Right, its post revisitation time and this un will be on an old classic blockbuster, in fact its one of the original blockbusters and the film in question is of course Steven Spielberg's classic thriller, Jaws.
So let's give this modern classic another look and see how it has faired after all this time....
And even though we all pretty much know the plot, for the sake of it I figured I dish out the usual warning anyway....
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, it all starts in the quiet seaside down of Amity Island where a rouge great white shark swims the waters, and a young girl Chrissie Watkins (Susan Backlinie) is killed by the shark while take a skinnydip in the water. After this the town chief of police, Martin Brody (Roy Schneider), alerts the town mayor Larry Vaughan (Murray Hamilton) of the danger, who is largely uninterested as he is more concerned that the tourists come to town as they are town's main source of income, and also goes as far as asking Brody to cover up his autopsy report on the girl as a "boating accident" rather than a shark attack.
Despite Brody's warnings and the mayor's negligence to do anything about it, a young boy is killed in the water by the shark, after which a bounty is put out, which brings in a whole bunch of greedy fishermen who want the prize money for killing the big fish, but despite their best efforts, they fail to kill the shark they were looking for and instead catch a "tiger" shark as identified by an expert from the Oceangraphic institute, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfus) called in by Brody, who helps him try and locate the shark.
However despite their best efforts, on 4th of July, Amity's busiest day of the summer, the mayor insists the beaches stay open, which leads to yet another shark attack, where a young man rowing a boat is capsized and then killed by the shark. Finally Brody convinces the mayor to hire local veteran fisherman, Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt and kill the shark. Brody also persuades Quint into bringing along Hooper to help out in their quest, but of course Quint being a stubborn old school guy takes umbrage to the young college boy upstart in Hooper. And the rest of the films sees the men embark on their dangerous journey to find and kill the rouge great white shark.....
THOUGHTS
Jaws is without doubt an absolute classic thriller, and is easily one of Steven Spielberg's best films, it was the film that announced his career and he effectively invented the summer blockbuster with this one film as well. And even after 42 years, Jaws is still as effective as ever, as a piece of suspense it is nearly second to none, Spielberg adds in as many cheap frights as he can, and I'm sure the audiences back then would have been jumping out of their seats.
But the film definitely works best when we don't see the shark, particularly early on in the film in the opening scene where the first victim Chrissie Watkins is being violenty pulled back and forth in the water by an unseen force, as well as the scene with the two fishermen using a pound of roast to attract the shark to shore, which it takes as bait and attacks the men.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers!)
As for the performances, this is where the film scores big as the cast are all on top form, particularly the three lead actors.
Starting with Roy Schneider who is great in his role as Chief Broady, who is burdened with having to deal with the shark situation on Amity island.
Roy has plenty of highlights that include the scene at the beginning of the film where he wakes up and looks outside to see where the kids are and he tells his wife, Ellen, they are playing out back. And Ellen says "In Amity you say the yaaard" in a Boston accent and Brody mimics her accent by saying "They're in the yaaard, not too faaaar from the caaaar! How's that?" and Ellen says "Now you sound like you are from New York!".
Then there is the scene where Broady nervously monitors the beach whilst his family are with him and he notices something bob ontop of the water, which turns out to be an old man swimming with a cap on. And the old fella walks over to Brody later and says "You don't go in the water at all, do you chief?" and Brody replies "That's some bad hat Harry!". Which later came the name of the production company belonging to film director Bryan Singer (admittedly I have to say its a crap name!).
And also the scene where Brody after a tough day decide to get drunk and he invites Hooper around for dinnner. And after Hooper sits with them, Brody say to Hooper "Why don't we get another drink and cut that shark open" his wife, Ellen, says "Martin, can you do that?" and Brody replies "I can do anything I'm the chief of police!".
Another good scene for Schneider is where Brody and Hooper try to convince the mayor into closing the beaches. And Brody says to the mayor "If you open the beaches on the 4th of July it will be like ringing the dinner bell for Christ's sake!".
Then there is classic moment where Broady throws out some chum markers to lure the shark (chums are basically a mix of fish, bone and blood). And as Quint tells Hooper to steer the boat and go "slow ahead", Brody says to them "I can go slower ahead, why don't you come down here and chum some of this shit!". However at this point the shark suddenly rises out of the water without warning, and Quint nervous flinches and backs slowly into the living quarters of the boat and says to Quint the classic line "You're gonna need a bigger boat!".
And of course there is penultimate scene near the end where Brody faces off against the shark and he throws a compressed air canister into its mouth and he fires his rifle at it as it closes in on him and he says that classic line "Smile you son of a bitch!". And well I won't give away the next bit but you can guess what happens.....!
Richard Dreyfuss is also great as Hooper, the youngest of the three men and an expert from the oceangraphic institute, who could almost be spoilt and bratish in his manner, as he comes from a wealthy background, but ultimately Hooper is far more sussed than just about everyone else in the film.
And Dreyfuss has his fare share of great moments such as the scene where he examines the remains of Chrissie Watkins and he angrily refutes the coroner's report and says "Now this wasn't a boating accident! It was no propeller, no coral reef and it wasn't Jack the ripper!". And Hooper takes a moment and washes his face and then he looks up at Brody and says "It was a shark!".
Then there is the great scene where Hooper tries to convince the mayor into closing the beaches after they find the wrecked remains of a local fisherman's boat. However the mayor refuses to listen, so Hooper gives up by saying "Right that's it, Martin! I'm not staying here listening to a man, lining up to be a hot lunch, I'll see you later!" as well as "I think I am aware of the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ASS! Now there are either two ways you can deal with this, you are either gonna kill this animal or cut off its food supply!".
Then Hooper makes a last ditch attempt to convince the mayor and says to him "Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all. Now, why don't you take a long, close look at this sign". And Hooper points to a vandalised billboard sign showing a shark fin popping out the water and Hooper says to the mayor "Those proportions are correct" but the mayor scoffs at Hooper and says "Love to you prove that, wouldn't ya? Get your name into the national geographic!" and he shakes his head and walks off, leaving Hooper to laugh out load in dispair.
Dreyfus also shares a good albeit tense onscreen relationship with Robert Shaw, which was mirrored in real life, on account of Shaw's competitive nature and heavy drinking. And one of their funny scenes comes when Hooper thinks he's caught the shark, but whatever it is get's away and Quint puts him in his place, which leaves Hooper pulling faces behind his back! And he mocks Qunit by putting on a pirate voice "Aye aye, Jim boy, arrr!!" and then he impersonates the American comedian and actor, W.C. Fields by saying "I don't have to take this abuse much longer!".
Then there is the seen where Hooper and Quint have a little moment where they bond as they show each other their inuries from encounters with fish in the waters. And Hooper opens the top of his shirt and shows him a faint scar on his chest and he says "You see this?" and Brody says "What is it?" and Hooper tells him "Mary Ellen Moffat. She broke my heart!" and he bursts into a fit of laughter. And afterward, Brody notices a tatoo on Quint's arm and asks what it is and Quint "Oh, that's just an old tatoo I had it removed" and Hooper butts in and says "Don't tell me, don't tell me. "Mother!" and he bursts out laughing again.
And then there is the scene where, Quint begins to admit defeat as he has run out of ideas on how to kill the shark, so finally asks Hooper what he can do with this gadgets and items to kill the shark. So, Hooper takes out a harpoon needle and says "Well, I think I can pump 20 cc's of strychnine nitrate into him, if I can get close enough". And Quint looks at the needle and asks "Can you get this little needle through his skin?" and Hooper says "No, I can't do that. But if I can get him close enough to this cafe, I think I can get him in the mouth or the eye....". However, Brody interrupts and says "That shark will rip that cage to pieces!" and Hooper shouts back "YOU GOT ANY BETTER SUGGESTIONS???!".
Robert Shaw is also great in his role as Quint, the old veteran seaman, who runs the task of hunting down the rogue shark that terrorises Amity island.
Shaw has plenty of great memorable moments also that include his first scene is great where he introduces himself memorably by scraping his fingers down a blackboard during a town hall meeting.
And in the scene Hooper makes his offer to the townsfolk to kill the shark and says "You all know me, you all know how I make a livin. This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this island. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing!".
Also another great moment is where Quint confronts Hooper on their first meeting and says to him "When you got a 5000 dollars net, you got 2000 dollars worth of fisherman. And along comes Mr. Whitey, by the time he's finished with that net, it looks like a kiddy's scissor class has cut it up for a paper doll! You got city hands, Mr. Hooper. You've been counting money all your life!".
Then there is of course the scene where Quint is about to set sail with Brody and Hooper and in a jovial mood he spouts out some dirty limericks and silly songs, some of which include "Here lies the body of Mary-Lee, died at the age of 103, for 15 years she kept her virginity! Not a bad record for this vicinity!". And of course there is the song "Farewell and adieu to fair Spanish ladies, fairwell and adieu to you ladies of Spain! For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we be seeing you again!".
And later when onboard the boat where Quint puts Hooper in his place again by saying he doesn't know what bit through his fishing line. And Quint says to Hooper "Gamin' fish eh? Marlin? Stingray? Bit through this piano wire?! Don't you tell me my business again!" and Hooper says "Quint, that doesn't prove a damn thing!" and Quin says "Well it proves one thing, Mr Hooper, that you wealthy college boys don't have the education to admit when you are wrong!".
And perhaps the film's best scene and one of its highlights is undoubtedly of course where the men sit around at night in the cabin of the Orca (Quint's boat) sharing jokes, and Quint gives his chilling account of his experience of being one of the crewmates onboard the USS Indianapolis, during the Second World War, which was attacked by the Japanese, which left the survivors in the Pacific ocean at the mercy of sharks.
And Shaw's delivery of this scene is perfect as well as chilling and perhaps the best line is where he tells Brody and Hooper: "Sometimes that shark look right at you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about shark he's got black eyes, lifeless eyes... like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn't seem to be livin. Until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and the ocean turns red". And Quint finishes by telling them "So, eleven hundred men went into the water, three hundred sixteen men come out, and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway... we delivered the bomb".
Also in regards to the supporting cast Murray Hamilton is also excellent as Mayor Vaughan, who is determined to keep the beaches open despite the dangers in the waters of Amity.
Hamilton also has some great moments such as the scene where the Mayor persuades Brody to change his report on the first shark attack in order to cover up the death to avoid any impact on their business for the summer. And in the scene the Mayor says to Brody "Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July!".
Then there is the scene where Hooper arrives on the island just after the fishermen have caught a tiger shark, and Hooper suggests they cut it open to ensure it killed the boy, Alex Kitner. And Vaughan says "Listen fellas, this is hardly the time or the place to carry out some sort half-assed autopsy on a fish! And I am not going to stand there and watch that thing cut open and see that little Kintner boy spill out all over the dock!".
And another good for Murray is where Hooper tries to convince Vaughan to close the beaches and Vaughan looks up at vandalised billboard poster for Amity showing a shark's dorsal fin. And Vaughan says pointing at the poster "Brody, sick vandalism! That is a direct mutilation of a public service announcement! Now I want those paint happy bastards caught and hung up by their busker browns!".
And lastly Lorraine Gray, who is the weakest cast member but not by much as she is still pretty good here as Brody's wife, Ellen, its just her performance is overshadowed by those of the three leads.
And Lorraine has some good moments such as the scene where Brody berates his young son, Michael, for sitting out in his birthday present, which is a new dinghy boat which is tied up to a pier. And Ellen says to Brody in defence for her son "He is not out on the water, he is in a boat! I don't think he'll ever go in again after what happened yesterday!". But then Ellen who holds a book on sharks that Broady had with him, looks through and sees a picture of a shark ramming a hole into the hull of a small rowboat and she slams the book shut and yells "Michael! Did you hear your father?! Out of the water, now! NOW!!".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Getting on to the director, Steven Spielberg did a stellar job with Jaws and he created the perfect mixture of suspense and thrills and throughout the film there are some great moments where he has the audience jumping out of their seats, namely the scene where Jaws pops out of the water or where Hooper finds the remains of a fisherman underneath the waters. Spielberg also keeps the film's pacing real tight throughout and also employs some great visual moments as well such as the scene with the dolly zoom shot of Brody witnessing the Kintner boy being killed in the waters.
Spielberg himself throughout the production of course endured many problems as it was primarily shot at Martha's vineyard out in Massachusetts but the scenes sea shot at sea proved to be the most problematic. The shoot at sea had numerous troubles such as passing ships getting into shot, cameras being soaked with sea water not to mention the hydraulic fake sharks rarely worked, which is often a anecdote told by Dreyfuss himself that tannoy announcements were made around the island saying "The shark is not working!". On top of this Shaw's heavy drinking cause much friction between himself and Dreyfuss and the actors themselves were regularly seasick during the sea shoots.
So, in spite of the film's turbulent production, Spielberg here still managed to produce one of his best efforts here and directorially speaking there only a handle full of films he directed as well as this one in his career.
And of course I can't forget to mention John Williams music score, which is simply superb and it really brought him to prominence as he won his first academy award for the score. And its incredible to think how tinkly two ivory notes would prove to be so effective and overall its such a great score its one you can easily listen to on its own without watching the film. Yep, its that good.
FLAWS (Warning this section may contain spoilers!)
As for flaws...... well Jaws maybe a great film but, yes it isn't quite perfect.
And to kick off I'd say one of the main flaws is of course the shark itself, as once its unveiled the film's great suspense that was built up before is now nullified by the appearance of this totally unconvincing rubber creation. And the shark itself is clearly too big in proportion, and it looks ridiculously fake, although Spielberg does make very effective use of the underwater footage of real sharks, shot by an Australian shark expert couple Ron and Valerie Taylor.
And the shark itself does let the movie down in places, and toward the end it shifts from being a gripping thriller to being ridiculously over the top, with the shark blatantly rising out the water to crash onto the boat's transom, so it can eat Quint and Brody. In reality of course, there is no way sharks would deliberately prey on humans, as they are largely terratorial creatures who stick to their own environments, and despite the fact that yes there have been many reported shark attacks over the years, sharks themselves largely live off a diet of other marine life such as sea otters, seals and sea lions and they don't deliberately hunt out people in the water!
It also has to be said that the ending of the film is also a weakness as Spielberg at the time wanted a big ending that would have the audiences screaming and on their feet, and the idea to actually blow up the shark was and is quite ridiculous. There is no doubt the fact that while the end is farcical it is also quite entertaining, and yeah ok you can't but help feel when Brody finally shoots the compressed air canister the shark has in its open jaws, when the sharks explodes, it is a crowd pleaser (the sound accompanying the shot of the shark as its remains sink into the water is actually taken from Spielberg's debut film, Duel, when the truck at the end goes over the cliff).
It also has to be said that the film also probably didn't do sharks as a spieces any favours either, if anything it demonised sharks in the public, and it would take many years later before the myth behind sharks, being monsters, would itself explode. Peter Benchley, who the wrote the novel the film is based on, later said he deeply regretted writing the novel when he saw the impact it had on the species as the film appeared to legitimise shark hunting.
The film also paved the way for its inferior sequels, although Jaws 2 was the best of the three of the films (it would have been even better if the shark ate the screaming teenagers in it!) but by the truly awful Jaws 4: The Revenge, the sharks suddenly took on the concept of revenge and that they had to hunt down the rest of the Brody family! Yeahh ok!! Surely by then they should have taken note of the concept of horror-thriller sequels is not a good idea! Although Michael Caine has frequently since said he only took up the part in Jaws 4 in order to help buy a new house for his grandmother (so at least his fee went to good use!).
And lastly on a plot point the one big flaw that stands out is just why is Mayor Vaughan such an idiotic asshole??? I mean it takes four deaths for this man to finally sit up and take notice that the town has a serious shark problem on its hands, yet he wants to cover it up as long as he can in order to bring people to the beaches for their money. But surely this guy should have had more common sense rather than continue to let people die on the island! In short, he's a dick.
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up, Jaws to this day is still a masterpiece of modern cinema, it hits all the right notes (even musical!) and it rarely sets a foot wrong (except of course for the fake shark!) as it is brilliantly acted and directed and it features one of the most memorable scores in film. And any niggles it may have are greatly outweighed by its great qualities and for me it remains essential viewing.
So, that's it for now and I'll be back with another post soon.
Till the next un, its bye for now!
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