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Bill Simmons
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Chris Ryan
Yep.
Bill Simmons
With CR back from the Pacific Northwest.
Chris Ryan
Here I am, Bigfoot, turned in to.
Bill Simmons
Do a little Jaws 2. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. Genius tagline. We're gonna take a break. Jaws 2 next.
Sean Fennessey
The Legend continues, but no one sees it.
Bill Simmons
Chief Brody.
Sean Fennessey
The legend continues, but no one believes it.
Chris Ryan
That's a shark. And I know what a shark looks like because I've seen one up. And you better do something about this one because I don't intend to go.
Bill Simmons
Through that hell again. The legend continues. The All New Jaws 2. This episode of the Rewatchable is presented by Holiday Inn by ihg. It's a new day for a new stay at Holiday Inn for business travelers. Do you count as a business traveler, Sean?
Sean Fennessey
Sure. Sometimes.
Bill Simmons
Okay. With modern spaces for meeting and working, plus delicious dining for breakfast, happy hour. Do you eat breakfast, Sean?
Sean Fennessey
I do. I had an apple and a breakfast bar this morning.
Bill Simmons
Oh, interesting. I don't need any breakfast, but I do love happy hour and dinner. They have that too. You have everything you need to get your work done. Give your everyday business travel and upgrade. Book your next business trip at Holiday Inn by IHG. Visit holidayin.com to book your stay. Jaws 2 Circling this for a while. I for some reason own this as a 4K Blu Ray.
Sean Fennessey
Nice.
Bill Simmons
I love this movie. The first hour is pretty rough. It's slow. I'd use the word slow.
Sean Fennessey
Yep. Yep.
Bill Simmons
And then it becomes amazing. I think we did Die Hard with a Vengeance a couple weeks ago. If you took the first 80 minutes of die Hard with a Vengeance and then merged it into the last 45 minutes of Josh, that'd be a really amusing film.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. If they go out to Far Rockaway and there's shark attacks happening and that's the final.
Sean Fennessey
Simon, put that sandwich board on that shark. See what happens in Harlem. You know, that'd be quite a scene.
Chris Ryan
That'S a way to connect it to New York months.
Bill Simmons
This movie ultimately gets there as a sequel. I really, fully, completely support the last 45 years.
Sean Fennessey
There's just some awesome shark kills, and that's kind of what you need. The shark kills are awesome in this movie.
Bill Simmons
There's a couple.
Chris Ryan
Whoa.
Bill Simmons
I can't believe they did that.
Chris Ryan
In the background, Dazed and Confused is happening.
Sean Fennessey
Yes.
Bill Simmons
So good. I think it's four movies. This is what I wrote down. It's a slasher teen movie. It's a PTSD damaged hero movie. It's a late 70s teenage beach hangout sailing movie. And then it's a shark movie.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
What's your favorite out of those four?
Chris Ryan
I think probably the slasher monster movie side of it. Like the idea that this shark is just marauding around and thinking of new creative ways to kill teenagers.
Bill Simmons
It's basically Myers. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Just three months before Michael Myers. Right. This is like, this is the true forerunner to what horror movies would be for the next 10 years. It kind of invents it.
Bill Simmons
There's a little teenagers in peril.
Sean Fennessey
Yes.
Chris Ryan
There's a little bit of a detective movie too, because for about 40 minutes, Brody's like, what could be causing these weird disappearances in the water? I have a bad feeling about this. But, you know, developing the film, all the stuff that he has to do.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
I have a fifth movie. It's also, I think, a Sorkin esque portrait of a local politician having a breakdown. Whatever is going on with the mayor in this movie I'd like to spend an hour on.
Bill Simmons
Well, I have a spot in the pod. So you think this created the West Wing?
Sean Fennessey
It feels like it. You know, like a man who has to go before the public and continue to deny the truth.
Chris Ryan
Yes.
Sean Fennessey
Every day of his life.
Chris Ryan
Who's turned over the keys to Amity to real estate developers.
Bill Simmons
Somehow he's grooming his son, Larry von Jr. Hey, Larry. Me, my son, Larry, Larry Jr.
Chris Ryan
Do.
Bill Simmons
You want to do. We probably did this in the first Jaws movie, but the Amity, Cape Cod, Long island, whatever is going on here.
Sean Fennessey
I mean, shot in the Vineyard. Right. But I guess it's supposed to be Long Island. Isn't that the idea?
Bill Simmons
But then mostly shot in Florida.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
It's just. It's trying to do a whole bunch of things.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
I. It's a familiar milieu. You know, my dad lived on the beach when I was a kid and so I was always going to these communities.
Chris Ryan
But he was not a beach cop. Did he ever have Any aspirations or ambitions to become a Martin Brody esque?
Bill Simmons
Seems like a great job.
Sean Fennessey
Well, I have some questions about that, actually, regarding what Brody's been up to in the three years since the original shark attack and why he was the.
Bill Simmons
Man of the Year in Amity.
Chris Ryan
It sounds like. Doesn't he make a reference to, like, four things happen a year? It's like I make four arrests a year or something like that.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, man, I have so much to say about this. But, like, Brody was afraid of the water. And then he had the most traumatic experience you could ever have on the water. And then he's like, I think I'll stay near the water. Like, what the fuck?
Bill Simmons
This guy. I'm gonna drive my jeep right on the beach.
Sean Fennessey
Just like move to Glen Cove or something. You don't have to be in a beach town. It's okay.
Bill Simmons
Right? Well, it's like what we talked about with Diary of the Vengeance also. Killing the shark probably sets up some amazing side career for him, like where he could write a book and. Yeah, he go on talk shows.
Sean Fennessey
Do Dick Cabot, like a harpoon sponsorship or something.
Chris Ryan
I have to start asking hard questions about whether Brody was participating in a slush fund scheme with Mayor Larry.
Sean Fennessey
It's true.
Chris Ryan
You know, whether he was.
Bill Simmons
You want to do this now?
Chris Ryan
Getting a little wet in his beak. A little.
Bill Simmons
There's some beak wetting.
Sean Fennessey
Something is fishy.
Chris Ryan
You think Ellen Brody's really bringing in the money? Being like the. The town salesman for that real estate developer?
Bill Simmons
Well, there's some. I guess a deleted scene that insinuates that Brody gets. I decided not to watch the deleted scenes because 2 hours plus of Jaws 2 is enough. Plus, I watched the entire making of documentary, which I'm excited to talk about, but apparently they hint at some Brody's wife with the boss. Like some sort of, like, romantic maybe. Yeah. That Brody gets. Been out of shape about. And they smartly took that out of the movie because that would have been idiotic disrespect.
Chris Ryan
Martin Brody like that.
Sean Fennessey
Well, is the implication that, you know, if Ellen is polishing Len's knob, then she's getting like, a Christmas bonus? Like, what's happening? Like, what is really. What's the quid pro quo there? He's the chief of police.
Chris Ryan
It would have been better if Martin was boring the shit out of her. Telling old war stories about fighting Jaws with Hooper and just being like, man, I remember that time in 74 when I killed that fucking shit shark. She's just like, all right, we can Move on from this.
Sean Fennessey
You know, why does Ellen even need a job as a glorified secretary for Len? You know, like, I. This doesn't.
Chris Ryan
She's a career woman. It's the late 70s. Women are in the workplace. What the fuck is wrong with you?
Bill Simmons
Were they in the workplace?
Sean Fennessey
It doesn't really seem like it. Yeah. This guy's like wandering on the beach in a four piece.
Chris Ryan
They're not doing any parenting, so they have plenty of time to dedicate your professions.
Bill Simmons
I mean, the bigger question. Martin Brody. Good hang.
Chris Ryan
My kind of hang. My kind of hang.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Three cigarettes before shows home that it's.
Bill Simmons
Like you're not sure how drunk he is when dad gets home. Yeah. Is dad really drunk or kind of drunk? Oh, the car sideways in the garage.
Sean Fennessey
Scheider is just the shade of an heirloom tomato the whole movie. It's incredible.
Bill Simmons
Well, there's great research about how he kind of didn't want to be in the movie, which we'll get to. But apparently he was surly for like the first half of the filming, basically, which I thought was hilarious.
Sean Fennessey
Fits the character very well.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, you can kind of feel it in some of the scenes where he's just like, put the cue card right there so I can see it. Let's get this done.
Chris Ryan
He's still Roy Schneider, though. I mean, honestly, it's like whether he's reading off cue cards, whether or not he hated being there. Like, there's a couple of scenes in there where you're just like, this guy's the fucking best.
Bill Simmons
Well, we do this every time. We do shatter, but we got to go through his 70s clute. French connection. Jaws marathon man. Sorcerer. Jaws to all that jazz. Just ripping them off.
Sean Fennessey
Sneaky Scheider month here on the show.
Chris Ryan
It is a Sneaky Scheider. We can do all that next.
Bill Simmons
It's. It's the summer of Scheider July.
Sean Fennessey
Sounds good.
Chris Ryan
Well, we've already done the good shiny.
Sean Fennessey
What are we doing? Blue Thunder, you know?
Bill Simmons
Well, we have Sorcerers still lingering.
Chris Ryan
Sorcerer and all that Jazz just came.
Bill Simmons
Out on Blu Ray.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, it did.
Bill Simmons
Did you get that one?
Sean Fennessey
I certainly did.
Bill Simmons
How was it?
Sean Fennessey
It's really good. I'm. I'm. I'm featured on it. I don't know if you know.
Chris Ryan
What do you mean?
Sean Fennessey
I. I interviewed James Gray on that Blu Ray talking about Sorcerer.
Bill Simmons
Really?
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Wow, that's really exciting.
Sean Fennessey
It really is.
Bill Simmons
Congratulations.
Sean Fennessey
Thank you.
Chris Ryan
Yes.
Sean Fennessey
It was very cool. It was very fun to do.
Bill Simmons
Got to get it now. Yeah, I saw the Criterion Collection was on sale for 50% off.
Chris Ryan
It's a great time for sales right out there.
Sean Fennessey
It really is. I mean, all that Jazz is also in the Criterion Collection, right?
Chris Ryan
Cop it already.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Loves that one. Who was supposed to be in all that Jazz? Oh, Dreyfus.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Well, Dreyfus is in this.
Chris Ryan
There's a lot of swapping of great big movies and great big parts. I can't wait to talk about that.
Bill Simmons
Well, sequels dive into this because Damien Omen 2, good movie.
Chris Ryan
Just got stretched by the bucks.
Sean Fennessey
You always say it like there's not a colon in the title.
Bill Simmons
Damian Omen 2.
Sean Fennessey
That's it.
Bill Simmons
I call Damien Omen 2.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Damien. Was his last name Omen or was it a different last name?
Chris Ryan
Oh, it's not Omen.
Sean Fennessey
No, it's Omen. It's Omen.
Chris Ryan
His father, Bob oman.
Bill Simmons
Damian Omen 2.
Chris Ryan
Bob Omen, the first.
Bill Simmons
Jaws 2. Both June 1978. So why is this important? Well, we're starting a sequel. Boom. They didn't really do sequels. They did Bond sequels. They did those weird airport movies that they put the year of the. Whatever.
Sean Fennessey
77. Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Clint Eastwood's westerns were sort of sequels. Go back to the 20s, 30s, 40s. They love doing sequels. Then it kind of died off. 1977.
Chris Ryan
I see you just threw a little chum in the water for Roso. Talking forties.
Bill Simmons
Right? Well, we. Now we know.
Chris Ryan
Get Rossillo on a. On a Thin man pod.
Sean Fennessey
I'm. I'm desperate.
Chris Ryan
I.
Sean Fennessey
He said he wanted it to be the three of us, but I need you and Ryan looking each other in the eye doing costume talking for two hours. I need it. I need it more than I need anything in the world.
Bill Simmons
All right, we'll do it.
Chris Ryan
Seriously, I would retire from the rewatch you guys did that. It would be like we've completed the Mission.
Bill Simmons
77 has Exorcist 2, Bad News Bears, and Breaking Training, a phenomenal movie. And Airport. 77. 78 has Jaws 2, Omen 2, Bad News Bears 3. Go to Japan. We don't acknowledge that.
Sean Fennessey
Also Revenge of the Pink Panther, one of the biggest of the year.
Bill Simmons
79 has Rocky 2, which becomes as. As big of a phenomenon as Jaws 2. And we also get Airport 79, Butch and Sundance prequel, and more American graffiti. And then 80 has Empire Strikes Back, Smokey and the Bandit 2. So these are top 10 movies that are sequels. And then you can just see how it changes where Superman 2, Halloween 2, Friday 132 in 1982. Here are all the sequels. Rocky 3 Star Trek 2, Friday 13, 3, Airplane 2, Halloween 3, Death Wish 2, Grease 2, Amityville 2 and Penitentiary 2. If you just go by the year, there's just normal movie titles. Like, you look at, like, 1975, and it's just movie titles. And then you get to, like, the 80s, you see two sequels, whatever, and then it just changes.
Chris Ryan
Do you find it comforting or alarming that for your entire life, like, that's been the case? Like, because in some ways it should give us a little bit of peace when it's like, oh, there's nothing original anymore.
Sean Fennessey
But I don't think there's anything that is inherently bad about a sequel. I think, you know, the Empire Strikes Back is remarkable. Like, it's one of the best movies ever. Godfather II is one of the best movies ever. I do think that there's a consistency in the ones that you talked about from 77 through 80, where the number twos are basically the same as the first film, but worse. And money grabs, and they're only made for money. But, like, the structure of the movie is usually the same. The director is usually a little less good than the director of the original.
Bill Simmons
There's usually at least one star missing.
Sean Fennessey
Somebody doesn't show up. The lead is usually a little bit more begrudging about having to do the movie. They don't feel as happy about it.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
So you just. It's just not as.
Chris Ryan
There's a lot more hand wringing in the stories about the. The making of these movies. There's a lot more hand wringing about. Like, we were waiting for a script that honored the first one or they could live up to the first one. We don't have that problem anymore.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
Like, we're like, get these going.
Bill Simmons
You know, halfway through the movie, they're like, yeah, just have them shoot the blue fish and let's get to the next scene.
Chris Ryan
Ana de Armas is the ballerina, and she is John Wick. Like, let's not worry about this too much.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
But it was. It was fascinating to see that the Jaws producers basically did this because they were like, we don't. This is going to happen anyway. So better to be involved and try and make it, you know, on the level of the first one.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Somebody's doing a shark movie if we don't.
Sean Fennessey
That's what David Brown said. Do you believe that or do you believe that that was a way to meddle?
Chris Ryan
I believe Universal was. Would make another Jaws movie, don't you? I mean, it's like a groundbreaking box Office success in that way.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, it's possible.
Bill Simmons
I just think just. We've talked about this a bunch of times this year, especially the Star wars pod. I just think this is right around. Movies change and they. They look at a movie like Jaws or Star wars and they're just like, just. Let's run that back. Let's do that again. I saw Jaws 2 in the theater. It was another one at the Cleveland Circle Theater.
Chris Ryan
There you go.
Bill Simmons
My dad took me. I was the exact same age, I think, as little Sean, and super scared the last hour of the movie. Like, really genuinely scared. The hell. I vividly remember the helicopter thing being like. That was like, one of the craziest things I've seen in a movie theater.
Sean Fennessey
It's still really effective.
Bill Simmons
It's really great.
Sean Fennessey
There are still a few things in this that are really good.
Bill Simmons
And then fucking Marge just getting swallowed up by. By Jaws Jr. That's killing the movie.
Chris Ryan
I have. I have a. I may have a contender for that. Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Also a. Holy shit.
Sean Fennessey
I've never seen that shot from behind.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. And it's a great invention because you don't have to show her getting quinted. You know, she just disappears.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Well, they. It seemed like they were really worried about the R, so they didn't. They had a couple of crunching down things that they ended up cutting out. But this was a moment when this came out and this movie did really, really well. And I think it's one of the reasons we started getting more sequels. This movie fucking killed it. The box office. And it didn't matter if it wasn't as good.
Sean Fennessey
And it kind of got killed critically. Right. Like, it was not well reviewed at all.
Chris Ryan
It was not.
Sean Fennessey
It didn't matter at all.
Chris Ryan
But also then became a absolute staple of early hbo. I remember this being on a ton when I was a kid.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
All the Jaw sequels were. But it's been in a weird way, like, I wonder sometimes if I've seen Jaws 2 more than Jaws, just cumulatively, you know, because every time I watch Jaws, I make a big, like, thing out of it.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
And with this, it's like, oh, yeah. Oh, the water skiing. Like, I'll sit down for this. You know, it's.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. From a. From. We always talk about why we created the pod. This is a classic. Oh, they're going sailing. Eddie's about to get it. Eddie's about to die. I'm gonna stick for another 40 here. Poor Eddie. All you want to do is play the guitar on the beach and get laid.
Chris Ryan
Come on, Tina. Just don't make it so tough on a guy.
Sean Fennessey
You know, I get the impression that he kind of put a lot of numbers up with Tina in the first place. Like he actually. Maybe he lived a good life.
Chris Ryan
Oh, I feel like Tina was undiagnosed ADHD and kept being like, is that a parasailer?
Sean Fennessey
Am I gonna get out of here?
Bill Simmons
You know, what was she saying about she needed a blanket cuz her mom noticed the black and blue bruises?
Chris Ryan
Oh yeah. Cuz they kept.
Sean Fennessey
They were knocking it out on the boat.
Bill Simmons
No, I get it.
Chris Ryan
American cars in the 70s. A lot of sharp edges, you know.
Bill Simmons
What were her parents inspector when she got home like?
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, time for your ass inspection. Tina.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
You've been out with Eddie all night.
Chris Ryan
Oh, I was balling Eddie in the back of the station wagon.
Bill Simmons
Also on a boat. And that boat that size. Not easy.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, yeah.
Chris Ryan
Wish we had gotten to see it.
Bill Simmons
Eddie's got to be a very tender lover. Well, he was a guitar player.
Sean Fennessey
What do you think their favorite position was?
Bill Simmons
I'd probably very.
Chris Ryan
Careful.
Bill Simmons
Careful lover. Well, by the time we got to 1983, here were the sequels. Return of the Jedi, Superman 3, Awful Jaws 3, Horrible Psycho 2, Horrific Porsche 2, A Disgrace, the Sting 2 Never Happened, and Smokey the Bandit 3. We literally went over.
Chris Ryan
Do you like Smokey 3? Didn't put a little review on the end of it.
Bill Simmons
I'm not positive Burt Reynolds is in it.
Sean Fennessey
I kind of like Psycho too. I'm just gonna put that out there.
Bill Simmons
Really?
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, I think. And I think there is a cult to that movie now.
Bill Simmons
What?
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, it's like a late stage. Anthony Perkins appreciation. Interesting. I forgot the director's name. Australian guy who made Patrick and Road Games couple like gnarly. I think it's like some good kills in it. I like Psycho too.
Bill Simmons
Pork is too. Saw that in the theater. Has some of the worst sports scene footage in the history. I don't even know if I'd seen basketball. Okay, meet the. The. He's like a power forward. I'll bet remember me meets 35 in real life at this point playing power forward in the high school team and does not know how to play basketball. And if there's video of it, we could easily cut this into a social clip like he is. I had never probably touched any sort of sports object before this movie. And he's just running around like even the fat kid in Teen Wolf was better. Chubby. Chubby at least looked like he had a little bit of an Oliver Miller.
Chris Ryan
Type Was there a team? There was a Teen Wolf too, wasn't there?
Bill Simmons
Oh, there was, yeah.
Chris Ryan
Oh, right. So I want to.
Bill Simmons
Before he became Jason Batman.
Chris Ryan
That's right.
Bill Simmons
Whatever that is.
Chris Ryan
In the. In the Ryan household, I will say, weirdly, maybe uniquely, just the Revenge is. Is our favorite, the fourth one sequel. Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
That's Michael Keane.
Chris Ryan
Yes.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
And Mario Van Peebles.
Sean Fennessey
Yes, it is. That's the Jamaican one.
Bill Simmons
I don't know if I, you know that one more than once. What happens?
Chris Ryan
Sean gets. He's like a harbor master and he gets killed by a shark outside of Amity.
Sean Fennessey
It is the Revenge.
Bill Simmons
Sean Brody.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
It is the revenge on Martin Brody.
Chris Ryan
Yes. That is why Brody's passed away from a heart attack. Surprise, surprise.
Bill Simmons
Four packs of dancing cigarettes finally got him out.
Chris Ryan
And then Sean is like, you know, following in his father's footsteps. Gets his arm bitten off and dragged out to the water. Ellen freaks out. Michael comes from his job in the Bahamas and is like, ellen, you got to come down the Bahamas with me. You know, you got to soothe your soul. She meets. I can't remember what Michael Caine's character's name is like woegie or something like that.
Sean Fennessey
Hoagie Newcomb.
Chris Ryan
Hoagie Newcomb, played by Michael Caine. And then I think Mario Van Peebles is like a dive master there. And then.
Bill Simmons
Say no more. I'll dial it up on to Be Tonight.
Chris Ryan
They do battle with the shark. It's pretty awesome.
Sean Fennessey
Three is the water park.
Chris Ryan
Yes.
Bill Simmons
That was 3D World. That was during the weird 3D era.
Chris Ryan
And Quaid.
Bill Simmons
It's bad.
Sean Fennessey
Really bad.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. All those 3D movies, they didn't really.
Sean Fennessey
Know that was a sterling defense of Jaws, the revenge. But it's very bad, as I recall.
Bill Simmons
I've seen all. I've only seen those one each. Well, Lorraine Gary is in all four, right?
Sean Fennessey
Yes, she is.
Bill Simmons
Yes. Which is hilarious because she was married to the head of Universal. Yes. And if you look at her IMDb, I think we did this when we did Jaws, but basically a TV actress and a couple things and then ends up in Spielberg's Jaws is like the wife of the hero.
Chris Ryan
That being said, I. I kind of like her.
Bill Simmons
She's fine.
Sean Fennessey
I said this on the Jaws pod. I think she's really good in Jaws, the first Jaws. I'm a little confused about her career path in Jaws 2. And then by Jaws 4, she's like a traumatized woman.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. She is the hero. 65 year old hero. Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
So it's a little questionable.
Bill Simmons
So you don't think the Lakers should have drafted her in the second round.
Chris Ryan
Can she finish Lobs? We don't know.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. So she's the only thread for the four. Well, they decided to do the sequel late in 75. Spielberg said, no, thanks anyway. There was some writer they brought in and wanted to do a prequel about Quint's story about the U.S. indianapolis.
Chris Ryan
No, this is. You gotta slow down here.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I wanted to just clear the floor for this.
Chris Ryan
The original sort of creative team of. Of Jaws when they were like, we got to do a sequel. And I think even there's some reporting that Spielberg was like, that's actually a cool idea. Or maybe that was his idea, but Carl Gottlieb was writing it or something. Was the Quint prequel, the USS Indianapolis prequel that he tells the story of in Jaws. I'm in and I'm in. And I think we may have talked about this on the Jaws pod, but, like, if Jaws had just been an anthology series about shark. Shark attacks in different parts of the world or in some connective tissue with the characters, it would have been like the greatest franchise ever. And I bet Spielberg would have been interested enough to come back if it wasn't like Martin Brody does battle with the shark again.
Bill Simmons
Well, they've ripped us. I mean, open water. Remember that one?
Chris Ryan
Yeah, of course.
Bill Simmons
The Blake Lively movie.
Chris Ryan
Shallows.
Bill Simmons
They just. They make deep blue sea. Like they just keep making shark. They've been making them for 50 years.
Sean Fennessey
But there was also a wave in the immediate aftermath of this movie of. Of sea creature related movies. Like, you also had orca immediately after this. You had crocodile. You had alligator. You had. Or eaten alive is the crocodile movie. And then you had alligator. You had piranha, the Joe Dante movie. Like, they. There was a wave of literally this.
Bill Simmons
I don't mind. The piranha's pretty cool.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Tough way to go.
Chris Ryan
I. Is it true that. Yeah. Is it different piranhas? Are they actually not that dangerous?
Sean Fennessey
Shark or piranha? Sheesh.
Bill Simmons
No. I think if there's a lot of piranha, you just. Your body, you just get shredded. Yeah. It's like a water crema.
Chris Ryan
I think I'll go.
Craig Horlbeck
I feel like you got a better chance against a shark, weirdly.
Bill Simmons
Ah.
Chris Ryan
I mean, I feel like I've watched more shark movies than piranha movies, so I have some ideas about how to combat.
Sean Fennessey
What movies did I just watch where somebody punches a shark and it works. This just happened in a movie.
Chris Ryan
Dangerous animals.
Sean Fennessey
That's what it was.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Yes. You know about dangerous animals is out right now. Jai Courtney. Yeah, he plays a crazed Australian boat captain who takes people out to see the sharks.
Chris Ryan
But then he, like, he takes women.
Sean Fennessey
Out, abducts them, and makes them shark bait for his amusement.
Chris Ryan
And he videotapes them while they're hanging off.
Bill Simmons
This is a movie that's in the theater.
Sean Fennessey
It's out right now. Like, yeah, it's going to be on Shutter this summer.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. Oh, it's pretty dark. Even as shark movies go, it's like, holy shit. Like, this guy's just torturing women for two hours.
Sean Fennessey
But yeah, it's like Saw, but just for sharks.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, it's Saw, but sharks.
Bill Simmons
Well, but that description Saw, but that's the, that was what you laid out, that model. That's what Jaws could have been. There was just like a new Jaws every year. Yeah, they didn't know how to franchise stuff back then. They had to actually, like, really put thought and money into it.
Sean Fennessey
I think that that would have been cool. But, like, let's not forget that the first movie is directed by Steven Spielberg. Like, that's the reason Jaws is amazing. And you really feel it watching Jaws too, which is a very fun summer blockbuster movie, but it is no Jaws. It's not even close to the propulsive feeling that you get watching Jaws where you're kind of like when you're watching Jaws, you're like this the whole time, getting leaning closer and closer to see what happens in this movie. I'm just like, I'm waiting for the kill. That's the thing. And I don't even really think about the kills as much when I think of Jaws in this movie.
Chris Ryan
It's all kills.
Sean Fennessey
It's a machine.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Very similar to Halloween 2, a movie that I support.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, same thing.
Bill Simmons
It's Myers just like, let's get his stats up. Like, his PR in Halloween 2 is just way better. He only has like four kills in Halloween 1.
Sean Fennessey
He's Jordan Clarkson.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
He's taken down like an entire hospital. Anyway, they found a director. They start doing a script that's in the future. John D. Hancock.
Sean Fennessey
Interesting director.
Chris Ryan
Theater director, TV director.
Bill Simmons
They banged the drum. Slowly.
Chris Ryan
Yes.
Sean Fennessey
Before that, he did a really good horror movie called let's Scare Jessica to Death, which features great stuff on the water.
Bill Simmons
Are you on that 4K Blu Ray.
Sean Fennessey
Or no, I'm not on that one. But there is a really good addition to that.
Chris Ryan
He's saving it all for the dangerous animals vinegar syndrome.
Sean Fennessey
Put out a really good version of that. I, I, this is a Little bit of a what if for me is if. If they hadn't fired John D. Hancock off the movie. He's a better director than Jano Schwarz, the TV director.
Chris Ryan
In the reporting. Or the stuff about the making the movie is that his version of Jaws 2 was like a more of like a darker drama. So I wonder if that's more of the first half of the film.
Bill Simmons
There was that. Plus didn't the. He was kind of trying to cut back the wife's parts in the Universal guy. That was the story he told.
Sean Fennessey
And he blamed this on Shark not working. Which is obviously the same line that Spielberg had. He was like. He basically got fired because he couldn't get the action sequences to play. They weren't cutting together. And David Brown was like. This guy is. We made the wrong choice.
Bill Simmons
Production stops. Stops long enough that Spielberg thinks about it.
Chris Ryan
They also thought about the.
Bill Simmons
And he writes the screenplay for the Quint speech.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Just for fun. Because he was a fucking freak. And then we're going to write this whole movie.
Chris Ryan
Maybe it was going to maybe be directed by Joe alves, who did 3D. Right. And Verna Fields who edited one and became like a executive at Universal. But the DJ wouldn't let him do it.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
You can't replace.
Bill Simmons
I didn't know about that. There was some rule that. From Outlaw of Josie Wales. They fired the director and then had the crew direct the rest of the movie.
Chris Ryan
It's kind of like what happened on Tombstone. Right.
Bill Simmons
And the DJ was like, we're not doing that anymore. But then the DJ was like 10 rewatchables where that's happened.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. The DGA had the second apron.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. To trade. Poor Zingus.
Sean Fennessey
I don't know if that's a tall tale from Joe Alves or not.
Chris Ryan
I like it.
Sean Fennessey
He says that. But it's a good story.
Bill Simmons
So they end up with Jenna Swerk.
Chris Ryan
I was. I had so many different variations on how you were going to pronounce this that I didn't even bother to look up the real one because I was so excited.
Bill Simmons
It's one of the weirdest names I've seen in the IMDb. There's. His last name is spelled SCW A R C. I don't.
Chris Ryan
It's called Gene. Keep it moving.
Craig Horlbeck
It's borderline Shark.
Chris Ryan
It's pretty close.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, Sure.
Sean Fennessey
I just love to get three consonants in a row in the last. Yeah. You know, just right to start. Schwar.
Bill Simmons
Well, you got it here.
Craig Horlbeck
I got three consonants in a row.
Sean Fennessey
My last name you do?
Chris Ryan
Oh, yeah.
Craig Horlbeck
H O R L B. Oh, yeah.
Bill Simmons
Congrats.
Chris Ryan
Thanks.
Bill Simmons
Jano Schwerk.
Sean Fennessey
Jeanno.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Ten years later, he's doing episode eight of Hill Street Blues, season four.
Chris Ryan
Not bad. Yeah.
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
He seems like a very affable man.
Bill Simmons
In the interview, you know, like a Roy Scheider.
Sean Fennessey
Didn't like him at all.
Bill Simmons
We did have one. One star come back. The Goat John Williams.
Chris Ryan
Yes.
Bill Simmons
They're like, hey, John, can you kick in a little teenage kid having fun? Like fun happy. We might have an orgy at the Lighthouse. Music. Jdubs is like, I got that.
Chris Ryan
Jdubs has got one hand on the Close Encounters theme and another one just.
Bill Simmons
Remixes rocking to it.
Sean Fennessey
That's the thing is like in 1978 he also scored the Fury, the Brian De Palma movie, and Superman the movie, which is one of the most iconic themes in movie history. And he was like, yeah, I got time for Jaws too.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. And he's working on Empire.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, he's got empire. He's got 1941 coming in 79 and Empire coming in 80. He cooked.
Bill Simmons
Only. Only Harold Fartemire is the only one who can match him. They'll be serious when Beverly Hills Cop and Fletch and Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop too. That little run Harold had. No John Williams.
Chris Ryan
No, no, he's not a Zimmer.
Bill Simmons
But we still. Same thing. How did he do it? Who's the guy in Miami Vice? Jan Hammer. Yeah, that was another one. It's like Jan's just cranking it for two years. Cranking, Cranking music.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
The synthesizer.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Anyway, the Goat John Williams is back. $20 million budget made. $208 million. Seventh biggest movie of 1978. The biggest non Bond sequel ever. Roger Ebert refused to review it.
Chris Ryan
Why?
Bill Simmons
Just didn't write a review. He was movie critic for the Chicago.
Chris Ryan
He was an up no review.
Bill Simmons
Did the TV show and he. They skipped over and he said it was pure trash.
Sean Fennessey
I was just gonna say. I think he used the word trash.
Bill Simmons
He said it was pure trash.
Chris Ryan
Interesting.
Bill Simmons
Not a fan.
Chris Ryan
It's quite a stand. I mean, it's not pure trash, but.
Bill Simmons
As we know, Raj is the sequel Police.
Sean Fennessey
Raj also doesn't like horror movies.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, he's the Martin Brody of sequel.
Sean Fennessey
He thinks there's something degr rating about the 80s slasher. Yeah, he never supported them. And this is an 80s slasher.
Bill Simmons
He could have reviewed it. I mean it was. He should have reviewed all of the top.
Chris Ryan
I wonder if it was like 15 hornier. You know, if Eddie had sealed the deal. If Roger would have been like, I.
Sean Fennessey
If Jackie would have whipped him out. Yeah, then he would have. He would have been all about it. Well, we know, we know Raj, he loves the female form. I mean, he always writes up. He's always writing about breasts.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, yeah. R rated version of this. Raj would be like, yeah, I'll review it.
Sean Fennessey
You make it seem like he had like complete veto power. Like he.
Chris Ryan
At the trip, he was just like, the fuck out. Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Can you imagine him storming out of a screen? No review, you get nothing.
Sean Fennessey
It's like the soup Nazi.
Chris Ryan
You should try that for big pic. Just 45 minutes of silence after Jurassic World.
Sean Fennessey
We're seeing Jurassic World this week. We'll see if I want to do an episode about it.
Bill Simmons
Just 45 seconds of dead air. You're just like playing Brick Blast.
Chris Ryan
We'll be right back.
Bill Simmons
We're going to take a break and do the categories. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Life is full of decisions, big and small. And sometimes you make one you can really stand behind. I did this a few times in my life, especially in the mid 2010s after I left Grantland and ESPN. And I was like, you know what? I still think there's an idea for a company that could really work. And then the ringer. And now we're 10 years later, we're still here. State Farm gets it. Making confident choices can make all the difference. That's why with the State Farm personal price plan, you can choose the right amount of coverage to help create an affordable price. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts, and savings and eligibility vary by state. Most rewatchable scene, all the kids getting together and getting ready to go sailing with the happy John Williams music. I think the title of that song is the kids are sailing, they're happy.
Chris Ryan
Cousin Jackie arrives.
Bill Simmons
The water skier gets eaten.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, that's. That's where it really goes up.
Bill Simmons
When you see somebody water skiing and.
Sean Fennessey
You hear the not good. Not good. Really? So this was the first scene that Jenno Spark shot and he did it because they needed to rewrite the whole movie.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
And he was like, just give me five days to shoot a really cool scene and this works.
Chris Ryan
You can also see that that came through in the edit where you're like, man, this chick is Water skiing for a really long time.
Sean Fennessey
There's a lot of time spent. I. We do need to explore with you. The woman pouring gasoline all over herself before the sh. Before lighting a flare and exploding the entire. It's one of my favorite things.
Chris Ryan
That clip is just playing in Joe Dumars office.
Bill Simmons
What is that for? Anytime an NBA team up, she gets gasoline.
Chris Ryan
It's so hard to do, even with a shark attacking you. It's like, how did you do that?
Sean Fennessey
What's the math on that? Like, what was she going for?
Bill Simmons
Why does she have a giant thing of gasoline in her house?
Sean Fennessey
What are you trying to do, like, pour gasoline on the shark?
Bill Simmons
Matches? Throw the matches at him?
Chris Ryan
It's actually quick thinking. She's like, oh, what I'll do is just, like, douse this thing in gasoline and shoot a flare at it. It's just like, hey, leave it to the professionals. Water ski driver.
Sean Fennessey
There's, like, a great overhead shot of.
Chris Ryan
Her pouring, but for a second, I was kind of like, is she like, I'd rather immolate myself than get eaten by a shark.
Bill Simmons
Even the shark was like, what the are you doing? Finishing.
Chris Ryan
Just get this over with.
Sean Fennessey
It's like, my favorite thing in the movie. I love that so much.
Bill Simmons
We got to make that a gift. Two parts. We can get to 13, but. Oh, my God. Oh, man. All right, more rewatchable scenes. Brody in the shark tower freaking out and shooting at the bluefish.
Sean Fennessey
Also kind of do more zest.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. There's a kid, like, kind of right there.
Chris Ryan
I mean, it's close.
Bill Simmons
He's pointing at the kid.
Chris Ryan
This is. This is the funny thing with, like, the town council meeting is the town council definitely has a point. Like, Brody seems insane. Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Now that's. You lose your job with the shooting at the bluefish. I don't know if there's anything coming back from that. And you lose your job when you trade your unprotected 2026 page for dairy Queen.
Sean Fennessey
Do you think in that scene that Brody has PTSD from the original Jaws and that's what's driving?
Chris Ryan
Yeah, because he says, I won't go through that hell again. Like, you're gonna have to get somebody else to fight this shark tower.
Bill Simmons
Great shot, Gordo. Brody coming down the stairs.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, that's a good one.
Bill Simmons
I like the shark tower in general. I was thinking about getting one from my backyard.
Sean Fennessey
Okay. That seems normal.
Bill Simmons
Cool. Just climb up there.
Chris Ryan
Where's dad?
Sean Fennessey
What about how angry the mayor is when he's up there? He's like, what's he doing up there? Relax, he's a cop. He's doing something.
Bill Simmons
Shark tower. It's his job. Brody showing them the shark picture. Yeah. This was Roy's Oscar clip. I think Ryan talked himself into the movie at that point. The check had cleared. He found out what points meant, and he was like, I know what a shark looks like because I've seen one up close. You better do something about this one, because I don't intend to go through that hell again. It's good.
Chris Ryan
And they're like, nah, it doesn't look.
Bill Simmons
Like a shark off Roy.
Sean Fennessey
They're really rude to him.
Bill Simmons
Looks like an eye. All right, this is when the movie takes off. The last 50 minutes. Eddie gets eaten. This is just a tremendous bitten burst.
Chris Ryan
Into the boat and then sucked down.
Sean Fennessey
Yes.
Bill Simmons
The whole. Eddie.
Chris Ryan
Swim, Eddie. Hurry.
Sean Fennessey
Faster.
Bill Simmons
Come on, swim.
Sean Fennessey
Hurry, hurry, Eddie.
Bill Simmons
But in Eddie and Eddie's like, the actor they hired. I had this in the research. Like, didn't know how to swim. They didn't realize it, so they had to, like, quickly teach him, like, how to swim. So you can kind of see it. He's. It's in the water.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
He looks really uncomfortable when he first.
Bill Simmons
Goes over because he can't swim.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
This is a.
Bill Simmons
Probably would have checked that on the Eddie character. Hey, any swimming in your history?
Sean Fennessey
This is. His name is Gary Dubin.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
This is an incredible. Imagine if you were just a man named Gary Dubin. And this is how your IMDb or your Wikipedia started. He was an American actor best known for his portrayal of Punky Lazar, a friend of Danny Partridge on the Partridge Family. He also voiced To Loo and the Aristocats in 1970 and played the part of ill fated teenager Eddie Marchand, who was eaten by the shark in Jaws, too.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
That's his legacy. That's his Legacy.
Bill Simmons
That's his IMDb.
Sean Fennessey
He was on Green Acres, land of the giants.
Bill Simmons
Eddie, it's tough.
Sean Fennessey
The scene. The moment when he gets up to the boat and puts his hand on. On the. On the boat and it pulled. The wood breaks and pulls away. Incredible stuff.
Bill Simmons
Really great. The first big sailboat attack where Mike almost dies. Yeah.
Chris Ryan
He gets knocked out.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
When he bangs his head.
Bill Simmons
Great. And the boat's split and it's just. I love all that. Helicopter guy dies. We talked about him.
Sean Fennessey
Awesome.
Bill Simmons
Sean almost gets eaten. Not you, Sean. Sean and the little boy Sean. And Marge dies.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, Marge does die. It's tough.
Bill Simmons
Probably the most altruistic person in the movie. Yeah. Didn't see Anybody else jumping in for Sean?
Sean Fennessey
No. She's an idiot. What is she thinking? That's an insane.
Chris Ryan
You would watch Sean get eaten.
Sean Fennessey
I probably wouldn't jump in if I saw the shark coming. I think you would jump in.
Chris Ryan
I mean, I think if we're doing blame pie, you got to jump in. It's all Brody for being like, take Mike back to the hospital. But not Sean.
Sean Fennessey
No, it's Ellen Brody that morning Ellen. When Ellen Brody is like, where Shawn? He's probably out playing somewhere. I'm like, this is a 10 year old child.
Chris Ryan
We've got it.
Bill Simmons
No, this was the late 70s. My mom didn't know where I was first.
Sean Fennessey
You live in Jawstown. You don't live any. There's already been a shark sighting. Yeah, it's crazy.
Bill Simmons
Can't judge. So many kids got up. This is why it was the heyday for serial killers and terrible people. Kids would just be like, yeah, I'll be back in six hours.
Sean Fennessey
Guys, there's a shark sighting in Amity. Well, dad and Ellen Brody is like, no big deal.
Bill Simmons
Don't get away from.
Chris Ryan
His wife sneaks him out.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, but she doesn't know where her child is.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, yeah.
Chris Ryan
Like, it could be. He could be down like, you know, getting ice cream or something like that.
Sean Fennessey
Well, she's gonna have to explain to Marge's parents why she's fucking dead.
Bill Simmons
Blame pie that they leave today. I had this in nitpicks. They leave to take unconscious Mike Brody back to a hospital and nobody says, hey, if you're gonna go back 4 year olds, why don't you take the 8 year old kid? Terrified.
Chris Ryan
Sorry.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. How old are you?
Sean Fennessey
Good. I think he's 10. But yeah, good note.
Bill Simmons
But maybe.
Sean Fennessey
I think that they explained that he's 10 in the movie. Do they not?
Chris Ryan
Oh, I thought you would be like. They explained that he has pituitary problems.
Bill Simmons
No, he was around my age when I saw the movie. Okay, so he's somewhere between 8 and 10. But anyway, they just left him behind.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Bill Simmons
That was his brother. He had no other siblings in the water with him. Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Poor Marge.
Bill Simmons
Very strange. Great kill all time scene. And then the electric cable ending.
Chris Ryan
Not sure about the science for that one.
Bill Simmons
Well, here's the thing.
Chris Ryan
I know we're questioning science. It's okay. I'm just saying.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, we know it now because we know it's happening in the theater. Seeing this for the first time, it was an awesome idea. Up this cable comes up and he realizes what it is. And he starts hitting it and you're like, what the is he doing? Why is he doing? But you realize as the sharks come in. Oh, I see what he's going to try to do. Just a really inspired idea.
Craig Horlbeck
It's.
Chris Ryan
It's a culmination of the film or a climax of the movie that's lightly based on. Or it's based on two lightly made points. Earlier in the movie, Hendrick pulls up the power line. When they're dredging after the first Chekhov's power line. The shark expert is like. And they're also attracted by sonar. Like they are attracted to.
Bill Simmons
Yes.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
And. But if you're not paying attention hardcore to these random scenes, you're like, how the is this working? Like how is he banging on a wire and the shark is coming for it.
Bill Simmons
He's like, they're also attracted to hot girls. Most rewatchable. I think Eddie getting eaten is the best scene.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. Can we just do the doomed sailing trip like them?
Bill Simmons
How about the last 50 minutes? That's the most rewatchable. But I would go, Eddie.
Sean Fennessey
The woman pouring gasoline on herself is the scene I will watch for the rest of my life.
Chris Ryan
I like the chopper. And within the doomed sailing trip. I think the chopper is so fucking cool.
Bill Simmons
What do you have for what's the most 1978 thing about this movie?
Chris Ryan
Letting kids hang out in a bar.
Bill Simmons
I had that as well. 18 year old smoking and drinking in a bar.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
I also have Len talking to Martin Brody about Martin Brody's wife where he's like, she's a hell of a man, sir.
Chris Ryan
We got to bring that back.
Sean Fennessey
Imagine Phoebe is a hell of a woman.
Chris Ryan
Chris Gary Simmons.
Bill Simmons
I'm gonna do that over July 4th weekend. I'm just gonna start complimenting my friends wives, see how it goes.
Chris Ryan
You want a mic?
Bill Simmons
A soda? I have a runner up. Donna Wilks, who we'll talk about later. Who's you might know for the people listening from this movie is the woman who's the kind of hot new girl in town but then just screams for the last 10 minutes of the movie. Yes. Incomplete peril. Her hair.
Chris Ryan
Yep.
Bill Simmons
Very late 70s specific. There was only a two year error where anybody had that haircut.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. It's like bangs.
Bill Simmons
Almost like a bowl cut bangs. But and popped out on the side. Everybody had it. So it just makes me think of that.
Sean Fennessey
Hard to believe it didn't stick around what stage?
Bill Simmons
The best kids in the 70s hanging out with a guitar at the beach.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
This was your time Cr. This could have. This is when you would have thrived.
Chris Ryan
I would have been the bony bear of Amity people.
Bill Simmons
I need a pack of cigs and guitar.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
On a boat is something I now need to see.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, I have. A lot of the teenage behavior has aged the best for me, including just being like, we've got beers stowed away in a garage. You know those beers have just been cooking all summer. Oh, yeah, they've got.
Bill Simmons
They've got to do.
Chris Ryan
How about having a code for get me out of this situation? When Brody's like, we got to look into that 908. And he's like, what's a 908? He's like, I just wanted you to get me out of there. Yeah. We gotta do more of that, right?
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
What should. It should be like a mid pod thing where like Bill's on a jag about some girl's haircut and I'm like, CR908. 908.
Bill Simmons
A 908 problem. The late 70s summer beach montage I had in the what stage? The best where they're. It's like a guy or little kid putting mustard on a hot dog and then somebody's flying a kite. And it was just like very 70s.
Sean Fennessey
Is that nostalgic in the lead up to the killer whale, the beached whale.
Bill Simmons
No, it's the lead up to when he goes. He's in the shark tower.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
They have this montage. Everyone's having fun at the beach. And then it finishes as Brody in the shark tower.
Sean Fennessey
Okay.
Bill Simmons
And it's made me nostalgic. Now you just see somebody with a fucking Covid mask on and two guys smoking pot.
Chris Ryan
What beach are you on?
Bill Simmons
I don't understand.
Sean Fennessey
Did something happen.
Chris Ryan
In your yard and you think beaches look like jokes?
Sean Fennessey
Okay.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
It's the second straight pod that Bill has brought up. People just smoking marijuana in public. He seems annoyed. Do you guys think.
Chris Ryan
Do you think cocaine came up after hours?
Sean Fennessey
Well, the floor is yours.
Chris Ryan
I've heard from some. Some concerned listeners who are like, not enough. Maybe, maybe. Maybe we needed a cocaine expert.
Sean Fennessey
On the interesting was one available expert for which part?
Bill Simmons
Just.
Chris Ryan
Just like what it feels like to be up all night on cocaine out in New York City. Not that the character is, but that Martin Scorsese certainly had been.
Sean Fennessey
I think it's a fair point, right?
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Should we just retake the whole pod? Delete what we had?
Chris Ryan
No, I just. I just.
Bill Simmons
I've never done cocaine.
Chris Ryan
Pass along some feedback as you know.
Bill Simmons
Neither have I. Yeah, we'll we'll make up for it when Maril and I do Casablanca on Blow after doing a few lives.
Chris Ryan
Mirror in the middle.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
This is what it was like to own a bar in Morocco.
Bill Simmons
Cruising car culture. One of the screenwriters, Carl Gottlieb, said he got the idea because of this sailboat thing, because so many people would just drive around in cars, which we've seen in days and confused other movies.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
And he was like, well, let's do this with sailboats. Like, these kids, every day, they just go out in the water. Pretty good idea.
Sean Fennessey
It's very American Graffiti in general. The movie, I like it.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
I had.
Bill Simmons
Now they'd be playing Fortnite. Like, just be five kids in five different houses. Just like, dude, power me up. I'm losing my life.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
I feel like you've been radicalized by something.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. I just like this era. I like when people hung out and did shit together.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, that's true.
Bill Simmons
Let's bring it back.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, let's bring it back.
Chris Ryan
My last what stage? The best is just Tina screaming. Sh.
Bill Simmons
I have a couple other ones. Lighthouses.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Those have aged well.
Bill Simmons
It's like seeing them in movies.
Sean Fennessey
Okay.
Chris Ryan
They typically do age well, though.
Bill Simmons
They'll show it early. They'll be like, we got a lighthouse in this movie. And be like, okay, we're coming back. Yeah, sign me up. Maids that show up for a work already dressed like a maid.
Chris Ryan
Is it the maid or she the babysitter?
Bill Simmons
What is she?
Chris Ryan
I don't know. Why do they need one, too? They don't many parents.
Bill Simmons
This is like a big thing in TV shows in the 70s when they.
Chris Ryan
Have a small clapboard house.
Sean Fennessey
But I'm like, why does she have this job as a secretary? And then she's employing somebody to work in the house. Like, just quit your job and take care of your family, for Christ.
Chris Ryan
Do you think it's like a Keeping up with the Joneses kind of thing where, like, Len makes it seem like, oh, you don't have any help. Yeah, we got to do that to be successful.
Sean Fennessey
It's like, does it work for me? Terrible. Maybe it's a. Maybe it's a comment on capitalism.
Chris Ryan
Sure.
Bill Simmons
The last one I had was the idea of seeing the shark early enough and was smart. You got a zag from the last movie.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
You're not building up any. Any suspense. We know what the shark looks like.
Sean Fennessey
That was Jano's big theory.
Bill Simmons
Let's see the shark. Big kuna burger order. Best use of food and drink. The Punch.
Sean Fennessey
Not a ton. Yeah, but the punch sucked, right?
Bill Simmons
The punch being bad.
Chris Ryan
Mike is and his buddies are eating at the bar when they're like. And they say to the bartender this is the only place that the garbage man delivers. You know, I love a little.
Sean Fennessey
That looks like some rank bar pizza though. I know it looks gnarly.
Chris Ryan
I'm just saying it's the best use. I'm not saying I'd want to eat it.
Bill Simmons
Great shot. Go to award most cinematic shot. It's probably Eddie getting pulled down.
Chris Ryan
Oh, I like pulling the wood off. I like the par. The water skiing stuff. I like a lot of the like. Like wide shots of her going back and forth across the ocean.
Bill Simmons
Good wide shot of the. That scene when the. When he's picking up the poison bullets.
Chris Ryan
Oh yeah.
Bill Simmons
His son comes over and help. And they do a nice little wide shot with the water.
Sean Fennessey
Oh, you know what's a great one though is we didn't talk about the very beginning when they're at the gala event at the. And I don't even. What building is that that they're in.
Chris Ryan
It's the new develop. It's like the new conference center that.
Sean Fennessey
They'Ve built where the high school band is playing. There's like a long crane shot that goes all the way over the swimming pool and then down.
Bill Simmons
Classic Jeanneau.
Chris Ryan
I bet that was Hancock in his bag. And they were like this guy the fuck out of here.
Sean Fennessey
It feels like that. It does feel like that.
Bill Simmons
That kid Cudi. Pursuit of Happiness Aware Best needle drop. They don't throw a 70s song in this.
Chris Ryan
So I guess Happy Jaws music John.
Bill Simmons
Williams Happy JDub's just killing it.
Chris Ryan
There's stuff on the radio but I couldn't even determine.
Sean Fennessey
They don't sing anything like would have.
Chris Ryan
Killed the two Falm.
Bill Simmons
The big two.
Chris Ryan
Been like I'm. I've been working on this riff.
Bill Simmons
The Sean fantasy word for stealth homage that gives every movie nerd a criteria orgasm.
Sean Fennessey
I mean the muni on the bounty speech that Douglas gives. You know he gives the Captain Bly. You know that's a great moment. It Douglas with a dork.
Bill Simmons
I don't have a best character name. There's no chess Rockwell Brocklanders award this episode. I was just thinking I even looked through the IMDb to make sure Len.
Chris Ryan
Peterson is a really good real estate developer name.
Sean Fennessey
I like Dr. Elkins. I think it's pretty good. Also think just a gal named Marge when who's the last Marge that was under the age of 80 that you've seen that's true.
Bill Simmons
That's why she died. CR Flex category.
Chris Ryan
I gotta do Sean Penn. Brought my own pack. We do this for all the Shiders but three cigarettes with coffee before breakfast is. Is really elite. Elite shit.
Bill Simmons
I read his Wikipedia and I was just waiting for the COPD paragraph. I'm not sure it's in there but he. He definitely died a little early.
Chris Ryan
And then I also just for. For fun I did Den of Thieves Benihana award for the Hog's Breath Saloon. Which is a real Florida place. It was on an island but they moved it to Destiny.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, it looks like it actually reminded me of the the Squire in Chatham. But it definitely looks like the Perfect Storm Bar. Yeah, good job at that. The Butch's Girlfriend Award. Wink link in the film is the first hour. It's just slow.
Chris Ryan
I. Mine was.
Bill Simmons
Could be tighter.
Chris Ryan
The incredulity of the town council. I think. I think we. We have enough evidence to suggest that A this guy knows what he's talking about and B this can happen here. So for as freaked out as you might be about your new hotel like you should maybe give him some.
Bill Simmons
I had that. In what stage?
Chris Ryan
The worst.
Bill Simmons
But that's a good call. But we talked about it. Also doesn't really matter when the people the heroes of the previous movie who have no credibility with anybody. Nobody's like maybe we should listen to him. He did. He was right the last.
Chris Ryan
He did find the Ark of the Covenant. You know.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, maybe. Maybe he's honest. No, they don't do it.
Chris Ryan
Do you have a butcher's girlfriend?
Sean Fennessey
It's kind of tied up in. In what? In my flex.
Bill Simmons
All right.
Chris Ryan
Right.
Bill Simmons
Wait, what's age the worst other than Lorraine Gary being married to the head of Universal and somehow getting cast in all these movies. How did they decide to make this movie and have multiple kids in the group get killed but none of them were Larry Vaughn Jr. Wouldn't that have.
Chris Ryan
Been the natural revenge early in the movie?
Bill Simmons
And that's what happens and like like did we need Larry von Junior in the last 20 minutes? Well he absolutely should have died.
Sean Fennessey
I think that he's not killed because then they don't have to show the mayor cope with that in any way because we know the mayor was not available for the end of this movie.
Bill Simmons
Oh, because he left the shoot.
Sean Fennessey
Yes, that's because his. Well this is. This is relate. His wife was. Had to get a biopsy cancer. Murray Hamilton's real life wife. And so he did like you know all of his Days. In five days.
Chris Ryan
Okay.
Sean Fennessey
And then they got him off the set. Which is one of the reasons why the movie kind of ends the way that it does. It doesn't. There's no conclusion.
Chris Ryan
And he is actually too, you know, in terms of his performance. He. He's like. I'm only like a figurehead. Like the Len guy is obviously running the town and he's just like kind of shuffling along counter.
Bill Simmons
The movie ends after Roy Shatter electrocutes the shark. And we didn't need to see Maravon anyway, so I think Larry should have been shoots at smithereens.
Sean Fennessey
Okay.
Chris Ryan
Okay.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. That guy. That family.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. Mars had to die and he gets to.
Chris Ryan
Can I throw in an additional Larry Vaughn? What's age? The worst.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
When Larry goes up to Michael and he's like, dad's got you working. Huh? And it's just like, hey, fuck you, man. Remember when you sent my dad out there to get eaten? Like working. I'm not working. Mind your own business.
Bill Simmons
The Brody should have hated Marvin.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, classic politician son. Not a nice guy.
Bill Simmons
What else you have for what's edge worth anything?
Sean Fennessey
No, I don't.
Bill Simmons
We'll have a couple. Mike Brody, terrible actor.
Chris Ryan
Tough.
Bill Simmons
So bad that he gets knocked unconscious and he's giving the same performance unconscious as he was during the first hour of the movie. Yeah, also terrible. Big brother. Don't bring your little 8 year old out for your big. Let's all get drunk and. And sailboats and like, maybe not the best place for your old brother.
Sean Fennessey
I do believe this was Mark Gruner's final credit as an actor.
Chris Ryan
That he is a really a former American actor.
Sean Fennessey
Yes.
Chris Ryan
I wonder what he does have.
Bill Simmons
Listen, sometimes things aren't your calling and you realize it and you move on to the next thing.
Chris Ryan
Is he the kid from the first Jaws? Is it like the same. It's not Michael from the first Jaw.
Sean Fennessey
Okay?
Bill Simmons
Like Donna Wilkes is. She's. She's like, are you gonna be there tomorrow? And he's like, I don't know, maybe.
Chris Ryan
Well, he's playing hard to get their date.
Bill Simmons
Or is he's half dead.
Sean Fennessey
It's not a very good actor. I agree with that.
Bill Simmons
There's no black people in this movie. But there was no Black people in Jaws 1 either. But maybe this is Amity where they just. It's just all white people.
Sean Fennessey
You're saying Jim Crow still exists in them?
Bill Simmons
I don't understand why there aren't any black people in this movie.
Chris Ryan
Maybe we could do Sinners a sequel that connects Jaws world Well, really good.
Bill Simmons
I have the Van Nathan Award. Did this movie need more black people? I would go a step further. One black, one anybody who's not a white person. What's going on?
Chris Ryan
Why do we have a new deputy who's black?
Bill Simmons
Are there no minorities in Amity at all?
Sean Fennessey
Maybe this is a parable about punishing the white oppressor by having them killed by sharks in this community.
Chris Ryan
But then they. They put. Put Lou Gossett Jr through hell next film.
Sean Fennessey
That's true. But then Mario Van Peoples gets his revenge.
Chris Ryan
That's true.
Bill Simmons
In the climax, Bob rescues Lucy from the shark, but then gets bitten in half.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
And it's so gruesome, they decided, this will get us an R. We can't have this in the theater. So Bob survives, but I'm not sure you can see Bob.
Chris Ryan
I would say one of the things that's aged the worst is while realistic, that that size of a group might be hanging out during the summer. It's not good for film when you're like, there's, like, 22 kids here, and it's hard to keep. And I feel like six of them are named Eddie.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
And it's kind of hard to keep it straight. Like, who's fucking who? Who's hanging out?
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
To me, it's always the guy.
Bill Simmons
Bob. I don't know who Bob is.
Sean Fennessey
To me. To me, it's the guy who's always. Not Keith Gordon. Because Keith Gordon.
Chris Ryan
Well, there's Napoleon Dynamite guy next to Keith Gordon. That's. Yeah, that.
Sean Fennessey
Isn't that Bob?
Chris Ryan
No, that's not Bob. He's the one who gets. Because the Napoleon Dynamite gets Brooke. He's been pining after Brooke.
Sean Fennessey
Right, Right.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. Who's the guy with the curly hair who's like, hey, Mike, going out today?
Sean Fennessey
That's. That's Andy.
Bill Simmons
It's just Mike, Bob, Eddie, Andy. It's all four.
Chris Ryan
If we could just get a little bit of roster shrinkage, I think that would be great.
Sean Fennessey
I see. You want. You want to use the stretch provision on Andy.
Chris Ryan
Well, just like, seven kids. I think I could keep that straight. There's like 14 of them.
Bill Simmons
The Ruffalo handed ribbon at Partridge, overacting words goes to Donna Wilkes, who screams like an absolute maniac for the last 10 minutes of this movie.
Chris Ryan
It's interesting.
Bill Simmons
So compelling as a screamer. It's both realistic, but also pretty annoying. And at one point, we have the classic 70s move that would never Happen now, where the guy is telling her to calm down and does the airplane shake like in the movie Airplane, he looks like borderline domestic violence.
Sean Fennessey
Larry looks like he's really slapper across the face.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. That's another reason why he had to be.
Chris Ryan
That's true.
Bill Simmons
But she becomes the future star. I sent this to you guys. Six years later, makes a movie called Angel. Are you.
Chris Ryan
Are you announcing that for next week's rewatch?
Bill Simmons
To be classic.
Sean Fennessey
It's a wonderful.
Bill Simmons
I haven't seen it a long time, but she's a high school student in Hollywood by day and a hooker on Hollywood Boulevard at night. And then a serial killer tries to kill her, and she becomes involved in some sort of serial killer thing. And it made $17 million and was a surprise hit.
Chris Ryan
Is that a big.
Bill Simmons
And they made like, like Ty. They made like five of them.
Sean Fennessey
It's one of the key inspirations for the Maxine, the movie that came out a couple years ago. The horror movie that. The final movie in the Ti west trilogy.
Chris Ryan
My overacting goes to. And Dusenberry as Tina Wilcox. I feel like she really. She chews the scenery. Every time she gets it. She, like, runs up to the camera. She's like. Like every time she's Miss Amity.
Sean Fennessey
What was her title?
Chris Ryan
Yeah, she was Miss Amity.
Sean Fennessey
Miss Amity.
Chris Ryan
All the guys want to get on Tina. It's a lot. A lot of competition.
Bill Simmons
Okay, Sean, you have a flex category.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. So the greatest acting I've ever seen in my life award goes to Murray Hamilton, who's literally doing a terrible performance. And the best performance I've ever seen where you can watch him as the mayor of a town that has already endured a shark attack that becomes national news. He has presumably been reelected mayor.
Chris Ryan
It's been four years.
Sean Fennessey
Another shark has arrived, arrives in his town, and he is compartmentalizing and just shutting it down like nothing is happening. And the reason the performance works is because he's gotten terrible news in his real life about his wife, who he believes may have cancer. And so he is just dead eyed. He can barely even talk. In this movie, Murray Hamilton is barely giving a performance.
Chris Ryan
He has to, like, pass the baton to Len in the town council meeting.
Sean Fennessey
Exactly. But, you know, we. Knowing what we know about the backstory, it weirdly works for the character as, like, this politician has sold his soul. But in fact, it was just a man who could barely finish the day as an actor. And that, to me, is cinema.
Bill Simmons
And Scheider was like, I thought I was going to be the only one mailing it in this very dead eye.
Sean Fennessey
He can barely even see It's a.
Bill Simmons
Good one I had. This brings us to the CR things. Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford. Hottest takeaway. I'm glad you brought up Mare Vaughn. I think Marvon keeping his job after Jaws won is the biggest reach in movie sequel history.
Chris Ryan
You might be right.
Bill Simmons
So it's in the finals for me with after Halloween 2, when Michael Myers gets shot in both eyeballs. And shot. I think he's been shot like a total of 13 times at that point. And stabbed in the neck and blows up in the fire and burns to death when he then comes back two movies later. That would be my other choice. But Marvon, like, I just don't think he's getting reelected. I actually don't think he should be allowed to live in Amity.
Chris Ryan
I don't even know if he should be a free man.
Bill Simmons
The Kintner family is suing the town of Amity for seven years. And it's going to be like the Gawker Hulk Hogan settlement. It's going to be. They're going to get like $115 million.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Out of this.
Chris Ryan
It's going to be renamed Kinderville.
Bill Simmons
And he's going to jail. That's how. It's not even. Forget that getting reelected. He's going to prison for what he did to the.
Chris Ryan
And if we're just whiteboarding here, how cool would Jaws to be? And this not to be touching type movie. If Brody, big fucking hero of Jaws 1 Mayor, rides the wave to mayor.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
And now finds himself in Larry's position. Yeah. Where he's like, fuck. I mean, there's a lot of responsibility that comes with this job, a lot of financial pressure. That may be a shark, it may not be. And then he's the one resisting. We get a new Brody coming in.
Sean Fennessey
I'm zagging. I'm going the other way. In fact, in America, we love our dirty politicians and we love for them to be revived in the national consciousness. And we are living through a moment.
Bill Simmons
I don't even think he was revived. I think they got that one wrong.
Sean Fennessey
He hit a rough patch and he bounced back.
Chris Ryan
Also, you never know with those island communities because it's so full of summer people who probably aren't voting in local elections. So if the locals are like this one, this guy, he looks out for our best financial interest, maybe they reelect him.
Bill Simmons
What are your thoughts, Craig?
Craig Horlbeck
Well, I feel like him falling into the same trap again. He gets reelected, and then once again, Brody's like, hey, I think there's a.
Chris Ryan
Shark in the Water.
Craig Horlbeck
And he's like, nah, lightning can't strike twice.
Sean Fennessey
A little dubious. The truth is actually that there are two sharks in Jaws. There's the shark that they catch at the beginning and then another. So we know that this is shark waters.
Craig Horlbeck
The two dive drivers went missing. A charred body washed up on shore. And he is still like, we don't know.
Sean Fennessey
In fairness, the charred body washing on shore is one of the craziest things that's ever happened in the history of movies. I can see him being a little bit confused by that one.
Bill Simmons
What's your hottest take?
Chris Ryan
I think if cousin Jackie never shows up in Amity, we have a much lower body count because all those guys are so trim struck by her.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
That they are like, trim struck.
Bill Simmons
Posh enough.
Craig Horlbeck
Is that a phrase?
Bill Simmons
Shrimp struck?
Chris Ryan
There's a less polite way of saying it.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. It's different for.
Chris Ryan
But lots of guys are like, we gotta take Jackie sailing. You know, like, it's like she's. She's driving all of this. And I feel like she has some capability in this and honestly find her. Her freaking out and her trauma to be a little, you know, unearned.
Bill Simmons
I also think Tina there has. I think it's a much more interesting if we're just with the kids the whole time.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. Yeah.
Bill Simmons
I think Tina immediately hates the new girl, Jackie. Yeah, that's their feuding.
Chris Ryan
Tina and Jackie hate each other. Brooke, like, you know, there's like a whole summer I turned pretty thing going on with Brooke. You know, there's just a lot going on.
Bill Simmons
Good. Could have been a good season. One of a terrible Amazon.
Craig Horlbeck
People used to have sex on sailboats. That just. That didn't make sense to me because if it doesn't go well, then I've never done it. Stuck at sea.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Not a big sailboat guy myself.
Bill Simmons
So I can't say it seems a little risky with the water and the way things kind of move up and down, down.
Craig Horlbeck
And again, if she turns you down, then you're just a thousand feet deep into the ocean.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. You get into the true.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. That's not ideal. How's. How's the first season of trim struck going for you?
Chris Ryan
There is like a very funny. It's always funny about like out on the water for implicate the implication.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. It's a shudder original. Did you have a hottest take?
Sean Fennessey
I do. We've been talking a lot about 1977 and what a critical year that was. And we've already done an episode on Jaws and on the Jaws episode On the Star wars episode, we said that those were the movies that kind of killed the new Hollywood, but this is actually the movie that killed the new Hollywood. Yeah, this is the one that this movie being.
Chris Ryan
These movies don't even have to be.
Sean Fennessey
K. And making $78 million in 1978 is when it's over. That's because Jaws and Star wars are special. This movie is fun, but it's not special. And that is why we are where we are.
Bill Simmons
That's how we got to 1983 with Superman 3 and all those other ones.
Craig Horlbeck
But did the people in 1978 feel that way? Because when Empire came out, they were probably excited. When Jaws 2 came out, was everybody pissed?
Bill Simmons
No, I'll tell you firsthand, wanted to go first day was more excited for Rocky 2, they could have kept serving him out.
Sean Fennessey
Yep.
Craig Horlbeck
But after the movie came out and the reviews were middling, was everybody like, this was a mistake, we need to stop.
Bill Simmons
Or was it like, ah, no, America wanted it. The other thing is, you didn't really get to see these movies after they were in the movie theater unless they were on, like, abc.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, well, there was still something relatively novel about a sequel. I mean, were criticized for being unoriginal, but there were not a thousand of them like there are now. Like, Chris is asking about Chris.
Chris Ryan
Spielberg is a good example of what how it changes is like. He's like, I think that making sequels is like for carnies.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. And then he's the Lost World and.
Chris Ryan
Then he makes four sequels.
Bill Simmons
You know, you can't overstate how little we had going on in the late 70s. Like when baseball went on strike. It was one of the worst things that ever happened to me in 1981. It was just like, oh my God. It was like this black fucking hole. Like there's nothing, there's. There's nothing could compare to that.
Sean Fennessey
Do you want to pour gasoline on yourself when that happens?
Bill Simmons
Let's. We'll take a break and do casting.
Chris Ryan
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Bill Simmons
All right, so there's a great casting. What if.
Chris Ryan
This is movie one of my favorite casting what ifs of all time.
Sean Fennessey
What is it? I don't know.
Bill Simmons
Rice Scheider. It's gonna do Deer Hunter.
Sean Fennessey
Oh, yes. Okay. A reverse casting.
Chris Ryan
What if this universe. A fishburn for me, though.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Can't agree on the. On the money for Deer Hunter.
Chris Ryan
He had creative problems with Chimito, too.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. And somehow he's out and ends up. The Universal is like, well, you gotta do a movie with us. You're doing Jaws, too. And he wasn't gonna be in Jaws 2.
Sean Fennessey
But what part is he in Deer.
Bill Simmons
Hunter, he was gonna be De Niro.
Sean Fennessey
That's insane.
Chris Ryan
He was gonna be Michael.
Sean Fennessey
That would not have worked. Well, I'm very happy we got what we got.
Bill Simmons
I'm happy we ended up with one of the best actors of all time.
Sean Fennessey
But in that part, it's just. I don't know. That doesn't feel like a Scheider part to me. It's kind of similar to Sorcerer, you know, the great casting what if of Sorcerer is he wanted McQueen and he went with Scheider, and I think it's better that he went with Scheider. Even though we've been cool with McQueen, deer hunter with Scheider.
Bill Simmons
I think he's too old to be the Deer Hunter.
Chris Ryan
I probably agree with you. But there is.
Bill Simmons
I think he would have been good, though.
Chris Ryan
There's something about his career where he is, like, such a great second guy in a lot of movies. And then even in Jaws, like, arguably is second to the show.
Bill Simmons
Because in Deer Hunter, you're playing. You're basically playing off a bunch of these great actors.
Sean Fennessey
But, you know, I mean, you're going opposite Walken in Walken's greatest performance. That's tough. I mean, the fact that De Niro has holds the weight against Walken is a big part of why I feel.
Chris Ryan
Like Scheider goes toe to toe with Hoffman and Olivier and Marathon Man. Like in Hackman, I mean, he's not like, he's not Hackman, but he's.
Bill Simmons
We're going to do Deer Hunter live. It's going to be a live show.
Sean Fennessey
Live. Russian roulette.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I played Russian roulette in front of 1270 people at the will show.
Sean Fennessey
Bernthal. Yeah, yeah.
Chris Ryan
John Bernthal and I do Russian Relief together. Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Live in Danang.
Bill Simmons
The crowd's like, what's this Deer Hunter movie they're doing? Is it a comedy? Anyway, Shatter Agreed, got 500k, got points, was miserable most of the time, and it worked out great for him. And then he had all that jazz the next year. And then his career went like that.
Chris Ryan
There's a bit about how he was so dedicated to the idea of getting out of this movie that he faked a nervous breakdown and trashed, like, the Beverly Wilshire or something like that. He, like, trashed his room to give it evidence of his mental state. And they were like, you're doing. You're Martin Brody.
Bill Simmons
There were some John D. Hancock hires that they got rid of once they changed direct. Ricky Schroeder was supposed to be Sean Brody. And then he got bounced for the other Sean Brody. Brody. And then Dreyfus. They asked him, tried to get him, and he said he wouldn't return unless he got to Mrs. Brody finally in the movie. And they said, you can't do that.
Sean Fennessey
That didn't happen.
Chris Ryan
That's happening in Trimstruck, though.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Well, for the people listening for. We did the Jaws research in the book. Dreyfus's character has an affair with Mrs. Brody, remember?
Sean Fennessey
Right, I forgot about that.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
They decided not to put that in the movie. Probably a good idea.
Sean Fennessey
So Dreyfus instead made the Big Fix, a film no one's ever seen.
Bill Simmons
Dreyfus made some mistakes because he turned down all that.
Chris Ryan
Did you not know about the Big Fix?
Bill Simmons
We did this when we did the Dick Dreyfus. Whatever we did.
Chris Ryan
We did Close Encounters.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. We did all the things that he didn't do. And there was a few of them. Best that Guy Award. Keith Gordon, not eligible. And Donna Wilkes is not eligible.
Chris Ryan
I got Joe Mascolo as Len Peterson. He was on Days of our lives for 34 years.
Sean Fennessey
I can't argue with that.
Bill Simmons
34 years. So I. Mine was Jeffrey Kramer, who then parlayed. He was the sidekick of Chief Brody and went on to do Halloween, too, ironically.
Sean Fennessey
Graduate of Ithaca College, which is where I went to school.
Bill Simmons
Jeffrey Kramer. Yeah, yeah. He's one of the police people in Halloween, too. Very upset about that. They can't catch Myers. Deanne Waiters Award.
Chris Ryan
Keith Gordon is Doug Fetterman, or perhaps a first in the history of Dion Waiters. The unseen character Grace Kinney, the one who's teasing the old guy's oldest teenage boy through the window. And they're having, like, the meeting at the beginning of. All the people are coming to the police station, are like, hey, Brody. Brody. And he's just like, she. He's teasing. She's Teasing my son.
Bill Simmons
It's probably Keith Gordon.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Does he dial it up?
Bill Simmons
No, but I'm just. He's the only kid that stands out.
Chris Ryan
He gets like that. He gets your Captain Blythe moment.
Sean Fennessey
He does. Yeah, I guess it is Keith Gordon.
Bill Simmons
Craig, you have a flex category.
Craig Horlbeck
I'm gonna go with the I used to guys like you in prison award for the craziest quote. This movie's pretty. Pretty pg.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Craig Horlbeck
And then there's that one scene when Jackie shows up on the dock and Larry Von junior Looks at her and he's like that. Tits like a sparrow.
Bill Simmons
That was crazy.
Sean Fennessey
It is really mean.
Chris Ryan
That was the Hancock cut. Yeah, that was. That was weird, dude.
Bill Simmons
Spare. Do Sparrows have Tits?
Craig Horlbeck
Never heard.
Sean Fennessey
I think it's meant.
Chris Ryan
I think it's supposed to just be.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Craig Horlbeck
Never heard that phrase. Gonna holster it.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. And Jackie was like, one day I'll be angel and I'll be on the streets of Los Angeles.
Chris Ryan
When you say you're gonna break it out on Ringer Fantasy now. Jalen Ramsey. It's like a pharaoh.
Bill Simmons
Half asset research. We covered a lot of this stuff. They filmed the. The Hogs Breast Saloon. Cr mentioned it's on Oskaloosa Island. They filmed a lot in Navarre Beach. I don't even know where that is.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
So, like, in the Keys.
Chris Ryan
It's in Florida. It's. I think it's. I think it's on the Gulf side. I don't know. I'm. But it's in Florida somewhere.
Bill Simmons
The kid who played Sean said they were filming scenes in those with all the kind of wrecked things. And an actual hammerhead started circling them at one point. And they were all scared. Sheesh. And then in the birdie's front porch, they had a flower planner painted bright yellow. And it was one of the barrels from the first Jaws. They just kind of snuck that in.
Chris Ryan
That's so cool, because when he comes home after getting fired, he stares at the barrel. And I was like, what's up with that?
Bill Simmons
Then they had that cable junction where the end of the movie is. It was a set they built. And at some point something got fucked up and it just started floating away and they almost lost it.
Sean Fennessey
I read that it's really. It was really slippery. And they kept floating away.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, because the rocks are fiberglass.
Bill Simmons
And then. I mean, the movies that came out after Jaws one. Orca, Piranha Tentacles, Killer Fish, Barracuda Tena, Killer Shark, blood Beach Piranha 2. The Last Shark up from the Depths. Humanities from the Deep the island of the Fishman and Devil Fish are all movies that came out. Blood Evil fish, Blood Beach. They just went for it. And then there's some Jaws too. Like there's a tops trading card set.
Chris Ryan
Is there?
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Jaws too.
Sean Fennessey
That going like let's do an unboxing video right now.
Bill Simmons
I don't think it's. We probably. That would be fun. Actually be great. You get those boxes for like 20 bucks.
Sean Fennessey
What's in who? Like is it just like Jaws? Like who's on the cards?
Bill Simmons
It would be. They, they would have like the scenes from the movie. Like Eddie's in danger.
Chris Ryan
It's Cousin Jackie.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Ellen Brody, your fave.
Bill Simmons
And then they were going to use the sharks from the original film but they had rusted and rotted away in Universal Studios. They had to make sure.
Chris Ryan
It's weird that it took four years and they had like. Basically they made no technological like advances in shark technology and fake shark.
Bill Simmons
It is a better shark.
Sean Fennessey
Burned shark.
Chris Ryan
But it sounds like it was a good idea as much. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bill Simmons
Apex Mountain Shatter now sequels. No. Lorraine Gary sounds like Jaws for.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. That's her centerpiece. That's her. That's her. Her highlight.
Bill Simmons
Donna Williams, definitely Angel.
Chris Ryan
Definitely.
Bill Simmons
High school student by day, hooker by.
Chris Ryan
Night, serial killer victim by.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Where would you say the word hooker sits in your all time word rankings? Top 20, top 50.
Bill Simmons
It's like those old. Those old ABC promos. Somebody's killing hookers.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
And Dan Tann has got to find out who. Coming up tonight on Vegas after your local news. To catch a killer, you've got to become a killer. Tonight on Charlie's Angels, you're doing Ernie Anderson's dad.
Sean Fennessey
That's what he would do.
Bill Simmons
Apex Mountain. Every kid except Keith Gordon probably is their Apex Mountain being in this movie. I'm guessing water skiing murders. I'm gonna say yes. I'm gonna make the case for water skiing. Seeing because this is right here on Fonzie. Jumping the shark on Happy Days. This is like Apex water skincare culture.
Chris Ryan
No, because of my movie or because you just don't want. You don't.
Bill Simmons
Because I wear contacts. It sounds miserable.
Chris Ryan
Okay.
Sean Fennessey
Have you done it?
Chris Ryan
No.
Sean Fennessey
Have you ever done it? Nude.
Bill Simmons
Sharks? No. Murray Hamilton. Definitely not. Terrible making of documentaries about a movie.
Chris Ryan
Fun. It's a good one.
Sean Fennessey
I enjoyed this one.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
It's one of the worst making. Why is it 40 minutes?
Sean Fennessey
I'll watch.
Bill Simmons
This is Jaws 2.
Sean Fennessey
I'll watch every one of these forever.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Two.
Sean Fennessey
Two old ass producers just like have you ever did.
Chris Ryan
You ever see The Marathon Man 1 that we were talking about where it's just Robert Evans direct to camera, standing with his. His foot up on a chair?
Sean Fennessey
I love it.
Chris Ryan
I love.
Sean Fennessey
It's like 30 years from now, Olivier dictating to someone what a genius you were in every decision you made at the ringer. Like, that's what everybody wants.
Chris Ryan
A Grantland oral history. Do it. But straight to camera.
Sean Fennessey
Just you.
Bill Simmons
The p. The. One of the producers. It's. It's just so funny. They ask him about John D. Hancocker. He's trying to explain why he left, and he's like, did a great job. It just wasn't. Yeah, really. And he, like, clearly just shanked the guy and fired him.
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
He torpedoed his whole career.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. He's like. Wasn't anything John was doing. Yeah, it wasn't. I thought it was really terrible. Horrible. Oh, this will be good. We didn't get to do this for Jaws 1 Cruiser. Hanks.
Chris Ryan
I got this young cruise. Is Michael.
Bill Simmons
Like, losing it?
Chris Ryan
Cruz taps. Losing it. Cruz kind of looks like him, too.
Sean Fennessey
I do believe that's accurate.
Chris Ryan
All right.
Craig Horlbeck
But I thought this category is about the star.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, it's gotta. You gotta.
Chris Ryan
It's.
Craig Horlbeck
Who's Scheider?
Chris Ryan
No. Right? Is it?
Bill Simmons
Yes.
Craig Horlbeck
Who's the. Who's the main character?
Bill Simmons
I mean, you did an end around.
Sean Fennessey
I would say Hanks is Brody, but Cruz is any other character except for the mayor, including Len.
Bill Simmons
Can we talk this out?
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Hanks would be the typical Chief Brody. I think I would rather see Cruz's Chief Brody, especially, like, him and Shark Boy. We'd get drunk.
Chris Ryan
Cruz, too.
Bill Simmons
He would. We'd get drunk.
Sean Fennessey
Cruz, what does Brody say when he's trying to draw Jaws in. In to the electric cable? What's his like, final. Where he's like, come on, you son of a. Yeah.
Bill Simmons
I forget what his one is.
Chris Ryan
Smile, you said.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, but it's a ver. It's a variation on Bite down, you little.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Cruz hitting with the paddle, hitting the electric.
Chris Ryan
We would get one really good cruise running on the beach shot. You know, like, maybe you had to get from the. The shark tower to, like, you know.
Bill Simmons
I think this is the answer. I think It's Hanks for Jaws 1 1. I think Jaws, too, needs Cruz. I think we need the unintentional comedy. I think there's an extra scene where he's, like, playing billiards and just, like, wiping the floor with his deputy.
Sean Fennessey
Cruz legendarily bad at playing drunk, though. And that's kind of a feature of.
Bill Simmons
But that would make Joshua more fun. Yeah, it's like, oh, Chief Brody's up.
Chris Ryan
He comes and he's like, the mayor is galactically stupid.
Bill Simmons
Scorsese or Spielberg. Obviously Spielberg. What role would Philip Seymour Hoffman have played?
Sean Fennessey
I like.
Chris Ryan
I mean young Philip Seymour Hoffman could have been a teen, but so I.
Bill Simmons
Had as one of the kids like the son of a woman era of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Deputy Hendrix maybe like doing like his all hanged on came Polly.
Sean Fennessey
Kind of crazy.
Bill Simmons
As Freddy.
Chris Ryan
There's some peeping going on in this movie for sure.
Bill Simmons
Picking it. I know we talked about the water scheme boat blowing up and how ridiculous that whole thing was, but I just want to say again again how ridiculous that whole thing was.
Chris Ryan
And we feel like we should go. We should do like a separate. Like let's break down this scene a little bit. Y and it's really only like 30 seconds of her after the par. The skier has gotten killed where she's just like, God. All right, well, option A is I could dive out and just run for swim for it. The shore is there. Option B is I could just stay put and hope the shark goes away. Or seeking. I could cover myself in gasoline and then it opens up a bunch of different things you could do. You know, maybe he doesn't like gasoline.
Bill Simmons
Is it the move to just be still in the bed?
Sean Fennessey
Well, the character does it later in the movie. You know, that's how Tina survives.
Bill Simmons
The move is definitely not to pour gasoline on herself.
Sean Fennessey
It's one of the best things I've.
Bill Simmons
Ever seen in a movie.
Chris Ryan
Not the flare gun. It's like the only flammable thing.
Bill Simmons
No, it's honestly like what would happen in a Naked Gun hot shot version of this movie would be what that scene.
Chris Ryan
It's also great how the old woman's like, ah, I got to call the cops.
Sean Fennessey
It's a great explosion too. The boat explosion.
Chris Ryan
Oh, they used to really blow up back then.
Bill Simmons
I only have one other pick. And it. So they finally save Sean. Then not when Marge dies like before. And the. The friend, like Mike's friend friend. He's like, we got you, buddy. And he keeps kissing him on the cheek. And it's just weird because they're not related.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, it's like, what are you doing?
Sean Fennessey
Andy is a little familiar with Sean.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
What was that?
Chris Ryan
Hey, Andy, how's the peeping?
Sean Fennessey
It's a little creepy.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
If somebody kissed my son at that 8 year old son.
Sean Fennessey
Don't you kiss my son on the.
Bill Simmons
Cheek like that over and over again.
Chris Ryan
I'd be like, dude, full Sean Penn. Mister, is that my son in your arms?
Bill Simmons
What? Any more picket or.
Chris Ryan
No, we covered a lot of. A lot of them.
Bill Simmons
Sequel, prequel, prestige tv, all black caster, untouchable. I mean, obviously prequel is the answer. I think we all would have wanted to us.
Chris Ryan
I think I would actually throw a new category of anthology.
Sean Fennessey
I always thought that. So they said that they went to Howard Sackler to write this movie because he worked on the first script.
Chris Ryan
Uncredited.
Sean Fennessey
Uncredited. And was responsible for the Indianapolis speech. But I always thought that was John Milius who wrote the Indianapolis speech. So I don't really understand. What am I wrong about that?
Chris Ryan
I. I mean there's. I. I thought we said that too. I mean, this is also just like you're just reading the reporting about this stuff. So I'm not sure. But it. I thought. I thought Gottlieb was the one who was like, I can whip up a screenplay about the USS Indianapolis, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, they should have made that movie. I can't believe they're not. I can't believe they're just.
Sean Fennessey
It's surprising. It's not happening now that Apple's not.
Chris Ryan
Not like, here's $500 million. Go make that movie.
Sean Fennessey
I agree.
Bill Simmons
They probably are making it with like Javier Bardem and Emma Stone.
Sean Fennessey
That sounds. Sounds awesome.
Chris Ryan
Why. But. But neither of them would be U.S. naval care.
Bill Simmons
They need two people.
Sean Fennessey
You want to photo because it's a woke Jaws prequel.
Bill Simmons
They've seen famous people in their photos.
Chris Ryan
The first Spaniard commanding a United States aircraft.
Bill Simmons
We'll work on that later. We'll CGI it.
Sean Fennessey
Did I ever tell you guys the story about the Portuguese man of war? You know what that is? It's a giant jellyfish. My uncle used to tell me this story. He served in Korea and he's talking about how there was a. Where he served in the area near the Philippines where he was serving. There were these giant jellyfish and you would have to like try to not never go in the water near them because they could kill you because they were so powerful. And I always thought it would be an amazing aspect of this version of the story where you'd be like. Like you'd have. You'd be beset on all sides by sharks and giant jellyfish. And like there would be like a lot of kill opportunities in this world instead of just like some kids on a dinghy stuck in the middle of Amity island where like.
Bill Simmons
Do you think There's a jellyfish movie in efficiency right now.
Sean Fennessey
I. I think. Yeah, it looks. They look cool.
Chris Ryan
We're not taking enough chances.
Sean Fennessey
They have no soul.
Chris Ryan
The big thing.
Bill Simmons
Well, I remember when they made Anaconda and I'm like, like, what the. Why are they doing this? This sounds stupid. I've seen it 10 times.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, there's going to be a new one on Christmas. Paul Rudd and Jack Black, they're remaking Anaconda.
Bill Simmons
It's on the rewatchables list.
Chris Ryan
You know, there is a. There is a secret sequel connective tissue thing here. Because isn't the Indianapolis the boat that drops the. The bomb off for. For the Air Force in World War II? Right. Weren't they bringing the bomb to Japan?
Sean Fennessey
That sounds really.
Bill Simmons
Right.
Chris Ryan
So like Oppenheimer could have ended Pan. Right.
Sean Fennessey
That's great.
Chris Ryan
The USS Indianapolis is leaving. Chris Nolan.
Sean Fennessey
Chris Nolan presents Jaws 5, the prequel. That's a really good idea.
Bill Simmons
Let's get him on the phone. Is this movie better than Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trail, Doris Burke, Sam Jackson. No. Byron Mayo, Bernie Cousins, Tony Romo, Harling Ma. Chris Collinsworth, Daniel Plainview Long Legs or Wilford Brimley in the Firm?
Chris Ryan
Oh, no, I really was. I was really just thinking, mostly because of his pre. You know, his. His priors with doing a goddamn shark at me. Well, that's Dave Chappelle, but Sam Jackson just being like Mayor Larry got reelected. Like the one guy who's just commenting on. On actual civic politics.
Sean Fennessey
That's good. Yeah, that is good.
Chris Ryan
How the did that guy get reelected?
Bill Simmons
Do we need to bump any of these people from the list? We haven't done Harling Maze and Barney Cousins. Do they need to go? Need to add some new ones for the summer?
Chris Ryan
Yeah, we'll mix it up.
Bill Simmons
Maybe we add Jaws too.
Chris Ryan
Lady Jaws too.
Bill Simmons
Lady have just covered guesses.
Sean Fennessey
Do you think Doris Burke doing just the last lines of dialogue that Brody has. Oh, yeah. Where he's like. He's like. All right, you big bastard. Come on. I've got something for you now. That's it. Atta boy. Right here. Mr.
Chris Ryan
Jaws. Open wide. Open eyes. We see you, Mr.
Sean Fennessey
Jaws.
Bill Simmons
And Mike, Mr. Jaws is back and he's hungrier than ever.
Chris Ryan
Bonjour, Monsieur Jaws.
Bill Simmons
D.B.
Sean Fennessey
Had a boy. Mr. Jaws.
Bill Simmons
Just one Oscar. Who gets it? Let's just give this to John Williams. 30 of them. Sorry.
Chris Ryan
Never mind. I was just gonna be like. What if Shaq was like Jaws too? Couldn't hang. In my generation, these new shocks aren't physical. The way j.
Bill Simmons
The ocean was so much stronger back then.
Chris Ryan
We never took days off back when Jaws was.
Sean Fennessey
That doesn't even make sense.
Bill Simmons
It was so much harder to get those swimmers back then. Probably an answerable question.
Sean Fennessey
They should do Inside the NBA. But for movies like this, immediately when the movie ends, you cut to to Chuck and Kenny and they break down.
Chris Ryan
Chuck's like, I didn't watch it. Jack's just like, it was so much harder to make movies.
Bill Simmons
But.
Chris Ryan
Kenny's running to like, the. Do a diagram of the woman lighting herself on fire.
Bill Simmons
That'd be amazing if that's.
Chris Ryan
It's always there. It's always.
Bill Simmons
That's just what the show became. Inside the NBA. Cross with pop culture.
Chris Ryan
We couldn't get clips for the NBA, but we do have the Warner Brothers movie library.
Sean Fennessey
Oh, I would watch that.
Bill Simmons
Yeah. They could do Angel. Wow.
Sean Fennessey
I don't know if I want a Kenny around that one.
Bill Simmons
Probably.
Chris Ryan
You could be a hooker by night.
Bill Simmons
And you can finish your schoolwork the next day. These girls, you can multitask. Nobody was judging.
Chris Ryan
None of these girls multitask anymore.
Sean Fennessey
Really good episode of this show.
Bill Simmons
All right. Probably an answerable question.
Sean Fennessey
I mean, who was funding? I guess it was Len, right? Funding Mayor Vaughn's campaign? Like, is that how he won?
Bill Simmons
Yeah, that's.
Chris Ryan
That's like just Len being like, you work.
Sean Fennessey
He bought the election.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I had. What did the final three of the Ms. Amity contest look like? We know Tina took at who was the runner up and did she hang out in the group? Or was it an outsider? Yeah, where was that?
Chris Ryan
Or is Tina kind of like a Mafio? So it was just like, no one else is running for this.
Bill Simmons
Were the town folk there? Like, can you imagine living in town? Like, what are you doing tonight? It's a Miss Amity contest. Imagine get to watch 17 year old girls walking around trying to become Miss Amity.
Chris Ryan
Hey, I'm gonna go to Miss Amity. Whatever you do, don't kiss my son. I'll never.
Sean Fennessey
No.
Bill Simmons
Miss Amity contest. That punch.
Sean Fennessey
It's a really good point. This is. You know, this trope.
Bill Simmons
They don't have these in real life. There's no misany in real life.
Chris Ryan
There's prom queen.
Sean Fennessey
But this trope is repeated in I Know what yout Did Last Summer because Sarah Michelle Gellar's character wins at the beginning of that. Which is an homage, I think, to.
Chris Ryan
This scene we haven't done. I Know what yout Did. Right?
Craig Horlbeck
No.
Bill Simmons
Martin C. Brody's 1975 man of the Year Award. Award as you see it, they should.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. Was that.
Bill Simmons
Who finished second? Did they go to the award ceremony where they just, like, I have no chance this year. Brody, like, killed the show.
Chris Ryan
I mean, after Jaws 1, Martin Brody would be sully. He would just.
Bill Simmons
All he got was this little shitty plaque.
Sean Fennessey
But there's no.
Bill Simmons
He beat Larry Vaughn Jr. As the man of the Year.
Sean Fennessey
Here's my. Okay, here. This is a kind of a hot take.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
There's no proof of what Brody did.
Chris Ryan
Okay.
Bill Simmons
Oh, he comes back and he's like, yeah, I killed. But everybody died, but I killed the shark.
Sean Fennessey
No iPhones, no cameras, no photographs.
Chris Ryan
Hooper's like, yeah, it was incredible.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
But these two fucking crackpots who were out on the. Out on the big ocean going. Going sea crazy.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Craig Horlbeck
But the shark goes away for three years the second he gets back.
Sean Fennessey
So sharks leave, sharks swim away.
Craig Horlbeck
It's very. That's great timing.
Bill Simmons
No, I think the point is, is how crazy the murder of the shark is. He's the only witness of it, right?
Chris Ryan
He shoots a.
Bill Simmons
He comes back. So. And then it came back, and then finally he had this thing in his mouth, and I aimed it, and I nailed it. And they were like.
Chris Ryan
He smiled. Yeah.
Bill Simmons
You want to drink?
Sean Fennessey
Is Jaws just. Is. Is the entire Jaws series just a Martin Brody fever dream?
Chris Ryan
It's like, oh, yeah.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
Or maybe. Maybe it's. It's Ellen thinking about what she wishes. Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Yes. On a sleepless night in Amity.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Ellen Brody imagines the husband she wishes.
Bill Simmons
She.
Chris Ryan
Like John Updike.
Sean Fennessey
That's right. It's beautiful.
Bill Simmons
Do you think American Psycho happened in real life? No, in the movie.
Chris Ryan
Is it. Is it a fantasy?
Sean Fennessey
I. I do think it's a fantasy.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
The chainsaw gives it away. When he whips the chainsaw like, 12 stories down, down.
Sean Fennessey
And it works.
Chris Ryan
Kills her.
Bill Simmons
And then we don't know how you.
Sean Fennessey
Ended up stepping on the American Psycho rewatchables out.
Bill Simmons
Should we do American Psycho?
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, definitely.
Bill Simmons
Yes. Really?
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Bill Simmons
Oh, man. That's a rewatchable.
Sean Fennessey
It's like a beloved classic.
Craig Horlbeck
I don't know if it's a rewatchable, but it's beloved.
Chris Ryan
Do you think Inception happens?
Bill Simmons
I might have watched it this week.
Chris Ryan
Like, how much of Inception I wish it didn't.
Sean Fennessey
Ayo. Yes.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. I think some of it happens and some of it. It doesn't.
Bill Simmons
Any other unanswerables?
Chris Ryan
No. How is Larry still mayor?
Bill Simmons
What piece of memorabilia would you want or not want from this movie for? Sean? It's clear that the Gasoline can.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. I would display it prominently.
Bill Simmons
I would want the Martin C. Brody 1975 man of the Year in Amityville Amity trophy.
Sean Fennessey
That's good. Not the barrel.
Bill Simmons
No, I'd want the trophy.
Chris Ryan
After. I would do the barrel. The planter barrel. Okay.
Bill Simmons
Coach Finstock aware. Best life lesson. Maybe believe the guy who was a prophetic hero three years before that something might be going on again. Maybe trust him for a split second.
Sean Fennessey
Now that 10 teenagers watched him murder another shark. His second shark murder. Yeah, he will.
Chris Ryan
He's.
Sean Fennessey
He's confirmed it's a shit.
Chris Ryan
I gotta watch the Revenge again and find out if there was ever any, like, legacy repair going on for me.
Sean Fennessey
On the COVID of Time magazine.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, this would be like after OKC won the title, Presti made a deal and the fans were like, I don't know know about this Prestige. Best double feature choice is probably Jaws.
Chris Ryan
I'm gonna go Jaws revenge.
Bill Simmons
I'll go with Jaws. I'd go Jaws 1 and then Jaws 2.
Chris Ryan
I think Jaws the Revenge makes Jaws 2 look a little bit better.
Sean Fennessey
This made me. Because there's a lot of. There's been a lot of good shark movies. And I was thinking about this because, you know, know, Jurassic Park's coming out this week and there's like no good dinosaur movies. But why are, why do shark movies, like, always work?
Chris Ryan
Because you can, you can kind of hide it a little bit. Like a lot of it is tension.
Bill Simmons
You know, I think people have like six basic fears and this is one of them. To be in the water being unable to fight off something.
Chris Ryan
This is an unanswerable question. You're living in Amity after Jaws.
Bill Simmons
Would you still live there or how.
Chris Ryan
Long before you get in the water again?
Craig Horlbeck
That's how Jaws 2 should have started. It should have been like, this is the first day everyone's kind of decided.
Chris Ryan
To get back in the first summer. We're. We're back.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
I probably pretty soon, I would, I would guess for you, not for me personally, but I. I feel like people are like, ah, it's not going to happen. Not going to happen to me.
Bill Simmons
I mean, you're talking about a guy who used to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. Like 70 degrees in the. 70 miles an hour in the Mayor Parkway. Have a lot of. Of fear.
Sean Fennessey
You wrote a motorcycle.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
You had a motorcycle?
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
When was that?
Bill Simmons
When I was a kid.
Sean Fennessey
Like a Harley?
Chris Ryan
No, not like, like a Honda.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I had like one of those fast Hondas.
Chris Ryan
That's cool.
Sean Fennessey
Without a helmet.
Bill Simmons
Was cool until I crashed it. Yeah, he's like Bob Dylan.
Sean Fennessey
What the hell?
Bill Simmons
Didn't have a lot of fear back then.
Sean Fennessey
Is this like a known story?
Bill Simmons
I have a ton of fear now.
Chris Ryan
About driving?
Bill Simmons
No, just in general. You get older, you just fear stuff. Stuff.
Sean Fennessey
This is like your superhero origin story. You, like, crash this motorcycle and you're like, I'll be a sports columnist.
Chris Ryan
What if I took.
Bill Simmons
Someday I'll do it.
Chris Ryan
Put it against the NBA draft.
Bill Simmons
Someday I'll recap Jaws 2, figure out what the gas was doing.
Chris Ryan
We're just gonna take you to the hospital.
Bill Simmons
Who won the movie?
Chris Ryan
Worshider?
Bill Simmons
Roy Scheider. Yeah, I had Universal.
Sean Fennessey
Oh, that's a good answer. Yeah. Not Jinot Schwark.
Bill Simmons
No, he did not win the movie.
Chris Ryan
John Shark. No.
Bill Simmons
Who do you have?
Sean Fennessey
I would have said, you know, like, he saved this, this dog, baby, you know, this thing was headed for.
Bill Simmons
Didn't lead to anything.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. You know what, though? I kind of also wish some TV games.
Sean Fennessey
Supergirl in 1984 with Helen Slater.
Chris Ryan
Oh, yeah. Love Helen.
Bill Simmons
Slave.
Chris Ryan
Later.
Bill Simmons
Fair is fair.
Chris Ryan
Legend of Billy Jean. Brother, Brother. One day. One day we'll do it. Keith Gordon. A great Keith Gordon performance in the Legend of Billie Jean.
Bill Simmons
You're not invited to that one.
Sean Fennessey
Good luck. Good luck with that one.
Bill Simmons
Craig, what did you think of Jaws 2?
Chris Ryan
Sure.
Craig Horlbeck
You know, in a vacuum, pretty good. Like if you didn't. If this movie was the first one to come out, I think it would be a quality shark slasher movie. You could make the case that if Jaws one didn't happen and this was the first one one that there's actually a More like a larger Jaws franchise.
Sean Fennessey
Oh, that might be what's holding it back. You know what I mean is that.
Craig Horlbeck
The original is so special quality of it. Made it so everybody didn't want anymore. But if Jaws 2 was the first one, maybe there's now 15 Jaws movies and it's like Final Destination in the water and it's a foundational slasher.
Chris Ryan
FD shark. When are we gonna get that?
Sean Fennessey
It's a great idea. I'm ready for that right now.
Chris Ryan
How have they not had a shark attack in Final Destination yet?
Craig Horlbeck
That's what Jaws could have been.
Bill Simmons
What were your after hours thoughts while we have you?
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, I had never seen it. I had barely even heard of that movie. And I was kind of in awe at how good it was and just how tight and smart and funny and well acted. I mean, it's really, really good. And I didn't make A ton of money. I had never really heard of it.
Sean Fennessey
Do you think if it had just been Michael Keaton, it would have been a very famous movie?
Craig Horlbeck
Oh, it was supposed to be Keaton.
Sean Fennessey
No, we were just talking about like. Because Griffin Dunn is a really good actor, but he's not that he stars in it.
Craig Horlbeck
No, I didn't even. What else has he done?
Chris Ryan
I don't.
Craig Horlbeck
I haven't listened to the POD yet.
Sean Fennessey
London.
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, yeah, probably. Yeah. But did Scorsese specifically want him? Was that.
Bill Simmons
Yeah, he was a producer.
Sean Fennessey
He brought it to him.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah. I. It just. I think it feels kind of watching it, I was like, this feels so small and random for. For who I know Scorsese to be now. Which is kind of fun. It's. I mean it's kind of. It's not really, in my opinion. And I don't think it's about a whole lot. It's just like a crazy night in New York and it's kind of fun to see a prestige director do something like that and just have fun for 90 minutes. And it's not some big grand story of the rise and fall of a Jordan Belfort or Henry Hill or something like that. It's just like, yeah, scorsese cooking for 90 minutes in New York in the 80s.
Chris Ryan
It's fun.
Bill Simmons
We said that on the pod. That we just wish directors did that more.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, yeah.
Bill Simmons
Like blowout fucking.
Craig Horlbeck
Like, I just like stuff like that.
Bill Simmons
That cr. You. You missed after hours because you were away.
Chris Ryan
I was.
Craig Horlbeck
Can I also.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Craig Horlbeck
One big thing that stuck out about just like the time people lived in, in the after hours era was man, people were just really comfortable with strangers.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. You just pick up the phone, every scene is.
Craig Horlbeck
Is him running up to a new person and they're like, come on in.
Bill Simmons
Right.
Craig Horlbeck
What do you need a phone?
Chris Ryan
Yeah, no problem.
Craig Horlbeck
Come on up. It's three in the morning.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah. That's how you still operate though.
Chris Ryan
Anybody wants to knock on my door? I got actually.
Sean Fennessey
What's your address? Just give it out here.
Chris Ryan
Well, you know what's funny is the other night before we left, do you know about this tick tock trend where kids pull up and kick your door? Have you heard about that?
Sean Fennessey
What?
Bill Simmons
No.
Chris Ryan
You have heard about this? No. Well, they did it to my house.
Sean Fennessey
No way.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, it was pretty scary. Not scary. What do you mean?
Craig Horlbeck
What do you mean kick your door?
Chris Ryan
They. They pull up to a stop, they jump out and they like kick on your door really hard and then run back to the car.
Craig Horlbeck
So it's like a up doorbell ditch.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, but they're like filming it, I guess or whatever.
Craig Horlbeck
And they wait.
Chris Ryan
So I came out completely nude with a machete, you know, watching Josh doing here.
Craig Horlbeck
He came out, nobody was up. A jug of gasoline.
Chris Ryan
Did this just happen two weeks ago? Yeah.
Craig Horlbeck
Did you hear they're probably not a.
Chris Ryan
Big stranger guy anymore now, you know.
Craig Horlbeck
Did you see the kids drive away?
Chris Ryan
I heard him, but they.
Craig Horlbeck
So they weren't filming you?
Chris Ryan
Well, no, they were. I think they filmed the kick. But they drove away before.
Bill Simmons
See, I was shooting at them like Chef Brody. Cheap Birdie shooting at the blue fish. Give us your after hours thoughts really quick.
Chris Ryan
It's one of my favorite Scorsese. One of the best New York movies ever made and a great portrait of a crazy night out.
Bill Simmons
Did you ever have an after hours night?
Chris Ryan
Some. Not like as magical as that, but I had some late nights, yeah.
Bill Simmons
Cigarette nights?
Chris Ryan
You could say that, yeah.
Sean Fennessey
You want to.
Chris Ryan
I wound up encased in plaster.
Bill Simmons
What was the weirdest part of New York City you ended up up in?
Chris Ryan
That's a good question.
Sean Fennessey
You never had like a. Woke up in Staten Island?
Craig Horlbeck
No, I never had.
Chris Ryan
Oh, I. I mean I've fallen asleep and woken up at the end of the F train where I like.
Sean Fennessey
Oh, I have done that too.
Chris Ryan
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
That's not.
Bill Simmons
Where does that end?
Chris Ryan
The beach. And then it gets really like a. Christ. Now I have to get out and get back on the F train. It's going to take all night to get home.
Bill Simmons
Oh, Jesus.
Chris Ryan
Like 3:00am In Coney Island.
Bill Simmons
It's like the end of the world warriors.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. Or the beginning. If I had gotten off that train.
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, that did happen to me too. That's funny you say that.
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
Sean Fennessey
Fiorentino.
Chris Ryan
One of the goats.
Bill Simmons
That's it.
Chris Ryan
Yeah. I mean you guys did a great job on it. I was just.
Bill Simmons
You said she was a throw your life away hall of famer.
Chris Ryan
She is. She is in this movie. She's a little intimidating, to be completely honest. She's a little unattainable. Not that she's attainable in like Last Seduction, but do you think she'd do.
Sean Fennessey
Good things for your life Life if were you. Different time with her at any time really in history.
Chris Ryan
Yeah, I think she probably would have gotten me on the right track earlier in my career. You know, who knows what I would have gotten up to by then.
Bill Simmons
Would have kept Chris away from Pelicano.
Sean Fennessey
I'm still getting over her dating the FBI agent in Pelicano.
Chris Ryan
It's awesome. When stuff like that.
Sean Fennessey
That's one of the craziest things I've ever heard. It's that and the girl with the gas tank. Those are the two. Those are my two legends. I've never seen such magical moves.
Bill Simmons
Thanks to Craig. Correct throwback Jack Sanders. Thanks to Ronick as well. Sierra, Sean, see you next time.
The Rewatchables: 'Jaws 2’ with Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey
Release Date: July 8, 2025
In this episode of The Rewatchables, host Bill Simmons is joined by Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey to dive deep into the waters of Jaws 2. Together, they explore the film's enduring appeal, dissect its strengths and shortcomings, and discuss its place in the legacy of movie sequels.
Bill Simmons kicks off the discussion by expressing his affection for Jaws 2 despite its pacing issues:
Bill Simmons (02:12): "I love this movie. The first hour is pretty rough. It's slow."
The trio acknowledges that while the movie starts sluggishly, it gains momentum as it progresses, reminiscent of blending the first 80 minutes of Die Hard with a Vengeance into the latter half of Jaws 2.
Chief Martin Brody
A major point of discussion revolves around Chief Brody's character development:
Sean Fennessey (05:07): "Brody was afraid of the water. And then he had the most traumatic experience... And then he's like, I think I'll stay near the water. Like, what the fuck?"
The hosts critique Brody's inconsistent motivations, questioning why a traumatized man would choose to remain in a perilous environment.
Mayor Larry Vaughn Jr.
The portrayal of Mayor Larry Vaughn Jr. sparks debate about political dynamics in the film:
Sean Fennessey (56:19): "This is a slasher teen movie. It's a PTSD damaged hero movie... it's a shark movie. And I think [Jaws 2] kind of invents it."
They delve into the mayor's compartmentalization and his relationship with Brody, suggesting political undertones and character flaws.
Roy Scheider's Performance
Roy Scheider's portrayal is scrutinized for its subdued and almost resentful demeanor:
Bill Simmons (07:48): "You can kind of feel it in some of the scenes where he's just like, put the cue card right there."
The discussion highlights how Scheider's off-screen reluctance translated into his on-screen performance, adding a layer of complexity to Brody's character.
Gasoline Scene
One of the most praised scenes involves a woman using gasoline to fend off the shark:
Sean Fennessey (31:46): "It's like, my favorite thing in the movie. I love that so much."
This inventive and dramatic moment stands out as a testament to creative problem-solving in dire situations.
Eddie's Demise
Eddie's tragic end is another focal point:
Chris Ryan (40:03): "Most rewatchable. I think Eddie getting eaten is the best scene."
The hosts reflect on the emotional impact and execution of this pivotal moment.
Electric Cable Ending
The climactic confrontation with the shark using electric cables is analyzed for its ingenuity:
Bill Simmons (39:03): "He's like, they're also attracted to hot girls. Most rewatchable."
The scene is lauded for its creative approach, despite some scientific implausibilities.
Inconsistencies and Plot Holes
Several plot inconsistencies are highlighted, such as Brody's decision to stay in Amity despite his PTSD and the bewildering choice to leave a 10-year-old child unattended during a shark attack.
Bill Simmons (38:44): "They left him behind."
The discussion questions the logical coherence of these decisions and their impact on character credibility.
Director and Production Challenges
The shift from director John D. Hancock to a TV director introduces further complications:
Sean Fennessey (06:27): "They decided not to put that in the movie. Probably a good idea."
The hosts explore how these changes affected the film's narrative flow and overall quality.
Setting the Template for Horror Sequels
Jaws 2 is credited with laying the groundwork for future horror sequels, blending familiar elements with new plotlines.
Sean Fennessey (03:21): "This movie... kind of invents it."
The hosts argue that its commercial success, despite mixed reviews, encouraged the proliferation of similar sequel productions.
Comparison to Other Sequel Films
Comparisons are made with other franchises like Halloween and Damien Omen, discussing how Jaws 2 influenced their development.
Sean Fennessey (12:26): "Anybody should review all of the top sequels."
This section underscores the film's role in shaping sequel dynamics in Hollywood.
Alternative Casting Choices
Speculative casting discussions include:
Bill Simmons: "What if Roy Scheider was in Deer Hunter?"
These hypotheticals explore how different actors could have altered the film's reception and legacy.
Lack of Diversity
A critical take on the film's homogeneous cast leads to broader conversations about representation in 1970s cinema.
Sean Fennessey (52:34): "Why are there no minorities in Amity at all?"
This highlights the film's dated approach to diversity, contrasting it with contemporary standards.
Despite its flaws, Jaws 2 holds a place in cinematic history as a foundational sequel that influenced the horror genre.
Sean Fennessey (62:06): "This movie... made sequels more about capitalizing on the original's success than delivering quality storytelling."
The hosts conclude by acknowledging the film's mixed legacy, balancing its commercial triumph with critical shortcomings.
Jaws 2 remains a topic of fascination for movie enthusiasts, blending nostalgia with critical analysis. While it may not achieve the legendary status of its predecessor, its role in shaping the sequel landscape is undeniable. This episode of The Rewatchables offers a comprehensive look at what makes Jaws 2 both beloved and criticized, providing valuable insights for both longtime fans and newcomers alike.