Just when you thought it was safe… to turn the page. Although not the first tome to document the making of the 1975 summer blockbuster, Matt Taylor’s Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard offers a nostalgic treat. The archival material here consists of on-set photography, both monochrome and colour, storyboards, memos and first-hand accounts.

Occasionally, the text suffers from a small font size. Some recollections border on the mundane, and I was reminded of similar gossip as Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel by Louis R. Pasano and Michael A. Smith. The latter was a terribly indulgent vanity project which sidestepped the “making of” requirements in order to promote personalities. This had little to do with filmmaking.

Regardless, I give Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard four out of five stars.

A poem:

Bite down on a good read

Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard has what you need.

There’s plenty of pictures and text

Whetting one’s appetite for what’s next.

Only 40% of the production ends up explained

For that I complained.

Although it was a location shoot

Composer John Williams got the boot.

The shark’s absence was critical

Making the music more vital.

More to be written about editor Verna Fields

And what a cutting room floor yields.

Still, this book gets a pass

in spite of flaws, alas.

The whole story remains oceanic.

There’s more to come, don’t panic.