The Perfect Summer Movie

Rating: 10/10 (4 March 2004)

Perfect. Although not a word most reviewers ever dare put on the printed page for fear of its literal translation, I cannot think of a better word to describe the 1975 fish-in-the-water film Jaws. Perfect.
Directed by a relative unknown film geek named Steven Spielberg, Jaws opened in the summer of 1975 with reasonable expectations. Universal Studios at first thought very little of the movie during production, but the reaction from the test audiences was electric. What resulted, sparked change in the movie industry and revolutionized the summer box office for years to come.
Jaws begins innocently enough as a group of young men and women are drinking and singing around a beach campfire at dusk when two people decide to go for a late night skin-dip. As the male passes out on the beach, the female dives into the waters off Amity Island where suddenly she is pulled under like a bobby on a fishing line. Looking both terrorized and confused, she does not scream right away. Within seconds she is being torn from side to side screaming relentlessly for help. Suddenly she is pulled under and the quiet calm waters overshadow the chaos that just ensued.

The next day, the young man who accompanied the girl to the waters' edge searches the beach with Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) in hopes of finding his lost companion. A deputy's whistle leads them to the gruesome discovery of a hand lying on the beach. The mystery was over, the girl was dead.
This was the opening scene in Jaws, an adrenaline pumping few minutes that incorporated sex, nudity, terror and horror. The game was afoot and Spielberg was on his way to establishing himself as the master behind the camera.
Adapted by the best selling novel by Peter Benchley, Jaws is a story about hunting. A police chief, a marine biologist and a gruffy sea captain hunt the shark while the shark continues to hunt and terrorize the community. When the beaches remain open and a little child becomes the second victim, Brody enlists the help of Matt Hooper (Richard Dryfuss) to help convince the mayor of the town that the beach is unsafe. Unwilling to close the door on tourism revenue during the holiday season, the mayor keeps the beaches open and Hooper, Brody and expert fisherman Quint, take to the sea in hopes of locating and capturing their lurking predator.
Twenty-years later, more is known about the making of Jaws that makes it even more enjoyable viewing. For instance, we know that the shark created for the film was never tested and sunk to the bottom of the ocean on first trial. As a result, Spielberg used a camera angle that gave us the view from the shark instead of producing the actual beast itself. The result was pure terror as most of the thrilling scenes had a predator that was more implied than exploited.
The new collectors edition DVD features many interesting extras that give us a glimpse into the hell that was the making of this film. A documentary featurette titled 'Spotlight on Location: The Making of Jaws', details how Robert Shaw had a temper, constantly fought on set with Richard Dryfuss and that he showed up for some scenes intoxicated. We also learn that Lee Marvin was Spielberg's first choice to play Quint, and how John Williams' contribution of the score was the icing that packaged the cake. A recapping of the test audience by Dryfuss takes you back to a golden age of movies when reactions were more commonplace, and how Spielberg handled the pressure of the studio executives when the film's production time ran from 55 to 155 days. Fascinating stuff.
It actually amazing to see the documentary and watch the film again with the knowledge that it was only Spielberg's second real shot behind the camera after The Sugarland Express. To see him handle the drunken Shaw, the drowning Bruce (the name given to the mechanical shark) and the feuds between cast members to produce such a flawless film, is a precursor to what Steven became in later years.
Almost thirty years later the affects of Jaws are widely accepted as commonplace. Jaws was the first ever film to cross over the $100 domestic growth plateau that is now used as a benchmark to rate the overall success of a films popularity. Over 65 million people went to see Jaws in 1975, which made it the first summer blockbuster, and it was one of the first films to report and have widely publicized the weekly receipts totals.

1975 was indeed the year of the shark. From Time Magazine to local newscasts, sharks were everywhere, and thanks to Spielberg, they were in our nightmares too. Perfect.