Quint is introduced watching
“Moby Dick” at the cinema, the scenes of Gregory Peck battling the mechanical
whale causing him to laugh so hard that other people in the cinema walk out as
his laughter can be heard echoing into the street. Sadly it was a scene cut
which Spielberg explained
“Gregory Peck felt it wasn’t his proudest work; he didn’t
want it to be made fun of or even be in the film at all”
True this would be an issue which would still stand even
now, but with so many giant sea creature movies it wouldn’t be such an issue to
find one whose actors aren’t perhaps so sensitive about the footage being used
While the background of Quint is patchy outside of what we
are given by both the film and the book, further inspiration could also be
taken from the life of sport fisherman Frank Mundus who was a key inspiration
for author Peter Benchley when writing the book aswell as while working on the
screen play, having first heard of Mundus when his publisher told him about how
Mundas caught a 4550 pound great white shark off the shores of Long Island
which he caught via harpoon. Mundus also holds the record for the largest fish
caught via rod and reel when he caught a 3,427 pound great white, a fibreglass
copy of which still hangs on the Lake Montauk waterfront. Unlike Quint though
Mundas would towards the end of his career go from shark hunter to
conservationist (much like Benchley) through to his death from a heart attack
in 2008.
The main issue with Quint being the focus though is his
general demeanour which means that he only cares about himself and generally
comes off pretty unlikeable until he warms up to people as we saw in “Jaws”, so
it may require an additional crew mate to be written in, just to keep things
light or perhaps the film could show Quint perhaps not as bitter with life as
when we meet him in “Jaws” either way another shark hunt with Quint is one of
the few prospects for the series I would still like to see, even if it isn’t
the same monster size as the ones the series has become renown for.
For more Spielberg related fun makes sure you check out French Toast Sunday's "Spielberg In July" for which this article was compiled for.
For more Spielberg related fun makes sure you check out French Toast Sunday's "Spielberg In July" for which this article was compiled for.
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