‘Jaws’ retains that classic bite: Steven Spielberg’s third movie turned 50 this year

By Jesse Burchill Staff Writer

Liv Dunleavy / THE GATEPOST

“Jaws” received an anniversary re-release from Aug. 29th to Sept. 4. to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The re-release began with an intro by Steven Spielberg himself, where he touched upon the movie’s production and runaway success and mentioned it would be remastered in 4K for the re-release. This movie is over two hours long, but the pacing and writing easily keep the viewer engaged throughout the movie’s runtime. The balance between the terror of the beach attacks and the slow-burn action of the shark hunt pans out perfectly. The performances of Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw are the clear standouts of this movie, especially in the second half of the film when they’re the only characters present and have only each other and their clashing personalities to work with. In particular is Shaw’s monologue of his survival after the USS Indianapolis sank during World War II, and how he watched several crewmates and friends get eaten alive by ravenous sharks. There’s no flashbacks, no music, just Shaw telling a horrific tale, and the simplicity is what makes the scene so chilling, especially considering how it comes after the far more light-hearted and hilarious scar story scene. In terms of the movie’s writing, the dialogue and tension between Martin Brody, Matt Hooper, and Mayor Vaughn are brilliantly written, and you can easily sympathize with Brody and Hooper’s frustration with Vaughn for refusing to listen to them, thanks in part to Murray Hamilton’s smarmy performance whenever he rejects their arguments in the name of protecting the money they’ll make on the Fourth of July. Furthermore, the way the rest of the townsfolk are written really makes it feel like Amity is a genuine small town and closely-knit community, with notable scenes being the town meeting, people talking on the beaches, the capturing of the wrong shark, and the holiday roast scene. It really feels like Amity is one of those places where everyone knows each other. Thanks to the movie’s 4K remastering, the shark’s attacks can come off as even more intense thanks to the sharper visual quality on the bloodshed and the shark’s movements in the water. This also adds to how the shark still manages to be unsettling, in spite of the problems the crew had with making the animatronic look convincing. The shark manages to be just as creepy fully underwater as it is when it surfaces to attack the boat as shown in the shark cage scene. Despite being the main antagonist, the shark itself almost never appears for most of the movie. Its presence is only hinted at until the third act through John Williams’ iconic score, brief glimpses, and an underwater first-person perspective. However, the shark does not need to be on screen to be scary. This is highlighted best when it attacks the boat to the point where holes are busted open and water starts pouring in, knocking out the only light and damaging the engines. The cinematography has also stood the test of time. Its visual quality makes it look like this movie could be made today, especially thanks to the 4K remastering, and it genuinely makes it seem like the Orca is far out at sea when in fact they had to shoot close to land with camera tricks for budget and practicality purposes. Just like the shark, Williams’ iconic score for this movie is used sparingly, mostly in the third act when Hooper, Brody, and Quint are out hunting for the shark. However, also like the shark animatronic, the shark’s theme is used perfectly in its incidental appearances. Even outside the shark’s iconic theme, the soundtrack serves its purpose perfectly and really hammers home how deadly the entire situation is and how much fear the shark instills in the Amity community. “Jaws” famously went through a very troubled production - shooting went several months longer than expected, the cameras malfunctioned several times thanks to water damage, the movie went over-budget during reshoots, and the animatronic used for the shark was notorious for almost never working properly. However, the efforts and dedication of Spielberg and company paid off perfectly, resulting in the creation of the first “summer blockbuster” ever made and paving the way for all similar movies in the future.