"JAWS" has been written about countless times. The truth is that we all know about the mega-success, the invention of the summer blockbuster, the shark that didn't work and the career it launched. The reason I write about Jaws today on the 4th of July, nearly 40 years later...is that I have never seen another film like it.
I did not grow up on "JAWS," I truly was too afraid to watch horror films growing up between 12-15 years old, which is why I absolutely avoided them, baring the one time my sister put on a little film entitled "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and I was scared for life. I watched in absolute terror as a man with a hook brutally killed a woman and dragged her around. Needless to say, I was terrified for at least 2 weeks after. I also remember a night-time drive home with my father (like where the hook man was hit by the teenagers, a dark scary road) my father kept listening to the song "Love Potion #9" on a CD. I remember thinking that this would be a terrible song to get killed too. I was both terrified and enjoying the song in a LOVE POTION #9 kind of way. I always remember the fear and the song together. I was waiting to see the hook man on the side of the road and be killed ironically to this damn song. "JAWS" had this same effect on many people's summer swimming habits...in the same way that people didn't take a shower after they saw Alfred Hitchcock's "PSYCHO."
MEETING CHIEF BRODY
Watching "JAWS" again, the charm is still there. This is a film that truly reels you in right from the OPENING ACTION/SCARE SEQUENCE. We watch in horror as a young naked woman is mauled in the water. It is a new day and we take a serious interest in Chief Brody as he wakes up to his wife's jokes and his kid's injury from a swing set he told him not to play on becuase it was "too dangerous."
Within the first few minutes of meeting this family, we sense that they are not quite from around here. Brody asks his wife the following; when did the ever see the sun peek in their window at this time of the morning? She responds that they haven't been here (Amity Island) for enough time to know the way the sun hits the window at this time of year. We skip many of these details in films nowadays and the character development stays shallow. But in about 5 minutes I know this family quite well. We also have a great sequence where Chief Brody's son follows his every move. The stress, much like any father laboring over his nightly diner...but the child's mimicry is without the tension of a man who must "make everything right." This scene may be one of the most honest father son connections ever put on screen, his wife smiling nearby.
MEETING HOOPER
It is immediately clear that Hooper is both a bookish expert and an "outsider" too as he scrambles to help the chief keep order at the docks. We meet Hooper really in the autopsy scene, where he examine the remains of the shark attack. Hooper is deeply affected by the remains, asking for a glass of water. This tells us that he is A) not that experienced B) not the kind of person who can handle these types of things C) a human like the rest of us. Hooper becomes absolutely determined to help the Chief protect the people from the "Eating Machine" his people are plagued by.
MEETING QUINT
Chaos in the Town meeting as people argue with one another. Scratching of nails on a chalkboard, the most terrible sound that ONLY a strange kind of crude person would create, intentionally. This is QUINT and his jarring stunt has put him in command of the room, much like his boat. He is the "Captain" now. He makes a list of demands while both demonstrating his expertise and delivering the horror movie "Warning" much like Dr. Loomis in "Halloween." This is something that will require someone as skilled as him who is willing to do the thing no one else will...and do it right. Chief Brody is completely captivated by this man and for the first time he sees someone who is also an "outsider" much like himself but who actually has a potential SOLUTION to his problem. Quint truly comes into his own when telling the famous U.S.S. Indianapolis story which both explains who he is, why he is there, why he hates sharks and why the men aboard his boat must respect his experience in order to defeat the enemy shark.
"Jaws" is a beautifully plotted film - - -
1) Opening Scare - Shark attack on nude woman.
2) Ordinary World/Day In The Life - Chief Brody in chaos of trying to deal with a town on 4th of July weekend at a beach in hopes that he can stop people from going into the water. Meeting Brody.
3) Second Scare - Second major shark attack on the kid on the beach who is killed.
4) Meeting Hooper. Fishermen catch the wrong shark.
5) Third Scare - Another major shark attack which puts both the Mayor and Brody's kids in direct jeopardy, luckily they survive but others are not so fortunate.
6) Hiring Quint. Chief Brody, Hooper and Quint set sail into the mouth of the shark.
7) Boat crew's failure to communicate, missed opportunities on nailing the shark.
8) Boat crew comes together for a night of story telling over drinks resulting in the telling of Quint's U.S.S. Indianapolis story, bringing the crew closer together.
9) Another miss on the shark resulting in Hooper using his cage.
10) The death of Quint and the loss of Hooper leaving Chief Brody with the wreckage of the boat, a rifle, an air canister and one of the best one liners in the history of murdering the bad guy "SMILE YOU SON OF A BITC -" BLAM! BOOM!
11) Chief Brody and Hooper reunite and paddle home, where Chief Brody jokes that he never liked the water much...he wonders why?
So after all this time we keep watching "JAWS" because these things still matter to us as an audience, all this time later. We want characters we care about, a plot we can both follow and be surprised by matched with a thrilling score and a real sense of adventure. "JAWS" is a very unique film but in our love for it we find the answer to one of the filmmaking's deepest recipe secrets...
It is...
Are you ready?
Fun.
The audience wants to have fun, in fact they will pay you to have fun.
So even when the sun comes in our window and wakes us up to a town full of problems, we can find a way to have FUN in our own lives through the movies.
That's "JAWS," 40 plus years later. Fun!