Jaws: A Bite-Sized Look at Spielberg's Timeless Classic

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hey there,
fellow basement dwellers, This is Journey Joe

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Mitchell coming at you from the cozy
confines of the TV dungeon. We're diving

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deep into one of my all time
favorite movies and a personal holiday tradition,

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Jaws. Now I know what you're
thinking, Joe. Aren't you supposed to

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be talking about recent TV shows?
Well, sometimes you've got to break the

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rules, folks, and let's be
honest. Jaws is the kind of movie

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that deserves to be talked about all
year round. So let's start with the

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basics. Jaws, released in nineteen
seventy five, was directed by a young

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Steven Spielberg and based on the novel
by Peter Benchley. It stars Roy Scheider

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as police chief Mark and Brody,
Richard Dreyfus as marine biologist Matt Hooper,

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and Robert Shaw as the grizzled shark
hunter Quint. The plot is simple but

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effective. A giant great white shark
terrorizes the fictional beach town of Amity Island,

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and our trio of heroes must hunt
it down. But oh boy,

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is there's so much more to this
movie than just that basic plot. Let's

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break it down, shall we.
First, let's talk about the cast.

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Schider, Dreyfus, and Shaw are
an absolute powerhouse trio. Schider brings this

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everyman quality to Brody that makes him
incredibly relatable. You really feel his struggle

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as he tries to protect the town
while battling his own fear of the water.

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Dreyfus as Hooper is this perfect blend
of scientific knowledge and youthful enthusiasm.

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And then there's Shaw as quint Man. What a performance. That Uss Indianapolis

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monologue chills every single time. But
it's not just the main trio that shines.

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Murray Hamilton as the Mayor is the
perfect embodiment of short sighted greed putting

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profit over people's lives. And Lorraine
Gary as Ellen Brody doesn't get enough credit

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for her performance. She brings such
warmth and depth to what could have been

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a pretty thankless worried wife role.
Now let's talk about the plot. On

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the surface, it's a simple man
versus nature story, but there's so much

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more going on beneath the surface.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. You've got

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themes of masculinity, of man's relationship
with nature, of the conflict between scientific

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knowledge and traditional experience, and let's
not forget the biting critique of local politics

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and tourism driven economies. One of
the things I love most about Jaws is

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how it builds tension. Spielberg,
in a stroke of accidental genius, had

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to limit how much we see the
shark due to mechanical issues with the prop.

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But this limitation turned into the movie's
greatest strength by not showing the shark,

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by just hinting at its presence.
With that iconic John Williams score,

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Done, done, done, done, Spielberg taps into our primal fears of

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the unknown. Speaking of John Williams, can we take a moment to appreciate

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that score. It's so simple,
just two notes, but it's become synonymous

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with danger. It's a perfect example
of how music can elevate a film from

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good to great. Now, let's
dive into the reception of Jaws, both

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when it was released and how it's
viewed today. When Jaws hit theaters in

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nineteen seventy five, it was a
phenomenon. It basically invented the summer blockbuster

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as we know it. Critics loved
it too. Roger Ebert gave it four

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stars, calling it a sensationally effective
action picture, a scary thriller that works

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all the better because it's populated with
characters that have been developed into human beings.

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But it wasn't all smooth sailing.
Again. Sorry, I can't help

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myself with these puns. Some critics
felt it was too intense, too violent,

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and marine biologists weren't thrilled with how
it portrayed sharks, fearing it would

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lead to needless shark killings. Peter
Benchley, who wrote the original novel,

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actually became a shark conservationist later in
life, partly out of guilt over the

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film's impact on shark populations. In
the years since its release, Jaws has

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only grown in esteem. It's now
considered a classic of American cinema, regularly

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appearing on Greatest Films of All Time
lists. Film scholars have dissected every frame,

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finding new meanings and interpretations. Some
see it as an allegory for Watergate,

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with the mayor's cover up representing political
corruption. Others view it through the

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lens of post Vietnam America, with
quint as a stand in for the traumatized

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veteran. But you know what,
I've got my own theory about Jaws.

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Now hear me out on this one. I think Steven Spielberg is a time

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traveler and Jaws is actually an allegory
for the COVID nineteen pandemic. I know,

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I know it sounds crazy, but
just think about it. You've got

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this invisible threat that's keeping people out
of the water, or in our case,

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keeping us inside our homes. You've
got local officials more concerned with the

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economy than public safety, insisting everything
is fine when it clearly isn't. You've

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got experts Hooper being ignored in favor
of traditional non or outright denial. And

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you've got ordinary people thrust into extraordinary
circumstances having to become heroes to save their

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community. Even the ways people react
to the threat mirror what we saw during

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the pandemic. Some people like Brody
take it seriously from the start, Others

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like the townspeople who go swimming anyway, act like there's no danger at all.

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And then you've got folks like Quint
who acknowledge the threat but think they're

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tough enough to handle it on their
own. Now. I'm not saying Spielberg

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actually predicted the pandemic, but it's
a testament to how universal the themes of

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Jaws are that we can draw these
parallels nearly fifty years later. Of course,

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no discussion of Jaws would be complete
without mentioning its impact on the film

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industry. It didn't just create the
summer blockbuster. It changed how movies were

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marketed and distributed. Before Jaws,
the common strategy was to slowly roll out

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a film in a few theaters and
let word of mouth build. Jaws went

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wide, immediately, accompanied by a
massive national TV marketing campaign. This strategy

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is now the norm for big releases. Jaws also sparked the trend of merchandising

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that we now see with every major
film. T shirts, posters, toys,

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you name it. There was probably
a Jaws version of it in nineteen

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seventy five. But perhaps the most
significant impact of Jaws was on Spielberg's career.

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It catapulted him from a promising young
director to a Hollywood powerhouse. Without

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Jaws, we might not have gotten
Et, Indiana, Jones, Jurassic Park,

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or Shindler's List. It's not an
exaggeration to say that Jaws changed the

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course of cinema history. We can't
talk about Jaws without mentioning its impressive awards

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haul. The film was a juggernaut
during the nineteen seventy six awards season,

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proving that a summer blockbuster could also
be a critical darling. At the forty

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eighth Academy Awards, Jaws was nominated
for four Oscars and won three of them.

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It took home the award for Best
Film Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score

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for John William's iconic work, and
Best Sound. The only category at Law

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was Best Picture, which went to
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest that year.

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Now, I've got to say I
think the Academy dropped the ball by

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not nominating Spielberg for Best Director.
I mean, come on the level of

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tension he maintains throughout the film,
the performances he gets out of his actors,

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the way he turned technical limitations into
strengths, Its masterful direction. But

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hey, that's the Oscars for you. Jaws didn't just clean up at the

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Oscars, though it won three BAFTA
Awards, including Best Film Music for John

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Williams. It also snagged the Golden
Globe for Best Original Score. The film's

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impact was recognized beyond just Film Awards. Two The American Film Institute has honored

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Jaws multiple times over the years.
It ranks at number forty eight on their

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list of the one hundred Greatest American
Films of all time. John Williams's score

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was ranked the sixth greatest American film
score of all time, and the Shark

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was named the eighteenth greatest villain in
American film history. You know, it's

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interesting to think about how Jaws might
fare at award shows if it were released

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today. In recent years, we've
seen more recognition for genre films at the

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Oscars. Movies like The Shape of
Water and Parasite have won Best Picture,

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So who knows, Maybe if Jaws
came out now, it would have snagged

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that top prize. But honestly,
does Jaws really need more awards? Its

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legacy speaks for itself. It's a
film that has stood the test of time,

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continuing to thrill and inspire audiences nearly
fifty years after its release, and

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in my book, that's worth more
than any gold statue. Now, I

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mentioned earlier that watching Jaws is a
fourth of July tradition for me, and

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I'm sure I'm not alone in this. There's something about watching a movie set

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during a Fourth of July celebration That
just feels right for the holiday. But

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more than that, I think Jaws
embodies a lot of what we celebrate on

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Independence Day. It's a story about
a community coming together to face a threat.

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It's about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It's about standing up to authority

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when that authority is wrong. In
a way, Brody, Hooper and quint

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are like a microcosm of America itself, different backgrounds and viewpoints, but united

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in a common cause. Plus,
let's be honest, is there anything more

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American than facing your fears and punching
a shark in the face. I think

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not so, Fellow basement dwellers.
As we approach this fourth of July,

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I encourage you all to make Jaws
part of your celebration. Watch it with

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fresh eyes, look for those deeper
themes, Appreciate the craftsmanship that went into

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every shot, every line of dialogue, every note of that iconic score.

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And the next time you're at the
beach and you hear someone humming done,

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done, done, done, just
remember you're gonna need a bigger boat.

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That's all for now, movie fans. Until next time, keep your harpoons

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sharp and your inflatable rafts inflated.
This is Journey. Joe Mitchell signing off

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from the TV basement