Jaws: The 40th Anniversary of the Movie That Changed Hollywood

Time ^ | June 20, 2015 | Daniel D’Addario

[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...

[beaversmom]

I saw this film in the summer of 1975 at the Lowry Air Force Base movie theatre in Denver, Colorado when I was 7 years old. We have no seas in Colorado (for the severely geography challenged), but that didn't stop me from a very real paranoia for a very long time of ANY body of water.

Jaws is a classic to me. I love the three main male characters and the mayor. I love the humour and the suspense. I love the nostalgia it makes me feel for that time. I'd go back to visit in a second. Behind Lawrence of Arabia, it is my #2 all-time movie. Thank you Steven Spielberg. Thank you for scaring the pee-waden out of a little girl. I'll never stop loving you for it. RIP to Quint (Robert Shaw), Chief Brody (Roy Scheider), and Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton). And Happy 40th Anniversary Bruce!

Jaws: The Inside Story - Documentary

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

We need a bigger thread...

[beaversmom]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws_%28film%29

On June 20, Jaws opened across North America on 464 screens—409 in the United States, the remainder in Canada. The coupling of this broad distribution pattern with the movie’s then even rarer national television marketing campaign yielded a release method virtually unheard-of at the time.

[beaversmom]

:)

[Catmom]

Yeah.

It helped to normalize the depiction of gratuitous violence as entertainment.

[discostu]

There’s no gratuitous violence in Jaws. Only one person gets killed by the shark on screen.

[icwhatudo]

2

[RandallFlagg]

And, now we know why you live here in Colorado.

;-)

[Borges]

You’re confusing the film with its sequels and rip offs.

[beaversmom]

Lol, right! I’m happy to be fenced in! :)

[SamAdams76]

Nothing screams 1975 more than knee-high tube socks.

[icwhatudo]

Damn, I mean 4.

Swimmer at beginning
Little boy on raft
Man teaching kids to sail
Quint at end

[Twinkie]

After “Jaws” came out in theaters; our cousin remarked that she always looked in the commode before she sat down on it and did her business. - That made me think. - It was a scary time. - I still look in the commode before I sit down; only now, it’s the water moccassins we have out here on our place. - I just don’t trust them not to lurk out of sight and pop up when you get sat down good. - Thanks, Spielberg for making potty time a trial!

[discostu]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the guy in the pond. Though technically we don’t see him get bit, just the leg sink.

[nickcarraway]

It really caused the bar to be dropped to insipidity. They stopped making most movies for adults.

[Catmom]

I remember when Jaws was in the theaters and how sick it made the audience.

People weren’t used to seeing graphic violence in the movies back then. Now they are. I don’t see that as a positive development.

[sergeantdave]

To this day, I still fear oceans because there are creatures swimming within that can eat you in one gulp. And you don’t see them coming.

I’m more than a snack, thank you.

[discostu]

You don’t see Chrisy get bit, she’s just in reaction. You never see the kid at all, just the fin roll. There’s implied violence, but implied violence can’t be gratuitous since it’s all in your head. Quint is the only guy we see get bit.

[nickcarraway]

What about the part where Henry VII went on a rampage?

[beaversmom]

I think 5. Chrissy. The Kintner boy. The guy in the boat that loses his leg. The guy in boat that was hunting Jaws (Hooper pulls a tooth out of his boat), and Quint at the end. I think that’s the complete list, but I don’t consider the violence gratuitous...especially by today’s standard. It’s more suspenseful to me...like a Hitchcock movie.