Jaws

For the first time ever, I saw a 35mm print of Jaws in a theater. It was awesome. It's one thing the see the shark on a TV screen, even a large one, but it's another to see it swim across the screen and actually be bigger than the car in which you drove to the theater. I'm unclear on how many times I've seen the movie, both in its edited, TV form and on DVD, but I assure you it's plenty. It says a lot about the film that even though I've seen it so much, it held my interest until it ended at 2:30 AM even though by all rights I should have been passed out asleep due to a baby that consistently wakes up between 7:30 and 9:00 AM. There's not much else to say critically about the movie, so I'm just going to pass on some observations.

-- Even though the Fourth of July revelers swim fairly close to the shore, the shark POV shots and incredibly deep. I don't know many people whose idea of beach leisure is treading water. Hell, when I'm in the ocean, I don't even like going out where I can't stand with my head above the water, let alone treading water fifteen feet above the ocean floor.

-- I can't imagine directing a movie with so many extras. It seems absolutely daunting. There's also several longer takes that require loads of background action from extras and cast and it's all pretty convincing. Consider me impressed.

-- Some of the people I was watching Jaws with mocked Quint's boat as being impractical for their purposes, but compared to everyone else who went shark hunting, Quint's bost is easily the one I would choose.

-- I'm a bit unclear as how Ben Gardner was killed by the shark. There was a breach in the hull of his boat, but he was still in the boat (albeit dead) when Matt Hooper found him. Did the shark come aboard, stab him, and throw him below deck?

-- Mrs. Kintner is easily the most annoying grieving mother I've ever seen in film.

-- I love that the movie has the gumption to kill both a child and a dog. It really raises the stakes.

-- Also that adults are so willing to plow over little kids and the elderly in order to save themselves.

-- "I saw one [a shark] eat a rocking chair once." That line stimulates my imagination in the best ways.

-- Best line reading:


-- The dolly-zoom is pretty overused, but you might get me to admit that Spielberg pulls off the best one ever (yes, even better than Vertigo).


-- Another great shot is the conversation on the ferry. Here's the end of the scene: