Jaws: 30th Anniversary Edition

There are certain films that have left an indelible mark not only on cinematic history but culture in general, films that change how directors envision a film, how actors ply their craft and how the audience views the film. There is no doubt at all that one film forever at the top of such films is the 1975 blockbuster, Jaws. While the premise for the story is simple and well known, giant shark terrorizes a beach front community, the impact this film had was gigantic. It seems difficult for me to believe but it has been thirty years now since Jaws opened and changed the world. To commemorate this event Universal has brought out a 30^th anniversary DVD. Even if you have the perversion edition this is well worth adding to your collection.

What makes this new release so worthwhile is the new second extras disc. It has a two hour making of documentary. This is not your standard filler type featurette; it is a full blown exposition of almost every detail of the production of the film. It starts out at the beginning, before production ever began and from the onset this film appeared to be doomed. Since the Peter Benchley novel was extremely popular Universal was extremely anxious to bring it to the screen. The documentary includes interviews with director Steven Spielberg as well as producers David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck. The first person, unnamed in this piece, rejected the offer to work on the film. Zanuck and Brown turned their attentions to a new director, Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had begun to make a name by directing television series such as Columbo and Night Gallery and recently turned to films with the acclaimed Sugerland Express. His made for television film; Duel was concerned with a regular man terrorized by a truck on a lonely highway. It was a short jump from to the story of Jaws.

Spielberg wanted to cast actors from one of his favorite films, The Last Picture Show, as such Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges where approached but unable or unwilling to join the production. Finally, Spielberg wound up using Richard Drefuss from American Graffiti and Roy Scheider whom Spielberg remembered from The French Connection. After Sterling Hayden turned down the role of Quint they brought on board Robert Shaw. Through circumstances and accidents they unknowingly assembled one of the best known casts in history. The documentary shows how almost every memorable actor was cast. One very interesting addition was Carl Gottlieb a character actor and writer brought on in a minor role and to help with the script and the required improvisations. A lot of the dialogue was off the cuff because the film began without a full working script. Because of an impending strike the studio was forced to rush into production, many of the best known lines in this film where made up by the actors just playing to their characters. More than just a series of talking head shots the documentary shows most of the scenes under discussion. After hearing the tales behind them they take on a whole new meaning for the audience.

The location for shooting became a major concern. Spielberg wanted to shoot in New England, where the story takes place. The only location that was suitable was Martha’s Vineyard, a community that was never used before due to the strenuous objections of the townsfolk. Large cash bonds had to be posted to ensure that nothing would be permanently altered. In the famous scene where Hooper points out a billboard defaced by some kids the town demanded that it be pulled down immediately after the shot was on film. One of the reasons why only this area would serve is it was the only place where you could go twelve miles out to sea and still have a sandy bottom thirty feet beneath the surface, something required to shoot the effects. The cast and crew spent seven months on that island causing a lot of disgruntle people around the set. During one up scale dinner Scheider started a food fight relieving the tensions nicely.

Since this film was years before the advent of computer graphics every shot had to be a practice, actual props and actors. Some real shots of great white sharks where made often using little people to make the scale of the shark even larger. The famous first attack on the young blonde swimmer was done with stuntwoman Susan Backlinie. She was tethered to ropes that pulled her back and forth as screen screamed at the top of her lungs. Some deleted scenes are included some that where considered too intense for the PG rating the studio was after. While many scenes would have been great, time and money often prevented them from being included in the final cut.

Of course a good deal of attention in this documentary was given to the now infamous mechanical shark, affectionately called Bruce after Spielberg’s lawyer. As Dreyfuss explains a voice would often be heard over the loud speakers all around the island ‘the shark is not working, the shark is not working’ resulting in a lot of down time. Getting someone to take on the task of creating this mechanical monster was refused by every special effects team in the industry. Finally one man said her could do it, Bob Mattey, the creative special effects genius that created the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He came out of retirement to take on the challenge. There were actual several sharks, none of which was tested under the actual at sea filming conditions. In the first wet test the thing promptly sank to the bottom. When the loud speakers proclaimed ‘The shark is working’ everyone dropped what they where doing to catch a rare shark scene. This is perhaps the most serendipitous part of the production. Originally a lot more scenes with the shark where planned. Spielberg had to go to shots from the shark’s point of view and use visual cues such as the dock or barrels moving to show the presence of the shark. When the famous shark theme music was added film magic was created.

If this is not enough Universal also includes an never before seen interview with Spielberg, storyboards, production photos and a slick full color collector’s booklet. While none of these extras where up to the detail presented in the documentary they are interesting and fill out the back lot view very nicely. As part of history there is most likely no one that does not know about this film and who doesn’t love it. This is a must have for everyone out there! Get it and enjoy it over and over.

Posted 6/17/05