RAIDERS OF THE LOST SHARK: JAWS AND INDIANA JONES
From the creators of Jaws and Star Wars. So boasted the posters for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), the first film to feature the exploits of archaeologist Indiana Jones.
Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark may share the same director, in Steven Spielberg, and the musical genius of John Williams, but they are of course very different films.
But, like good archaeologists, we've managed to uncover some of the things these classics of cinema share, whether that is on screen or behind the scenes.
Dean Newman dons his fedora and swings into action with his bull whip.
Dogs
Director Steven Spielberg's dog, Elmer, may have played the Brody's dog in Jaws, but it was George Lucas' dog, Indiana, that would be immortalised as the first name of the whip-cracking, fist-punching hero with the hat as played by Harrison Ford.
Oscars
Like Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
Sadly, just like Jaws it didn't win. Spielberg would not win an Oscar for Best Film until Schindler's List at the 1994 Academy Awards.
No doubt Indiana Jones would have been pleased about being nominated for nine golden statues. Raiders would be nominated, and win, for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing and a Special Achievement Award. It was nominated, but didn't win in the categories for Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Director and Best Cinematography.
Jaws was nominated for four Oscars, in the categories of Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Picture. It would win for all it was nominated, save for Best Picture.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas on set with Indiana Jones himself Harrison Ford.
Box Office Hit
Like Jaws, Raiders would become the highest grossing film of its year of release.
Raiders struck gold at the US box office, taking over $248 million, which ballooned to nearly $390 million globally.
Jaws was of course the first film to swim past the (then) magic $100 barrier at the US box office. It woukd keep on swimming until it reaches just over $260 million. That success was echoed across the world, as Jaws ending up biting a hefty $470 million worldwide.
Both Jaws and Raiders featured animation stars doing voiceover work.
Huh? That's right. Remember the Nazi saluting monkey in Raiders? Well, his cheeky monkey noises were dubbed by Frank Welker, Best know for being the voice of Fred in Scooby-Doo, and now the voice of Scoob himself. Welker has also voiced Gremlins and performed further similar monkey duties on Disney's Aladdin (1992).
And in Jaws, Rocky the Flying Squirrel actress June Foray, from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, dubbed Michael Brody for "the pond is for old ladies" line. Beach-goer lines were also dubbed by Harry Shearer, perhaps best known as Mr Burns on The Simpsons.
Frightening Head Scenes
Spielberg thrilled us growing up, but as well as fuelling our sense of wonder, he also certainly fuelled our nightmares.
In Raiders, that presents itself in the very end of the film when the power of the ark is unleashed. It's not so much the swirling ghosts - which seems more like something out of the Spielberg procuded and written Poltergeist - but is the melting face of Toht. A scene that can still often by removed from television appearances to this day.
And in Jaws? Enter Ben Gardner's head. Even after all these years. You know it is coming, but it still makes you jump. That scene, with Matt Hooper, was an insert as Spielberg wanted to get one more jump out of the audience, which resulted it being shot in the swimming pool of Jaws Editor, Verna Fields.
Blackboard
In an early scene of Raiders, we have Indiana Jones explaining to two people from the FBI how the staff of Ra works, which he explains by drawing it on a blackboard.
A chalk drawing in Jaws is also prominent - even though we never see it being drawn - when we are first introduced to Quint in the town hall scene. That image foretells Quint's own demise, as he is swallowed whole.
Brody
"I'm Brody, I'm Brody." So asserts Roy Scheider's character to Matt Hooper when he first arrives on Amity Island as is greeted by Martin Brody. But, we also get an M. Brody in Raiders, in the shape of Marcus Brody, played by Denholm Elliott.
Naturally, we aren't saying that there is any link between Raiders and Jaws through characters or that Marcus Brody is some distant relative of Martin Brody. But, he could be.
Overcoming Fear
Throughout the course of both film, the main character must overcome his fears to succeed.
In Raiders, Indiana Jones must face a floor full of snakes as he and Marion are entombed in the Well of Souls as their flaming torches splutter out.
In Jaws, Chief Brody has a fear a water. During the Alex Kintner attack scene, Brody can only go as fas as the water’s edge; but water is a fear he must overcome, especially at the end of the film as he is the only one who can stop the shark as the Orca rapidly sinks into the water.
Chosen actors not first choice for roles
Harrison Ford was not the first choice to play Indiana Jones, it was very nearly Tom Selleck, who was unable to get out of his contact for Magnum P. I.
It was also said that the likes of Chevy Chase and Bill Murray were also in the running for the man with the hat.
Marion Ravenwood, played by Karen Allen, was almost played by Sean Young, who had great chemistry with Selleck.
John Rhys-Davies played Sallah in both Raiders and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but it was Danny DeVito who was the original choice for the role, one he couldn't play because of his commitments to Taxi on TV. He did go onto feature in the Indiana Jones-inspired Romancing The Stone.
In Jaws, not of the three main actors were the original choices for the roles of Brody, Quint or Hooper: Who The Cast Of Jaws Could Have Been
This belongs in a museum
In 1999, Raiders of the Lost Ark was added to the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. Jaws didn't swim its way in until 2001.
Legacy
Both Raiders and Jaws are rightly hailed as stone-cold classics of their genre, and continue to bring joy to new generations of viewers and influence films and filmmakers to this day.
They've also had another lasting legacy, inspiring others to become either archaeologists or marine biologists, meaning we now have a group of dedicated people working in their fields who perhaps may not have done, if Steven Spielberg hadn't directed Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws. And that is something very special indeed, something that traverses the films themselves: From Jaws Fan to Shark Biologist
Words by Dean Newman
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