The battle against the shark was one thing, but that was nothing compared to the frisson between Hooper and Quint, and if it seemed realistic it was because it allegedly was.
And if his role as Matt Hooper put Dreyfuss at the top of the cinema tree, then it was Spielberg's follow up that cemented it. Spielberg, Dreyfuss, Production Designer Joe Alves and Composer John Williams were all back; this time however they weren't after a bigger boat but more of a bigger spaceship.
Read MoreLike many Jaws fans, I was the first in line to purchase tickets for the ‘Jaws in Concert’ shows at the fabled Royal Albert Hall in London; watching Jaws with a live orchestra was pretty high up on my “Jaws bucket list” (there’s a whole other post on that I reckon!) so it was an opportunity not to be missed.
Read MoreDer dum, der dum, der dum…famous in swimming pools and cinemas worldwide the Jaws theme did for seas and sharks what the Psycho theme did for showers and kitchen knives.
Arguably, not since has there been a piece of music that has so transcended its original material and is known worldwide, passed down by generations, known even to those who have not seen it or have been too young to view it.
Read MoreThe images we make in our mind determine how we interact or behave in a certain situation and Benchley realized the impact that his writing had had on the reputation of sharks. He became a staunch shark conservation advocate and spent the rest of his life trying to reverse the hysteria that JAWS had created surrounding sharks.
Read MoreThe first time I encountered Jaws I was five years old. My mom had the book and I often found it lying around the house with the top corner of the page she was on folded over. The cover image struck me in an unusual way. Unusual in that it was incredibly terrifying to me but it didn’t scare me. I was engaged, I wanted to know more and it stayed with me for years.
Read MoreOk, so you are going to be part of some of the biggest films ever made. But there's one catch... you don't get to speak. You will get eaten by a shark, you will get thrown out windows and you will scare a group of kids by playing a corpse in a fridge. Sound like a interesting career? Well that's the working life of a stuntman by the name of Ted Grossman.
Read MoreJaws is a stunning example of cinematic craft and it’s a clear manifestation of a young filmmaker trying out everything he can and taking risks in order to create something special. There are scares aplenty throughout the story and the tension once the trio get out on to open water in search of the shark is unbearable. Spielberg fills Jaws with sophistication to flesh out the characters and the setting, but he’s not afraid to pull out the oldest trick in the book when the story demands it.
Read MoreJAWS didn't just spark an explosion in shark interest but it also created it's very own legacy genre... the shark movie! Here we put together our "Top 10 Shark Movies... That Aren't Jaws!" Have we nailed the list or have we overlooked some absolute classics?? Tell us in the comment below.
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