JAWS - 40 YEARS OLD THIS WEEKEND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 0

[Bio-Rupp]

JAWS opened nationwide on 6/20/75. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it until 40 years ago today on 6/21/75.

 

We stood in line on the 20th and get right up close to the ticket window when it sold out.

 

Dad and mom were determined though and we made it back the next day.

 

I was 6 going on 7 when I saw this movie... and lets just say it left a lasting impression. I still don't go in the water... and never will.

 

When Quint got it... I jumped in Mom's lap

 

To this day I still think that was an R rated movie and not meant to be a PG.

 

What's your favorite Jaws memory?... you should remember... its only been 40 years

 

[ComicConnoisseur]

[spidrvacc]

Love that movie. Just finished watching a documentary that was on today on the original Shark Attacks in NJ in 1916 that the book/movie was based on. Since I live across the street from the creek where the kids were attacked in 1916 its always been an interest to me.

[Goldeneye]

JAWS opened nationwide on 6/20/75. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it until 40 years ago today on 6/21/75.

 

We stood in line on the 20th and get right up close to the ticket window when it sold out.

 

Dad and mom were determined though and we made it back the next day.

 

I was 6 going on 7 when I saw this movie... and lets just say it left a lasting impression. I still don't go in the water... and never will.

 

When Quint got it... I jumped in Mom's lap

 

To this day I still think that was an R rated movie and not meant to be a PG.

 

What's your favorite Jaws memory?... you should remember... its only been 40 years

 

 

There is a rape scene in the Outlaw Josy Wales and that film has a PG rating back then.

 

The thing I remember about this film I think it is the first film I remember seeing growing up to where the score kept me glued to the television when I saw the film for the first time. After later viewings and growing up I have made a few observations.

 

1. This film is at times very slow and boring up until they leave port on Quint's ship.

 

2. John Williams resurrected what a musical score should do for a film. Without Williams score this film loses half of its charm.

 

3. Robert Shaw got hosed. Shaw's performance as Quint should of won him best supporting actor. I believe Quint to be the most interesting character in the film and without him a boring film. Shaw loses himself in this role like Ledger lost himself in the Joker role. Shaw's performance in my book top ten I have ever seen.

 

4. The chemistry between Shaw, Schieder, and Dreyfuss in the boat the best I have ever seen with a group of people and got better for me as I got older. Only Spock, McCoy, and Kirk rival this chemistry

 

5. Outside of the boat sequences this film seems very dated now

[thedude]

not sure exactly what age I was when I saw it in the theater for the first time, as it was at a smaller local theater in my home town, so it may have been up to a year or so after original release, '76 or so? perhaps even late '75 who knows, but I remember my dad taking me and my sister, I would have been 7 in '75 or 8 if seeing it in '76. the line outside the theater to get in was around the block, and the place was packed. I remember the audience reacting at all the right moments, but the one that will always stick out for me is Ben Garners head popping out of his boat. I couldn't shake that image for years. !!

 

took my 11 year old son to see the 40th re-release today, and the screening was at about 90 percent capacity. which I thought was pretty good, my son has seen it before of course on DVD a few times, but never on the big screen and I hadn't seen it on the big screen since I was a kid. we both of course loved it.

[DeadpoolJr.]

The interesting thing about the movie is that they released it at the same time the events started in the book, mid-June. The girl at the beginning was killed I think in the book on 15th-17th, and the boy on June 20th, the release date.

 

I actually just bought the book on amazon yesterday to without realizing it, and it is definitely nothing like the movie. A lot more character history, and stories going on. Worth the read if anyone's wondering.

[DeadpoolJr.]

Love that movie. Just finished watching a documentary that was on today on the original Shark Attacks in NJ in 1916 that the book/movie was based on. Since I live across the street from the creek where the kids were attacked in 1916 its always been an interest to me.

If it interested I'd recommend the movie "12 Days of Terror" which was a movie made about the attacks.

[paperheart]

JAWS opened nationwide on 6/20/75. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it until 40 years ago today on 6/21/75.

 

We stood in line on the 20th and get right up close to the ticket window when it sold out.

 

Dad and mom were determined though and we made it back the next day.

 

I was6 12 going on 7 13 when I saw this movie... and lets just say it left a lasting impression. I still don't go in the water... and never will.

 

When Quint got it... I jumped in Mom's lap

 

To this day I still think that was an R rated movie and not meant to be a PG.

 

What's your favorite Jaws memory?... you should remember... its only been 40 years

 

 

+1

[Comicopolis]

It put me off swimming for a long time.

[spidrvacc]

Love that movie. Just finished watching a documentary that was on today on the original Shark Attacks in NJ in 1916 that the book/movie was based on. Since I live across the street from the creek where the kids were attacked in 1916 its always been an interest to me.

If it interested I'd recommend the movie "12 Days of Terror" which was a movie made about the attacks.

 

Never heard of it but will definitely be looking for it. Thank you.

[FrankCastle]

Was only 3 in 75 so didn't get to go, however I DID get to see Jaws 3 in 3-D at the theatre ()!!!

 

What amazes me to this day is that Jaws, The Exorcist and The Godfather were released within 3 years of each other, then of course Star Wars less than 2 years after Jaws. So within a 5 year span, we got 4 epic films. I've always tried to look back and see if there was ever an equal 5 year period in film history and to me, it doesn't exist. That was the beginning of what we would come to know as the blockbuster and Jaws was smack dab in the middle of it. I can see 1960-63 as a magical time to have been born, to get to see all of these films and actually remember the experiences.

 

And as for Robert Shaw, he was something like the 4th pick to be Quint, but watching the film, although the others are great as well, he really makes it work. Lee Marvin was the guy they wanted--I just can't see it!

 

Jay

[accessndx]

It put me off swimming for a long time.

 

To this day I still look over my shoulder whilst in the bathtub or pool.

[Chicago Boy]

Seeing it again on the big screen this Wednesday

[chrisco37]

For as old as it is, it holds up very well. The shark actually looks just as good as any CGI stuff they do these days.

 

I love watching documentaries on the making of the movie. What a stroke of luck for Speilberg that the mech sharks were always a problem. It forced him to use the shark much less than he had planned. And it was (most likely) much more effective.

 

As someone else mentioned, the score/John Williams were paramount to film. Might really be the "star" of the movie.

[marvelcollector]

A seminal movie.

 

Ironically, the summer of 1975 was when I learned to swim.

[ChasingKingKirby]

I THINK this was the first movie I ever saw in a theater. I was four in 75, so it was probably early 76 when I saw it. It was NOT a movie that I should have seen at 5. It was a full week before I would get in the bathtub without shrieking.

[Guardian Comics]

Jaws was probably the first movie I ever saw. In the summer of '75 I went to the Drive In with my parents and saw it. I would have been about 3 1/2. Made a huge impression on me. I'll get in the water but still think about Jaws before I do (even in a Lake). Top 3 film for me personally of all time, and can recite the movie front to back. Shaw's acting was absolutely brilliant, as was most of the cast. A movie I could just watch over and over and never tire of, and can't think of one dull moment.

 

Jim

 

 

[Larryw7]

I saw it in the Fall of '75, after it had been out for awhile. My parents already saw it during the summer, so my dad decided he thought I could take it, so he took me to see it(I was 9, and I was a big fan of the monster movies that were on every Saturday afternoon). Loved every second of it; agree with thedude that Ben Garner's disembodied head was the scariest thing I ever saw at the time.

[micmack]

I remember when the movie studio just took the iconic illustration used for the Peter Benchley novel and used it for the Movie poster without compensating the illustrator, Roger Kastel. Roger came out smiling larger than Bruce in the end....

[joeypost]

The interesting thing about the movie is that they released it at the same time the events started in the book, mid-June. The girl at the beginning was killed I think in the book on 15th-17th, and the boy on June 20th, the release date.

 

I actually just bought the book on amazon yesterday to without realizing it, and it is definitely nothing like the movie. A lot more character history, and stories going on. Worth the read if anyone's wondering.

 

I read the book just before the movie came out. My Uncle had one of the first copies printed with the old black dust jacket where the sharks head looked more like a bullet with teeth. I was amazed at how different the movie was from the book and even though I was afraid to go swimming I left the theatre a little bummed that Hopper did not die as he does in the book even though his character in the movie painted him in a much better light compared to the book. I was waiting for the moment that the shark gets him and Brodie "accidentally" shoots him.