The Shark Still Works: 45 Years of Jaws

Garrett Stiger

Garrett is an entertainment professional living in the Los Angeles area.

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16 Responses

  1. Al Perdue says:

    I remember laughing at my teenage sister for being scared to go swimming…..in a lake.Report

  2. Aaron David says:

    It wasn’t Jaws for me, it was The Thing, and sitting down and watching that with people who had never seen it before. Not only is it one of the greatest movies of all time, but seeing people react to the defib scene is one of lifes great pleasures.Report

  3. Michael Cain says:

    A bunch of us who were home from college for the summer went and stood in a ridiculously long line to get tickets and see it on opening weekend. When the shark came up out of the water at the stern of the boat, if there hadn’t been a solid back on the chair I would have ended up about five rows farther from the screen.Report

    • I’ve had the pleasure of seeing “Jaws” a few times on a big screen, and I love watching the crowd of people in front of me react to that moment (as well as the head-in-the-boat scare). Everyone recoils at the exact same time.Report

  4. Em Carpenter says:

    The head is the thing I remembered, much more than the shark, for years after my first viewing as a (too young) kid.Report

  5. Oddly, I don’t remember the head or the scene with the blood you captured on the picture in your OP. I do remember the one shark they caught with the license plate in its stomach, though. I also remember Roy Scheider telling his son to play in the lagoon (or cove, or whatever it was) because it was safer, but that was where the shark showed up (if I recall correctly).

    I don’t know when I first saw Jaws. I’ve never seen it in the theaters. I’ve seen it several times on TV, but not sure how old I was, how edited for TV it was, or whether I watched the whole thing the first couple times I saw it.

    I have watched it at least a few times straight through, after renting it.Report

  6. jason says:

    I saw it at the theater five years ago for the 40th anniversary, but I first saw when I was really young on HBO. I had to be in first or second grade because it was before the divorce when we could afford cable and a movie channel. The head scared me as did Quint’s demise. It’s one of my all time favorites. My childhood friends and I still throw Jaws quotes at each other.
    “That’s some bad hat, Harry.”Report

    • Garrett Stiger in reply to jason says:

      I was at one of those 40th anniversary screenings! Watching “Jaws” with an audience really reminds you (or reinforces) just how damn funny the film is, with lines like “that’s some bad hat,” etc.Report

  7. rexknobus says:

    First viewing (initial release): As I walked out of the theater into the bright daylight, the vast, gray expanse of the parking lot scared the snot out of me (I was 25 years old). Stood on the curb for several minutes before I could walk gingerly to my car.Report

  8. There’s a great breakdown of how well this movie shot and how Spielberg works his magic:

    https://nofilmschool.com/2015/02/9-scenes-jaws-show-how-spielberg-does-cinematography

    It’s truly a great film. And I’m envious that you got to introduce someone to it.Report

  9. Jaybird says:

    I wish Spielberg could have stuck around for Jaws 3-D. I think he could have improved that movie somewhat.Report

  10. Susara Blommetjie says:

    Oh do I have memories!

    I must have been about 6, perhaps 8. We went on holiday to the coast, renting a unit in a holiday apartment block. Someone thought to entertain the children by showing Jaws. My brother – 5 years older – took me with. If my parents had know what the movie would be they would never have allowed it, I’m sure.

    I remember we were sitting on the apartment block’s lawn, with the film reel projected (remember those!) against the white plastered wall of the building.

    Given that I was the type of sensitive girl that was terrified of E.T. (I could not *believe* that someone could be so stupid as to lure an extraterrestial monster into his house) you can just imagine what Jaws did to me.

    Luckily we were on our way back home the next day, because I would never have put a foot in the sea after that. Once back home, for a very long time I prayed very earnestly every night that Dear Lord Jesus would just get rid of all the sharks. Didn’t want Him to kill them though, I did sortof feel bad for them since they couldn’t help what they were, but I still wanted them gone.

    Good to resign oneself to unanswered prayers from a tender age, I guess.

    Years later I would still feel uncomfortable in a swimming pool, when the square patterns from the reflected sunlight would look like shark nets to me.Report