48th anniversary of Jaws (best film, theater, scene, vs)

[kygman]

Somebody posted on Facebook about this week being the 45th anniversary of the premiere of the movie, "Jaws". I posted a funny story regarding the movie and thought I'd post it here.
Not long after the movie came out, a friend of mine and his girlfriend were with some friends on the friend's houseboat on a lake near us. They were out in the middle of the lake when my friend and his girlfriend decided to go swimming. While they were in the water, a good bit from the boat, the owner's son decided to play the soundtrack from Jaws. So here's two people swimming in a huge fresh water lake, and they hear DA-DUM! DA-DUM! They started yelling at him to turn that music off, NOW! All he did was turn the volume up a little more. He said by the time the music reached the part where the shark bit the girl, the two of them were just about walking on water to get back to the boat. He believed if a little bluegill had bumped into his leg right about then, he would have died right there! lol

[Mark S.]

I saw this in IMAX last year. Glorious. May not be my #1 favorite movie, but I guarantee you it's in the Top 3.

[harry chickpea]

In the theatres at the time - "We're going to need a bigger restroom!"

[Hawk J]

Some sharks can live in fresh water, especially a Bull Shark can.

[2 Scoops]

There is awful footage on the Internet of an actual shark attack that took place in Egypt. A 23 year old male victim. Poor guy.

[LargeKingCat]

I remember when we were kids, going to see that film. And having nightmares. And seeing it over and over, watching our friends get scared.

Then, for months, the TV started showing documentaries about sharks, the bookstores started stocking magazines and books about sharks, little of which was accurate..... The country got caught up for a while, it seemed, in a sort of a "shark craze" I had a Jaw T-shirt, like everyone seemed to ....the quality was awful, as was common in 70's era garments...by the next year it had fallen apart and the remnants used to polish furniture.

But looking back, and seeing how the 70s offered more BAD films than GOOD films, Jaws was a huge break. It was a disaster film, but it focused ONLY on the shark, unlike previous disaster films such as Towering Inferno, Airport or Earthquake., which had as much to do with affairs, personality conflicts, dysfunctional side characters who contributed nothing to the film.........
It was a horror film, but it used a Hitchcock like style of building anticipation, slowly leading to a scene, sometimes distracting, to scare the audience, catching them off guard. In one scene, underwater, the audience knew that a shark was probably stalking a diver...not anticipating the horror that popped out of the damaged boat instead......
Horror films of the 70s , those from Hammer, Craven, Wood...failed more than not. The average horror fan in the 70s could hold little expectation and when a film like Exorcist or Jaws cam along, it seemed even more intense because by comparison, it had little competition.

It was also the consummate Man vs Nature theme, in which man, out of his element, had little to no chance vs a natural predator. Humans were unprepared for a lesser species to wreck havoc on their world, and ill-equipped and lacking the knowledge or resources to fight back, they turn to the working class hero (Quint) who offers a solution of man OVER nature, ready to be the only one to assert dominance of humans as a species. In the end, the good-guy (Brody) aided by a level headed scientist (Hooper) and a good dose of luck is able to stop the antagonist, leaving the viewer with a final scene of "I hope they get home ok"


The Film won 3 Academy Awards, Best Sound, Best Editing and Best Music (John Williams) It was nominated for best Picture, up against Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and eventual winner One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, considered by many to be the best film of the 1970s, along with The Godfather Those however, were arguable the three best films of the year.

The Movie also received best picture nominations from BAFTA, Golden Globe, and a few foreign film festivals, but it was the iconic score and John Williams that brought home the most trophies, everything from Oscar to Grammy .

In a way though, being a young teen, in a small town, it was a coming of age and the end of innocence . The summer included a first girlfriend, expanding reading about the world outside of the lands of the Philistines where i lived and an eye opening to world outside of my own, ripe with adventure and danger alike, just waiting to be explored and tamed.

[Snackmaster]

As great as Robert Shaw was in playing Quint, he was Spielberg's third choice for the role. His first choice was Lee Marvin, who said he would rather fish for real than play a fisherman in a movie. His second choice was Sterling Hayden, who wasn't available.

"Spielberg ended up watching some of Shaw’s other movies and agreeing that he was perfect. What made him so perfect? His ability to die dramatically on screen. James Bond strangled him in From Russia With Love; he was electrocuted by a train’s third rail in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three … he was a natural to slide into the gaping mouth of a killer great white."

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by Snackmaster

As great as Robert Shaw was in playing Quint, he was Spielberg's third choice for the role. His first choice was Lee Marvin, who said he would rather fish for real than play a fisherman in a movie. His second choice was Sterling Hayden, who wasn't available.

"Spielberg ended up watching some of Shaw’s other movies and agreeing that he was perfect. What made him so perfect? His ability to die dramatically on screen. James Bond strangled him in From Russia With Love; he was electrocuted by a train’s third rail in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three … he was a natural to slide into the gaping mouth of a killer great white."

Charlton Heston lobbied pretty heavily for the role of Chief Brody, but Spielberg didn't want him. Spielberg said, "If Charlton Heston is up there on the screen, the audience will know the shark doesn't stand a chance."

[KathrynAragon]

OK so I went with my parents to see Jaws in a theater when I was 13. That night, after I went to bed, my dad snuck into my room and grabbed my foot. It scared me absolutely to death!

[jim9251]

Saw JAWS in the theater on a date when it premiered. She was terrified held on to me so tightly I couldn't breathe. Said was too scared to spend the night alone. Yeah, great movie!