Chief Brody was set to be killed by shark in Jaws sequel
In the original planned opening for Jaws the Revenge (1987), Chief Brody was set to be attacked and killed by a great white shark.
It was all going to be a shocking ending for the chief of Amity P. D. who had successfully killed the sharks at the end of both Jaws (1975) and Jaws 2 (1978).
In the Jaws the Revenge that made it to screen, instead it is Sean Brody - the youngest of the Brody boys - that dies in the opening scenes of the film. One assumes in a similar fate that was set to befall his dad.
And although this is sad, it would have been soul destroying to have seen Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) succumb to a great white. For me, it would have put a dark cloud over the entire series.
Chief Brody still dies, he's dead before the events of Jaws the Revenge even start, but why didn't he die in the film, and why did Roy Scheider not appear in Jaws the Revenge?
Roy Scheider hadn't appeared in a Jaws film since Jaws 2, which was released in 1978. And that was only because he was contractually obliged to after dropping out of The Deer Hunter (1978).
And he made sure he wasn't available for Jaws 3D (1983) after taking to the skies in the high-tech helicopter thriller, Blue Thunder (1983).
Scheider was offered a cameo in Jaws the Revenge, but declined, saying: "Satan himself could not get me to do 'Jaws' part 4".
That was a big fat no then. Whether he died onscreen or off, growing up, this was a huge winding blow to me.
That's it, that's the offscreen goodbye to my childhood hero and one of the Everyman heroes of cinema?
He carks it off screen with a heart attack, we are told that it is the fear of sharks that got to him.
For me it is up there with killing off Newt and Hicks at the start of Alien 3 (1992).
Speaking to the LA Times at the time of the making of the film, Scheider said: “We did ‘Jaws’ once and we did it right.”
And, as already mentioned appeared in Jaws 2 because it was a “contractual obligation that I didn’t know I had. I had to do it. Now I don’t have to do Jaws anymore. If I’d choose, I could probably continue doing Jaws pictures for the rest of my life, because it seems Universal is going to do Jaws pictures for the rest of their lives. I’m not joining the dance.”
Of course, it turns out - to date - to be the last dance for the head, the tail, the whole damn franchise. To paraphrase Chief Brody in Jaws 2, no one was prepared to go through that hell again.
Personally, I'd have watched a new Roy Scheider Jaws film every couple of years, but perhaps that's just me.
Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) does appear in the finished film though, sort of. The Chief's picture is hung up in the Amity Island P. D. office when Polly is on the phone.
He also appears in two flashback scenes, one where Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary) is remembering Sean and Martin copying one another in the lovely table scene from Jaws, which is recalled during Sean's funeral scene. All of which makes it more poignant.
The second is when Ellen is about to ram the shark and we flashback to a sepia-tinged Chief Brody on the mast of the sinking Orca.
This is a bone of contention for many Jaws fans as they wonder how Ellen can be seeing this if she wasn't there. Well, no doubt Chief Brody would have told her the story in the vivid detail. Sure, it is quite literally a cheap shot, but it is one that is easily explained.
If anything, its inclusion - by comparison alone - belittles Jaws the Revenge even more.
Either way, we get to remember Chief Brody as he lived, and as we loved him, saying smile you son of a bitch.
Words by Dean Newman
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