Thirty years ago now, Steven Speilberg’s iconic sci-fi film based on Michael Crichton’s novel of the name, Jurassic Park, brought dinosaurs back from the dead and to the big screen to the absolute amazement of all, beginning a cinematic franchise and cementing itself a classic. The film takes place in the ’90s, on a small island where the wealthy visionary John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) is in the final stages of opening his prehistoric-themed Jurassic Park, featuring real breathing dinosaurs, created using the blood of dinosaurs found in a mosquito fossilized in amber millions of years ago. Hammond is so close to fulfilling the dreams of “the children of the world.”
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Unfortunately, the park faces a lawsuit due to the death of one of the workers on the island, and to be cleared for opening, Hammond must gain the approval of paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) before things can get back on track.

Hammond was so confident in his park that he brought his own grandchildren to the island. Of course, everything goes horribly wrong, and many more die when the dinosaurs escape and wreak death and destruction, including Hammond himself — in the novel, at least. In the film, Hammond survives — even when he doesn’t deserve to.

Although he’s clearly a monster in the novel whose negligence is the direct cause of many deaths, we feel sorry for him in the film. Here’s why Speilberg spared him, but Crichton killed him, and why Hammond should’ve died in Jurassic Park.

Spielberg Cut Hammond’s Death
Universal Pictures

Hammond is a wealthy entrepreneur who funds the research to resurrect dinosaurs, so he can put them in his theme park for the world to see. He’s eccentric, persuasive, and ambitious in the film, and when his whole vision crashes down, we see his sorrow as the park’s tragic failure, and we feel it ourselves. Hence, it makes sense that Spielberg spared Hammond — it also helps to have the likable rich guy still around to fund more ventures that can be made into more films, just like Hammond did in the sequel The Lost World.

However, Hammond was actually supposed to die in the film at first. In the initial script written by the original author Crichton, there were several different times when Hammond would possibly die. Once after being scared by a twitching raptor corpse, which would cause him to fall into scaffolding, which left him vulnerable to a pack of compys, similar to the novel.

However, in the second draft, Hammond’s death is more violent as it had him devoured by a velociraptor while giving his grandchildren time to escape, which occurred as his welcome video played in the background. Even after Crichton left, the script had Hammond left behind on the island with his creations. Spielberg never planned to kill off Hammond, though, which benefited the franchise very well, though it destroyed the themes of the novel and the film.

Related: Will We See Another Jurassic Park Movie (And Should We)?

Hammond Was the Villain of the Novel
Universal Pictures

Hammond, from the novel, is a very different person from the one we meet in the film. Spielberg’s Hammond is amiable and determined, suffering from tunnel vision but well-intentioned and lovable. He persuades others to do what he wants with his smooth speech and silver tongue.

Crichton’s Hammond, however, is the exact opposite. The novel’s Hammond will stomp, shout, and scream until he gets what he wants. In the book, he states that “helping mankind is a risky business. Personally, I would never help mankind.” Helping mankind is not profitable to him personally, but a theme park full of living dinosaurs is pretty profitable. If it expands human science at the same time, that’s okay too.

Movie Hammond says Jurassic Park and its awe-inspiring residents were for “the children of the world.” Book Hammond says that too, “…or at least the rich ones.” The novel paints Hammond as a despicable businessman, the worst kind of greedy capitalist monster who cares only about making a profit with no regard for human life, bringing even his own grandchildren to a poorly built island brimming with dangerous dinosaurs.

After the dino chaos, the novel’s Hammond was strolling through the park when he heard the roar of a T-rex, which was actually a fake recording used to scare herbivores ironically set off by his grandkids. Scared, Hammond falls into a pack of compys, whose bite poisons, and he dies a slow death. The death of this man didn’t earn many tears. Hammond’s death in the novel demonstrated the folly of such unrestrained capitalism that, in Hammond’s disregard for life, he lost his own in a pathetic manner that no one mourned.

Related: 10 Live-Action Movies With Dinosaurs that Aren’t Jurassic Park

Hammond Is Actually the Villain of the Film
Universal Pictures

Hammond promised with enthusiasm that he “spared no expense” several times throughout the film, though obviously, it didn’t prove enough that a lot more expenses should’ve been spent. His arrogance and ambition blinded him from the obvious that he didn’t know what he was doing; the science was beyond him and his scientists. Ian Malcolm’s famous quote to Hammond explains it all: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Hammond had no absolutely no care for caution, and we can easily see that the disaster of Jurassic Park and all the tragedies that come later are not the unfortunate result of science running amok during the pursuit to expand human knowledge but commercialism that has become absolutely out of control in the quest to expand Hammond’s pocketbook.

Jurassic Park’s story can be considered a critique of unchecked capitalism, that even though it’s the best system of trade we’ve developed based on human nature, it can still be very dangerous if the goal is improving the cash flow instead of human life. That’s why Hammond should’ve died in the film, as the true villain of Jurassic Park, to further point out that such greed not only destroys others but yourself as well.