Posted on 06/20/2015 7:31:28 PM PDT by beaversmom
Steven Spielberg's breakout film brought on an era of big spectacle
Forty years ago Saturday saw the release of Jaws, an adaptation of a beach-read made by a promising but relatively untested young director, Steven Spielberg. Forty years later, Jaws‘ impact can be felt across moviegoing.
The shark tale is perhaps most notable for its box-office success; Jaws became the top-grossing film of all time after its release (and did so more quickly than had its predecessors, with a marketing plan based on blanket advertising rather than a slow rollout). Jaws, with its technical mastery and ability to manipulate the audience into fearing something that for so much of the film’s running time they could not see, was a movie that demanded to be seen as soon as one could, just like later blockbusters including Star Wars (which, two years after Jaws, replaced it at the top of the all-time box office list).
Jaws established Spielberg as an economic force, which means more than one might think; he has proven, in the intervening years, to know exactly what the public wants, from ultimately vanquishable scares (Jurassic Park) to charismatic heroes (Indiana Jones) to sweet sentiment (E.T.). Jaws gave him the capital to do whatever he wanted; his next film was the more adventurous Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Directors less technically adept than Spielberg, though, took from Jaws the lesson that bigger is better. This summer’s biggest movies so far (Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World) are all heavy on chases, fights and/or explosions. Jaws had a mechanical shark, yes, but its impact as the first true blockbuster in Hollywood history...
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Oh, he was a real baddie. And a blonde.
He was the one who stalks Bond throughout the movie, and ends up fighting with on the train.
Great White Sharks Are Swarming Cape Cod and It’s the Government’s Fault
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3302462/posts
Another part was that of gangster Doyle Lonnegan “The Sting” (w. Paul Newman/Robert Redford)
Been nice chatting with you again. I have to get back to work.
Catch ya later.
You, too. Have a great rest of your shift. :)
Yes, The Sting. I have never seen that movie, but kinda remember him being in it from bits and pieces I have seen over the years.
One of the Biggest Great Whites Ever Filmed
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/shark-week/videos/one-of-the-biggest-great-whites-ever-filmed/
That is its most underrated quality. You really feel it, even today.
One thing Speilberg did that was so effective in that first attack scene was that he moved the victim suddenly, laterally through the water at the speed that an attacking shark would swim. This projected the power and size of the Beast (as well as sharply limning the helplessness of the girl) without showing the animal at all.
I think the later movies were better.
Don’t feel bad! You were perfectly logical to think something *could* be lurking in that water. Those bubbles from that bubble bath concealed all sorts of sinister organisms. - I only take showers now; hot baths got to where they overheated me & I’d end up in the emergency room - until I finally figured out I got overheated soaking in a hot bath. :o)
*sigh* - We used to make trips to the ocean. Husband & I would go snorkeling in fairly shallow water not too far from the shore. We once went to the beach; but there was a nasty tide of stinky stuff. We just drove on down to Seagrove Beach where it was nice & clear & went snorkeling & swam. Now, we don’t wear bathing suits any more. It puts people off, too. You’d be surprised how quick a beach clears out when we arrive. :o)
A speech Shaw (himself an acclaimed novelist) wrote the night before. He enjoyed the filming, but hated the original novel.
Shaw was 3rd choice, after Sterling Hayden and Oliver Reed. Reed also was first choice for The Big Mick in The Sting. Both films made Shaw an even bigger star.
A speech Shaw (himself an acclaimed novelist) wrote the night before. He enjoyed the filming, but hated the original novel.
A bit more trivia regarding the evolution on THe speech...
There has been so much mythology surrounding this scene; about authorship, what was improvised, what was scripted but an interview with Spielberg on Ain’t It Cool News is quite enlightening.
Steven Spielberg advised that Howard Sackler, who was an uncredited writer, didn’t want a credit and didn’t arbitrate for one, but he’s the guy that broke the back of the script before we ever got to Martha’s Vineyard to shoot the movie.
Howard one day said, “Quint needs some motivation to show all of us what made him the way he is and I think it’s this Indianapolis incident.” I said, “Howard, what’s that?” And he explained the whole incident of the Indianapolis and the Atomic Bomb being delivered and on its way back it was sunk by a submarine and sharks surrounded the helpless sailors who had been cast adrift and it was just a horrendous piece of World War II history. Howard didn’t write a long speech, he probably wrote about three-quarters of a page.
But then, when I showed the script to my friend John Milius, John said “Can I take a crack at this speech?” and John wrote a 10 page monologue, that was absolutely brilliant, but out-sized for the Jaws I was making! (laughs) But it was brilliant and then Robert Shaw took the speech and Robert did the cut down. Robert himself was a fine writer, who had written the play The Man in the Glass Booth. Robert took a crack at the speech and he brought it down to five pages. So, that was sort of the evolution just of that speech.
"Neil Hughes"
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