Cinema Wellman’s Salute to Jaws

Hello and welcome back to Cinema Wellman! Today we are paying tribute to a film that celebrates its 48th anniversary this year. It opened on June 20, 1975, and created a name for itself when it became the first “summer blockbuster.” 

If you’re check out the video on YouTube, you can clearly see by the set decoration that we’ll be talking about all things Jaws today! It takes place around the 4th of July and is mandatory viewing on that day here at Cinema Wellman. It’s one of the films that has a “residency” here. It’s also why you’re getting this special episode on July 4th. 

The landing on my stairs. 

Being the movie geek I am, I’m often asked what my favorite movie is. It’s a great question that I chicken out and never really answer. I think it’s akin to the “favorite album/song” question. That answer may fluctuate with time. It’s not always set in stone. 

I can certainly tell you some of my favorites. Citizen Kane is always mentioned near the top of such a list for me. It’s one of the first films I studied in depth at film school, and it’s one of the films that I know the most about as far as its production and the new film techniques it introduced.

I also mention Casablanca very early in such a conversation. I still think it may be the closest thing to a perfect film ever made. 

And then there’s Jaws. 

Jaws is always right there with those two legendary films in my mind. But there’s something about Jaws that differentiates it from the others. Citizen Kane came out in 1941, Casablanca a year later in 1942, twenty years before I was born.

When Jaws was released on June 20th, 1975, I had just finished 7th grade. 

Jaws is in my wheelhouse. I was on the ground floor for this cinematic masterpiece and phenomenon and have watched it seep into all things pop culture for the past 48 years.

I read Peter Benchley’s novel on the beach at Seaside Heights, NJ while on vacation back in the summer of ‘75. So did my sister Vanessa, and our friends Kimmy, Joey, and Stevie Nogay who we vacationed with almost every summer right there on Ocean Front.

There was shark fever that summer. Not only in Seaside, but all across America. Sharks were everywhere you looked. In and out of the water! Anything that could have a logo on it had the JAWS logo on it.  

Many years later, Dakota took me to a screening of Jaws where the soundtrack was provided by a symphony orchestra. I spoke about that in the Cinema Wellman “Origin Story” episodes as being one of my all-time favorite movie going experiences. Hearing that iconic score played live by a symphony while watching the movie on the big screen was something that I’ll never forget. 

I was actually speaking with Dakota earlier today and she mentioned that she and her sister each have “their” films with me, kind of like the way we have sports teams. Hannah and I have the New York Football Giants and The Big Lebowski, Dakota and I have the New York Rangers and Jaws. Dakota gave me this Jaws bracelet, which I love! Maybe Hannah can get me a Lebowski bracelet!

I found out that Dakota and I aren’t the only ones with this “Jaws thing.” I mentioned to my friend John that I was going to do this episode and his response was, “Oh my, was I into that. That was a big deal.” So I asked him to send me some notes about the film and what it meant to him. I wanted to share a bit of that with you.

John’s paternal grandmother had retired to the St. Pete area and took up beachcombing and fossil hunting. She gave John some of the shark teeth she found, which got him into sharks. He recalls seeing another shark movie in 1971 titled Blue Water, White Death, and like many our age read the novel “Jaws” early in its cycle. John has always been interested in science, so he enjoyed that side of the phenomenon as well. 

John also mentioned seeing the movie on opening night in Carmel at the UA Cinema at the Putnam Plaza. It was the first time he had seen a line outside the theater. The only other time he saw a line like that was a couple of years later when a movie named Star Wars came out. 

Thank you to John for sharing some of his Jaws memories with me. It’s one of those movies people in my generation are just connected to on a different level. 

Filmed on Martha’s Vineyard right here in Massachusetts, Jaws was the first film to earn over $100 million. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and won three. It took home Oscars for Sound, Music (John Williams), and Film Editing (Verna Fields). 

The only Oscar it was nominated for but failed to win was Best Picture. That went to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and I can’t argue with that choice at all. Also nominated that year were Nashville, and Dog Day Afternoon! That’s quite a cluster. I won’t mention the fifth nominee because it was horseshit. 

Jaws spawned three sequels; Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3D (1983), and Jaws: The Revenge (1987).

When I told my musical director Andy about this episode and asked him to “Jawsify” the Cinema Wellman theme song (which he did, and it’s fabulous!) he asked if I was going to watch them all over again. I thought about it, but I remembered that all three sequels were rated as bombs in the archive, so I decided against it.

Jaws also spawned countless rip offs including Cruel Jaws, Moose Jaws, Deep Jaws, and Santa Jaws. I’ll bet some of those are better than the “official” sequels. 

The Jaws shoot was legendary for its difficulties. I read two different books about the making of Jaws and I was fascinated by the idea of making movies because of it. This film is definitely one of the reasons I decided to major in film.

Jaws was just the second feature film directed by Steven Spielberg and he really thought it would be the last. Things were such a mess that he has said they averaged about four hours of filming a day during the 12 hours a day on set.

Spielberg wanted authenticity, so he didn’t want to film in the Universal tank on the lot. He wanted it to be filmed in the Atlantic Ocean. Sure thing. Trust the kid, he’s smart.

They go to the ocean, put the mechanical shark in the water, and it seizes up because of the salt water. Nobody thought of that, which to this day amazes me. 

The delay in getting the shark to work properly turned out to be part of the genius of the film and its storytelling. We don’t see the shark full on until the 1:21 mark of the movie.

Mechanical failure = directorial genius. Sometimes. Spielberg later said, “It’s what we don’t see which is truly frightening.”

Something else, this totally planned, revealed the genius of this still rookie director. About 25% of the film is shot at water level because Spielberg wanted us to feel like we were treading water. Brilliant. 

Along with the difficulties, also legendary are Jaws “Fin Facts!” There are so many little tidbits of trivia about the film, I can’t help but share a few.

*Director Steven Spielberg thought composer John Williams was joking when he first played him the now famous theme.

*Neither Quint nor Hooper had been cast 9 days before the start of production.

*Co-stars Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss hated one another. This off-screen tension added to the on-screen relationship.

*Author of the source novel, Peter Benchley, was thrown off the set (and later fired) for adding too many sublots to the screenplay including romance and mafia intrigue. 

*Robert Shaw was in severe tax trouble with the IRS at the time, so he had to be flown to Canada on his days off to avoid being arrested. First choice for Quint, Sterling Hayden, had to turn down the role because HE was in tax trouble as well!

*Shaw attempted to do his amazing U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue while drunk, but none of what they shot could be used, so he did it the next day sober after apologizing to Spielberg.

*The shoot was supposed to take 55 days, but it took 159.

*The troublesome mechanical sharks were named “Bruce” after Spielberg’s lawyer. Three were built at the cost of $250,000 each. 

*The shot/jump scare of the floating head of the boat wreckage was shot in editor Verna Fields’ swimming pool. 

*It’s disappointing because I always thought it was real, but the shooting star was added in post. 

*Roy Scheider’s iconic “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” was ad-libbed.

Before we wrap things up here, I wanted to talk about some of the items decorating the set today.

{Check out the show on YouTube for a better look!}

My niece Megan gave me an official “Amity Island Summer of ‘75 Jaws Kit” that included all sorts of items including the towel, a rubber shark, a postcard, stickers, Amity Island tour guide, and copy of the Amity Gazette! It’s an amazing collection of items and I think this company should make one of these for every movie!

I also have two different Jaws board games, both I’ve deemed too difficult to figure out so that task is being farmed out to Quin in IT. 

And that 12 pack of Narragansett is courtesy of John and the Whole Foods in Danbury, CT. Not a sponsor, but I'd like to talk...

As if I needed proof of how this film has seeped into every aspect of pop culture, I stumbled across this.

It’s a “Little Golden Book.” You know those people. Way back when they brought you “The Poky Little Puppy,” and “Scruffy the Tugboat.”

Now they’ve teamed with Funko to give us; “Jaws: Big Shark, Little Boat: A Book of Opposites.” I will now do a cold read of the book before signing off. 

{For an audio of the reading, check out the podcast on @Spotify, for a video of the reading (complete with picture share), check out the show on @YouTube!}

Well, that’s a wrap for Cinema Wellman’s Salute to Jaws. 

Thank you again for joining us. We at Cinema Wellman realize there is a ton of content out there, and we appreciate you spending some of your “entertainment” time here with us.

Whether you read the blog, watch on YouTube, or listen to the podcast, we are very pleased that you’re consuming all things Cinema Wellman no matter how you do it. And, as always, please consume safely.

Join us again next week when we will celebrate the 50th episode of Cinema Wellman! Our “Diamond Anniversary” will be all about “Diamond Movies!”

Until then, take care. 

I’m just going to read a bit…”The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail. The mouth was open just enough to permit a rush of water over the gills. There was little other motion…”