Great Movie: ''Jaws''

The scenario, as the Mayor explains to the Chief, is simple. A girl goes swimming late at night, goes too far out, and, well, a boat propellor probably killed her. The newspaper man and coroner will back up the Mayor's theory. Its happened before, so, why shouldn't the same unfortunate accident happen again. The Chief, fairly new on the job, reluctantly goes along with the phony story. He knows the story is being buried because the Mayor and his cronies do not want word to get out and spoil the summer tourist season. A boat propellor killing the girl will be the accepted story. But, the Chief has seen the body. He knows the truth. It wasn't a boat that tore up this woman's body. It was a shark...... This scene is in the beginning of the movie ''Jaws'', a movie most people have seen in their lives. The story is simple and well known. A New England town, Amity, is bedeviled by a Great White Shark that terrorises the community. The first victim is a drifter named Chrissie Watkins, who after a beach party, takes a late-night swim and encounters the beast from below. Chief Brody finds the body the next day and immediately wants to close the beaches to save lives. But, the powerful men in town, led by Mayor Vaughn, talk him out of it. The beaches stay open, and, then, soon enough, more shark attacks happen until the town has no other option than to close the beaches and hire a professional fisherman to kill the shark. The fisherman, Quint, wants ten thousand dollars and a new color TV and apricot brandy as his price. The town gives him what he wants, and, the second half of the movie concerns Quint, Brody, and the shark expert Hooper, out on Quint's rickety boat hunting the shark...... I will not go further in explaining the plot because there might be some reading this who have not seen the movie and I hate it when key plot points are ruined by others. If you have not seen this movie, you need to. It is one of the essential movies that a film lover must see. When the film came out June 20, 1975, it took the world by storm. ''Jawsmania'' ensued, with, for the first time, marketing of a film went hand in hand with the actual film itself. Overnight, shark sightings and shark stories abounded. T-shirts, coffeecups, posters, etc, became common. I had a shark poster adorning my wall in my bedroom. Quickly, the film became the most financially successful movie of all-time, until ''Star Wars'' broke the record two years later. But, ''Jaws'' is always called the first blockbuster film. Before the summer of 75, the movie theaters were dumping grounds for the studios. They believed that the public would not want to sit in a dark theater when it wanted to be out in the nice weather. ''Jaws'' changed all of that. Along with the new concept of advertising a film on TV --- which had never been done before--- the studio, Universal, decided to open the film ''wide'', meaning many theaters, not just one or two in a town which had been the procedure for years. With this marketing strategy, ''Jaws'' became the most popular film in history. And, it opened the door for more blockbuster movies to open. Now, it seems like every weekend a new, big-budget film invades the theaters. ''Jaws'' broke the seal for this type of movie. You can conclude for yourself if this was a good thing or bad thing for movies........ The film is based on the 1974 novel by a novice writer named Peter Benchley. What Benchley did was essentially take the story of ''Moby Dick'', modernize it, add a shark instead of a whale as the villian, and wrote his book. The book is not very good. It brings in the subplots of infidelity and the mob. Also, the characters in the book are not very likable. When Steven Spielberg, the future director of ''Jaws'', first read the novel he said he rooted for the shark. So, when the producers, Richard Zanuck and David Brown, first bought the rights to the book, they wisely saw the flaws in ''Jaws'' and concentrated on the central story of the shark attacks and the hunt for the shark. And, mostly, the best move these two giants in the film industry did was hire an unknown, twenty-four year-old director named Spielberg to helm the project. Spielberg showed for the first time [ but, certainly not the last ] why he is a cinematic genius. The first half of the film we do not see the shark. That was because during the making of the film the mechanical shark needed for these scenes did not work. So, while the repairs were being made, Spielberg had to improvise. Instead of seeing the actual shark kill the victims, we , the audience, would be the shark. Underwater, the camera would move about and slowly, but, with mounting tension, prey upon the swimmers. This, along with the legendary score by John Williams, led more terror to the attacks than if we just witnessed the attacks first-hand by the shark. Suspense was introduced, and, it is this feeling that the audience is always on the edge of their seats, worrying about the next attack. Steven Spielberg also has fun with this technique. He plays us very well, manipulating our fears and emotions. This is what a director should do, have some fun at our expense. He gives us terror, but, he also gives us laughs. Despite the premise and the scary moments, the movie is great fun. When we scream in fright, it is the scream we use on a rollercoaster or some other ride that we willingly let ourselves be scared by. Being scared with an audience in a theater is great joy. After the fright, you can feel the emotions and the deflating of the fear. We all catch a collective sigh of relief. More than any other filmmaker in history, we have allowed ourselves to be putty in Steven Spielberg's hands. He takes us on a journey--- and, we grateful go along with the ride....... The film has so many marvelous scenes and moments. There is the boy on the raft. There are the guys on the pier. There is Brody and Hooper out on Hooper's boat late at night looking for a fellow fisherman. There are false alarms and then real jolts of terror. And, then there is that last hour in the film, where the three men are out looking for the shark. The acting in this movie is superb. Chief Brody is played by the great Roy Scheider. Hooper, the cocky shark expert, is played by the equally cocky, but, appealling Richard Dreyfuss. And, Quint, the shark hunter, the grisled veteran who is the old man of the sea, is played royally by Robert Shaw, with his chewing the scenery with the bigness of his character. The acting by these three is always overlooked. After all, the real star of the movie is a shark. To play opposite such an uncontrollable force many times can be an exercise in frustration for an actor. Not these three. They all have standout moments that is suitable for their characters. And, the fact that all three weren't movie stars was crucial [ they became stars after the movie's success]. They provide the ordinary feeling that is needed. Scheider, especially, is us on the movie screen. He behaves as we all would behave: scared, appalled, confused, and sad. Hooper explains to us the technical details we need to know, but, is never patronizing or unlikable in doing so. He is the most charming character in the film. And, Quint provides the revenge angle. We want that shark killed. Quint himself wants that shark killed for a different reason. We find out why in the single best scene in the movie........ It is late at night of the first day at sea. The men have finished their dinner, and it looks like drinks have been served. Perhaps, the apricot brandy that Quint demanded. The men relax around each other and both Quint and Hooper start to compare their war stories about close encounters with sharks. It is a funny scene and it bonds the characters with each other. Then, after the laughs have been laughed, Hooper notices a tattoo on the arm of Quint that is removed. Quint explains that the tattoo is from the ''USS INDIANAPOLIS''. Hooper quickly sobers up when he hears this. Brody, unaware of what that name means, asks about it. Perhaps, because it is late at night, when a person's emotions are more open than any other time of the day--- and, maybe, because he is weary from the brandy and is lonely and wants to talk---- Quint explains the story of the ship. In the dying days of World War Two, Quint was on the Indianapolis, where he and his mates delivered the nuclear bomb that would soon be dropped on Hiroshima. After dropping the bomb off, and while they were heading home, their ship was cut in half by a Japanese torpedo. Eleven hundred men went into the water and the ship went down in less than a half-hour. Quint then describes in graphic detail on how they were sitting ducks for the sharks in the water. The men were picked off and eaten by these sharks for the next few days, until help arrived. This story, which is a true story from World War Two, is played brilliantly by Robert Shaw. The storytelling and the acting blend into a marvelous monologue. The other men, Brody and Hooper, are spellbound listening to him, as is the audience. After he has concluded his tale, there is a brief silence as the characters and the audience take in the information and silently process its full impact. Now, we know why Quint has a special reason for hunting sharks. It is his living, yes, but, also, he is trying to avenge the wrongs that were committed against his lost comrades aboard that ship. The scene is extraordinary. And, more so, because for a few minutes, we forget all about the shark they are hunting and just listen to this man and his pain. Then, Steven Spielberg, in another example of his directing genius, shows us from the outside the shark coming close to the boat, looking for the men. We have let our emotional guard down. Now, it is time to bring it back up again...... The ending is different than the book, thank goodness. Again, for those who have not seen it I will not go further. But, it fits with the rest of the movie........ This movie I saw in that summer of 1975. It was at the old and now long-gone Golf Mill Theaters in Park Ridge. It was the first movie that I ever stood in a long line for. I went with my Dad, brother Tommy, and my Uncle Tom. It remains the most vivid moviegoing experience of my life. I even can tell you what I was wearing that night: an Acapulco T-shirt. I had just gotten back from a vacation in Mexico with my Uncle and brother and Grandmother. We went in the ocean on that trip. After I saw the movie, there were no more trips in the ocean........