| Joe Alves | |
| Birth Date: | 21 May 1936 |
| Birth Place: | San Leandro, California, U.S. |
| Birth Name: | Joseph Manuel Alves |
| Known: | Jaws, Jaws 2, Jaws 3-D |
| Occupation: | Film director and production designer |
| Years Active: | 1956–2000 |
Joseph Manuel Alves (born May 21, 1936) is an American film production designer, perhaps best known for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the first three films of the Jaws franchise. He directed the third installment Jaws 3-D.
Alves has designed three features for Steven Spielberg, firstly for The Sugarland Express. He designed the three mechanical sharks for the movie Jaws (1975) with mechanical effects man Bob Mattey supervising their physical construction in Sun Valley CA. After the sharks were completed, they were trucked to the shooting location, but unfortunately they had not been tested in water causing a series of delays that have become quite legendary over time.[1]
He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction and won the BAFTA for Best Art Direction for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind.[2]
Alves worked on Jaws 2 (1978) in the capacity of both production designer and as second unit director. After John D. Hancock, the initial director of Jaws 2, was sacked, it was suggested that Alves co-direct it with Verna Fields (who edited the original Jaws). Jeannot Szwarc was hired, however, to complete the film.[3]
The model of New York he created for John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981) has been described as "memorably derelict",[4] and he was visual consultant on Carpenter's Starman (1984).[5]
He directed Jaws 3-D (1983), which took advantage of the revival in popularity of 3-D at the time. The film received generally weak critical reception, with Variety criticising Alves for failing "to linger long enough on the Great White."[6] He was nominated as 'worst director' in the 1983 Golden Raspberry Awards.[7] Jaws 3-D was his only film as director.
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production Designer | Art Director | Director | Other | |||
| 1969 | Change of Habit | Assistant art director | ||||
| 1974 | The Sugarland Express | |||||
| 1975 | Jaws | |||||
| 1976 | Embryo | |||||
| 1977 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | |||||
| 1978 | Jaws 2 | Also associate producer and second unit director | ||||
| 1981 | Escape from New York | |||||
| 1983 | Jaws 3-D | |||||
| 1984 | Starman | Visual consultant and second unit director | ||||
| 1988 | Everybody's All-American | |||||
| 1992 | Freejack | Also associate producer | ||||
| 1993 | ||||||
| 1994 | Drop Zone | |||||
| 1997 | Shadow Conspiracy | |||||
| Fire Down Below | ||||||
| 2000 | ||||||
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | The Name of the Game | 1 episode |
| 1969–1970 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | 2 episodes |
| 1970–1973 | Night Gallery | 42 episodes |
| 1970 | 1 episode | |
| The Young Country | TV movie | |
| 1971 | Sarge | 1 episode |
| The Psychiatrist | 6 episodes | |
| 1972 | Ironside | 1 episode |
| 1972–1973 | Hec Ramsey | 4 episodes |
| 1973 | Isn't It Shocking? | TV movie |
| Double Indemnity | ||
| Scream, Pretty Peggy | ||