From Page to Screen: Jaws

Everything has already been said about Steven Spielberg's Jaws. It's a bonafide classic. It's my favourite movie ever. And, for a while, it was the biggest hit of all time.

Jaws was based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel of the same name, and was actually optioned as a film before the book hit shelves. And while the basic plot of the book and movie are the same, the stories are quite different.

Spielberg has said he felt the story, from a cinematic standpoint, was about three men who set out to kill a Great White that's been terrorizing the coastal town of Amity. About half the film's running time details this. While that does occur in the novel, it only makes up the final few chapters.

A lot of the book has to do with small-town corruption, efforts to cover up the shark attacks, and an affair that transpires between Hooper and Brody's wife. Benchley's original script stuck pretty close to this, and it's no wonder Spielberg said "narp." It works in the book, but wouldn't have played well on screen, as it takes away from the main plot of the killer shark.

Thankfully Spielberg had his way, as the scenes involving Brody, Hooper and Quint are among the best ever put on film. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw craft such likeable and believable characters, and play off each other -- and the shark -- so well. I can't imagine Jaws being any other way.

Jaws the book is fine summer reading, but the movie exceeds it in every way. It's a rare case of the film being better than the book.