ByronOrlok wrote:
Hollywood Gothique wrote:
The whole Mafia subplot in the book was...well, I don't know what to call it, but at least it provided a motivation for why the mayor was so desperate to keep the beaches open. In the movie, the mayor is just stupid.

Hang on -- are we getting our JAWSes mixed-up again? I don't remember a Mafia sub-plot in Benchley's original novel, but I DO remember there was one in the JAWS 2 novelization.

But maybe I'M getting my memories mixed-up -- hell, it was only thirty years ago.

Yes, you are getting mixed up. In JAWS the novel, the mayor is in hock to the mob; he borrowed money when his wife was sick or something like that. That's why is is so desperate to keep the beaches open - he needs the Amityville economy to boom so he can make money to pay off his debt.

JAWS 2, the novel, in the tradition of sequels, includes a Mafia subplot too.