The Movie Club went throwback this month and we saw Jaws, the iconic thriller/suspense blockbuster celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
I’m extremely familiar with Jaws. I happen to live with someone who has said Jaws is her favorite movie, and she went to see it numerous times in the summer of 1975 when it premiered. Since then, we’ve seen the film, or parts of it, many times.
So there were no real surprises for me, and yet—what an exciting film! Preceding the movie was an excellent on-camera interview with director Steven Spielberg, who was only twenty-seven at the time he made the movie. He talked about the many production challenges associated with filming at sea and the constant snafus with the mechanical sharks (nicknamed Bruce) used as props. Then it was on to the film, which became a cultural phenomenon and ushered in the era of the summer blockbuster movie.
Spielberg knew exactly how to build suspense and terrify his audience. From the shark attack that opens the film to the jump cut of a severed head floating in the hull of a boat, to the gory, visceral scenes of a bitten-off leg sinking in the water, to the slow, bloody death of Quint as the shark devours him.
What sometimes gets lost in all the thrills and suspense is that layered beneath the primary action is a redemption story for Chief Brody. Even though a killer shark is on the loose, he succumbs to pressure from Amityville’s mayor and business leaders to keep the beaches open over the Fourth of July weekend. Then poor Alex gets eaten off his raft, and his mother later confronts Brody, accusing him of knowing what was in the water and doing nothing to protect her boy.
That’s the moment Brody knows he must make amends. An odd trio sets out to hunt the shark terrorizing their community: Roy Schieder (Brody, the police chief), Robert Shaw (Quint, the professional shark hunter), and Richard Dreyfuss (Hooper, the marine biologist)
One of the best scenes is a quiet one, with the three men in the cabin of the boat, sharing shark stories and showing scars, and Quint telling about his experience on a ship in World War II that sank, leaving more than a thousand sailors in the water, with the majority of them eaten by sharks. And then, of course, a nice rendition of “Show Me the Way to Go Home.”
It’s a fantastic movie from beginning to end, accompanied by a suspenseful soundtrack by John Williams. Jaws not only changed filmmaking, it changed every swimmer’s perspective when dipping their toes into the ocean.
