“Martin Brody: Lawman”

By Bobby Nash

50 years ago, audiences were introduced to a rather unique lawman for the time.

In the early 1970’s, police in movies were typically going rogue, meeting out justice in the most violent way possible. Characters like Popeye Doyle and Dirty Harry Callahan tended to shoot first and ask questions second.

The flip side was the damaged cop, a man or woman traumatized by some tragic circumstance. Serpico was a good example of this.

Then, there was Martin Brody.

We all know the story of Chief Brody’s face-to-fin encounter with a twenty-five-foot great white shark in the waters off the coast of Amity Island. We know that he overcame a deep (see what I did there?) fear of the ocean and the sharks that dwell therein to save his community from a dangerous wild animal with a taste for humans.

We know these things. We saw them play out over the last five decades on both the big and small screen. For me, I didn’t see JAWS in the theater until I was in my 40s (well worth the wait, I might add), but I watched it on TV many times once I was old enough to convince my parents to let me watch when it appeared on the ABC Sunday Night Movie (I kind of miss those. That was pure Sunday night event TV, when I was a kid).

Oddly enough, I actually saw JAWS 2 before seeing JAWS. Weird. I know. Being born in 1971, I was a bit too young when JAWS premiered, but I would soon catch up and this little movie quickly became one of my all-time favorite films.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve seen the movie enough times to know the scenes by heart. I still find fascinating tidbits when I watch it. Recently, I noticed that the fisherman’s chair and kickboard mounted to the deck disappears after the fishing line scene Where did it go? How did it take me this long to notice? (I seriously spent a lot of time contemplating this) But, I digress… As fascinating as Brody’s bravery in the face of almost certain death, staring down not one, but two great whites in close proximity, is, and should be explored, I want to take a look at Martin Brody’s life before facing off with a great white. Let’s get to know the man beneath the badge.

The movie offers us some clues to Brody’s life before moving to Amity Island to become Chief of Police, but only in small snippets. We know he has a scar that he considers sharing during Quint and Hooper’s “you show me yours…” session before deciding against it. Some have theorized it’s an appendix scar. Others think perhaps it’s a bullet or knife wound from his time in New York. A bad wound, but not enough to compete with his new friends and their myriad scars to past glory.

There’s a part of me that’s glad this isn’t spelled out for us. I like wondering about it.

We also know that working as a police officer in New York, Brody did not think he made much of a difference. He says as much to Hooper in the film. “But in Amity, one man can make a difference.” I have often wondered what Brody’s New York career was like. Crime in New York in the 1970’s was at historic levels. Whatever happened during his time with the NYPD, Brody needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of a big city department and into a more relaxed atmosphere like a seaside tourist resort town. A move that proved a huge adjustment for him and his family.

The Martin Brody we meet at the beginning of the film is a by-the-book, law-and-order kind of guy. From questioning the islander about Chrissie’s disappearance to his explaining to Polly that the system in place has to be strictly adhered to regarding paperwork and reporting. We see him a bit out of his depth (I swear, I’m not doing this on purpose) in dealing with the shark hunters all trying to set off at the same time. This wasn’t the sort of thing he expected in Amity.

Adjusting to small town life after fast-paced New York has not been easy for him. Brody has served in his capacity as chief of police for a relatively short time. Less than a year. Ellen Brody mentions how they bought the house the previous fall, making it 1973. That explains why Brody hasn’t fixed the swings and hasn’t grown accustomed to the sunlight coming through his windows in the morning during the summer. He’s also not in tune with the locals concerning July 4^th and summer dollars. That tells us this is his first summer as Chief.

Chrissie Watkin’s death certificate provides the date as July 1, 1974.

It is the first death in Amity during Brody’s tenure as chief. This death, and the subsequent events leading to his time on the Orca will change Chief Brody. We see more of this changed Brody in the sequel. The movies tell us that Martin served as Chief a long time. His off-screen death just prior to JAWS: The Revenge (the only time I’ll mention it, I swear) indicates he was still on the job until the end.

In JAWS, the scene that truly solidifies Brody’s adherence to rules to me is when he’s on his way to the general store to purchase supplies to make “Beach Closed” signs early in the film and he only crosses the street at designated crosswalks. Even though the street is filled with people, locals and tourists alike, walking and talking, and ignoring street signs, Brody still follows the rules. That scene always stood out to me, though it took a couple of viewings before it sunk in for me just what this small scene represents. The writer in me learned a lot about character by watching this scene play out.

The JAWS novel by Peter Benchley paints Martin Brody as an embodiment of law and order working in a dying tourist community that isn’t the clean, law-abiding town that it appears to be on the surface (I know. I know. Another ocean gag). In the novel, more so than we see in the movie, Amity Island is infected by corruption. Brody has to deal with that in addition to dealing with their little shark problem.

Every hero needs a weakness to overcome. For Superman, it’s Kryptonite. Indiana Jones has his snakes. MacGyver fears heights. For Martin Brody, it’s the water. There are hints about why he hates the water. Some theorize that he almost drowned as a kid, leaning into this theory. Ellen Brody explains it thus: “Martin hates boats. Martin hates water. Martin… Martin sits in his car when we go on the ferry to the mainland. I guess it’s a childhood thing. It’s a… there’s a clinical name for it isn’t there?”

To which Brody responds dryly, “Drowning.”

Hooper also comments, “Well, uh, it doesn’t make much sense for a guy who hates the water to live on an island either.”

Brody’s answer is certainly unique. “It’s only an island if you look at it from the water.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” Hooper quips back.

The chief’s unease with the water is touched on multiple times. There’s his unease when meeting Quint, a man whose life is the embodiment of the sea. His inability to successfully communicate with the fishermen. “These are your people!” he tells Hendricks. “Talk to them!” “I’m not drunk enough to go out on a boat.” Needing a smoke to calm his nerves as the ferry takes him out to the kids practicing. Not being able to go into the water to evacuate everyone when Alex Kintner is attacked. And finally, there’s the concern that his overprotective nature is going to make his son afraid to go out on the ocean as well. He doesn’t want that for Michael.

It takes a face-to-face encounter with a great white to help him overcome that fear.

“I used to hate the water…” Brody tells Hooper.

Hooper replies, “I can’t imagine why.”

Of the two characterizations, I prefer the movie version of Brody over the novel (sacrilege for a novel writer to admit, I know). Part of that is due to how Roy Schieder inhabits the character and brings him to life. We start with an all-business Brody who then eschews to the will of the mayor regarding Chrissie’s cause of death, to taking charge after the death of Alex Kitner.

Brody is a real guy. He drinks too much, takes things personally, doesn’t know how to communicate with his wife, and doesn’t fully know how to protect his island, or his kids. We feel that in his scenes. Throughout the movie, Scheider makes us understand Brody. We know this guy. We’ve met a guy like this.

That’s why we feel it so much when he finally comes face-to-face with the shark on the open ocean. The look of pure terror on his face when he pops up, a cigarette dangling from his lips, is palpable. Until that moment, Brody thought he understood the danger. In an instance, he realizes just how little he understood. Now, it’s real to him. Too real. Brody’s reaction makes it real to us, the audience.

At that moment, we are no longer watching three men on a boat.

At that moment, we are on the Orca. We’re in the thick of it with Brody, Quint, and Hooper. And it’s a glorious place to find ourselves.

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” indeed.

ABOUT BOBBY NASH:
When not rewatching JAWS for the umpteenth time, Bobby Nash writes comic books, novels, short prose, audio drama scripts, screenplays, and more. From time to time he draws and acts a little on the side. Learn more about Bobby and his work at www.bobbynash.com