Steven pulls off some lovely oners, but Verna cuts things like the crowded beaches and streets brilliantly. Williams' score may be iconic, but it's his other themes that are equally memorable: the passage that plays over the scene with Scheider and his son, that jaunty chasing the shark one, and the wonderful moment where the shark dies. Oscars went to him and Verna, and to Robert Hoyt, Roger Heman, Earl Madery and John Carter for Best Sound. Zanuck and Brown were nominated for Best Picture. None of the actors were nominated, surprisingly, though Dreyfuss was by BAFTA.
I learned from the extras that the head in the boat did not excite the preview audience so it was re-edited to get that jump that everyone's so familiar with, that the scene where the shark mashes up the cage was from the Australia shooting - the shark was caught in the ropes and went crazy - and the frightened reaction of Hooper in the cage was a stuntman, filmed in Verna's swimming pool!
Peter Benchley adapted his own novel, then Steven had a go at re-writing it to push it more in the direction he wanted it to go, then someone called Howard Sackler was called in to rewrite, but wanted no credit because he could only give the project limited time (he was credited for Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Jaws 2 and Saint Jack). Carl Gottlieb came on originally as an actor but was drafted in to simplify Benchley's story and humanise the characters. John Milius famously wrote up the short speech Sackler had conceived for the Indianapolis scene, which Shaw then himself reinterpreted.
The fraught filming schedule is evident in the continuity errors that litter the film. There's even a shot near the end where the land's actually visible, that I'd never noticed before:
(Ed. note - they are headed back inland so I think that's quite acceptable.)
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