"The Book Was Better?" But Let Me Tell You About Jaws (Book vs Movie)

Jaws is my favorite movie, but to be frank, I hated the book. I don't like Peter Benchley's writing at all, may he rest in peace.

The book portrays Ellen Brody as snotty and stuck-up, hating being "just" a cop's wife. In the book Ellen is from a wealthy 'summer" family like the kid who was with Chrissie, and meets Brody on Amity when she's young. She's written as a slut, and Quint knows her reputation on the island. She knows Matt Hooper from that time in her life. Hooper is just as awful as Ellen, and they have a gross affair. Chief Brody is an unlikable character too, and he doesn't get a triumphant win at the end. Benchley kills off Hooper. There's no bromance between Brody and Hooper. There's some unconvincing pablum about the mafia for no reason. And Benchley's writing, come on. It sounds like high school writing. For the screenplay, it's pretty clear that Carl Gottlieb's rewrites did most of the heavy lifting for Jaws and Jaws 2. I think Jaws was one of those books that got chucked across the room when I finished it. It's a miracle that someone found enough good in it to make a movie, and for god's sake, all hail Speilberg!

Also, a great deal of credit goes to Williams for the score. The music in Jaws is like another character.

(About Carl Gottlieb...he has writing credits across a certain spectrum. At one end, there's Jaws and The Jerk, a classic I will watch anytime. At the other end, Caveman. The Ringo Starr vehicle also starring Ringo's wife, Barbara Bach, whose acting chops, with a nod to Dorothy Parker, run the gamut from A to B.)