Jaws

The way our favorite things impact and affect us is interesting isn't it? We all have our favorite song that speaks to us, a favorite book that captures us, or a favorite sport that enthralls us. We get to know each other based off of our favorites, even as kids our favorite color seems to tell us something about that person. Most of the time however our favorite things are engrained in us and mean something special to us as individuals. Today is a special podcast for me as we'll be talking about one of my favorite films. A film that transposes cinema and is adored among both casual and serious film fans around the world.

So if you're like me and you enjoy film and the impact and emotions they convey, then grab a glass of you preferred liquid and join me for the next little while. For me that's a can of White Ale from our friends at Einstok in Iceland. So sit back, relax, and let's talk about the love of film. Welcome to Glazed Cinema.

Jaws is my favorite movie. Not to say it's the best movie, but it's my favorite. I was introduced to Jaws by my Dad, who adores it more than I do. He and I would watch it together quite a bit and I learned a lot of nuances within it from him. With the fourth of July weekend approaching soon, I figured, why not talk about Jaws? For me this is one of the most entertaining and well done movies of Steven Speilberg's filmography, but of course I am a little biased. He has so many great films under his belt, but there's something about this one that is just so good. So, with American Independence Day around the corner, let's talk about a film depicting a time and place around the same holiday.

Jaws is a thriller released in 1975 and everything about it emits the feeling of summer. The film begins underwater along the coral bed of the azure shallow waters of the ocean. As the camera slowly moves forward the iconic music of Jaws begins to play, getting louder and faster. It gets so fast and so loud that it becomes stressful until suddenly we cut to a bonfire party. It's night now, with the aura of the dancing fire on the sand and the partygoers. The camera moves through the people, like a late arrival trying to find their friends among the crowd. We settle with a young man, who is glancing at a young woman, sitting by herself in the sand across the way. Soon they start talking and eventually they make their way down to the ocean in the darkness. Racing away from him, wanting him to follow she dives into the water as he drunkenly stumbles over his clothes. Soon the reprieve we had will end and our journey with a town, terrorized by a shark will begin.

The plot of the movie is fairly simple. A shark attacks a couple people in town over the course of days and the town attempts to find a solution to their problem. After some failed attempts they hire a captain and a crew of the police chief and oceanographer to catch the shark. There are more moving pieces in between, but at its core, that's the plot and direction of the film. What drives it, like every movie or play are the characters.

There are a lot of characters that drive the plot of this film from Brody's wife, his two sons, and of course the mayor. However there are four characters in Jaws with whom the main plot centers around. There is of course Chief Martin Brody who is the protagonist and leading role of the film. Brody is played by Roy Scheider and he is a well rounded character who is as much pragmatic as he is ironic. He's a good man who loves his family, believes his senses, and relies on his experiences as a police officer. He is also, oddly enough, afraid of drowning...which wouldn't be of note in most cases, however Martin now lives on an island on the ocean, so quite interesting. At one point he has an interesting take on his new home stating, "It's only an island if you look at it from the water." Mr. Scheider is great as Chief Brody, I can't imagine anyone else in this role, he just feels very authentic as Amity's Chief of Police.

Then there is Matt Hooper, simply known as Hooper. He is played by Richard Dreyfuss and he is an oceanographer and shark expert sent in to help with the reported shark problem on Amity Island from the oceanographic institute on the mainland. Hooper is very smart and knows a lot about sharks and he and Brody hit off almost immediately. Hooper is scheduled to depart on a research vessel to study sharks, but cancels his participation to help Amity and Chief Brody. Hooper is a good humored, sarcastic, educated, and resolute individual. Mr. Dreyfuss is amazing as Hooper and again feels authentic as Hooper. His personality, demeanor, and dialogue feel very real and true to character.

Then there is of course Sam Quint, known by all simply as Quint. He is played by Robert Shaw the captain of a fishing vessel called the Orca and offers his services to help catch the shark. Quint is a captain by trade and a captain in nature as well, used to setting sail alone . He is a brash, confident, and experienced fisherman who seemingly doesn't play well with others. Shaw is phenomenal as Quint, an absolutely stellar performance in a supporting role. Together they make quite the ragtag team, but one that bonds to achieve the same end result.

Of course who can forget about the fourth main character. One that simply wouldn't be Jaws without...the shark. The shark is an estimated twenty-five foot Great White Shark and has been patrolling the waters around Amity for a bit of time until the trio begins chasing it away in hopes of wrangling it in. Another great character who we briefly mentioned before is synonymous with bad decisions is the mayor of the town, Larry Vaughn. Larry is played by Murray Hamilton and is a self-serving politician who is very in tune to how his community makes money, which is their beaches. Time and again he puts dollars and cents over the safety of the beach goers and in doing so, risks everyone including his friends and family. Mr. Hamilton is fantastic in this role and chances are if you've never seen Jaws you've more than likely seen gifs or memes about the mayor. Without either of these characters and performances Jaws just isn't Jaws, it's as simple as that.

Jaws is a horror-thriller that has a lot to offer to its viewers. As one might expect there are some visceral moments within its two hour duration. With some of those moments however it also has exciting action, emotional drama, and surprisingly enough...comedy. There is a fair amount of humor in Jaws and its that type of humor that my Dad and I thoroughly enjoy. You can see it from start to finish, little glimmers of brevity or sometimes just for laughs. One of our favorite of these moments is when Hooper first arrives in town and is asked by Chief Brody to tell a group of men that they're overloading a small boat. Obliging the busy man he yells across the way, "The officer wanted me to tell you that you're overloading that boat" to which they reply, "What do you care? You ain't goin'?" Shaking his head Hooper diverts, "Well do you know where I can find a nice room for the night?" Sardonically the man replies, "Yeah, you walk straight ahead" as one of the shipmates laughs and says, "Good one Frank". Mockingly laughing Hooper walks back to Brody and mutters to himself "Ah, they're all gonna die". We find that bit of back and forth dialogue so funny. We'll quote and laugh, just enjoying reliving the great moments of the movie in our heads.

That dialogue didn't come easy though. The effort of writing Jaws was highly collaborative, most of it happening at night. Shooting in Martha's Vineyard, the production took over the town, almost like a circus arriving. At night after filming Spielberg and screenwriter Carl Gottlieb would have dinner and write the script for the next day. Along with Gottlieb and Spielberg Dreyfuss, Shaw, Gary, and Scheider would meet with them while Gottlieb wrote the next day's pages for shooting. Together they collaborated on what each character would say and play how they would say it trying to make the characters to come to life. Spielberg maintains to this day that writing Jaws was the most collaborative experience with actors making contributions to a screenplay. I suppose that is why the dialogue and performances feel so authentic.

The quotes...oh the quotes. It's gold for the mind, body, and soul these quotes. Things like "You yell barracuda, people say huh? What? You yell shark and we got a panic on our hands on the fourth of July." Or "Like to prove that wouldn't ya? Get your name in the National Geographic." Or who can forget Quint's speech? One of my favorite factoids is regarding Quint’s famous USS Indianapolis monologue. A dialogue that renders a room silent and demands attention and sends chills up our spines. According to Spielberg the dialogue went through three hands before filming occurred, but that Shaw himself had the final write of it. Shaw would perform it over dinner, causing everyone at the table to let out an audible, "Wow" and Spielberg said "That's what we're filming."

Another great moment in the movie is when Quint is drinking beer aboard the Orca. He and Hooper have a sort of competitive relationship and as Quint finishes his beer he looks at Hooper and crushes the can in his hand, making an hourglass shape out of it. In response, Hooper who is drinking out a Styrofoam cup finishes his drink, looks at Quit and crushes it in his hand in response. There are so many great scenes, its so hard to talk about just a few.

The music in Jaws is also iconic. So iconic in fact that just two notes are instantly recognized by anybody within earshot. Of course it's not just the theme of Jaws that's iconic, in fact the entire score is amazing, with perfectly chosen music for the mood and events captured on film. Composed by the legendary John Williams, the score of Jaws won several awards upon release including an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Everything about Jaws is amazing. From the directing, screenplay, acting, music, and so much more. There is very little not executed at a great level here, which adds to why it's been so revered and loved by millions for so many years. I could talk about this film for hours if not days, but I'll try to contain my fandom here. Even its poster is iconic and hasn't changed since its release to cinemas around the world in 1975. Everyone knows that image right? A woman swimming in water and directly below here, the head of shark. Mouth open, teeth facing us, eyes blackened, water seemingly streaming from its mouth showing the upward momentum of this giant predator. Above it all is red font calling out the word, Jaws. It's an image so simple, yet so effective, telling a story in one image. It was created by Roger Kastel to sell tickets to audiences in several places be it the theater advertising upcoming films, the newspaper, and magazines. In an era when print media like newspaper printed movie posters it had to resonate both in color and in black and white and resonate it did. It's scary, intriguing, and cool all with at the same time while depicting very little. I hope they always keep that image around for each release they make of Jaws over the years as technologies change because, it's fantastic.

Of course the journey of making Jaws was anything but smooth. In fact the main subject of the film, the shark nearly ended the project entirely. The shark was an animatronic mechanism and originally they planned on showing a lot more of the formidable carnivore, but it just wasn't working. Worse, each one build cost roughly half a million dollars to build. One sank in the ocean and when they were used it didn't move the way he imagined. So, in debt and losing time Spielberg read through the novel again and realized that in attacks Benchley never really talked about the shark, only the human being attacked. With that he devised a new plan to embrace the limitations of the animatronics. He used them sparingly and usually to achieve simple movements, oftentimes only offering a glimpse of the creature. This approach saved the project and Spielberg's job and is a great story that about never giving up and ingenuity amongst great challenges.

I've seen Jaws so many times, it's impossible to count, but it never gets old. In fact, it gets better with each watch. By now I would hazard a guess that most people are familiar with Jaws even if they have never seen it before. There a rea lot of reasons for that. One is that, like me and my dad its fans are loud and love talking Jaws. Another is because its referenced countless times in popular culture since its release over four decades ago. Most of that is due to its success.

Jaws is the first summer blockbuster in cinematic history. To put that statement into context, it was immensely popular when it first hit big screens around the world. When it debuted people in cities across the North America waited in lines to get in, some reaching around city blocks. Of course popularity doesn't really warrant the "summer-blockbuster coinage. With that popularity came large ticket sales. It was filmed on a budget of seven million dollars and within the opening weekend, it made a profit of over fifty thousand dollars in North America alone. By the time it exited theaters, it made over four hundred-seventy million dollars worldwide., which is a staggering amount of money at that time. If we put that into the context of today's economy it's a box office of around two point five billion dollars, which is pretty crazy. That record stood as the highest grossing film until just two years later when audiences would venture to a galaxy far, far away with A New Hope.

We use the word iconic loosely at times, but Jaws is truly iconic. Between the quotes, the music, the poster, the imagery...there's almost nothing about it that isn't iconic. I love this movie…in fact, you could say I was born liking this movie. My dad adores Jaws and saw it in theaters when it came out. I was introduced to it fairly young and have watched it countless times in my lifetime and never tire of it. Between him and I, we could probably quote the entire film and giggle while doing it.

Jaws has influenced generations of filmmakers and movie fans alike for generations. Some directors like Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith, and Eli Roth all were inspired and got into directing thanks to the inspiration of Jaws. I adore this movie, I have nothing bad to say about it. Spielberg would go on to make several classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park. His films have influenced me in one way or another and as of this point in time, he's the only director to be featured on Glazed Cinema more than once.

Before the pandemic hit I had a great opportunity to treat my parents and wife to see Jaws on the big screen. For three of us it was the first time seeing it projected, but for my Dad it had been a long time. It was shown at The Mann Center for Performing Arts here in Philly and performing the score live was the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was so cool to see it in that environment and with my parents and wife to experience it. It’s such a great movie, but man on the big screen it really comes to life. Everything is dialed up and was such a great time. If you have a chance to see it projected don't miss it. It's an experience you're likely not to forget.

Jaws is one of THE reasons why so many people were and still are afraid of sharks. However, sharks are pretty important to our ocean's ecosystem and very fascinating creatures. We've learned a lot more about these aquatic predators since the release of Jaws some fifty years ago and conservationists have worked hard to maintain the species' numbers. Thankfully programs like Shark Week have brought a healthy respect to sharks. They are definitely formidable animals and certainly nothing to play around with, but man they are really cool creatures. The way they effortlessly and coolly swim in the water is so uniquely their own. Who doesn’t get the goosebumps seeing their dorsal fin peak out from the depths like a submarine’s periscope taking a look at its surroundings?

The film is based on a novel of the same name and published a year prior. Written by Peter Benchley, the book depicts a blood-thirsty rogue shark, stalking the waters of a beach front town. There's so much lore around this movie and so much of it is already known about the making of this film that it would be hard to conjure up things new to one’s ears.

Another neat factoid is that Benchley himself has a role in the film. He plays the television journalist covering the attacks onsite at the beach. The author loved Spielberg's effort and thought it was a highly entertaining movie, but overtime he regretted writing his novel. Later in life he became a conservationist, campaigning against shark fisheries, falling in love with creature he wrote about. In his quest for conservation he learned that there is no such thing as a rogue shark out for human blood and wished he'd have written differently. Through that drive for change however, he made a few documentaries dealing with preserving sharks and wrote about how we can help ocean life as well.

We know a lot about certain species of sharks like the Whale Shark and the Great White, however there is so much we don't know about others. There are over one thousand species of sharks in the world's oceans, lakes, and rivers and their worldwide population has declined significantly over the past fifty years. Unfortunately they are under threat of acts like shark finning, overfishing and illegal fishing alike. If you are passionate about sharks and would like to help in conservation efforts there are some great organizations providing aid and research in helping sharks and other ocean life. Some of these include The Shark Research Institute at Princeton, Sea Shepard, PADI AWARE, and Oceana to list a few. If you'd like to learn more about these you can find direct links to each of their websites at the bottom of the written version of this blog post on our website.

If you'd like to watch Jaws you can find it on a variety of streaming services. At the time of this recording you can find Jaws on Peacock. Peacock is a service with tremendous quality with different pricing tiers including a more limited free option as well.

Apart from Peacock you can also find Jaws on services like YouTube, Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV, and Vudu for $3.99 to rent.

If you like this podcast tell your friends and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Each week there will be new content including hints about episodes before they air. If you'd like to learn more the podcast visit our website at glazedcinema.com. There you'll find more info about the show and a place to submit ideas for future episodes as well. For film fans who are hearing impaired, the blog page on our website features each episode in written form as well. As always, thanks for listening and I hope to see you next time, with another beverage and another fine film on Glazed Cinema.

Links to support Sharks and Ocean Life as a whole:

The Shark Research Institute:

Oceana:

PADI AWARE:

Sea Shepard: