50th Anniversary of JAWS - Retro Review

Hello everyone and welcome to Movie Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.

I am your host Kevin Reed and welcome to the show everybody.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode and this is a special episode even though

I like to consider every episode that I do a special episode but this is very very special because today

We are celebrating the

50th, yes,

5-0,

50th year anniversary of the very first blockbuster.

This is the first film to be considered a blockbuster that gave birth to all of the blockbusters that we have grown to love over the past 50 years.

It all started on June the 20th,

19...

1975 when

Jaws hit movie theaters and took the world by storm.

A lot of filmmakers who have came after this film were inspired by this film to become filmmakers.

And we have gotten so much good content because of this movie.

You know,

unintentionally,

intentionally,

whatever the case may be,

we got it because of...

this juggernaut of a film and this is a movie that you know script it down to his bones is a pretty simple movie a shark a man-eating shark goes on the attack at a beach okay

you know that's that but what makes this movie so phenomenal well we hopefully today we'll touch in on some things that

At least.

My reason why I think this is one of the most phenomenal,

most important films in film history.

Take away the fact that it was the biggest blockbuster of its time.

I think it's the highest grossing movie,

at least at the time of its release.

It was the highest grossing movie ever,

ever in movie history.

Even though it didn't hold that title long,

I think like two years later.

Star Wars came out and demolished that but it held that title for the longer.

Another thing that was spearheaded from this film was its director

Steven

Spielberg. This is what birthed the greatest filmmaker of all time.

It was

Jaws. This wasn't his first film.

You know he directed that movie Duel.

And he directed

Sugarland Express.

And he did a couple of TV episodes of

The Twilight Zone,

I believe.

And maybe another show.

I don't know why I'm blanking on it right now.

But this was the film that announced him to the world.

You know,

after this,

it was nothing.

He went on just a roller coaster ride of success.

That is still,

50 years later,

still holding strong.

um not not every film that he made has knocked it out of the park you know but he has knocked so many out of the park you know after this you have raiders of the lost ark you know all of the indiana jones films you have close

encounters of a third kind et um the color purple you know jurassic park and so on and so forth saving probably ryan and

and Minority Report,

and of course Schindler's List,

which finally got him his Academy Award in 1993,

I believe.

And aside from that,

you know,

directing,

he has been a phenomenal producer.

You know,

he gave us the

Goonies. He gave us the

Back to the Future films and so on and so forth.

I'll be here forever naming all of them.

All of the films and TV shows that

Steven Spielberg has been associated with since

Jaws hit the theaters and became this phenomenon and put his name on top of the marquee.

But,

of course,

none of this would have been possible without the source material,

without the novel in which this film was based on,

the 1974 novel of the same name written by Peter Benchley.

which became a rousing success for a novel.

It was,

I think,

for 44 weeks what I read,

that it was on top of the bestsellers list.

And the paperback sold millions of copies.

And that was before the movie came out.

So when film producers

Richard Zucknick and Brian,

not Brian,

David Brown,

they read the book.

you know,

before it was published,

they purchased the film rights for it.

So once the film,

well,

the book came out and it was a huge success.

They moved forward with a film adaptation and they hired Steven Spielberg to direct the film.

But he wasn't the first selection.

There was a couple of other directors in contention before they,

quote unquote,

settled on a young

Steven Spielberg and the rest,

as they say.

is history um of course the film took liberties with the book you know there are some elements of the novel that are not in the movie but that's typical for any medium whenever you translate it over the film you know we see that now in comic book movies uh

there's always changes you know in any other uh format there's always going to be changes so they made changes um and we're going to touch in on a few of those changes

uh as we get deeper into the episode but from what i could research and i probably will find something later or you're probably know something but as far as i know peter benchley the author of the book didn't have a problem with

some of the changes that they made it was more of uh omissions instead of changes you know it wasn't big changes like you they they moved the location from

LA to Mantucket or something.

No,

it was nothing like that.

It was just certain elements that were in the book they didn't include in the film.

But,

in case you've been living under a rock for the last 50 years and have no earthly idea what Jaws is,

Jaws is a thriller directed by Steven Spielberg.

It stars Roy Scheider as a

police chief named Malcolm Brody,

who,

with the help of a marine biologist played by Richard Dreyfuss and a professional shark hunter played by Robert Shaw,

hunts a man-eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers at a summer resort town.

In honor of the

50th anniversary of this film we're gonna go over 50 facts about this movie and

I know there have been many documentaries made about this movie because I've watched many of them.

Do you know a lot of people know these backstories and how the filming took place pre-production,

production,

and post-production?

I know,

I know.

But in honor of this milestone,

we're going to go over 50 facts for the

50th anniversary of Jaws.

then we're going to a little review of the 1975 film jaw so let's go through these 50 facts starting with number one number one the mechanical shark is named bruce and

steven spielberg named the shark bruce because that was his lawyer's name so he wanted to uh uh i guess give amish it to

the one shark that he do know and that's his lawyer by naming the mechanical shark that they used bruce number two jaws was nominated for four academy awards but it only won three best sound best score and best editing number three the

actress at the beginning of the film that was the first victim of the shark attack she was harnessed to two ropes

that drug her back and forth in the water to simulate the attack that was real you know she wasn't attacked by a shark but she was literally drugged through the water on these harnesses and i remember in one of the documentaries that i watched that she

sustained some real injuries because it is you know being violently pulled back and forth i believe she was a stunt performer but i mean you can only train so hard to be yanked

around especially in water like that it's not like you can brace yourself or anything but yes that that's why that attack looks so brutal

because it was an actual brutal scene to film for,

I believe her name is Susan Baclini.

She was just ravaged in that water,

and she was nude.

She was nude in that water being yanked around like a worm on a hook,

if you will.

Number four,

there are six shark victims in the film,

including a dog.

So.

There were some casualties in this movie.

Number five,

Steven Spielberg was only 28 when Jaws was released.

He was a young man.

He was a young buck back then.

To think now that he's

78 years old.

I'm like,

oh my God,

really?

And he's still making movies.

I think he's filming a movie now with

Emily Blunt and a few other people.

I think it's an alien invasion movie,

if I'm not mistaken,

or something.

I know it has some sci-fi elements to it,

but yes,

he's still working today.

But yes,

he was a young pup back in 1974 when he shot this,

but he was 28 years old.

Number six,

Peter Benchley,

the author of the novel.

He actually played a TV reporter in one of the scenes in Jaws.

Speaking of Peter Benchley,

number seven.

He originally was hired to write the screenplay and Steven Spielberg publicly sniped at each other for a month leading up to the release of the film.

Yeah,

they were at odds.

They were that serious.

I don't know what the reason is or was,

but yeah,

they did not necessarily get along.

Number eight,

Jaws was filmed mostly on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

yeah they they shot on location this was not in a sound stage this was on location in my on Martha's Vineyard number nine uh when I spoke about some of the changes or the omissions from the novel to the film

this was one of them number nine in the original novel the mafia put pressure on the mayor to keep the beaches open in the film it was

what was it memorial day weekend or something like that and that's why he wanted to keep it open because of the tourism and whatnot in the novel it was the mafia and i can see why they didn't include the mafia in the movie because that kind of would have took away from you

know the story they were telling with chief brody and whatnot but uh that would have been interesting to see nonetheless.

Number 10.

the composer john williams who career had a huge boost from this move it was known as johnny williams back when he wrote scores for tv shows like lost in space yes that's how long he's been working that's how long john williams has been putting in the work people he is

one of if not the greatest film composer of all time just think about

the memorable scores that he has put the film man and that you still recognize to this day i don't care who who what walk of life you on what race creed whatever or nationality whatever you know his themes jaws you know the superman theme the superman theme is so prevalent what he wrote back in 1978 was so iconic

that for this new superman film that's coming out in a couple of weeks

they're still using that theme.

There's no theme better.

There is no greater theme than that.

You know,

the Jurassic Park theme,

the

Star Wars theme,

you know,

all of those great scores that came out of those films and

Indiana Jones and so on and so forth.

I mean,

the list goes on and on and on and on and on.

The dude is just utterly amazing.

Number 11 called.

Gottlieb,

one of the writers of the screenplay,

he plays a newspaper editor in the film.

Number 12,

Jaws opens simultaneously on more than 450 screens in North America.

Now,

that sounds slow.

That sounds like independent type thing that goes on in 2025,

but not in 1975.

That's not how movies rolled out.

And that's why.

is being this has always been considered the first blockbuster movies didn't roll out that way either it'll it'll come out you know in sections you know with

50 screens here 100 screens here and gradually build up to more and more screens and

This film it was

Simultaneously across the country they opened up around the same time and that's what turned it into a phenomenon that it was and that's how all films after this followed that model and The birth of the blockbuster came

to be number 13

Murray

Hamilton, who played the mayor of Amelie,

was chosen partly for his resemblance to Richard Nixon.

And so that's how he got the role,

because he looked like Richard Nixon.

Number 14.

In 2001,

Jaws was declared significant culturally and historically.

by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

My only question is why it took so long.

Why did it take them until 2001 for it to be registered with the Library of Congress?

This is one of the most significant films of all time.

But hey,

better late than never.

Number 15.

And sadly,

there are three

Jaws sequels.

three sequels were spawned from this film that steven spielberg had nothing to do with rightfully so those those sequels were bad they they were what they were um i i don't even remember part two i'm gonna be honest which i've seen it but

i don't remember it in its totality i remember bits and pieces of but i do remember the third one because it was in 3d i remember i remember going with my brother to go see that in

3d in the theater uh that's the one with dennis craig and lewis gossip jr i think is in that it was uh when the shark attacked this water park like this sea world it was it was anyway

in the less said about jaws the revenge the better that was that has been arguably the worst worst one of the worst films ever made on on a lot of people's list

for good reason um number 16 quinn's monologue about the uss uh uh indianapolis that supposedly was an uncredited contribution by uh screenwriter john

mildis and if you know what he um who he is he directed conan he directed uh red dawn uh i think he co-wrote

I think he co-wrote Scarface.

I don't know why that's in my head.

I could be 100%

wrong if I am.

I apologize.

But I want to say he did,

him and Oliver Stone.

But I could be off on it.

And the reason he contributed to the screenplay with this monologue,

which is one of the greatest monologues in history.

If you don't remember it,

if you don't recall seeing this in Jaws,

go back and watch.

for that that was uh uh robert shaw delivering this monologue about the sharks that were going after the uh this this battleship and after it started sinking or whatever and the people were going overboard the soldiers have gone overboard and the sharks were attacking them and whatnot

This was based on facts and

John, John Mildes was there.

it was based on real in a real incident well i don't know if he was there but it was based on a real incident that took place so that's why it felt so real is because it was uh number 17 the film was originally scheduled for a 55 day shoot

but due to the shark malfunctioning and all other problems that took place while filming it took 100

in 59 days to film Jaws basically quadrupling or tripling uh their uh shooting schedule for this film um number 18 which would have been interesting had this actually happened you

know I probably would have looked at this movie in a different way but number 18

Charlton Hester lobbied hard hard for the role of Brody

He lobbied hard.

The producers were on board.

The studio was on board.

Who wasn't on board?

Steven Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg wanted Roy

Schneider for the role.

And,

you know,

you can't argue that he was wrong.

He did an excellent job.

But it would have been interesting to see

Charlton Heston,

the great

Charlton Heston,

you know,

Moses himself,

Ben-Hur be

Chief Brody in this film.

But,

hey.

you know we'll never know how that would have turned out number 19 jaws was based on an actual 1916 incident at the jersey shore a rogue shark killed four bavers

two of them in the in an estuary and there is a similar scene depicting that in the film and so yes this was i guess you can categorize Jaws as based on

actual events or based on a true story if you will um number 20 the original in the original novel hopper who is played by richard dreyfus in the film and mrs brody had an affair the another element that was not in the movie and

to be honest with you is a good omission from the film because i don't see where it would have moved the story along now i never read the novel

So I don't know if the novel is quote unquote better because,

you know,

a lot of people like to say,

oh,

the book was better.

Maybe.

But as far as this film,

the way this film,

the tone of this film,

it wouldn't have fit.

So it was a good omission not to include that that affair in the film.

Number 21,

Scott Japlin's ragtime is heard from a bandshell during the beach panic scene.

The sting,

which came out the year prior or two years prior to the release of Jaws in a monster hit.

I think it won Best Picture in it.

Coincidentally starred

Robert Shaw,

who was in Jaws as well.

It sparked the ragtag revival.

This always kind of full circle thing to have that in this film.

Number 22,

the shock moment when

Ben Garner's disfigured head pops up out of the boat.

was an 11 hour edition that that wasn't something that they was initially planning to do after test screening steven spielberg decided the movie needed one more big screen and that's what that's what he decided on to shoot that scene where uh the head pops up um which

which which which worked it worked um number 23 besides moby dick

Jaws may owe something to the plague,

an enemy of the people,

in which a doctor tries to warn the townspeople that their resort is contaminated.

Number 24.

At one point,

the character of Harper yells out,

I'm not going to stand this abuse much longer.

This is actually a parody of Clark Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty.

So that was kind of a,

I guess you could say paying homage to that film that was set at sea.

Number 25,

Universal Studios spent

$1.8 million promoting Jaws,

which in 1975 numbers was a lot of money.

It's a lot of money now.

You want to get technical.

I could use $1.8 million.

And so it will get me straight.

But that was a lot of money in 1975.

Number 26,

Jaws was first shown on TV screens in one of the greatest years ever,

1979,

the year I was born.

And the first year,

Jaws hit the television screens.

Yes,

people,

we didn't get direct-to-digital back then.

We didn't get piracy like,

you know,

back then.

We had to wait.

wait man and the fact you had to wait four years before that movie uh graced our television screens was uh it was the norm back then but now if you have to wait you'll go crazy uh number 27 you're

gonna need we're gonna need a bigger boat uh the film's most famous catchphrase was not in the script that was an improvised line of by roy shiner uh that deadline

Which is probably one of the most quoted lines,

honestly,

in film history,

along with I'll be back and

I am your father,

Luke,

and all this other stuff.

number 28 reduced beach going and increased shark sightings in 1975 were both a tribute to the film jaws you know people were scared to go in the water people did not want to get and to this day a lot of people do not go to

the beach at least they don't get in the water they'll play in the sand but they're not getting wet because of sharks and rightfully so i saw something

On one of those social media,

I want to say Facebook,

a video,

a woman was in the water just standing on the shore.

They're on the in the shadow part and a lifeguard or somebody came by and told the old lady,

get out the water,

get out the water.

And she's like,

why?

You know,

and the camera pans over and you see the shark fin right there.

Just just cruising along the little coastline.

It's waiting.

Yeah.

Rightfully so.

is um number 29 another change from the novel in the novel hopper dies uh he as you saw he survived in the book i mean in the film um even though it was a little fake out you thought he died but he

popped up at the end of the film number 30 peter benchley followed up this monster shark with a monster eel the

deep in 1976 and a monster squid beast in 1991 i remember seeing a movie beast i don't know it must not been all that because i vaguely remember i

think it was like a scraped dvd thing or something or maybe it was scraped to sci-fi or something i cannot remember where i saw that but i think i only saw it once the deep

I want to say I saw something called The Deep,

too.

I don't know if it was The Deep based on his novel or anything,

but I do remember seeing him.

But he caught fire with these sea monsters with Jaws,

and he just,

hey,

it worked once.

I'm going to keep on chugging them along.

Number 31,

Quint's boat is the Orca.

A Jaws movie ripoff was called The Orca.

and it was about a killer whale and that came out in 1977 i don't think i ever saw that i gotta look that up um when i wrote this down like man there was a film called about a killer whale i mean they are killer whales that's their name so i

i mean that was that wrote itself but i gotta look that up and watch it uh but yes uh that particular film was a a parody if you will of

jaws number 32 jaws lost best pitcher at the academy awards that year to one flues over the cuckoo nets and uh i can see that that's right i think that was justified the one flew over the cuckoo nest is

a classic oscars got it right on that one even though jaws they could have tied if they were going to do a tie in any year that would have been a year to do it

Number 33,

movie rights for Jaws were purchased for about $175,000.

Number 34,

Lorraine Gray,

who played Ellen

Brody, she was the wife of Sid Steinberg,

who at the time was the president of Universal Studios,

which distributed the film.

So,

um,

a little,

um,

nepotism there,

if you will.

not nepotism what's it called but anyways yeah he got his wife to gig but Lorraine Gray is a good good actress she really is

I can't see nobody else in that role to be honest with you so it all worked out it all worked out number 35 uh Robert Shaw based his Quinn uh characteristics on

Craig Kingsbury a

Martha's Vineyard fisherman who ironically Lee

played Ben Garner in the film who had pops up on the boat.

And so he based his character on that,

that guy in real life.

So that,

that was interesting.

Number 36.

the striking shot of Brody's reaction at the Beats attack was achieved by simultaneously zooming in and trucking out a technique Spielberg borrowed from Alfred Hitchcock,

the great,

that is,

something that he did in Vertigo,

and it became kind of his signature shot in films.

I love that shot.

In every film that he does that,

I love that shot.

It just brings a level of dread.

And it's like,

I don't know,

I guess it fits.

Vertigo.

It gives you that vertical feel.

It really puts you in the mind of the character.

I love that shot.

Number 37,

Dick Richards,

which is the greatest name on God's green earth.

He,

an earlier director considered for the project,

was dropped.

by the producers of the film because he kept referring to the shark as the whale in story uh conferences that's how he got fired because he called the shark a whale i mean i've i've had a few jobs in my life and i've lost a few jobs in my life and uh

never for verbiage that is that is crazy to me number 38 the film had a legendary difficult shoot with

many delays and problems the crew took to call the film flaws and many in the production really believed that the film was going to flop when it opened in theaters number 39 steven spielberg skipped the final day of shooting and was afraid disgruntled

crewmen would throw him into the water he thought that they ain't got into it so much on the set that

at the last day they were going to try to kill him or something.

He later made a tradition to be absent from the sets on the last day of the shoot.

He does that for every film he has made after that.

Number 40,

Jaws cost

$12 million to make and ultimately grossed $267 million in the United States alone.

I would venture to say it was a success.

Number 41.

In the 2008 documentary about the making of Jaws called The Shark Is Still Working,

I've seen that one.

A 2019 play about the making of Jaws written by Ian Shaw,

who is the son of Robert Shaw and Joseph Nixon is called The Shark Is Broken,

loosely based on that documentary.

Number 42.

Jaws has been rightly accused of creating shark phobia.

It has also been rightly credited for creating more awareness of and concern for sharks.

And

I mean,

you got to give to get,

you know,

you can't make an omelet without breaking legs,

legs,

but make breaking eggs.

This is,

yeah,

you created this,

this fear.

phobia of people getting into the water but at the same time you're cautious you know you're more cautious of these sharks that's out there it still freaks me out you know when when we vacation me and my family vacation to the beach that i mean that's the only place my wife want to go is the beach so it's

always a concern of mine i'm not gonna i'm not gonna lie to you uh sharks are i mean they are killing machines i feel but you know when you read

up on sharks or you watch uh these documentary films or shows about sharks sharks don't like people you know they don't we taste bad to them but i always live by the theory how you know we taste bad unless you eat us first you know and so i don't want to be spit out you have to chew it on for a little while like oh you you're disgusting no just i'm disgusting just leave me alone.

Number 43,

Richard Jifras is the...

Only one of the three principal actors,

knock on wood,

who are currently still alive.

Roy

Snyder, God rest his soul,

and

Robert Shaw,

God rest his soul,

passed away.

But

Richard Dreyfuss is still ticking.

Actually,

I saw him and still working because I saw him in something recently.

So good on Richard Dreyfuss.

Number

44, Omni Island.

The fictional location of Peter Benchley's book appears to be modeled at the Long Island.

Most viewers of the film,

which was shot in Owen Martha's Vineyard,

assumed it's somewhere in New England.

Number 45,

Peter Benchley had never set foot on Martha's Vineyard before filming began.

Number 46,

in the original screenplay,

as we noted earlier,

Hopper was supposed to die in the shark cage as it was in the book.

However,

footage of a live shark mauling an empty cage was so exciting that Spielberg wanted to incorporate it in the film.

In order to explain the empty cage,

they had to devise the twist where Hopper escaped and hid on the ocean floor.

And so that's how that came to be.

Because Steven Spielberg thought it was more exciting to watch a shark attack an empty cage.

That's why that character lived on and it was changed from the book and from the screenplay.

Because apparently in the screenplay,

they followed it and...

uh steven spielberg made the final change number 47 a scene of quint laughing at the 1956 movie version of moby dick was nixed when gregory peck who played a rap in the in

that film refused to grant permission uh that's the that's what killed it i guess i guess he felt like they were laughing at him or the character was laughing or making fun of him in his performance.

performance or the film.

But

I think it was more of an homage of the word for today because

Jaws is ultimately

Moby Dick.

It's just another version of Moby Dick,

you know,

just with a shark instead of a whale.

But no,

Gregory Peck said,

nope,

not going to use it.

So that's why that scene was

86th from the film.

Number

48.

Jeff Bridges,

John Voight,

and Timothy Bottoms were all considered for the role of Hopper before once again Steven Spielberg came with his decision with Richard

Dreyfuss. Number 49.

Show Me The Way To Go Home,

the 1925 English music hall song that Brody,

Hopper,

and Quinn sing in Drunken Fellowship has also been quoted in dozens of books.

Naked and the Dead

The Christmas Memory and films as well The

River Runs Through It in 1932 it was the centerpiece of the Bouncing Ball cartoon so that's why it probably rings a bell at least that's how I remember from the cartoons

I've never seen any or read those books or seen that film but

I do remember hearing that tune in a cartoon.

And finally,

number

50 of our

50 facts on the

50th anniversary.

Peter Benchley thought the film's ending,

where the shark was blown up by firing shots at that scuba tank,

would strike audiences as ridiculous.

Steven Spielberg argued that the audiences were suspended.

and so much disbelief by that point that they would accept it as well.

And wouldn't you know it,

he was right.

And so those are your 50 facts for the 50th anniversary of

Jaws.

Now let's get into the review of this classic film,

Jaws,

from 1975,

directed by Steven Spielberg,

starring

Roy Slider,

Robert Shaw,

and Richard Dreyfuss.

this film.

is on a lot of people's top 10 list,

top 5,

top 3,

number 1 as their favorite film,

greatest film of all time.

I do enjoy Jaws.

Unfortunately,

I was one of the few,

or many,

I don't know,

because it seems like I'm one of the few,

that didn't really have a great appreciation for Jaws growing up.

Mainly because I didn't see

Jaws until

I, I think I watched the third one first.

That was the first one I saw was Jaws

3D.

And then I saw Jaws.

So it came later to me.

And so I didn't have that same emotional attachment to Jaws as a lot of people did in 1975.

Number one.

I wasn't born in 1975.

I didn't come along till four years later and so

I didn't get to see it in all of his glory in all of his hype and when he was at the peak.

of his box office glory and so i didn't appreciate it until later in life and honestly i came to it because a lot of people were holding it in high regard and i saw it i was like oh it's fine and

you know that's mainly because by the time that i did get around to watching jaws i've already seen uh all wars i've already seen

Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I've already seen,

you know,

Empire Strikes Back and stuff like that.

I've seen multiple blockbuster films that were grander in stage,

I guess you can say.

But as I got older,

I started to appreciate Jaws a little bit more for the filmmaking aspect of it.

The story's the story.

You know,

I stated earlier,

it's a simple premise,

you know.

a resort town a tourist town being attacked by a killer shark okay you know it's simple it's simple so when you have a simple format

like that you start paying attention more to the filmmaking you start paying attention more to the uh acting you know and how the story how how the film paces itself and

you know the older i got you know became a teenager and watched it again i was like man this is beautiful filmmaker and filmmaking and especially um when you start at least when when it came to me i started hearing the

production stories or the pre-production stories and you know the hell that steven spielberg went through to make this movie and the mere fact that he wanted

the shark to be featured it what makes jaws so terrifying is the fact that you don't see the shark you see the shark a couple of times and that's mainly you know that grand interest

i guess you could say when brody is tossing out the chum on the side of the boat and jaws pops up out the water you know and he backs up and said i think you're gonna need a bigger boat and that's The moment.

we first actually see the shark but if it was up to steven spielberg you would have saw the shark the opening scene when it attacked that woman and at night you know he wanted to feature the shark a lot it was nothing ambiguous about it he wanted it to be uh

up up front and center but due to the fact that the shark that they made the mechanical shark kept malfunctioning and couldn't get it

writing you know couldn't they put it in the water it'll sink to the bottom and stuff like it was it was a it was a nightmare and so steven spielberg had to go into his uh super creative ways to uh shoot

around it and it's a movie about jaws the movie is called jaws it's about a shark and who wants to watch a movie that doesn't feature the shark you know that's like watching Jurassic Park and you never see

the dinosaurs in the movie ironically uh steven spielberg film there but you know you want to see the shark that's what you paid your money to see and when i was younger that's where my mindset was i wanted to see the shark you

know but the horror of it all letting your imagination do the work for you that's why i appreciate movies like that now is because of jaws this is when i really start diving into film and

loving film and appreciating film and becoming a quasi cinephile,

if you will,

and looking at filmmaking and how it makes you feel,

what emotions that are tapped in when you watch films.

And Jaws did it for me when I watched it.

I was around 12 or 13 when I rewatched it again.

It was on TV,

you know.

let me watch this again you know let me see and especially around that time because i have became the biggest steven spielberg fan like millions of other people around the world and i'm like man let me watch this again maybe i missed the boat and no

pun intended and of course i did because when i watched it when i was a pre-teen teenager whenever it was when it finally clicked i was like man this is this is beautiful

This is great how everything was just constructed in this film and to think that

most of it was constructed on the fly it wasn't meticulously planned out to to a t here you know they had to make they had to make a chicken salad out of you know what you know so and it worked it worked beautifully you

know growing up you know after repeat viewings i can i can see why this is a classic horror film because it is it's a horror film don't get it mistaken for just a thriller yes it's a

thriller it has thriller elements but it also have horror elements as well because this isn't a normal shark you know this isn't your your mom's your dad's shark here this this was a uh a killing machine that we witnessed on the big screen and how it invoked this

fear of getting into the water you know this isn't a fictional character this isn't a fictional monster this you Nope.

It's not the Loch Ness Monster that we're talking about here.

It isn't a Kraken.

This is an actual thing that if any,

on any given date,

depending on where you live at,

if you go out to your local beach front or lake front or whatever the case may be,

you can very well see a shark fin,

you know,

just casing the joint,

just waiting on somebody to dip their toe into the water.

So this is something that is...

Actual and factual.

That can happen to you.

Now,

as far as the shark stalking you and whatnot,

I don't know about that.

But,

you know,

you suspend disbelief.

It is a movie,

after all.

But it does invoke that actual fear into you that a lot of people have taken to their graves and still living with

50 years later.

As far as I'm concerned.

it would most likely inspire people to develop a vaccination for sharks you know i mean we get shark week every year on the discovery channel because of this it's because of jaws nobody was paying that much attention to jaws you

know to sharks until that movie came along and people started studying them and you know trying to figure out what makes them tick it's a shark after all

But it also depicts them as this mysterious animal.

Nobody knows about sharks like that.

You know,

it isn't like you can capture a shark and question it.

You know,

it's not like you can capture a shark and study it in his mind.

You know,

we saw that in Deep Blue Sea,

which is another shark film that

I actually enjoyed.

It's a guilty pleasure film.

Nowhere,

nowhere near.

the caliber of Jaws,

but you can't study these animals,

you know,

and that's what also makes them scary because you don't know when,

why,

or how they're going to strike.

You can swim with sharks and they won't bother you today,

but you'll go dive in that same location and swim around and all of a sudden they attack you,

you know,

it's just like there's no rhyme or reason for sharks.

But with all that being said,

went on this rant about sharks,

but the movie,

I love the movie,

how they made it mysterious,

how they how they kept it under wraps.

You knew it was a shark.

You just couldn't see the shark.

You know,

you saw enough,

you know,

the scene when it attacks that boy,

when it kills that little boy and you don't see the shark.

You don't even see the boy being ripped apart or anything like that.

But you do see what's going on out there.

in the water and that's the scene where you saw chief brody uh with that iconic pan in zoom out shot or whatever beautiful shot but uh yeah it the opening scene right we mentioned earlier with that actress being flung around or dragged around the ocean uh

on on those wires man I mean,

the brutality of what these sharks can do in this.

film or what this shark can do in this film is just frightening man it is super frightening and it is a true horror film all while exploring the characters that we were introduced our three lead actors

here and that's another rarity that we don't see in film today you know uh three leads you'll see two you'll see a buddy cop film or something you know uh

But you're never,

I can't recall seeing a three-man troupe,

you know,

with Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Schreider and

Robert Shaw,

who are.

all leads in their own right but coming together to kind of share the lead in this film and have their moments of shine and get behind all three characters uh hopper hopper is the one character i didn't like in this movie he i couldn't stand him i couldn't stand the mayor you

know and i'm not saying as far as uh them being in the movie or the actors i'm just being as their characters

I couldn't stand the mayor and I couldn't stand Hopper.

You know,

I like Richard Dreyfuss,

but the character of Hopper,

and if they would have stuck to the character as he is in the book,

as I've researched on,

I definitely wouldn't have liked him if they would have stayed true to him as he is in the book.

But he was just this,

I don't know,

man,

he was just pompous.

I couldn't stand him,

could not stand that character.

but

Unfortunately,

well,

let me take that back.

Forgive me.

Not unfortunately.

He did survive.

But the part I want to say unfortunately,

Clint didn't survive,

which was,

my God,

the most brutal scene ever.

Still to this day,

50 years later,

that is the most disturbing death scene

I have seen on screen or one of.

I've seen a lot.

of disturbing ones but that one sticks with me to the point where i can't look at and i'm a grown man i re-watched it the other day for this show and i still can't look at it man it still traumatizes me how quinn died in this film and it was like man

did we have to see did we have to see it all you know the shark just chomping at him man just just like he's on a conveyor belt or something

it was so brutal and that it had to be to be honest with you because if you really think about it that character had to go out like that he really he had to go out like that but i love robert charles performance as

quint um to the bloody end the satisfying ending to this film still is one of the best endings most satisfying ending

and movie history i've been in a packed theater uh during avengers end game at the very end and the cheers and the the the crying and all the emotions that was spilling out at the end of that movie in that packed theater is something that i'll never forget uh

i've been in the theater for uh spider-man no way home uh the packed theater and when toby mcguire and uh

uh andrew garfield popped up on screen the the reaction that happened in the theater was something special that i'll never forget i wasn't in the theater in 1975 i wasn't anywhere in 1975 but i can just imagine the

reaction before when brody says smile you son of a bitch and shot that shot that tank in his mouth it had to be the most epic moment i know it's still when i watched it the other day it's

still sent chills up my spine it was just so satisfying you know to defeat that shark uh was it silly yeah yeah yeah it was was it believable not not really of

course it's still i agree with peter benjamin i understand why it looks crazy because that is the most that is the most illogical thing that could ever happen a shark don't jump out of water

at least i've never i've never seen a shark come out of the water it's not a dolphin but in steven spielberg's defense he did say that look at this point if the people willing to go on his ride with with this at this point their their level of belief is is pretty much null and void so it didn't matter and it didn't because it was a satisfying ending to this film i

love jaws jaws i can see

why this is such an inspiration for hundreds,

if not thousands,

of filmmakers around the world.

Because this is a master class of filmmaking.

Because no film goes off without a hitch.

There's always something that comes along that will disrupt production.

And you don't have an actual smooth production because it's not a one-man show.

hundreds of people if not thousands of people who put a film together you know for us to sit down and watch a

90 minutes,

a two hour long film or longer,

you have to contribute that to so many people.

It's not just the actors you see in front of the camera.

It's not just the director.

It's not just the writer.

It's everybody that has to come together and make a film work.

And for every film,

there's always going to be different personalities,

different views,

different visions,

different.

uh opinions about certain things so it makes it a little difficult and when you have a film like jaws where virtually it was murphy's law everything that could go wrong did go wrong so it was it was it

was a hell shoot but steven spielberg and his fellow uh crewmen and filmmakers there on the set found a way to make it work and it still holds up

in 2025 it is a true classic it is the mother of all summer blockbusters it is jaws from 1975 and it gets a letter grade of

an a plus there is no flaws in jaw there's there's not a flaw in jaws it is truly a masterpiece of film and

is is crazy to say that it feels funny to say that knowing the backstory knowing that it was far from a masterpiece if it would have went according to plan if it would have went just the way steven spielberg pictured it we wouldn't it wouldn't be the classic that it is and that's just the crazy part about it it

wouldn't have been this phenomenal of a movie he accidentally and that's not to take away from his genius

It's just the way it is.

It actually,

it contributes to his genius.

The fact that he had to rework things,

you know,

he had to shoot around things.

He had to be innovative and use it,

use his imagination instead of relying on the mechanics and stuff.

And we got a classic out of it.

Um,

it's crazy to believe that this movie is 50 years old.

It is,

it is crazy.

Number one.

It signifies that I'm old.

Now,

I wasn't,

I'm not 50.

I wasn't around when it was released,

but I'm not too far from it.

I'm not too far from it.

It just let me know that 50 is right around the corner for me.

There's that element.

And it's also the fact that for 50 years,

this movie still holds up.

And that's the beauty of it.

That's what makes a classic a classic.

If you can watch it

10, 15,

20,

and 50 years later,

and it's still as good as it was when you first watched it,

that's a classic.

If it's still as good,

if you still discover things,

because there were things I discovered watching it the other day.

You know,

this bad hat,

that's one bad hat,

Harry.

I never heard that line.

and i heard it spoken by somebody else i believe it was brian singer because brian singer you know the director of x-men and bohemian rap uh rap city and stuff like that he named his production company bad hat harry and

it was off of that line in this in jaws uh when when um brody says that to uh the mayor i believe oh no not the mayor uh to i forgot the character's name but anyway

I finally heard it when I re-watched it and it was a good line.

It was a funny line where it was placed in the film.

I think it's the most slept on line to be honest with you.

Everybody always gravitates to you've got to get a bigger boat but that's my favorite line from the movie and I just discovered it the other day.

It just goes to show you that this movie finds a way to stay alive after 50.

glorious years i would like to know how did you first discover jaws were you there in 1975 on june the 20th 1975 did you go into the theater to watch this uh just

classic horror thriller or did you or you like me a little younger and you had to wait till it came on television or uh you was

blessed to get a VCR and went and bought the VHS and stuff like that.

When did you first discover Jaws and how do you rank it on your top?

You know,

is it one of your favorites?

Is it all right?

Is it one of Steven Spielberg's best or whatever the case may be?

Let me know.

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five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you are currently listening to movie goodness here on the kb radio network everybody thank you for joining me as we went

back to 1975 to celebrate the

50th anniversary of the mother of all summer blockbusters

Jaws want you all to know that I love you continue to love everyone and until we speak again

You all be blessed

50th Anniversary of JAWS - Retro Review

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