Steven Spielberg Dives into Uncharted Cinematic Success with Jaws

 

A true game changer in the history of films, Jaws became a cultural phenomenon upon release in June of 1975 as the original summer blockbuster, obtaining record-breaking box-office figures while bringing director Steven Spielberg worldwide fame as possibly the most gifted young director to come Hollywood’s way since Orson Welles, as well as keeping more impressionable viewers out of the ocean waters for years to come. Keenly crafted to offer nail-biting suspense from the famous first scene Spielberg, aided by terrific on-location shooting at Martha’s Vineyard by Bill Butler, John Williams’ renown tension-filled score, and a first-rate screenplay adaptation of Peter Benchley’s  1974 best seller by Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, Spielberg manages to keep viewers on edge the entire 124-minute running time, setting up a series of singularly designed and cleverly shot sequences as the story unfolds concerning the title character’s rampage near the beaches of the small-but-touristy coastal town of Amity Island during a fateful July 4^th season, with a finely-chosen cast creating characters of individually, humor and resolve also assisting in setting the right ambience as the audience is drawn into their plight. 

                Exhibiting mastery of the film medium unheard of in so new a directorial talent, Steven Spielberg, only 27 when the film was shot, after already starting strongly in television with such fare as Night Gallery and the superior t.v. film Duel before his outstanding theatrical debut with 1974’s The Sugarland Express, took on the mantle of the go-to director for quality entertainment of a thrilling and fantastic nature with Jaws, and confidently ran with his new status to create some of the most impactful, nuanced and absorbing films of his generation, following Jaws with Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark  and E.T. to name a few highlights. However, his complete focus and dedication as a filmmaker to achieving a perfect balance wherein elements of terror, drama and comedy are supremely interwoven to keep the tone of the work and a viewer’s involvement admirably consistent and entertaining may never have been better demonstrated than with Jaws. Spielberg appears to instinctually know when to offer up the chilling attack scenes or unsettling moments wherein these tragedies are discussed, or the results of them shown, with more humanistic, identifiable instances, such as the downcast police chief hero’s son mimicking his father at a dinner table to bond with his dad, or the unforgettable passage wherein a victim’s tormented mother confronts Martin Brody, the overwhelmed police chief, making Jaws a chiller with an unusually strong component of humanity mixed in with the more explosive action. The astounding editing of Verna Fields greatly aids Spielberg in maintaining his vision, as she delineates each slowly mounting attack with a skill and precision that allows for some of the biggest shocks found in a major film, while Spielberg wisely opts to wait to reveal the main villain of the piece, leaving much of the terror surrounding the attacks to the macabre portion of the audience’s imagination. Although Spielberg would move from strength-to strength throughout his amazing career, if he had only directed Jaws, his place among the top craftsmen in Hollywood history would be unquestioned. 

                As police chief Brody, Roy Scheider helps anchor the film in reality and humanity, adding intriguing layers far from the black-and-white portrayals of brave, commanding heroes normally found in movies. With calm fortitude, Scheider suggests how the dilemmas surrounding him are weighing down the chief, who among other drawbacks prefers to stay out of the water even before the most unwelcomed title visitor shows up to wreak havoc on the townspeople and tourists. Scheider is unafraid to show Brody’s lack of courage as danger looms at sea, leading to the most famous retort in the movie concerning the need for a “bigger boat.” However, Scheider also lends a quiet nobility to the thoughtful, sometimes wary lawman as he fights to resolve the serious issue and again bring peace to the community, allowing him to gain sympathy from audiences towards this likable, identifiable everyman. Starting in films in 1964 after a career with the U.S. Air Force, Scheider had a breakthrough 1971 with both Klute and Oscar-nominated work in Best Picture winner The French Connection. After Jaws, Scheider’s preeminent decade in cinema continued with Marathon Man, Sorcerer, the inevitable but popular Jaws 2, before exiting the decade in glory with his expansive, Oscar-nominated work in All That Jazz. He then continued with on with sturdy, sincere work in such eclectic offerings as 2010, 52 Pick-Up, The Russia House and Naked Lunch. Scheider would pass in 2008 at age 75, then have a posthumous final film credit with 2009’s Iron Cross.

                Richard Dreyfuss, continuing his upward career trajectory after starting out in bits in 1967’s Valley of the Dolls and The Graduate before claiming stardom with 1973’s American Graffiti and one of his career roles the next year via The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, scores heavily as Matt Hooper, the alert, sage young oceanographer who aids Brody on the quest to find the killer shark. Dreyfuss, with his spirited presence and deft ability to mix dramatic and comedic moments in creating a fully rounded portrait of Hooper as an intelligent, concerned scientist who wants to get to the bottom of things at the bottom of the sea, leading to one of the biggest surprise shocks in movies as Hooper inspects a deserted fishing boat and finds a lot more than he expected, is magnetically convincing throughout. Post-Jaws Dreyfuss would continue on his superstar path, reaching his zenith in 1977 with the one-two box-office and critical punch of Close encounters and his Oscar role in The Goodbye Girl. The ten years following this peak brought Dreyfuss ill fortune, but he would return as a major star thereafter with fare such as Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Stakeout, What About Bob? and a second Academy Award nomination for Mr. Holland’s Opus, while continuing to enhance his credits via film, television and theater work on Broadway and elsewhere.

Robert Shaw is robust and sly as the mysterious Quint, who arrives on the scene after the initial attack to offer his services, at a hefty price, to remove the shark. The confident, entertainingly hammy Shaw has a field day in illustrating the daring seaman’s haphazard behavior and derring-do as he loads his boat “Orca,” then goes out to sea with Brody and Hooper determined to blow the shark down. Shaw wrests every ounce of color to be found in the eccentric seafarer’s persona, as a viewer stares on in wonder mulling over the surprising extremes Quint follows to conquer the ocean predator, while also enjoying the at first adversarial, then friendlier banter between Quint and his more practical colleagues (Shaw works extremely well with Dreyfuss in the famous, humorous sequence wherein they compare scars they’ve encountered during their aquatic endeavors). Following this smash Shaw, who also toiled as a writer and had debuted in films via 1951’s The Lavender Hill Mob before bolstering his name value in the 1960’s via From Russia with Love and Oscar-nominated work in 1966’s Best Picture A Man for All Seasons before work in another Academy Best Picture, 1973’s The Sting, made ample use of the top stardom Jaws brought him before his passing in 1978 at only 51, with appearances in top late-1970’s action-oriented movies such as Black Sunday, The Deep and Force 10 from Navarone.

Among the rest of a memorable cast, Murray Hamilton exudes calculated sneakiness at every turn in a subdued, smart performance as Larry Vaughan, Amity’s nervous mayor who seemingly wants the beach to remain open on Independence Day at any cost. Lorraine Gary is warm and appealing as Ellen, Brody’s concerned wife, working very well with Scheider to establish a strong relationship dynamic filled with touching and funny moments. As Chrissie, the most unfortunate swimmer in the annals of film, Susan Backlinie earns her place in movie history with her indelible and justifiably renown opening scene. Lee Fierro has perhaps the prime dramatically transfixing scene in Jaws as the bereft Mrs. Kintner who angrily addresses Brody, enacting the role with a gripping emotional truth that lingers as one wonders what became of this distraught mother in the aftermath of her darkest holiday. Jeffrey Kramer has a nice comic presence as Brody’s out-of-his-league deputy, and screenwriters Gottlieb and Benchley make brief appearances as well. 

                The seismic success of Jaws changed how movies were offered to the general public, with filmmakers and studios realizing significant profitable gains could be garnered by emphasizing summer releases after witnessing receipts pouring in, with Jaws amassing a little over $121,000,000 in U.S./Canadian rentals (according to Variety) during its first run, ending up as the highest-grossing movie ever (not adjusted for inflation) until the behemoth known as Star Wars took the crown a couple years later. Critics were also rhapsodic concerning the merits of the one-of-a-kind production, specifically throwing hosannas Spielberg’s way for pulling off such a challenging assignment with flair and intelligence. Come award season, in a very competitive year (Dog Day Afternoon, Nashville and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest were just three of the other top 1975 releases) Jaws did receive some of the attention it deserved, although bias against its massive success may have kept it from ultimately achieving as praise as it should have, awards-wise. Spielberg did receive notice with nominations from the Director’s Guild of America and the Golden Globes, which also granted Jaws a Best Picture nomination, while Time magazine placed the film among its top ten and the Writers Guild of America nominated Benchley and Gottlieb. At the Academy Awards, Jaws won richly deserved Oscars for Field’s uncanny editing, Williams’ legendary score and for Best Sound, while also finding a place in the Best Picture lineup, which proved victorious for Cuckoo’s Nest. However, in one of the biggest oversights ever, Spielberg was not among the Best Director candidates, having to wait a couple years for his first nomination in the category for Close Encounters, before finally going on to win two directorial Oscars for more Academy-friendly WWII pictures. 

 Jaws has lived on with a series of sequels and rip-offs, some more successful than others but none matching the ingenuity and massive entertainment value of the original, with the film’s great white shark becoming a beloved figure as a Universal Studios’ main attraction and as one of the most villainous characters ever to fill an audience with dread, with some granting a measure of compassion for the fish who was simply doing what comes naturally asea. Among other honors, Jaws was included on the National Film Registry’s 2001 list of movies for preservation, while making many lists of the top 100 greatest movies of all time, including placement on the AFI’s 1998 and 2008 polls of the best American films and inclusion at #104 (tied with three other masterworks, including The Godfather, Part II) on the most recent Sight and Sound poll from 2022. Jaws far-reaching appeal is also suggested by it claiming the #2 position (behind Weapons) when last weekend’s box office figures were tallied during the 50^th anniversary release of the classic. As a child, this author was among those easily-susceptible to the many beautifully illustrated scare factors so artfully visualized in the movie, with what is generally regarded as the biggest shock “jump scare” in the movie resulting in overpowering screams in his kiddie matinee showing (which an older kid finally stopped by yelling for us to “shut up!”) he has never heard again in a movie house, just one example of how resourcefully and effectively Spielberg and his cast and crew were able to pull off one of the greatest achievements ever seen on the silver screen.