JAWS (1975)

I watch it every 4th of July. Absolutely love Robert Shaw.

The first trailer that started about three months before it opened didn't really show anything. It was basically the music and Coming This Summer and it was very effective. The book was such a blockbuster that it didn't need more.

The special effects (such as they are) for 1968’s The Lost Continent were supervised by Robert A. Mattey, who later supervised the creation of Bruce the shark for Jaws. The Lost Continent is a Hammer horror film starring Eric Porter as the captain.

I always liked Murray Hamilton as the Mayor

I loved his blazers. Especially the striped one

I love Jaws so much - I think it may be Spielberg’s least self-conscious movie.

Still an excellent movie.

Jaws is a masterpiece. I also like the sequels, even Jaws: The Revenge with the roaring shark at the end.

I did a job in Edgartown, Massachusetts, the town where the exteriors for the movie were filmed, about 25 years ago. The bank I was working with had a plaque from the movie displayed inside that said "Amityville National Bank." The production had put it up on the bank's exterior for a scene here Roy Scheider is walking down the town's main street.

One of the employees of the bank had been an extra in the beach scene where the boy gets killed by the shark. She said they filmed that scene in the off-season when it was cold outside. Everyone had to jump into freezing cold water, and when Spielberg yelled "cut," everyone ran out of the water where crew members were standing by to throw huge warming blankets all over everyone.

R5 Both are so 1970's

Me and two buddies saw it the night it opened at the theater in the mall near us. We were probably 14 or so. The place was packed and we ended up in the first row. The audience was freaked out!! We were scared shitless. We ran home, part of the way near the water. I got home, everyone was out. I turned on all the fucking lights. Sat on the couch, at one point pulled my legs up in a panic. Then it occurred to me....it was about a fucking fish!!! Yup, was a MARY! even back then.

Spielberg's original cast was going to be:

Robert Duvall as Brody

Lee Marvin or Sterling Hayden as Quint

Murray Hamilton as the Mayor

Jon Voight as Hooper

My sister visited with the kids and we watched this Saturday night!! It’s still fun!

I could actually see that cast working, though, R12. That said, I wouldn't change a thing. Jaws is a perfect movie... a classic that never loses its luster.

I still want the mayor's badass anchor jacket.

Jaws is a masterpiece. Perfect in every way.

I saw it with family when I was 13. We did a double feature day, seeing The Hindenburg first (boring), then Jaws. I still vividly remember jumping out of my seat when the head popped out of the side of the boat while Richard Dreyfuss was diving underwater.

I saw it in a packed theater when it first opened. I perfectly remember people lifting their feet during the scene when one of the two older guys on the collapsed dock is slipping back as he's trying to climb it as the shark is supposedly coming towards him.

I've never seen this movie and never wanted to.

Why is it a "masterpiece?" Isn't it just a honor movie? Is there any interesting character development or plot?

Sorry, *horror movie.

[quote]Is there any interesting character development or plot?

Bruce has a come to Jesus moment and becomes a vegetarian.

R18 - just take the time to watch. You won't regret it. It's streaming on Peacock currently.

My parents took me( 12) and my sister (10) to see it when it opened. We were upstate, at my grandmas, near a lake. The next day my sister and I refused to go in the water even though mom kept insisting “Sharks don’t live in lakes!”

Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and wanna godabed, Ihadalildrink 'boutanourago anditschgonrighdomyead

Oh, I don't think it's a "perfect" movie, but it's a classic, flaws and all and I love it.

I loved Roy S. as Chief Brody. He was a skinny, dorky looking guy with glasses, but he killed the shark! As a kid I had a bit of a crush on him in this. There was one quick shot with him shirtless (when building the shark cage) that I used to pause on the video tape. Every time I watched. Loved his tan skin.

Agree r24

R18, Brody, the police chief was scared of water and sent out on a boat to kill a shark as big or bigger than the boat he was on.

Quint was the captain of the boat who had been on a vessel that delivered the nuclear device later dropped on Japan. That vessel ended up sinking and the crew were slowly devoured by sharks while the classified nature of their mission delayed rescue. He was eventually devoured by the shark in the movie.

Hooper was a rich ivy league marine biologist dealing with these two blue collar everymen. The bond between the characters grew throughout the movie.

For the time, it was an impressive movie with a stellar cast and director.

But, you know what? Continue to criticize a movie you haven't watched, you simp.

Wonderful, subdued performance from Lorraine "Look my husband runs this joint and I'm gonna be a big star, see?" Gary!

I read the book when I was a teen. The very explicit sex scenes were jerk off material. I thought I was straight then.

I was only 11 the summer Jaws came out and too young to be admitted to the movie. Word got out that a theatre on the other side of our suburban town wasn't checking ID and letting pretty much anybody in. Me and 6 of my pals schlepped by bus for about 90 minutes to get to the movie but it was so worth it. Sort of a right of passage of my adolescence.

It's fairly common knowledge in the industry that in pre-production for Jaws various names were being thrown around and Lucille Ball was considered for the part of Quint. Spielberg loved the idea of changing the gender of the Quint character from the book (the name would have been changed to Joanne) especially if Lucy was involved as she could bring both pathos and humor to the film, something that was very much lacking in the original script. Apparantly, Lucy asked to have some of her writers come up with some comedic 'bits' for her on the boat, too. At one point, Lucy was very gung-ho about going forward with it and the powers that be at Universal were thrilled because Lucy's name guaranteed a built-in audience. For reasons that remian obscure, at some point Lucy soured on the idea and dropped out of the project, or was advised to by someone in her inner circle. It's amazing to think what could have been...

I only ever saw the scene where the shark attacks the boat. I laughed at how terrible the effect was.

Anyway, I like this version. It came out during quarantine.

R30 bullshit

I believe some footage was shot but ultimately deemed unusable after repeated takes of the shark "chomping" on Lucy had her mugging for the camera by doing the "spider face" gag.

Lucille Ball was not even a good actress.

Fun fact: the guy that played Quint was King Henry VIII in a DL favorite, A Man For All Seasons

Pompous with over acting. I hate it.

R18 It's not a "horror" movie, per se. It's a thriller, but it's also a human story, and each character is rich and fully developed. It's also an example of Spielberg's masterful direction and his ability to build tension with the camera and the ingenious use of music. You don't even bet a glimpse of the shark until halfway through the movie, yet you're terrified of it within the first five minutes.

Watch it. You won't regret it.

R35 "That guy" was Robert Shaw.

From the formidable assassin to Sean Connery's James Bond to the sonorous Claudius against Christopher Plummer's Hamlet to the terrorist architect Mr. Blue in Taking the Pelham One Two Three.

Robert Shaw was one of the finest actors of a generation.

R38 And he was a hot piece of ass in "From Russia With Love."

R29 the movie was rated PG not R.

R30 I was told Mary Wickes was considered for the tough-as-nails role of Quint. She was deemed too rugged in comparison with Richard Dreyfus. She later reflected on this by stating “Mutiny”!

R39 Yes he was. He was also a notorious alcoholic with his friends Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris, Oliver Reed, and Albert Finney.

According to legend, it was Hitchcock who said of Spielberg, "he's the first one of us that doesn't see the proscenium arch."

Point being, this guy is truly changing the form. It's one reason why 'Jaws' is so immersive, pun intended.

Raging cabals of notorious alcoholics made Hollywood interesting and fun!

Bob & Mary

I was five when my mom took my older sister and me to see Jaws. I was terrified and Mom had to take us next door to see Snow White.

The evil witch in Snow White scared the fuck out of me, R46!

Meanwhile, in a different magical kingdom...

Note to the Lucy troll: your Lucy-was-almost-cast jokes have run their course. Think about something new.

[quote] I've never seen this movie and never wanted to. Why is it a "masterpiece?" Isn't it just a honor movie? Is there any interesting character development or plot

Well take two hours out of your life and watch it. But don't watch it in the middle of the day all cut up. Watch it in the dark and letterboxed as it was meant to be scene.

After seeing Jaws that summer (at age twelve) I was afraid to close my eyes in the shower to rinse the shampoo out of my hair!

It opened Friday June 20, 1975. From Long Island where Benchley set the book. Quint was based on a real shark hunter from Montauk. As a family, we went to the first Saturday matinee on the 21st at 2PM in a packed house. The theater would end up being packed for months.

In 2015 Universal played it two days for the 40th anniversary, June 21 and 24. I went to the 2PM matinee on the 21st. So I saw "Jaws" exactly 40 years apart to the minute and day at the movies. Unfortunately the grand single screen theatre I originally saw it has been long gone.

This is where I saw it...

Shit...they tore it down.

I was 13 when it came out. I remember reading the book on the beach that year, people were genuinely terrified by the movie. Times were definitely simpler then.

Yes and no R55 - do you remember all the media hyped “summer of the shark” hysteria in 2001?

September 11 made all that seem very quaint.

Out of all of the scenes in the movie, this one specifically kept me out of the ocean forever. I was 5 years old when I first saw this movie. Maybe that's why.

R29 💩🦈💩🦈💩

What a great movie. I love Robert Shaw in this.

[quote] I still vividly remember jumping out of my seat when the head popped out of the side of the boat while Richard Dreyfuss was diving underwater.

There were at least three scenes Spielberg had the audiences jump. It was a shame his work later turned all schmaltzy.

R53 Oh, my God! Me, too! The Cooper was the best theatre in Denver. I also saw Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third kind there.

I’m a PA strictly dedicated to keeping Roy Scheider in cigarettes

When I was a little kid the movie that scared the shit out of me at 5, was going to the movies to see Pinocchio. Disney. That whole movie wsa weird and scary, but the whale was the worst part.

Hanna-Barbera capitalized on the Jaws furor with a crime busting shark with a Brooklyn accent.

Candygram!

Re-watching this movie now. Poor Chief Brody - why does he have such ugly kids, especially the little one? That's probably why he left NYC - the wife has some explaining to do.

R66 She wasn't a good actress.

The novel clarifies a couple of points left unclear in the movie.

First the mayor was desperate to keep the beaches open because the mob had invested heavily in local real estate and if they lost money he would be in more danger from them than the shark.

Secondly Brody had been a brutal NYPD cop who was mellowing out in the country.

Third Mrs Brody was a California socialite who had married beneath herself and she and Hooper were sneaking off to a motel behind the sheriff's back.

^I read the book years ago & I did vaguely remember Mrs. Brody getting it on with someone, but I couldn't remember who.

That said, the part about the locals having a brief window in which to make $$ is actually very true to life. I knew islanders and while they weren't exactly poor, they needed to work long & hard in the summer to make it through the winter (without any kind of assistance). Since then, island life for the less-than wealthy (and there are more of them than you think) has gotten even harder.

I know Lorraine Gary wanted to keep the love scene and even offered to show muff...

R66 but Michael and Sean grew up to be good looking. So, that’s what counts I guess.

(I thought Jaws 2 Michael was so cute. Bad actor, but cute)

I remember leaving the theater and running through the

parking lot to my car actually afraid of land sharks!

Did anyone go on the Jaws ride at Universal Studios? I specifically went on the one in Japan as the ride in the US was sadly shut. I had a blast.

I did r73. In 2002 in Orlando. Loved it. It was spooky being in the shed thing and not knowing if/when the shark was coming. The anticipation of an attack was great.

They should’ve kept that one and King Kong. They’re classics.

I hope they never get rid of the ET ride, that might be the last original 1990 attraction.

[quote]She wasn't a good actress.

She didn't have to be, she was the wife of Sid Sheinberg, the president of Universal Pictures for 60 years.

R75 At least you know she was good in bed.

No Jaws thread is complete without...

& round 2 =

[quote] She wasn't a good actress.

What makes you say that, she was perfect in this.

Here's the dolly zoom shot of Brody, sitting on his beach chair, surveying the water, and realizing someone just got attacked by a shark.

This film scared me the most when I was a kid. I grew up near the beach in CA and was about the same age as the boy who got killed on the raft when I saw it for the first time.

Disco version of the theme from Jaws

"First the mayor was desperate to keep the beaches open because the mob had invested heavily in local real estate and if they lost money he would be in more danger from them than the shark."

There are many reasons the script is better than the book, and that's one. In the book the mayor is just another corrupt villain, in the movie he's a basically decent guy who doesn't pressure Brody for his own reasons... he pressures Brody on behalf of all the townspeople who need to make a year's income out of the brief summer tourist season. That's actually a much better hook, it's a plea a decent man can't ignore.

The other reason is that Hooper is just another frat boy asshole in the book, and in the movie he's this hilariously dedicated nerd. I adore Hooper, and not just because he's the only character with a sense of humor! No, it's because when he tells Brody that he paid for his shark-detecting boat out of family funds he's not arrogant because he's rich, or blithely ignorant of his privileges. No, he's embarrassed that he couldn't get a grant to pay for it! That was a little moment of genius, and I don't know who gets the credit for it - the writers, Spielberg, or Dreyfuss.

"Show me the way to go home. I'm tired and I wanna go to bed. Well I had a little drink bout an hour ago and it's gone straight to me head.

Wherever I may roam on land or sea or form You can always hear me singing a song Show me the way to your home Wherever I may roam on land or sea or form Well, he can always hear me singing a song Show me a way in your home i gotta go home Just point me home. "

I still sing this song to myself when I'm somewhere and I want to go home. One of the best scenes in the movie. Robert Shaw was drunk, 😂. There was something unique, imo, about RS eyes. I can't explain what it was , but his piercing stare seemed as if he could look straight through you. Enjoy:

This always sends shivers down my spine every time I watch Jaws

r85 Especially considering it's a true story.

I couldn't even go in the swimming pool for a year after I saw Jaws. It wasn't the shark that scared me, it was the water.