For this episode of Drinker Recommends, we're going back 45 years to the small island of Amity, to explore the movie that made everyone afraid to go in the water...
I will but for the love of God do ‘The Old Guard’ next ... that Netflix feminazi sjw white-guilt train needs to be addressed and you are the only cinematography critic standing on the banks of the River Tibet unapologetically waving your Jack Daniels calling it like it is
I’d think they would be vegans, befriend the shark, and join forces with it to destroy the white cis heterosexual men with how strong and independent they are!
Best scene of the movie: When Hooper asks Quint about the tattoo, and Quint says he was on the Indianapolis. Hooper and Brodie get spooky quiet and Quint tells that story... it's so compelling, quiet, calm, and personal, it's like it's real and you're actually there. One of the best scenes ever made.
In any modern movie, hell probably any movie in the late 80s onwards, this would’ve been told over a dramatic flashback which showed the scene Quint talks about- but this movie leaves it up to interpretation allowing the audience to form the visuals in their own head which is infinitely more powerful. God I miss filmmaking like this
The thing is though it was the arrogance and complacency of man (quint in this instance) thinking he was just going to kill it and head back to shore for the cheering and celebrations (and getting his 10k lol), it felt natural and organic because of this though, we've all had ideas in our heads (men the biggest culprit in this discussion) that are great inside that skull, nothing is going to stop the success because it looks so great on paper so to speak... but nature isn't that simple. Jaws told a story of how great man is when working together, but how one man in that group can dismantle a lot of hard work through pride. Quint didn't deserve to die but he underestimated nature and paid the price.
@@therebel4332 How can Quint be arrogant AND complacent? He had seen his shipmates die one by one due to sharks. He hates sharks because of what he's seen them do. He lives in Fear from what he has lived through because of them...The Rebel: "we've all had ideas in our heads (men the biggest culprit in this discussion)". The CURRENT leader at this today, far and away are women and feminism. So much so that for 50 years running they've been producing SJW children who hate men, like you. In reality, women are the ones who follow ideologies that are great inside that, (their female) skull(s)", but don't work in the real world. One result is bois and gurls who carry around warped, dis-functional versions of life inside of them and obsessively attempt to contaminate others around them. You're trying to shame the character Quint and by association all men for trying to do something, to find a solution. You over look the fact that none of the female characters EVER do anything to remedy this crisis in the story. Weirdly, your comment is backwards AND upside down. Quint is the ONLY person in the town WHO WOULD DO ANYTHING and has the experience and tools to fix the problem.
I never thought the shark looked that fake, until many rewatches and behind the scenes footage. To be fair that might just make me dumb when it comes to sharks, but it worked for me and still does.
As a lifelong horror fan I can say that Shaw's monologue about the ship sinking and being stuck in the water with the sharks is one of the most intense, scariest scenes, it really invoked true dread.
In Austin Texas a couple years back this was played on a giant inflatable screen on the lake free to the public, just pull up a kayak, paddle board, inflatable mattress, or whatever floated. Made the movie way more intense in the water at night. People screamed when fresh water fish would nibble at their toes. Epic.
@@philiphudgens4726 Yeah...a disney jaws movie where jaws will only bite someone but never consume them, and instead of blowing him up in the end theyll just capture him and place him somewhere else in the ocean. Gotta keep it family friendly
One of the most ironic aspects of Jaws is that Quint's monologue about the USS Indianapolis was nearly left on editing floor. Spielberg initially thought the monologue might have been too boring for the film. That monologue is one of the best and most chilling and integral parts of a movie ever made. Having Quint recount the horrors that he and his crew had to endure with shark attacks in the Pacific during World War II really helps to define Quint's character and why he has such a hatred for sharks.
🦁.@@tinman1843 Honestly mate, wasn't really thinking about it too deeply when writing that comment, in fact, was kinda thinking about deleting it (though kinda forgot about it), especially after re-watching the Jaws behind the scenes on Blu Ray, where yes he said it might be too boring, however, he said that in reference to it might be too boring for the audience, & it might drag out or affect the pacing of the film, though he did wanted to keep it in, so they just let it play out & see where it goes, & everyone ended up loving it. So, if I'm to be fair to him, he's not always the emotional & explodey tisms over logical consistency, but again, however, think I'm mostly standing by with what I've said in the previous comment, sometimes he does do the emotional payoffs & explosions over logical consistency, in fact, a particular example is at the very end of this film, a literal explosion, & you know the scene I'm referring to, & if you have read my other comments on this video, you would know my views of that scene. Also, since you brought it up, yes, he did make the III Indiana Jones films, & from what someone told me, who I've come to trust, Temple of Doom isn't a very good film, & I'm probably inclined to agree with him (considering how hilarious that movie was to me), though I'll double check on that, & again, yes, he did make those at least II good films as well as many other good films, he also made Ready Player I, which is hot trash. Also, also, George Lucas made the OT, & A New Hope & Empire are II really great films, he also made Return of the Jedi & the PT, & Jedi is arguably a bad film, & the PT, well their just trash (still better than the sequels though), & there's even a argument to be made whether Return of the Jedi or Revenge of the Sith (the best of the PT) are better or worse than each other, & did we also forget that M. Night Shyamalan Made Unbreakable, Split, & The VIth Sense, but also made The Happening, The Last Airbender, & Glass. Think I've made my point pretty clear, so don't completely get the argument you made against me, but I'll admit, probably could of elaborated further, & I'm very aware that Spielberg is a sacred cow to a lot of people because he made a lot of great films in his career, doesn't mean he's above scrutiny, people have given George Lucas a lot of flack (rightfully so) for his goofy shenanigans, but Steven Spielberg gets practically nothing for his shitty decisions & goofiness, some of them are even in his good films, II examples of his being at the endings of both Jurassic Parks (think you can guess what I'm referring to).
The USS Indianapolis story is integral to the story arc for Quint, and the audience is left to wonder if his eventual death in the jaws of a shark isn't a case of "Nature" correcting a slight error from 1945. Perhaps Quint was meant to die along with most of his mates from the Indianapolis. Food for thought, anyway.
To be completely honest, whenever the shark shows up, I'm way to enveloped in the terror of what's happening onscreen to care about the fact that it doesn't really look real. That's how good the suspense and build up in this movie is.
Bingo. The moment it pops out of the water when Brody is putting out chum is so terrifying it's hard to even look at the screen for some people. That's how good the buildup is, especially because of the soundtrack. To me, the 🦈 is second on the list of stars in this movie... Behind Jon Williams...
Your point of actors now being cookie cutter replicas that seem to come out of a factory rather than normal people who could sell believable roles as real humans is so true it makes me sad.
Back in 1974 when I was a spritely 14-year-old in Western Australia, I joined up with my local Surf Life-Saving club (the volunteer versions of the USA's professional Life-Guards) and spent the weekends and school holidays from November to February (the southern hemisphere's hot season) pulling people from the water when they got out of their depth or caught up in rip currents and one time had to give CPR to one poor fellow who suffered a fatal heart attack while running on the beach. Another of our jobs, when the tower spotted a shark, was to sound the siren and go out in the inflatable outboard motor boat and chase it back out to sea. The people seemed so lax and non-panicked when the shark siren sounded and most of them would wait out in knee-depth watching the action until we gave the all clear. Then came the 1975/1976 season. The season of "Jaws"! There was a distinct drop-off in the number of swimmers and rescues that year. And when the shark siren sounded...remember the story of Jesus walking on the water? Many of our beach goers learned to run on water, turning the clear blue sea into white froth while we sent the boat out. Nobody went knee-deep anymore! Even when we chased the animal out to sea and we sounded the all clear, it was quite some time before anyone decided to be the first brave one to dip a toe in. I have never before or since seen a movie affect the behaviour of the general public in such a way ever again. I doff my hat to Mr Spielberg for making our job just that little bit easier for that season.
The only one that gripped the public anywhere near that much, I think, was Psycho. Plenty of people got very nervous in showers, and some switched to baths.
@@dingfeldersmurfalot4560 I don't know...I think I'd feel more vulnerable lying in a bathtub than standing in a shower. Actually, thinking about it, I wouldn't like to try defending a knife attack in either position!
The thing I love about Brodie is how responsible he feels. When he gets slapped by the boys' mom, the mayor tries to say it's not Brodie's fault, but Martin is having none of it. He knows he let himself get talked out of doing the right thing and won't pass the blame, even to those who deserve it. In truth there's nothing he probably could have done. He'd have been overruled, anyway, but the fact that he kept silent is enough for him to do the one thing he fears most in order to set it right.
That’s a good summary of Roy Scheider’s performance. I guess I took it for granted when I was younger, but having witnessed so many phoned in performances, particularly in modern Hollywood productions, I now really appreciate the way Roy played his character. It was an understated yet excellent performance.
One of the best scenes of the film. You can really feel the hurt Mrs. Kintner is feeling and the shame and guilt Brody is feeling. Like you say, he owns it and doesn't accept when Vaughns offers him the chance to blame him for it. It's a magnificent 2 mins of film. Sadly Lee Fierro died of complications of coronavirus back in April. Which was when I last watched Jaws. I still watch it at lease once a year. It's a masterpiece.
Robert shaw's monologue is how I think I speak when I'm drunk, when I actually sound like one of the 4 Ghostbusters remake actresses when they are trying to be funny
Jaws is one of those extremely rare movies.....it’s damn near perfect. Its so freaking good we can forgive the mechanical shark. Not one of the films featuring photoreal cgi sharks, come close to licking the boots of this classic. What makes it extra special is that we actually care about the characters and what happens to them. If they did a remake of Jaws today, I guarantee I’d be rooting for the shark!
Forget remakes. They have tried to just make shark movies. And by that i mean, there is no attempt to tell a coherent story, develop characters and allow us to take them seriously or care about them. Suspense, foreboding doom is replaced with spectacular, over elaborate deaths, gore and dowsed in comedic moments. There's little attempt at making a movie in the jaws mould these days, unless it features one or several characters, stuck on a rock etc. A reboot would be impossible to recreate jaws in everyway, even if they copied the scenes exactly as they were originally. Those actors are irreplaceable. Further proof was the disaster of the remake/reboot of Psycho.
The mechanical shark is (as the Drinker concedes) not quite so convincing. But everything else about the movie is so perfect, that it's a lot easier to forgive. Still one of Spielberg's best.
@@aidanaidan8662 At least with a big rubber monster, the actors have something to react to. With CGI, there is nothing there, and you can tell simply by the way the actors' eyes don't focus on anything. They are shown a spot on a green background and told, "Now the monster will appear over here. Remember the pictures we showed you? Just pretend it's 40 feet tall and trying to eat you." I don't know that for sure, of course, but based on the crap that Hollywood is making these days, it seems pretty likely.
@@ElveeKaye CGI does enable them to do things that would cost a fortune, practically, but there has to be a balance. Too often it doesn't look much better than an old matte background because they don't put in the real world imperfections.
I went on the Jaws “ride” at Universal Florida in its last 6 months before closure. It was a huge highlight of my adult life, having seen it many times on tv as a kid. The plastic shark had paint peeling off its nose, the “dock” was rotting away, but boy I was chuffed. Iconic movie and iconic ride. How perfect is that!
Duel (1971) is a relatively unknown Spielberg film that has an atmosphere similar to parts of JAWS, with an excellent build up of tension. It doesn’t have the same range of characters that JAWS has, mostly focusing on the protagonist as he drives home across rural California, pursued by a menacing truck whose driver is hostile to him for unknown reasons. It’s an absolute gem of 70s cinema and I recommend that Drinker and everyone else should watch it.
It was also good to see them in the theater before cell phones and all that. Audiences still sometimes had idiots, but nothing like the recent horror stories I've heard. Besides, if you avoided matinees and the like, you could get a decent crowd.
Why do people always forget that you only remember the good movies from the past. There was just as much if not more trash being produced back when Jaws came out. People just forgot about them.
Robert Shaw was intoxicated throughout much of the filming, which only augmented his brilliant performance, as well as the performance of Richard Dreyfuss, by intentionally taunting him between takes. People may not realize this, but Shaw was not just a talented actor, but an accomplished writer. Sadly, he would pass away from a heart attack only a few years later. Also, I'm intoxicated as write this, as is The Critical Drinker. How meta can you get?
The technical problems with the mechanical shark made the film in many ways. Not just because Spielberg had to find ways to shoot around it but because the actors and writers (including John Milius and Robert Shaw, himself a playwright) had a lot of free time with nothing to do and they improvised and fine-tuned the scenes into what they became.
NTM, the editor Verna Fields was cutting the movie as it was being shot, so they were able to come up with scenes they needed by watching rough edits of the film
Ah, the 70's... when things were realistic in movies because audiences didn't want to be patronized to all the time, and if you were a hack writer you were called out for it.
@Joe Blow the 70s were a genuinely progressive time. What passes for progressive today is a subversion by technocrats to keep the masses dulled, without actually being progressive at all
@@robirvine6970 Actually, they tended to say lots, usually starting with 'AHAHAHAHAHA! Did you catch the crapfest on the late movie?! Who writes this garbage?'. Though some were definitely 'So bad it's hilarious' water cooler fodder.
@@natp8387 Yeah nah. No one was gathering around a water cooler to talk about a shit movie.. that you seem to believe they would all watch... to the end.. by choice.. and then care enough about to discuss with workmates... that also dont give a fuck...
I have watched Jaws at least once a year since the early 80s and I don’t see myself ever stopping. I have the book, the audiobook, the soundtrack, posters, collectibles, video games, the board game, the anniversary blu-ray, and copies on dvd and vhs. I have the movie on my iPhone and my iPad. Basically what I’m saying is that it’s been my favorite movie since I was five years old and I’ll be 43 in April.
I read the book after I'd already seen the movie, and there are some rather large plot points that were omitted for the movie, such as Brody's wife Ellen having an affair with Hooper, who was the younger brother of David Hooper whom Ellen had dated before becoming Mrs. Brody. A wise choice by the screenwriters to leave that out IMO. Completely unnecessary to the story on the big screen.
Don't forget all the wangst over the "alt-right neo-Nazi Trump supporters" 'review bombing' the film and its "stunning and brave" themes. You know the routine.
I love the rubber shark. Still scares me as an adult, probably because it’s a real, physical presence, not a bunch of pixels. I don’t care if it’s fake. I still wouldn’t want to be filming in the water with that thing.
Right there with you lad. Even when seeing the Jaws shark out of the water, showing the mechanical body, that damn giant rubber toy still gives me the chills. That's the showcase of a good movie monster. Still gets to me even sometimes today. And like you said, being on set near that thing. I'd just be just as haunted too. Compared to giant CGI noodle with teeth like they'd do today, lol.
TBH the rubber shark is not that bad, sure some scenes you can tell its fake eg when it eats quint but the rest of the movie you can't really tell, that is what a great white looks like. And yeah a cgi looks shit especially with movie monsters onoy exceptions I can think of are jurassic park and starship troopers.
Photoshop is really fun to draw with . I don't care for the new versions of it but I can create a "realistic" image of anything I can possibly imagine so I stick to doing women .... Hold my beer ... There. Hows that?
@Sanity Is Freedom I put it down to poor animation the guys who animated the dinosaurs and aliens in JP and starship troopers understood how real animals move. It doesn't matter one bit how photo realistic, how well rendered or how good the textures are if the thing on screen isn't moving realistically, if so the audience does not respect what it is seeing.
I just watched this last week! What a classic in EVERY way. The scene where the Kittner boy dies is still disturbing . Poor Quint kicking, and hyperventilating , his "Indianapolis" nightmare finally come to fruition. My sister and I saw this at the theater in 75, I was 10 she was 12 (parental guidance was merely a suggestion, after all ;-) . When Ben Gardner's cyclopean visage popped out of the hole in the boat hull....well, our large sized movie-theater popcorn was "liberated" from it's bucket as we screamed in unison! Those were the days, let me tell ya!
I was born 10 years after the movie came out, but it's always been my favorite. The theater chain in my area has taken to playing classics on one of their screens during the middle of the week. They finally got around to Jaws, and I finally got to go see it on the big screen. It was a great night.
The only movie I can watch 100 times and never get tired of it. Who would've thought a movie featuring a broken mechanical shark could be considered one of the top 10 (5 in my book) greatest movies of all time. A true classic!
@@TH3F4LC0Nx Ill give you that It may not be a top 10 film of all time but I dont think its Spielbergs weakest film, in a lot of ways I think its his best film. But film is pretty much all subjective, for me personally I would probably put it Top 25 for sure but i cant agree that it is one of his weakest films.
@@roccojelsomeno7907 Spielberg's greatest film is almost universally considered to be Schindler's List, and I can't disagree. I don't like Jaws because it's just a dumb film, (and I don't mean any offense by saying that). I mean, in order to even make the shark be threatening, they basically had to give it superpowers where it can sink boats! And anyone who knows anything about sharks will tell you that no shark would EVER intentionally ram something with its nose; that's where all its sensory organs are. That's the problem with all shark movies; they have to make the animals be something they're not. That's why my favorite shark movie might be Deep Blue Sea, because at least in that movie they give a reason why the sharks are so damn smart!
Imagine a remake of the Jaws. Strong female characters, including the shark, of course. A lot of forced humor, some Tik Tok inspired dance scenes. And at the end, plot twist, they all hug it out, because the shark was pissed off on the count of some random eco problem, that those strong female characters solve in the last third of the movie.
I want to watch this movie now. If the movie was exactly as you described. That’s an idea for SNL: Do gender swapping full movie sketches that are not canon but rather just sketches. I did not like the Ghostbusters film when I saw it the first time. I then watched it again with the parameter of “It’s a feature length SNL sketch” and it was really enjoyable.
I saw this movie in the theater when I was 7 years old. It still ranks as one of my top three favorite movies of all time (the other two being the original Star Wars and the original Alien). I've never felt that it was about the shark. That was just a device that happened to have all the right elements to suit the theme. For me, that theme is the old story of a dragon terrorizing some medieval village. We even get a kind of "virgin sacrifice" in the beginning. And a very large great white shark is about as close to a dragon as you're going to get in reality, especially if you live in a fishing village. Two knights are hired and sent out with a local squire to find the beast in its lair and slay it. We even get a traditional "arming sequence" (popular in heroic epic poetry) when Matt Hooper prepares to don his armor (the cage) and enter the dragon's lair. My God, the dude even has a dragon-slaying lance! (For smaller dragons, though lol!) And in the coolest plot twist in storytelling history, the two knights are defeated by the dragon (one even eaten while we watch in horror!) and the squire who's never in his life seen a dragon before earns his knighthood by slaying the dragon himself...by accident. This movie has nothing to do with a shark, although I cannot think of a better modern "beast" to play the dragon's role. What makes any story interesting is the character dynamics, and this film could not have been written better in that respect. It's one of the few films I've ever seen that made vast improvements over the book on which it was based. Ah, what a Golden Age the '70s were! The music! The TV! The movies! Now all three of my favorite films have been destroyed, two of them by their own creators. Music today is just selfish woke garbage. Movies are incoherent spectacles. TV I simply stopped watching when they stopped writing scripts with stories. My childhood is raped, my soul is dead, my hope is gone. Writers today are retards. I wish I had died when I was twelve and the world still showed promise. I hate you all. You ruined my life.
Can rewatch this over and over and it never gets old. Seen it so many times I can literally repeat the dialogue along with the movie now. The bit where Quint tells his tale about the Indianapolis - aw, man! It always gives me chills. Robert Shaw is captivating! And the scene where Brody is eating dinner at home and his son is copying his dad - pure genius! What a film! What an era of film making! Why don't we get magical tales executed to perfection like this slice of gold anymore?
Spielberg had a way of getting kids to act like real kids, at least early on. Close Encounters was also great with the way Roy's family interacted in such a 'normal' way.
@@tedvdw1975 you've hit the nail on the head. Look at ET and Goonies, two other films where kids act normal and look normal. None of this "perfect looking children, dressed in the best clothes and make-upped to high heaven". Can't beat the 70s and 80s for real, well told stories.
Spielberg said Shaw asked him if he could drink prior to the scene, however he was shitfaced and pretty much embarrassed himself. The next day he did it stone cold sober. Spielberg said Shaw was so good you can edit the two cuts together and not notice any difference.
This was the 1st movie I saw in the theater as a wee kid, with my grandmother. It began a trend where together we went and saw All the big 80's films in the theater. They are my favorite memories of her and like, we saw them ALL. Jaws, Raiders, ET, Star Wars, Poltergeist, Close Encounters, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, Conan, the Goonies, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, 007, 2001, Transformers, the Princess Bride, Legend. And if we couldn't watch it because I wasn't old enough, we watched them on TV, so the Exorcist, Halloween, The Thing, we Loved going to the movies. Indiana Jones was her Favorite series, ET her favorite film, Jaws her favorite horror. My grandmother moved from England to Canada during the Blitz, movies had been a big love for her back home and to be able to share that with me and later my sister, Including the Beetles and Doctor Who...she was a Granny Geek who Knew the Stories and the Lore for Doctor Who before there really was such a thing. She was a Legend that way and I Miss her Immensely. So Drinker, I'll dare to ask a tiny favor if I may. Your next drinking session where Toasts to lost family members who helped to Share and Encourage our love of Cinema comes up...toss One back for My Granny please as well as One More for everyone else who has or has lost someone in that role. Thanks.
Nice! I didn't see my gran often enough (we lived in another country) but I vividly remember her taking me and my brother to see Airplane when we were about 10 and 12 years old. I never laughed so hard in my life, even though I missed about 70% of the humour, and it gave me a lifelong passion for satire and send-ups.
I was 12 years old in '75. Jaws was my first introduction to audience manipulation which had me see it 7 times that summer. So many great camera angles and cinematography that helped paint a scene rather than having characters explain everything to the audience. The silhouette of Quint in the crows nest looking down on Brody and Hooper...Quint always ever present and foreboding. One thing to add to that scene with Brody on the beach with the camera moving in and zooming out at the same time...what really brings the chills is John Williams using strings to run low to high during the whole scene. Both picture and sound brought together to heighten your sense of dread and Brody's nightmare scenario actually happening. Great job as always Drinker. Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women......I'll go away now.
^^^ This. I saw it at 14-years-old in the theater. When the shark first popped up while Brody was chumming I literally jumped half way out of my seat. Bigger boat indeed.
I'd a summer job in the Adelphi Cinema here in Dublin when Jaws was showing - the 'scream scenes' ALWAYS worked. Hang on - Monty Pythons Flying Circus was also showing on screen 2 - am I getting them mixed up? Who cares - happy daze!
I was 5 years old when it came out and was scared to death about going in the water. I never cared about the VFX because the terror was real coming from a rubber shark, now that's how you make a movie
I was just going to say the same. And then to go through the terror of going to the beach the next day. I couldn't even go in my freaking pool for a month.
“Here lies the body of Mary Lee, Died at the age of one hundred and three, For 15 years she kept her virginity, Not a bad record for this vicinity”. Quint 1975
There is a similarity between this and The Searchers (a Spielberg favorite). It starts as a horror movie, turns into a "search" buddy movie and ends as an action flick with the characters arguing about the right way to achieve the objective. Love them both.
I showed my 6 year old daughter (who loves sharks) and when the girl was killed in the beginning she said "that so sad, that boy has to find a new girl friend now" funniest things I ever heard
I remember Roy Scheider once saying that you could show this film to somebody who doesn't speak English and they would still be able to follow the whole thing.
This is my favourite film of all time. I can remember sneaking into the cinema through the fire exit to watch it. Must have seen it over 50 times since then.
This is my favourite film of all time. It is gripping from start to finish, the three main characters are a masterclass in acting, the camaraderie they eventually exhibit is delightful to watch. It's a film that hinges on them, what makes the shark so scary isn't the Hooper death scene it's the real footage that was intertwined from Ron and Valerie Taylor, because it's used sparingly and is real, and often its just the shark swimming away slowly, menacingly. It keeps the fear of the shark at just the right level.
Agree. The Thing is the finest horror movie ever made (my opinion), and still the scariest one I've seen in my life. And it's proof that practical effects win over computer graphics, even with today's technology.
Something I've never thought of which is brilliant writing is that all three of our protagonists are after the shark for three different reasons: Brody out of his sense of duty to protect, Hooper in his pursuit of knowledge, and Quint out of greed and hubris. And then we get all the conflict that arises from those separate motivations. What an absolutely amazing screenplay.
God I miss good blockbusters: Star Wars (the original trilogy) jaws, Indiana Jones, blade runner, predator, ghostbusters, the list goes on. Back when people struggled to make their movies, and that made them greater. Now studios ship money to woke, incompetent losers who they know aren’t talented. This is the corporate age of movies
Meritocracy has been dead in entertainment for some time...as long as the studios are ticking those boxes they can have an easy life free from Twitter witch hunt mobs
He and Dreyfus should have won Oscars for this film. Shaw IS the character he portrays. Damm few actors of that caliber today. "For that, you get the head, the tail.... whole damn thing. "
ya know, i dont get the "shark looks so fake" constant bashing. when i was a kid, it most certainly DID NOT look fake, and that last scene with quint especially scared the shit out of me, it was horrifying. even now, i appreciate what they did with the shark. it doesnt look terrible like a c-grade horror movie prop, and ofcourse it doesnt look great like todays effects. i think it gets the job done, its adequate. i guess what im saying is it doesnt take me out of the film. its still looks good enough, even today, to be believable and not take you instantly out. i think that shark gets an unjustified bad rap for 1975 and considering what they went through. the film doesnt suffer for it. as you said, it actually benefits from it. that shark simply doesnt look as bad as everyone makes it out to be. not by a longshot.
In retrospect, it hasn't aged well, but not nearly as badly as some other effects from the era. Watch Logans Run, for instance, and then recall that it released in the same year as the original Star Wars
When you first get to see the immense size of the shark and realize its almost bigger than the boat, that scared the crap out of me!!! That scene is amazing
The same people that had your mind set later went out and nearly drove some shark species into Extinction. God do I wish this movie completely failed in production and was never made.
I can attest, seeing Jaws the first day it came out in 1975 on a giant screen in one of those Golden Era movie palaces from the 1920s, the shark looked damn real to 10 year old me and everyone else I knew. As they say, you had to be there.
Can't argue with a thing you said there. Brilliant movie that I didn't see until later in life. Only thing you might have mentioned was how Quint got everybody's attention in the town meeting by scraping his fingernails on the blackboard. That was a perfect introduction for the character.
"Quint's USS Indianapolis Monologue" (yes-I'm using caps because it was that good) will stand the test of 1,000 years. When we're watching holograms, this speech will STILL BE EPIC
I know Shaw from three films. Pelham, The Sting, and Jaws. But he will be remembered for all time for that monologue. One of the most rivetting in film history.
After learning about the tragedy of the USS Indianapolis, the scene where Quint looks over at the life jackets with dread as the boats sinking, that scene without words, says so much.
Probably the first blockbuster summer movie that launched Spielberg as a legendary Director on his incredible career. With elements of horror that genuinely made people afraid of going into the water at the beaches. The fear is justified actually because of subsequent attacks by sharks. I’ve watched it dozens of times and still will watch it again whenever it’s on. Roy Schieder had the best last line. And Dreyfus was the comic relief. Jaws is a trip where the hunters become the hunted. Brilliant film!
One of my favorites of all time. The scene where Robert Shaw tells the story of the Indianapolis is one of my favorite scenes from all of cinema. My local theater is showing old classics in a bid to get people back into the seats, all properly distanced mind, Jaws is one of them. Just a week ago I got to take my daughters to see it on the big screen.
Jaws is totally an example of the movie being better than the book. The book tries really hard to have a Moby Dick vibe, and the shark dude is basically Captain Ahab and just hates sharks for no reason. Changing him for the movie to be a survivor of a real life disaster involving sharks made his character WAY more interesting.
@@peterd3215 Perhaps not so iconic, but others for me is when Daniel and Miyagi sit on the beach after Miyagi's father's funeral in Karate Kid 2, and Imran's apology in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.
Sounds like proper cinema. Congrats to you and yours! Over here, an easy 90% of cinemas have shuttered forever and their old timey structures are either torn down or rented out in the most adventurous ways, quite the shame.
It’s just as good as the final scene in the movie “the thing”when Macready and Childs are talking about what’s gonna happen next as they both sit there with the knowledge that the other is either a human or the thing itself, but with both being severely exhausted or wounded to do anything about it. Scenes like this make films stand out amongst the rest as truly compelling pieces of story writing.
"Quent" is honestly like the old salts on the ship I served on in the Navy. He is a kind of man who used to GENUINELY exist. The kind who you had to show and prove to before they consider anything but dead weight and daydreams. I LOVED them, because they were the real soul of the Navy. The men who were too Blue to be officers, and never could be replaced. The kind of men who cleaned 50 cals smoking unfiltered lucky strikes from the ration packs we picked up from bunkers off the shore of Japan which had expired from post WW-II. The kind of man who would threaten you with a Mark 79 grenade launcher if you even insinuated they put milk in their coffee. The real old salt Gunners Mate on my ship was named "John Connor" - and I learned more of life in three years in his third division gunner team than 18 years at my family's home. And helluva lot lot more shanties, some of which we sang drink bootleg blue raspberry koolaid and silver rum in bottles marked as glass cleaner. I can't imagine what they have done to my Navy in this day and age. My division had so much respect for that man we never even thought to make a terminator joke. Not in my three years on board. It defies reason the kind of aura that man had, that you could not find a person who became petty and vapid in his presence. Because even if you made a clever joke, he'd look at you with eyes that had seen the worst parts of the waterways of Vietnam and you realized, this man would have to respect you before you could insult him, and by time you because that kind of man, you'd not be the kind to make a joke that was so pointless. I am going to go tip some 40 year bourbon in honor of that absolute Man ; Go Away Now!
You know, since you liked Jaws, I highly recommend one of Spielberg’s earliest films - Duel. Shot within 2 weeks in Death Valley originally as a TV movie, it’s one of my all time favorites. Starring Dennis Weaver and an unknown truck driver (but a totally present and imposing truck). I dare you not to love it.
7:07 when Brody is shoveling the mess over to attract the shark, and the shark suddenly rises out of the water, half of the audience I was in screamed loud enough to shake the theater.....including me.
Hahaha when I was a kid I saw this with my mom and dad in which my dad ,just after retiring from a 25 year Navy stint, pulled his legs up to his chest . Startled the hell out of him and he denies it to this day .
'You're gonna need a bigger boat"* a saying that has become a meme' in so many instances since, it should be no longer be funny , but it still is. - A bigger hammer, pole, gun, BBQ pit, motor, tow cable, pair of boobs, stereo, fish-hook, amount of explosives, tool, cpu, pile of drugs, amount of alcohol or gasoline, chainsaw, bolt, winch, crane, sex organ, line of bull, etc. etc. *I got to fault the Drinker for not including that iconic line,- the most famous and still used often today, from a nearly 50 year old movie. And Roy Scheider adlibbed added it to the scene.
I am very happy about this recommendation. Jaws is one of the greatest movies ever, and nobody who saw it - most certainly the ones who saw it on release like I did - will ever forget it as its emotional impact was so strong on so many levels.
So many good scenes in this film, the shark is almost coincidental and just keeps the plot together. It's the interplay and emotions of the characters, the storyline. There is a lot humour too. I've lost count of the amount of times i have watched this film and every time it is on i watch it again. And every time at the end of it you want more.
Jaws is an underrated movie. Yes, of course it is considered as a classic, but people often forget how genuinely well-written it is. The pacing and build-up of tension and thrill is near perfect. All the main characters and dialogue between them are genuinely interesting. It's an incredibly captivating film, just like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park. Spielberg really used to be a true master of storytelling.
Same. And then I also heard it in AC black flag. It still is my favorite shanty because of how Quint sings it as they board the ship. That forboding way.
I was driving a big barge of a thing, Citroën C4 grand Picasso down the motorway, it was a terrible storm that went on for over 100 miles, flooded motorways, cars spinning out, visibility was low, and my passenger was like maybe we should pull over and wait it out. I told him well be fine... Then started singing that song as he looked at me like I'd lost my mind and was taking him with me haha
I recall that when Quint finally decides to bring the boat back to shore, you can tell his attitude changes; there is a fear in him that didn't exist before, and he makes decisions that are not the same as previously.
Ever notice in the scene when Quint dies there’s no music? I think it’s because they wanted nothing to distract the audience from experiencing the full horror of that moment. The man dies in pure terror and agony, his worst fear come true. It’s such an awful awful way for a man to die too. Quint’s screaming as he slides down into those jaws and the sound of bone being snapped and crunched while his death scream becomes gargled with blood as he begins to be eaten alive...Christ almighty.
The acting is what makes this film for me. I know all the backstories as I have and have read a few times Carl Gottlieb's (the screenplay writer for the film) book on the making of “Jaws”. When I saw it at the cinema it was the tension and terror that had the audience screaming, and vomiting. But, now it really is the work that Roy, Ricky and Rob do that has me enjoying the film today. How Spielberg put this mess together into the first ever summer blockbuster is real talent.
Yeah, great film and well deserving of the label 'classic'. - Shaw's monologue about the sailors on the Indianapolis being picked off by sharks is amazing. Apparently Shaw decided to have a drink or two before that scene for authenticity, got absolutely plastered and passed out. Humbled and embarrassed, he asked for another go at it the following day and after rewriting a chunk of it with the writers, delivered the now iconic scene completely sober. - Dreyfuss admits he wasn't acting when he just sits staring at Shaw, but was in fact completely captivated. Can't say I blame him frankly.
I knew the story of the Indianapolis beforehand and when Quint started in I had the same look as Hooper because Hooper knew too. And suddenly we know who Quint is and everyone's (inc. Audience's) relationship with him changes. The story also foreshadows the coming events.
Thank you Bruce the Shark for not working at all, you made the film more memorable. I would recommend Jaws 2 also, its underrated as hell. You can ignore everything after that.....
That scene where they are drunk and swapping stories on the boat right before the shark attacks is possibly my favorite scene ever filmed. That's how you act. That's how you direct. That's how you shoot a scene. You wanna make a good film? Do that.
That's what's wrong with all these CGI-fests these days: plenty of explosions, but there's no space for the characters to reflect, react, and pause, as real people would in a dire situation because to do so would be "boring." Also, there are no characters with anything to reveal; they're only 2D representations of various human attributes slapped on screen for a quick buck.
The dialogue was written by John Milius to fill the space. It was punched up by Spielberg and others. It was not part of the original script but damned if it wasn't the best part of the film
I have never thought that the shark looked fake. Didn’t when I was a kid, don’t now. If they showed the shark any more than they do, I would probably have different opinion.
There was some footage used of a real shark. If you remember the scene of the shark getting tangled up in the top of Hooper's shark cage, that shark was real but they made it look bigger by using a much smaller cage.
Underwater the shark looked horrifying, like a megalodon resurrected. Especially the scene when he charges Hooper in the cage. Bruce doesn't exactly look like a great white, he seems like some aberration similar to what Jason Voorhees is to people. Unnatural large, powerful and deadly.
I was just turning 10 (with dreams of being a marine biologist at the time; re: Jacques Cousteau) when I saw that film in a theater. In 1975, the creature special effects flaw was not noticeable at all. That career dream died that day.
I had the pleasure of seeing this in a movie theater when it first came out in 1975 (I was 11). It scared the hell out of me, fascinated me and I loved every second of it. My love for it has only grown over the decades. Thanks for spotlighting it, CD.
Always liked the scene where Brody is arguing with his wife about their son sitting in his little sailboat out on the dock. She's all about letting her son do it until she picks up the book on great white's Brody was looking at and they show fishermen getting attacked in their little boat by a great white. She immediately does a 180 and tells the son to get his ass out of that boat.
I think that's another great aspect of the movie. Damn near every scene is memorable. "Let Polly do the printing" "What's wrong with my printing?" "LET POLLY DO THE PRINTING." I swear I can probably replay this whole movie in my head.
The movie Jaws was the first & only horror movie I have watched end to end. Truth. It's also a movie that scared the LIVING shit out of me from going to the beach. I live in Australia & the beach is well ubiquitous. Jaws kept me out of the water for years. To this day, if I swim into some kelp that music comes back in an instant. Great movie. Great movie.
The character that Dreyfus plays is the type you see in every disaster or monster movie. The smartest guy in the room who has figured out everything and knows what is about to happen, but when he tries to warn everybody, no one believes or even listens to him untill the body count gets about yea high.
At least he went down fighting with a blade in his hand!! In the book the shark actually dies of the wounds a dying Quint inflicts on it right before it devours the Chief.
I remember seeing this as a kid and being too scared to even go into the bath! The true story of the USS Indianapolis is absolutely terrifying, The quint scene where he is describing the shark as having doll's eyes is one of the best bits of acting every put on film. Robert Shaw was a hell of an actor.
Someone made a pretty decent m4tv movie about the sinking of the Indianapolis starring Richard "John Boy" Thomas. "Mission of the Shark." I only saw it once; I don't think it ever made it to dvd but it really was pretty good.
I got see this when it came out. My dad always took me to films he wanted to see, God bless him. All I can say is thank you Father! This film is one of my all time favourites, the way it built tension slowly, and played on all our fears is brilliant! I agree they don't make films like this anymore!!
Ah yes, the time when "less is more" was still a thing. A good script, good camera angles and direction, combined with mere flashes of the monster lets your own mind fill in the details. This philosophy gave us movies like Jaws, Alien and it pretty much started out of necessity, because the technique to create "real" monsters either didn't exist or was very expensive. And it worked perfectly: movie adepts are still lyrical over Hitchkock's famous "shower murder scene", which is all suggestion and no showing. Movie makers back then knew the audience had working brains and they put them to use. With these scenes you "know" what happens because your brain connects the dots and paints the picture. How different today's movies are: every detail is shown under spotlights, a scene is shot and presented from different angles and/or played in slo-mo, so there's nothing for your brain to do, except let it all wash over you. Movie makers seem to think the audience don't have working brains anymore and go out of their way the exactly show what happens, for fear that the audience won't understand what they are trying to accomplish with the scene. I miss the old days.
I forced my fiancee to watch Jaws a few months ago. She was skeptical--until she watched it. This movie earned its legendary status a dozen times over.
