Biography
Joe Alves (born 21 May 1936, San Leandro, California) is an American film production designer, perhaps best known for his work on three of the Jaws films. He directed 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 l...
Known For
Complete Filmography

The Farmer & the Shark
2025
as Self
Explores the life of local Martha's Vineyard legend, Craig Kingsbury, and his impact on the production of Steven Spielberg’s classic movie

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
2025
as Self
The authorized documentary celebrating the film that redefined Hollywood, 50 years after its premiere. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews ...

Les dents de la mer: Un succès monstre
2024
as Self - set designer
In the summer of 1975, the young director Steven Spielberg set new standards for cinema worldwide with an oversized shark bite, a plastic shark fin an...

Sharksploitation
2024
as Self
The ultimate deep dive into the world of shark cinema: filmmakers, critics, scholars and conservationists explore the weird, wild cinematic legacy of ...

Purgatory: Entering John Carpenter's 'Escape From New York'
2018
as Self
A brand new retrospective documentary produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures and featuring interviews with writer Nick Castle, cinematographer Dean Cund...

Viaggio nel cinema in 3D: Una storia vintage
2016

The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy of "Jaws"
2009
as Self
After three decades, Jaws continues to intrigue, thrill and frighten viewers. This documentary focuses on the many ways in which Jaws has helped to sh...

3D: A Brief History
2004
A look at how Dial M for Murder (1954) was produced for 3-D viewing.

The Making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'
2001
as Self
A documentary film on the making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists
2000
Production Design
The sailor is "persuaded" by a princess to help her rescue her kingdom from something fishy.

Fire Down Below
1997
Production Design
When an EPA representative is murdered in a small Appalachian community, EPA undercover agent Jack Taggart is sent in—posing as a handyman working wit...

Shadow Conspiracy
1997
Production Design
Bobby Bishop is a special assistant to the President of the United States. Accidentally, he meets his friend professor Pochenko on the street. Pochenk...

The Making of 'Jaws'
1995
as Self
A documentary on the making of one of the greatest films ever made, filled with trivia, interviews from cast and crew and never-before-seen footage.

Drop Zone
1994
Production Design
A daring prison break from an airliner at 30,000 feet leaves U.S. Marshal Pete Nessip mourning a brother and gunning for revenge. After being ordered ...

Geronimo: An American Legend
1993
Production Design
The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a US Government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of cor...

Everybody's All-American
1988
Production Design
Louisiana football star Gavin Grey had it all. He was an All-American champion who married his high-school sweetheart, homecoming queen Babs Rogers, a...

Starman
1984
Second Unit Director
When an alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona, the government tries to stop them.

Jaws 3-D
1983
Director
A giant thirty-five-foot shark becomes trapped in a SeaWorld theme park and it's up to the sons of police chief Brody to rescue everyone.

Escape from New York
1981
Production Design
In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam free. After the US pre...

Jaws 2
1978
Production Design, Second Unit Director
Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977
Production Design
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is abou...

Embryo
1976
Production Design
A scientist doing experiments on a human fetus discovers a method to accelerate the fetus into a mature adult in just a few days.

Jaws
1975
Production Design
When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, ...

The Sugarland Express
1974
Art Direction
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Je...

Scream, Pretty Peggy
1973
Art Direction
A sculptor hires young college girls to take care of his elderly mother and his supposedly insane sister, both of whom live in the old family mansion ...

Double Indemnity
1973
Art Direction
A scheming wife lures an insurance investigator into helping murder her husband and then declare it an accident. The investigator's boss, not knowing ...

Isn't It Shocking?
1973
Art Direction
A small-town sheriff is confronted with the deaths of local senior citizens and strange goings-on in his town.

See the Man Run
1973
Art Direction
Kidnappers making a ransom demand dial a wrong number and reach a struggling actor instead. He decides to cut himself in for some of the money.

Sarge: The Badge or the Cross
1971
Art Direction
After his wife is murdered, a veteran cop quits the police department and becomes a priest. Several years later he is assigned to a parish where he me...

Pufnstuf
1970
Art Direction
Jimmy (Jack Wild) ventures to Living Island with his magical, talking flute, Freddy. Once there, he befriends many of the island's inhabitants, but th...

The Young Country
1970
Art Direction
An adventurous young gambler searches for the owner of a mysterious fortune.

Change of Habit
1969
Assistant Art Director
Dr. John Carpenter takes the job of running a health center in a low-income district. He enlists three women to help out who — unbeknownst to him — ar...

Winning
1969
Art Direction
Frank Capua is a rising star on the race circuit who dreams of winning the big one - the Indianapolis 500. But to get there he runs the risk of losing...

Not Your Average Joe
N/A
as Self
A documentary about the career of legendary production designer Joe Alves and his four decades in Hollywood.