"We're gonna need a bigger boat"

35 years ago this week Universal Pictures released Jaws. It was the first summer blockbuster, the fastest film to reach $100 million and one of my top 3 favorite films (the other two change from time to time but I always reserve a spot for Jaws). Whenever I catch it on TNT or AMC while flipping channels, I am compelled to watch, even with all of the ham-handed commercial interruptions and even though I have it on DVD. The movie and the book that inspired it had a far-reaching effect on our culture and society. My mother, fresh from reading Jaws, frantically pulled us from the water while vacationing in Florida; the fins she saw actually belonged to dolphins.

There are the perceived negatives from Jaws. Because of its success, every summer we face an onslaught of lowest common denominator films designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience in order to rack up the most in box office returns. Then there is the villainization and slaughter of sharks from which the species is only recently beginning to recover. Jaws author and co-screenwriter Peter Benchley had such regret that in his post-Jaws career, he actually became an advocate for the preservation of sharks and marine environments. The Shark Research Institute even has a Peter Benchley Conservation Award because of his efforts to reverse the damage.

But I still love this movie, especially the second half. Brody, Quint and Hooper - three characters that would normally have nothing to do with each other are forced to work together against a common foe. The scene where the three, liquored up and feeling fine, finally let their respective guards down and compare their scars from past injuries is one of my favorites. Quint and Hooper have finally earned each other's respect. Brody, feeling like the odd man out of the scar discussion, tentatively and unnoticed by the other two, pulls up his shirt to reveal what is presumably an appendectomy scar. He quickly thinks the better of it and lowers the shirt again. The mood then makes a subtle shift when Quint tells the story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and unveils the making of his character. It is a great scene in a great film and it has inspired my filmmaking efforts.

If you haven't seen Jaws in awhile, see it again.

Joe