Happy 35th Birthday, JAWS!

[Andy 4,092]

"She Was the First"

Jaws is 35 years old today. Still a perfect movie, in every way.

Can you imagine what this was like for those very first audiences? I just love walking down memory lane with this film. I did not catch it in its original run (I was 3) but did see it for its 1978 re-release. I remember asking Mom the whole time, "Mom, is this a true story???" Amazing that what terrified my as a tot, I love so much as an adult. Raise a glass to the crew of the Orca. Amity, as you know, means friendship.

[ChuckM 1]

I've never really understood the appeal of Jaws. The only reason I watch it is for the score. Everything about the movie itself is just sort of dull. Bad acting, horrible effects, predictable storyline. Meh.

[Ollie 1,059]

"She Was the First"

Jaws is 35 years old today. Still a perfect movie, in every way.

Can you imagine what this was like for those very first audiences? I just love walking down memory lane with this film. I did not catch it in its original run (I was 3) but did see it for its 1978 re-release. I remember asking Mom the whole time, "Mom, is this a true story???" Amazing that what terrified my as a tot, I love so much as an adult. Raise a glass to the crew of the Orca. Amity, as you know, means friendship.

I remember my mother wouldn't let me see it during it's original run, I was 7. But I did manage to sneak a viewing in several years later with some friends. I can remember the hype and publicity for the film. I was so desperate to see it. I had newspaper and magazine clippings posted all over our home during the summer of its release. You can see them in almost every picture my mom took during that summer.

It remains to this day one of the greatest films made and Williams' music it right up there with it. After all these years the film is still as great as it was in 1975. Not a dull moment, the acting is fantastic throughout the film and the shark just as convincing. It is also one of the most effectively scored films of Williams' career. Not a wasted note in the film.

[indy4 155]

Happy Birthday! An excellent film and an excellent score. And as the score that both solidified Williams' relationship with Spielberg AND allowed Williams to take center stage in the world of film composing, we are in Jaws' debt more than we are to the normal excellent film score (not that excellent film scores are normal).

[Melange 446]

Happy 35th Birthday, JAWS!

Yep, a great film which still stands up today in its own right. I can't remember when I 'first' saw it, but I've seen it many times since and am notorious for reciting whole lines of dialogue from the movie. In many ways it is the dialogue that makes the movie, and the interaction between the various characters. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

[Quintus 5,399]

"Start the engines..."

"I can do anything; I'm the chief of police."

"Will you go to the end of the pulpit, please?"

"Hooper ya idiot. Starboard. Ain't you watchin' it?"

Happy birthday to the best film EVER!

[Melange 446]

(Score for this post)

It was around 1984. I was about 10, on one of my school trips down around Drake's Island in Plymouth.

We did the usual thing things like absailing and canoeing, but we were also landed with a grumpy and possibly psychopathic local sailor just like Mr Quint. Really, that guy was just like Quint.

He took us out on a sailing boat into the middle of dark deep sea,and given about 10 minutes instruction we were then expected to sail the boat in the middle of the windy sea like we knew what we were doing. We nearly tipped right over, and the Quint clone was yelling at us very much along the lines of - "Ya idiots. Starboard. Ain't you watchin' it?".

We were terrfied of this man,even more than the prospect of ending up catapulted into the dark abyss of the sea. My guess is that he was muttering to himself - "Kids with city hands, been countin money all their lives". None of us felt we could take this abuse much longer, because the guy had unrealistic expectations of us,and his teaching 'method' didn't exactly put us at ease. And spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' we somehow made it back to shore without sinking. I'll never put on a lifejacket again

Melange - Comparing scars, on this Jaws celebration day.

[publicist 4,643]

This shark swallows you whole!

Happy 35th...

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Thresher?

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Thresher?

It's a type of shark, the kind that destroyed Matt Hooper's first Boat.

We saw it on the 4th of July weekend in 1975, my sis and I. She was 6 I was 14. Neither of us slept well that night, and for years my sister would not allow a leg to hang over the edge of the bed. My mom still talks how we came out of the theatre white as sheets.

yes it scared me but it has never left me. It is such a great film. It has aged well, and as time goes by you realize just how terrific the performances were, even Lorraine Gary.

John's masterful score started all this, not Star Wars as so many like to believe. Without Jaws, there is no Star Wars. The shark is so well used. That great first sight of the shark that makes you laugh and scream. There is real magic here.

[Andy 4,092]

Can you think of any modern film that is anywhere near as quotable? Practically every line in the script is delivered with such style.

[ChuckM 1]

Can you think of any modern film that is anywhere near as quotable?

The Dark Knight.

Or pretty much any other remotely quotable modern film.

[Andy 4,092]

Here's one of the memorable promos for the

.

So, so cool.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Can you think of any modern film that is anywhere near as quotable?

The Dark Knight.

Or pretty much any other remotely quotable modern film.

no, your synopsis of the film was so far off base. BTW Jaws is superior to the Dark Knight at ever level of filmmaking. And I'm a big fan of TDK.

Here's one of the memorable promos for the

.

So, so cool.

that was awesome Hedji, really cool to look at.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Here is a link for AINT, and it's a terrific one. There is one shot where the shark is about to eat Alex Kitner.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/45511

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Can you think of any modern film that is anywhere near as quotable?

The Dark Knight.

Or pretty much any other remotely quotable modern film.

I can only think of a few lines from The Dark Knight, but I could probably recite all of Jaws.

[Quintus 5,399]

TDK? Lol!

Aliens and Predator match Jaws for quotes.

[Melange 446]

Aliens and Predator match Jaws for quotes.

Yep that sounds true. Nowadays Aliens dialogue doesn't make it way into my speech, but "Do it. DDOOO IIITTT" and "GO!!!! Get to the CHOPPPAAAA!" was going in a conversation with a friend the other day. Whenever I meet up with this guy, we magically revert to being about 17 years old again.

Another great one is Apocalpyse Now. Putting on Captain Willard's husky and slightly muted voice - "When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I'm here a week now... waiting for a mission... getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter"

Or how about putting on the voice of Brando for some self torturing - " And I remember... I... I... I cried, I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out; I didn't know what I wanted to do! And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it... I never want to forget. And then I realized... like I was shot... like I was shot with a diamond... a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought, my God... the genius of that! The genius! The will to do that! Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we, because they could stand that these were not monsters, these were men... trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love... but they had the strength... the strength... to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, our troubles here would be over very quickly".

Wrath of Khan is another that is brimming over with quotes.

[Quintus 5,399]

Here's the poster for the upcoming remake starring Vin Diesel as Quint:

[Andy 4,092]

Here's a closeup of the Alex Kintner shot:

This is absolutely terrifying to me. The picture has a quality to it, taken far away, b&w, grainy... it looks like it could be real.

As for the shark looking fake, this shot looks like a real shark to me:

The shots where he doesn't look real? Who the hell cares? Bruce is a Movie Monster, up there with Godzilla and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

[Wojo 2,453]

Can you think of any modern film that is anywhere near as quotable?

Office Space and The Boondock Saints are very quotable, but these are just cult movies. They are not even in the same time zone of quality as Jaws, which was never in question.

I can't tell you how many times I use the line "you're gonna need a bigger boat." Pretty much every time I go fishing. Same with Quint's cage poem and his Spanish ladies song. I'd like to memorize the Indianapolis story, but never put forth the effort.

Jaws is one my most absolute favorite movies that I can watch over and over again without getting bored. It really feels like everything that happens before Brody and Hooper board the Orca is just the introduction, before the real movie begins.

[Ollie 1,059]

I love TDK but aside from a few Heath Ledger there's nothing that even comes close to Jaws in terms of memorable quotes.

[Red 75]

Happy belated to one of the best movies ever made. JW's score ain't half-bad either.