"JAWS" GUTSY

          Talkin' 'bout sharkin'.
          Based on Peter Benchley's 1974 bestseller, Steven Spielberg's smash hit Jaws (1975) defined the summer blockbuster. What Hitchcock did for the bathroom shower, Spielberg did for oceans, rivers, and swimming pools.
          At the time that Spielberg directed the movie he was only 27, yet International Movie Database lists 17 prior directorial credits. Episodes of TV shows, mostly, including "Night Gallery" and "Columbo".
          It's the story of a small island community dependent on summer tourism. When a young woman is killed by a Great White shark, the town mayor tries to keep the situation quiet. But when more attacks occur, the town hires a salty old sea dog named Quint (Shaw) to find the shark and kill it.
          At the center of the action is the town's new police chief, Brody (Scheider), who is himself a sort of fish out of water, wanting to do the right thing, but not really knowing how. His sympathies lie with Hooper (Dreyfuss), the college boy sent by the Oceanographic Institute to determine the species and size of the rogue shark.
          As a backdrop to the story, the so-called Generation Gap. Almost all of the authority figures can't really be trusted, the exception being Brody. In a sense the film crests a cultural wave. Post-Watergate, audiences had an appetite for suspicion toward the mainstream, even disdain. When Brody and Hooper accompany Quint on his little boat, the conflict between young Hooper and old Quint sustains interest until such times as the shark appears.
          Robert Shaw, the hit-man who fights Sean Connery in From Russia, With Love, and the mob boss Paul Newman and Robert Redford take on in The Sting, also happened to be an award-winning playwright.
          For filmmaking purposes, much of the action with the shark needed to be set during the daytime, and occur in ways that would affect audiences at the expense of accuracy. As an unintended consequence, people started trying to get back at sharks. Many a Great White was killed worldwide directly because of Jaws.
          One of the things that makes the film so effective was the unreliability of the mechanical shark. Because of difficulties making it properly operate, Spielberg often had to find new ways to shoot scenes which actually increased suspense.
          And then there's the music. In 1974, Spielberg approached one John Williams to write the music for his film The Sugarland Express, and then the next year they had the huge hit with Jaws. To this day, the simple notes indicating the shark moving in the water are instantly recognizable even to people who've never seen the movie.
          Some movies crush beer cans with their bare hands, while others do the same to Styrofoam cups. Jaws crushes kegs. With teeth.
          Hunt down the summer movie wherever fine films are found.


JAWS
Starring Robert Shaw,
Roy Scheider,
Richard Dreyfuss,
Lorraine Gary,
Murray Hamilton
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb
Based on the novel by Peter Benchley
Runtime 124 minutes


Stewart Kirby writes for 
THE INDEPENDENT
and
TWO RIVERS TRIBUNE