FILM 2256: JAWS (1975)

TRIVIA: When composer John Williams originally played the score for director Steven Spielberg, Spielberg laughed and said, "That's funny, John, really; but what did you really have in mind for the theme of Jaws (1975)?" Spielberg later stated that without Williams's score, the movie would only have been half as successful and according to Williams, it jumpstarted his career.

According to writer Carl Gottlieb, the line "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was not scripted, but was ad-libbed by Roy Scheider.

According to director Steven Spielberg, the prop arm looked too fake in the scene where Chrissie's remains are discovered, so instead, they buried a female crew member in the sand with only her arm exposed.

According to The Making of 'Jaws' (1995) documentary, the shooting star that appears during the night scene where Brody loads his revolver was real, not an optical effect.

Over 67 million people in the U.S. went to see this film when it was initially released in 1975, making it the first summer "blockbuster."

Though respected as an actor, Robert Shaw's trouble with alcohol was a frequent source of tension during filming. In later interviews, Roy Scheider described his co-star as "a perfect gentleman whenever he was sober. All he needed was one drink and then he turned into a competitive son-of-a-bitch." According to Carl Gottlieb's book "The Jaws Log," Shaw was having a drink between takes, at which one point he announced, "I wish I could quit drinking." Much to the surprise and horror of the crew, Richard Dreyfuss simply grabbed Shaw's glass and tossed it into the ocean. When it came time to shoot the infamous USS Indianapolis Scene, Shaw attempted to do the monologue while intoxicated as it called for the men to be drinking late at night. Nothing in the take could be used. A remorseful Shaw called Steven Spielberg late that night and asked if he could have another try. The next day of shooting, Shaw's electrifying performance was done in one take.

When the shark was built, it was never tested in the water. When it was put in the water at Martha's Vineyard, it sank straight to the ocean floor; it took a team of divers to retrieve it.

Jaws opened on June 20, 1975. It was supposed to be released in theaters for Christmas 1974, but because filming ran way over the shooting schedule, its release was pushed back to summer the following year. Back in 1975, summer was traditionally when the worst movies were dumped into theatres as Americans typically enjoyed the outdoors instead. But the film was so good, beachgoers actually flocked to see it, and the movie became the highest grossing film of all time up to that point. It became the first film to gross over $100 million at the box office and the summer blockbuster was born.

The line, "That's some bad hat, Harry," at 16:35, is the slogan for Bad Hat Harry Production Company. Their ad page features a cartoon rendition of Martin and Harry sitting by the beach, with a shark fin in the water in the background.

Composer John Williams conducted the orchestra during the 1976 Academy Awards, so when it was announced that he won the Oscar for Best Score, he had to run up to the podium to accept his Oscar and then run back to continue conducting the orchestra.

Several decades after the release of Jaws (1975), Lee Fierro, who played Mrs. Kintner, walked into a seafood restaurant and noticed that the menu had an "Alex Kintner Sandwich." She commented that she had played his mother so many years ago; the owner of the restaurant ran out to meet her, and he was none other than Jeffrey Voorhees, who had played her son. They had not seen each other since the original movie shoot.

Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, invented a Great White Shark-shaped submarine to study the sharks in a natural setting. He discovered that, contrary to the killing-machine nature shown in Jaws (1975), Great Whites are actually very cautious fish. They also communicate with each other via their fins and body language.

The "forward tracking, zoom out" shot used when Brody realizes Alex Kintner has been eaten has been called "the Jaws shot" by some video teachers who instruct students on using this move. However, this shot is merely a reverse of the "forward zoom and reverse tracking" (also known as the Trombone Shot) shot invented by Irmin Roberts for the disorienting height shots in Vertigo (1958). A similar shot appears to have been used for the dream sequences in Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 (1966), in which Montag runs down an apparently endless corridor, passing doors on both sides but seems to never get closer to the end.

The music for Jaws (1975), composed by John Williams, was ranked at #6 by the American Film Institute for their list of the 25 Greatest Film Scores.

The shark in "Finding Nemo" was named Bruce, supposedly as an homage to the mechanical shark's nickname.

The shark was ranked the eighteenth greatest villain on the AFI's list of 100 Heroes and Villains.

When it was first shown on British television on October 8, 1981, the film became the second most watched film to be broadcast on British television, a record it still holds to this day. It attracted 23.25 million viewers, only a quarter of a million viewers less than Live and Let Die (1973), shown in January 1980, which attracted 23.50 million viewers.

Made film history as the first film to gross more than $100 million.

Voted #5 on Empire magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008).

Was voted the 48th greatest film by the American Film Institute on their list of the 100 greatest movies in 1998. Ten years later, it dropped eight ranks to #56.

Voted #3 in Total Film's 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time list (November 2005).

CAMEO: Peter Benchley: Reporter on the beach.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

I’m making my way through the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. See my blog post about my copy of the book here…

You can buy an updated version (which I will get after I’ve made my way through this edition) here…

I really hope you can come on this journey with me – if you do I’d love to know which films you’ve enjoyed the most!

Watch this here…

This is featured on the podcast Unspooled Episode #113