Last week I had the pleasure of seeing Jaws in the Cinema again. What is considered to be the first blockbuster has an enduring place in our culture. The first time I saw it was in a rerun at our local Odeon in the early 80’s. I must have been 12 or 13 years old and as I frequently did at the time I went to see a film by myself, yes I had friends but I loved going by myself. My overriding memory is at one point the shark jumping out of the water an me audibly exclaiming in shock, yes I was embarrassed. I’ve seen the film numerous times since on Television and DVD/Blu-ray.
The first time it was shown on British Television was on the ITV Network on the 8th October 1981. At the time it was pretty standard practice for a film to take at least 5 years before it went from big screen to television, I know people younger than me used to films appearing from streaming a few weeks after the cinema release will be shocked or amazed by that. This made films appearing much more of an event and in some ways put more value on the work that had gone into them. Jaws drew in 23.25 million viewers at the time the population was around 53 million. That’s nearly 50% of the country watched Jaws (or at least had the TV on), it’s the biggest TV audience for a film ever in the U.K.
I sometimes feel we take Steven Spielberg for granted, he makes creating stories that make you care look so easy. Watching a film in the Cinema is a different experience to watching it at home. Even though we have a pretty big screen at home in the Cinema we don’t get interruptions from dogs, the whole environment can feel more focussed on the film. The scene that stuck out to me wasn’t one of the shark scenes or the Indianapolis scene, but the scene where Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) is sat at the table with his youngest son. Brody is deep in thought and his son starts to mirror his movements, slowly Brody notices this and a game ensues. This moment was touching and showed the dynamics between father and son. In some ways it remind me of my own father who died in 2019, our relationship was complicated especially in the latter part of his life but this moment from Jaws reminded me of moments in my childhood. Moments like this in Spielberg’s body of work are what make us care for and understand the characters in the big set pieces. Think Indiana Jones with Sallah’s children in Raiders of the Lost Ark or Alan Grant showing John Hammond’s Grandchildren the sounds a dinosaur makes in the trees. These small moments give us a reason to understand and care for the characters and Spielberg is a master of them.
If you get the chance I recommend seeing Jaws on the Big screen, although not the 3D version. The fact that it’s been retrofitted in 3D confuses me. I’m not a 3D ludite but I do struggle with 3D due to migraines. In my opinion a film only works in 3D if the 3D element was considered in the shooting of the film, which means the Cinematographer and Director can work to make sure that the 3D is used to enhance the film creatively. In my personal opinion very few films work in 3D, in the modern resurgence of 3D (which is now over) only a couple of films have worked that being James Cameron’s Avatar and Martin Scorsese’s love letter to film Hugo.
Now go and watch Jaws, Also go watch Hugo you wont regret it.