An underestimated 3D creature film unofficially killed a Jaws character

In the opening scene of “Piranha 3D”, a fisherman comes out of fishing in a lake and involuntarily triggers a prehistoric piranha school. This role could have been played by anyone, but what makes him particularly fascinating is that he is described by none other than Richard Dreyfuss. If you have seen “Jaws” (which, if you have not done so, puts this article as a bookmark and go watch it now), you know that the Oscar -winning actor plays an oceanographer named Matt Hooper. Hired by police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), Hooper is responsible for helping him go to the root of the problem of friends of Amity Island in the middle of the festivities of July 4. The great white threat turns out to be too much a problem, of course, encouraging Brody, Hooper and Shark Hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) to make the fishing trip of a life.

In the peak of the film, Hooper descends into a cage supposedly resistant to sharks in order to poison the shark closely. The surprise, surprise, however, the 25 -foot fish has no trouble unraveling the hooper’s cage, spelling everything except fate for the oceanographer. Those who have read the original “Jaws” novel of 1974 by Peter Benchley could have expected that the character meets his imminent disappearance, but things take place differently in Spielberg’s film. Once Brody blows the sharpened tooth with a … Well, you know, in lightning, Hooper Bubbles on the living surface. Not even a narrow meeting (IL) with one of the big movies monsters is able to release Hooper. However, there is an audacity in Aja presenting him as a Piranha aperitif of the decades later.

Please note, “Piranha 3D” never categorically declares the name of the character of Dreyfuss in the film, but the credits list him as “Matt Boyd”. It would be one thing if the actor was simply presented as just a guy, but the fact that he was dressed in the same outfit as Hooper, drinking beer from a friend of friendship, and sings “show me the way to go home” (the same piece he sang aboard the Orca in “Jaws”) clearly shows that it is the same character. For legal reasons, of course, the film could not say it. Dreyfuss, who is subject to foot syndrome in the mouth, only took the minor part after being approached by Bob Weinstein with a sweet pay check (he then gave a charity).

It is easy to see how Hooper survived the harness of the shark in “Jaws”, but even him – sorry, “Matt Boyd” – cannot overcome the one -two punch of a massive whirlwind and the equivalent of the underwater chainsaw which can tear you in seconds in the opening scene of “Piranha 3D”. These fish have certainly shown him the way to go home … in a aqueous tomb, that is to say.

“Piranha 3D” is currently streaming on Tubi and Pluto TV.