(Credits: Far Out / Manfred Werner / Tsui)
Fri 31 October 2025 19:17, UK
If you can lead a life without the need for regrets, then there is a good chance you haven’t taken enough risks in your life. To make mistakes is to be human, and even the great icons of Hollywood, like wonderfully esteemed Michael Caine, can do that.
Michael Caine has honed a filmography like no other. Between his starring role as gangster Jack Carter, his Cockney performance at the helm of The Italian Job, and recurring appearances as the iconic butler Alfred in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Caine’s career boasts countless successes for him to look back on. There is one project, however, that Caine simply couldn’t bear to watch.
In 1987, director Joseph Sargeant took on the stormy seas of the Jaws series. Beloved at the box office, Steven Spielberg’s initial movie spawned an entire franchise, which would culminate in his offering, Jaws: The Revenge.
The film contained all the usual elements of an entry into the Jaws series, but somewhere amid great white sharks and the now-iconic score, it also featured an appearance from Caine himself. The Cockney actor took on the role of Hoagie Newcombe, a pilot who narrowly escapes a shark attack. But even Caine’s presence couldn’t save the film from failure.
Audiences and critics were unimpressed by the film, which barely surpassed $50 million at the box office. During an interview with Andrew Denton, even Caine deemed it “one of the worst pictures I did”. The film was so bad that he couldn’t bring himself to watch it, but there was another reason behind his decision to take the film: a silver lining to this flop amidst his filmography.
Caine spent just two weeks working on Jaws: The Revenge, but he received a hefty paycheque for his time that would allow him to buy a particularly special gift for a loved one. For his short appearance on set, Caine took home $1million, which he spent on a house for his mother. Caine had spent his childhood in council houses, so this would be the first house she had owned.
That’s the harsh truth about cinema. We dream of Hollywood being an almagmation of the artistic vision of a group of creatives coming together to make a pure expression of cinematic art, but the reality is, making movies is a business. For any actor, to cash in and make a poor movie for a pretty paycheque is a decision most will make in a heartbeat.
It may have cost him one of the worst films in his entire catalogue, but it seems more than worth it for the opportunity to repay a parent. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to watch the film. “Someone said to me, ‘I saw that Jaws 4, it stinks,’” he remembered, “I said, ‘I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen the house that it bought my mother and it’s marvellous.’”
It’s a characteristically Caine response, straightforward and witty. It’s also a response that makes him all the more endearing and relatable. While most Caine fans won’t be revisiting Jaws: The Revenge anytime soon, it’s easy to understand and admire his reasoning for taking the project. Still, it’s just as easy to understand why he’s unwilling to watch it back.
Watch the trailer for Jaws: The Revenge below.
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