Jaws was released on June 20th, 1975. Less than a year later, on May 12, 1976, Grizzly, a wild ripoff, hit theaters. According to the internet, so it must be true, producers/screenwriters Harvey Flaxman and David Sheldon made no secret about the film’s origins. They were very much looking to cash in on the success of Jaws. By October of 1975 director William Girdler was filming, and by the end of the next year, Grizzly became the highest grossing independent film up to that time.
I was surprised to learn Grizzly is an independent flick, because it has the look and feel of mid-budget studio schlock, or even a TV movie from the era. I couldn’t help feeling this was exactly the kind of movie Jaws would have been had it not been in Spielberg’s hands. Even the main cast is perfect for studied mediocrity.
The Chief Brody analogue is Kelly, a park ranger played by Christopher George. George was one of those lantern-jawed, gravelly, handsome amalgamations of man and cigarette that was just beginning to fade in Hollywood in the ‘70s. Indeed, this movie is the beginning of the last stage of his career, when westerns and TV guest spots were replaced with Italian genre films.
Hooper’s analogue is Scott, an extreme naturalist who lives in the forest among the animals, played by Richard Jaeckel. Something similar happened to Jaeckel’s career as happened to George’s. Jaeckel was a familiar face in Hollywood productions. He was the perfect 
character actor for westerns and World War 2 flicks — patriotic, moral, and uptight. He’s supposed to be something of a tree hugger in this movie but couldn’t quite shake those older sensibilities for this film.
Finally, there’s the Quint analogue, in helicopter pilot Don, played by yet another western movie veteran in Andrew Prine. Don is a former Vietnam War vet who regrets all the ‘gooks’ he ‘zapped’ from his chopper during the war. His main contribution to the plot is ready transportation for characters. The most Quint moment of his character is when he delivers a campfire monologue about bears eating an Indian tribe (which Prine came up with himself). It’s a deadly serious moment, but it comes across as more Jerry and David Zucker than John Milius.
Their quarry is a huge grizzly bear, played by a big ole Kodiak named Teddy. Pay attention and one will notice a black bear used as an occasional stand-in, continuity be damned.
Teddy has been terrorizing hikers and campers in National Park, situated in Some State (filming was done in and around Clayton, Georgia). He starts his shenanigans by tearing apart a pair of co-eds, and the movie is off and running. There’s no mistaking these remains as the result of a boating accident. Everyone is onboard with the idea of a killer bear early on, although there is an Amityville mayor analogue (Joe Dorsey), who weasels his way through the movie.
The flow of this movie, despite its success, really put off critics at the time. The derivative nature of the film was held against it, and I can understand that. I don’t find that to be as much of an issue because I wanted to see a Jaws ripoff, and I wanted it to be silly and stupid. Done, done, and done.
I enjoyed just how bold the filmmakers were in redoing entire scenes from Jaws, but changing things just enough for plausible deniability. I love how viewers can contrast and compare good dialogue and good performances with what we get in Grizzly, which are a whole lot of first takes and some…memorable…improvisation from George. I love the gore and the day-glo blood. I love that this movie, at the last possible second, chickened out and let the kid live, unlike the poor Kintner kid in Jaws. I love how there was this incredible landscape surrounding the production in northern Georgia, and the filmmakers barely took advantage of it, shooting it in the most inane fashion.
In so many ways Grizzly is a mediocre adaptation of a much better movie. But, it’s rarely dull. And the connoisseurs of bad movies out there should enjoy the utter shamelessness of it all. None of us really want to see a ripoff of Jaws that’s better than the original, right? Grizzly lands well into the upper half of the Watchability Index, displacing Future Zone at #158. A crowd-pleaser, this is a flick we mutants can show friends as a recruiting tool.