Believe It or Not, But ‘Jaws’ Could Have Been Even Scarier and More Intense
I don’t know if the Motion Picture Association’s (MPA) rating system was more lenient in the 1970s, or if audiences were tougher in terms of content they found objectionable for children to see — or both — but it is still kind of crazy to look back at the sorts of movies that were given merely a PG rating back when I was discovering them as a kid.
Before the implementation of the PG-13 rating in July 1984 — which followed particular criticisms of violence heaped on a couple of Steven Spielberg-involved movies released that summer, including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, with, among other things, its human sacrifice scene; and Gremlins, with its infamous gremlin-in-the-microwave scene — there were any number of titles that pushed the envelope when it came to PG, but didn’t quite warrant an R. Some of these received the former rating even while having pretty horrific and violent scenes in them, and I’m sure a few were unfairly given an R (I’m guessing probably mostly for what would have been viewed by most as not particularly shocking language, bits of nudity, etc.)
Besides Temple of Doom and Gremlins, Spielberg’s name was attached to some other blockbuster titles of that era with scenes that barely eked out a PG rating, like 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (which has its share of violence and blood — notably a face-melting finale that did have to be toned down a bit to escape an R) and 1982’s Poltergeist (which also has a very graphic face-peeling sequence!). Both of them easily would have gotten a PG-13 just a couple of years later.
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Other similarly horrifying scenes like this one were originally planned for Jaws
By the time these films came out, Spielberg was a well-established household name and major Hollywood player, so he may have gotten the benefit of the doubt when it came to the ratings for his movies. That can’t be said about 1975’s Jaws, the director’s second feature film and the one that put him that power position, which features some especially gruesome moments for a PG-rated production.
Perhaps realizing this, and in lieu of pushing the movie into not-quite-warranted “Rated R” territory, the MPA added an additional caveat next to its PG rating for Jaws: “MAY BE TOO INTENSE FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN”:
© Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Even though the caution was in all caps, with the word “intense” underlined, the warning was still basically fine print within an area where it could easily have been missed, even by anyone who bothered to look at the already small rating explanation box near the bottom of the poster; perhaps this included my parents, who wisely determined that no matter how badly I wanted to, my 5-year-old self would not be seeing Jaws. (By the time I noticed this same warning included in Temple of Doom‘s PG rating box, I was old enough to handle it.)
Jaws (as well as its first two sequels, 1978’s Jaws 2 and 1983’s Jaws 3) certainly would have gotten a PG-13 had it been released a decade later. But, perhaps given the nature of the era, and especially the lack of any other rating between PG and R that could cover a movie that pushed the edges of the former but didn’t quite deserve the latter, Jaws got away with a PG rating with the scenes it did keep in — memorably horrific and/or gruesome moments like Chrissie’s death in the first few minutes, Alex Kintner’s raft attack, the estuary attack and Quint’s demise.
Remind However, if certain other planned scenes had found their way into the film, it seems that Jaws might have been leveled with an R rating, and that could have impacted its audience numbers. Ultimately, some deleted scenes were taken out perhaps partially to preserve an already precarious chance at a PG rating, but especially because, artistically, they didn’t quite work.
From the concepts for deleted scenes I’ve heard of and bits of test footage that are out there, I think Spielberg, unsurprisingly, made the right calls in leaving them out. Since some of these concepts involved showing more of the shark earlier in the film than what ultimately took place, these deletions worked especially well creatively for the film.
Just as mechanical difficulties with “Bruce” the shark forced Spielberg and company to find other, unseen ways of indicating the shark was in the water, which greatly heightened the suspense, removing earlier scenes where a good amount of the shark was shown during potentially rating-changing scenes of violence also works to keep the shark more hidden and make it all the more shocking when it finally is seen.
It’s still interesting to look at what could have been for Jaws. Here are a couple of the more notable things that were planned, and in some cases filmed, at least with a little test footage, for two of the movie’s standout attack sequences.
ALEX KINTNER’S DEATH
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The scene where young Alex Kintner (Jeffrey Voorhees) gets attacked and killed while obliviously floating along on his inflatable raft is one of the most horrifying and heartbreaking scenes in Jaws just as it is, with the shocking brutality as the shark hits the raft, the explosion of blood in the water and the sounds of poor Alex helplessly crying out underwater as he is dragged down.
Apparently, this scene was originally going to show a wider shot of the shark as it gobbles up the raft, giving us an early look at just how long this creature is, and how wide its jaws are.
Some test footage for the scene as initially planned was shot, but ultimately, of course, the scene ended up going in what proved to be the better — yet still frightening — direction.
Using the shark in this way arguably might have diminished the impact of the scene, if it would have looked as silly as it kind of does in the test footage. You can get some sense of how it might have come across thanks to this video that put together the finished scene with an insert of the test footage.
I’m sure the filmmakers would have made it look a lot better in the final product, but I still think it would have weakened what went on to become one of the movie’s most iconically nightmarish moments.
I don’t know if the plan was to end this sequence with the image below, which from what I gather was just used as a promo spot for the movie, but that would have been quite a big early reveal of the shark. It does look frightening, but that would have been too much too soon for the movie (and, perhaps, too much for a PG rating).
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It wasn’t just visuals that were altered or deleted for the Kintner attack sequence. As part of his iconic, Oscar-winning musical score for Jaws, John Williams had initially placed some somber music at the end of the scene, as Alex’s mom sees the bloody remains of her boy’s raft gently washing ashore.
The scene, again, ultimately works better because of this removal — the horrific image, accompanied by silence and the occasional light rushing of the surf, which rolls on as if nothing has happened — is more impactful without music, even if Williams’ score is emotionally on point, as always.
THE ESTUARY VICTIM
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Billed in the credits as merely “The Estuary Victim,” the poor man attacked in the “pond” — whose demise gave audiences a first glimpse of the shark’s ferocious face, eyes, teeth and jaws — was portrayed by Ted Grossman.
Like Susan Backlinie, who played Chrissie Watkins, the shark’s first victim in the film’s famous intro, Grossman was a stunt performer/actor on Jaws (he was an uncredited stunt coordinator on the film, and also an uncredited stunt double for Scheider).
Grossman had been involved with stuntwork on Spielberg’s feature film directorial debut, 1974’s The Sugarland Express, and he continued being involved with stunts on one form or another in several post-Jaws films that Spielberg directed and/or produced: Raiders, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Temple of Doom, The Goonies (1985) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
He returned as the (credited) stunt coordinator for Jaws 2 (1978) and another film based on a Peter Benchley novel, 1980’s The Island.
His most famous appearance (and least to me) comes in this Jaws scene, with his unsuspecting character’s boat swamped by the shark. The beast proceeds to grab him, leaving behind the guy’s severed leg, which floats gently down to the bottom in another moment that leans more toward PG-13/R than PG.
Near the end of the attack, we also see the camera rushing toward young Michael Brody, who, with a couple of his friends, has also been knocked into the water. Michael has a horrified look on his face as the camera veers away at the last moment.
That camera shot seems to be the last vestige of a truly scary extension of this scene that had been planned, some of which can be seen in the black-and-white image just above, where the shark, after grabbing the victim, propelled him forward in the water and into Michael, briefly pushing both of them along before Michael is pushed aside.
In this video, Grossman explains the original concept for the estuary attack, and we see some test footage. Spielberg then explains why he decided to cut that sequence, ultimately finding it “in bad taste.”
Remind