1975, Steven Spielberg (Duel) -- Netflix
Anywayz, I would have been 8 when Jaws was originally released. I probably caught bits of it later on at a drive-in, which probably did not help with my fear of swimming. Eventually, post age-10, I taught myself to swim by staying under the water and marveling at the views. And in ponds, not the ocean. No sharks there.
I must have seen this at least once after on VHS but its been many decades since. The legacy of "shark movies" was created with this movie, and we have seen a few of them, but only one during this series: The Shallows. I do have a Tag though. But, my point was that the impact this had on movies is indelible, especially the "sense of impending doom" that became synonymous with the "Jaws Theme", but also the idea of showing a placid scene but the viewers being very aware that it could become a blood bath at any moment, and quite literally!
I swore Kent did a Spielberg Director Series which would include this movie, which his wife loves, but that must have been in a previous alternate reality.
The munching begins almost immediately. On an early summer night (it must be cold there, as the kids partying on the beach are all in heavy sweaters) on a Massachusetts beach, a girl goes skinny dipping and gets eaten. At night. Interesting how the iconic image of a girl in a bikini with the shark coming up under her is more Mandela Effect than reality. Or maybe its just my memory. Either way, she is mostly nude, its not during the daylight and is, in fact, quite horrible as we get to hear her scream, "I don't want to die!!" Not long after, a kid is taken from a crowded beach, after the authorities sweep the girl's death under the pier. The kid is slain in full view of hundreds of beach goers.
The feeding frenzy after that death is palpable, the metaphor very real. The shark hunters and reporters and lookey-loo's flock to the small island town each thinking they can take care of the shark. Quint (Robert Shaw, The Sting), the bedraggled old fisherman, says he will kill the shark, but for $10k, no less. And Oceanographer Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss, Stand By Me) shows up to give some real talk on sharks, immediately dismissing the first sharks all these fishermen haul in as something other than what ate the kids. Nobody listens to him but for the not-an-islander town police chief Brody (Roy Scheider, Seaquest 2032), but after this catch, the town Mayor allows the July 4th beach festivities to go through, as Amity Island is a summer town, dependent on tourism. After an initial hoax (two kids with a fake shark fun, again creating a prankster legacy) the shark eats another boater, and the mayor's fate is sealed. Quint is hired, and Hooper and Brody join him.
This is where the meat (chum, no less?), pun intended, of the movie happens -- the hunt on the not-big-enough boat. Quint is a seasoned shark hunter, having survived a WWII incident where "1100 men went into the water, 316 came out" (do I hear The Tragically Hip suddenly?). He dismisses Hooper's rich-college-boy knowledge, but eventually the two men bond over war stories and scars. Brody is almost an incidental character in all these scenes, a man who is utterly afraid to be on the water.
This Great White becomes Quint's White Whale, refusing to give in, when it terminally injures the boat. Nothing will stop him from killing this shark, but ... well, the shark itself. I totally forgot the man gets munched on himself and Hooper only survives by hiding out on the bottom of the bay, thanks to his scuba tanks. Also thanks to his scuba tanks, Brody is able to blow the shit up out of the shark.
I really liked this one, even with my general dislike for the cinematic 70s, and I was surprised at how much I liked Ricard Dreyfuss in this role, considering how much I disliked Roy Neary. The jump scares are still effective even knowing all the practical effects history behind Bruce the Shark, and the whole "we're gonna need a bigger boat" scene is a chef's-kiss perfect scene.
I have BIG gaps in my Spielberg watching. Huge gaps. Of his work of the past 20 years, I think I've only seen West Side Story. And his work before that I have skipped and jumped around. He is an accomplished filmmaker and very capable storyteller, but I don't generally find him interesting as a director. His hypercompetent style to me kind of lacks style. I don't hate him, far from it, but he also doesn't excite me, so I haven't done the director series, and likely never will.
ReplyDeleteI do love this movie :)
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