Jaws (50th anniversary)

Get out of the water... so you can listen to this episode! Summer isn't over yet, so Mark celebrates 50 years of the first summer blockbuster: Jaws! Joining him for a chat at sea is longtime friend, screenwriter, and film lover C.C. Webster, who also was with him in Martha's Vineyard earlier this summer for the Spielberg movie's big anniversary weekend. They discuss how their visit to the island was, show off their swag, and share what weird thing Richard Dreyfuss said on the mic at the screening. Plus, Mark puts C.C. to the test with a trivia game! And the great Wes Craven, who also has a Martha's Vineyard connection, gets a shout-out 10 years after his passing. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Straw Hut Media.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Get out of the water. Get out of the water.
There's a new episode of release date rewind, so seriously,
get out of the water. Hi everybody, thanks for checking
out my podcast today. Summer isn't over yet. The water
is still warm ish and sharks are still swimming throughout
New England near me in Maine and Massachusetts, which is scary, terrifying.

(00:25):
I will stick to the pool see you later. Although,
fun fact, I used to think a baby shark was
in my pool growing up when I would swim in
it alone, which is hilarious and embarrassing. But hey, this
is a safe space, right we can be honest cool.
I'm your host, Mark J. Parker, a movie lover and
a movie maker, and this is episode one oh one
of this indie self produced AI Free show, which is

(00:49):
part of the straw Hut Media network and the U
Run Podcast Network. I like to bring friends here to
celebrate favorite movies of the past for their big anniversaries.
And boy do we have a mammoth of a movie
to celebrate for its fiftieth anniversary. On June twentieth, nineteen
seventy five, Steven Spielberg's Jaws swam into theaters and change

(01:13):
the way we look at the ocean sharks and at
Martha's Vineyard, which I just visited for this movie's special
golden anniversary weekend earlier this summer. And you'll hear more
about that great trip in a minute. So grab your
fellow islanders, wear your swimsuits, and if you'd like to
watch or rewatch this classic before listening. Jaws is currently

(01:35):
streaming on Netflix and on AMC Plus, and is back
in theaters across the country starting this weekend everybody, August
twenty eighth, for at least a week, I think, so
you have options to watch Bruce create chaos on the
big or smaller screens. If you dare there, he is
behind me. If you're watching, you can see he's right
behind me. That's a blanket we got in Martha's Vineyard.

(01:57):
We'll tell you all about it in a second. But
peep that right, all right, kids, crush that narroganst beer
like quint, and pause the sea shanties because it's time
to rewind. Okay, everybody, I am so so happy to

(02:25):
see this guest, one of my great friends. She's looking beautiful,
She's glowing. If you're watching this on YouTube. She's back.
She hasn't been on in a while, but CC Webster
is back on release date. Rewind Hi CC, Well, Hi,
I am JP.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
I'm so happy to be here to talk about our
fun experience with Jaw's fiftieth anniversary.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
I know we just saw each other. I guess it
was we parted ways a little over a week ago.
We were in Martha's Vineyard, a place we love, a
place I've been to a few times. You've been to
now many times with the Kaufman's High Kaufman's I hope,
I hope after all the chatter of this podcast, them
better be listening or watching. I please, right, we have
to send them the link, I hope, right right, I'm

(03:08):
sure they're right there in front of the TV. Hi.
I'm waving to you.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Hi.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
But we had such a good time together with Mark
and his family, parents, sisters, cousins. It was so great.
Thanks so much for inviting me. And it was a
really amazing weekend. It was the big fiftieth anniversary celebration,
the screening, there was the reunion day, there was the museum.
There was things we didn't even get you because everything
was sold out, right, I knew it would be pretty

(03:35):
exciting and crazy, but I didn't think it would be so.
I mean, when I got off the ferry and met
you guys, everyone was wearing their Jaws shirts, You know
what I mean? So, what do you think of the
whole experience? Was exactly what you thought? Were you thinking more?
Were you thinking less? What were you thinking?

Speaker 3 (03:51):
I was really surprised at how manageable and kind of
quaint and lovely it all was. When, just like you said,
I started getting out and we were going to a
spot to eat or going through town and seeing how
much Jaws love was happening, I thought, oh my gosh,
these events were connected to are going to be insane

(04:14):
with crowds, They're going to be unmanageable.

Speaker 5 (04:17):
It's not going to be fun. And I just have
to say that was not the case.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
I feel like it was kind of just the right
amount of excitement, you know, like there was so much
joy and love, and it was also such a bonding
thing that was happening when you were walking around. Even
though I didn't have as much Jaws attire like you
have your great shirt you're wearing today, but I would

(04:40):
I couldn't help, but compliment folks on things, because some
things were so creative, you know, like purses and hats
that were made.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
And yeah, there was so much going on. And it
also just made me.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
Feel really warm and cozy in terms of how great
it is to sell a great art and have something
that has lasted this long, that really still has such
an impact.

Speaker 5 (05:06):
It's just amazing to celebrate it.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Oh yeah, you know, the love my love of film
is so strong, and it's so nice to see other
people in that same boat with me.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
But a big boat. This was a big boat of
movie nerds and.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Just to be with my people, yeah, the other movie nerds,
and to have you with me.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
And I loved it. I loved all family, like all.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
In you know. It was fantastic. But yeah, the events
were really well run. There was so many things to
choose from. Although I think the most difficult part is
if we hadn't been thinking of it since really February March,
we would not have been able to get tickets to
the big outer screening with Symphony Orchestra.

Speaker 5 (05:55):
We would not have been able to get tickets to
Readion Day.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
So I'm also just grateful that we had the foresight
to go Hey, Yeah, we had to get ready for this,
and we have to you know.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Oh yeah, because we were booking things in April, right
after we had last seen each other, and even by
that point things were already starting to sell out. So
we did miss some things, but I feel like we
missed nothing. I feel like it was the perfect amount
of the Jaw stuff, but also hanging out of the
house doing our own thing. We also everybody which I'll
post this was really fun. We saw Wes Craven's grave

(06:25):
not Jaws related, but another horror icon, you know, so
that was really special for us to see as well.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
Really was and and I will well maybe we'll talk
about it another time on the on the pod. But
it was a really beautiful place and surprising. There was
some surprises with that experience too. But yeah, I feel
like it was truly a film weekend.

Speaker 6 (06:49):
You know.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
It was just full of and we were you know,
looking at things in between the times we were at events,
whether it was a YouTube clips or views. We were
really infused. Like we have so many things we were
playing with and getting while we were out.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
We've commemorative magnizs.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, we have the show like like
we got we bought candles. Everybody. Now now I feel
like we're like this that kind of show, like okay, everybody,
so we're unpacking or what unboxing? Chrissy's last swim a
bloody candle. I wanted to light it while we were chatting,
but then I realized I don't have a lighter. I
gotta go buy a lighter. But we have that. We

(07:27):
have yeah, these, we have these hilarious free vineyard vines.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, glasses that.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Will make you I mean, actually, you know what with
my lighting right now, it's it's not so bad. I
think it's harder when you're actually outside in the sun
with these What do you think can you see any
better than you could before?

Speaker 3 (07:45):
Not? Really, there are small holes if you're watching on YouTube,
but you know you can't help.

Speaker 5 (07:50):
They were you see the Jaws here on the side.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
We were at the ring day at the Martha's Vineyard
Museum and Vineyard Vines was we're giving these away and
we just had to say yes.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
I mean, oh, of course. I was like, yeah, of course,
you know. And what else we got behind me? We
got the Jaws blanket part of the screening, which was
so nice that we got the tote. I would reach
to get the tote. I can see it, but you know,
big nice jaws tote. That swag was amazing, and Alimo
put on the screening. We were even saying, like that screen,
how rare to see such? I mean, it was so

(08:24):
bright that at times I like was kind of squinting.
It was such a state of the art, beautiful outdoor screen.
CC used to run the drive in Film Festival. Many
of you out there, I hope, have seen a movie outside.
Very rarely are screens really that bright.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Absolutely, it was stunning, and like you said, because of
my experience with drive ins and outdoor screenings, I was
expecting it to be pretty dim because we were starting
at a certain time of day and the orchestra was starting,
and we were all wondering, actually, like, how are we
going to see the screen really well if it starts
at this time, and we were recent because it was

(09:02):
I mean, I think you said at one point the
light was so strong and the print was so strong
that it was almost like Wes Anderson coloring happening in jobs.

Speaker 5 (09:11):
But I was all for it.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Oh, I was for it.

Speaker 5 (09:14):
Bring me that orange sand, like I'm loving this.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
It was sachur rated. M h, better keep it saturrated.
I mean, like, whoa, yeah it was. It was colorful totally,
but it was amazing and I could see everything. I mean,
because we weren't we had great seat We end up
having great seats. I know we were nervous, you know
a lot of people but like dead on, but we
weren't like super close. But I could see all the details.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Right absolutely, and you captured some really great images from
that were people I'm sure we'll post as before we
this comes out or at the time. Yeah, it was
really surprising too because we were kind of behind the
sound area, which was this pop up tent in the middle,
and I was really concerned that we wouldn't have the

(09:59):
ability to see the screen fully, and we totally did,
especially when it got dark. You know, you could really
see and they did a good job lighting the orchestra.
And also I have to say, as much as I
was kind of grumpy of where that sound area was
because I felt like it probably could have been somewhere else,
I really thought they did a wonderful job with the
you know, the whole soundscape of the night because.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
They were going in and out of the orchestra.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
You can you can imagine folks that you know, they're
not playing every single minute the film is screening, because
there's lots of scenes that don't have score, right, So
they were going in and out of light. Even the
light was being dimmed. The sound was being hushed of
their mics, and then it would come back on again abruptly.

Speaker 5 (10:42):
It was great.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
They really did a fantastic job.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
You're right, Yeah, I keep forgetting. I mean we were there,
I like, we saw it with our own eyes, we
heard it with our ears. But I keep forgetting that,
like the music was live, like that was all. It
was just so perfect. It was the Cape symphony, everybody perfect,
so fun, just so fun to experience that with all
those people, those famous lines, famous kills, you know, and

(11:06):
then that score. It was so cool. I loved it.
It's it was so worth Yeah, everything right and beautiful grounds.
It felt very fancy, you know, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
I felt the same. You know, I think that the
talking about the love of film. I think that the
more as much as I've always been kind of a
frugal girl, and you know, luckily, film ticket prices tend
to be pretty good even now.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
If you go on a matinee.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Or you having Tuesday nights.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, like Tuesday nights at the Regal. But it was
a little pricey. We both were, we were we were
on the fence.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, it was a little tough, but you know what, yeah, yeah,
right now.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
We had the experience. It was definitely worth the experience.
And it's a once in a lifetime moment. I mean,
when is the next time we're going to be in
the place they shot this film, like directly beside the
beach where most of these beach scenes were shot, you know,
outside in a beautiful night, with this orchestra playing this amazing.

Speaker 5 (12:03):
Score, one of the most iconic scores I've ever known
in cinema.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Together and celebrating with all these fans and a lot
of the people in our crowd were in the film or.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Worked in the film, which was so yes, because that's
what's so cool, especially about this movie. Really, any movie
that you can see with people that worked on it
in the area, that's amazing. But like this movie which
we'll talk about, like Took Over the Island used so
many locals on camera behind the camera, so that was
really cool to see people waving like who here has

(12:34):
been has worked on the movie Blah blah. You know
that was really special.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
That's exactly how I felt about it. And you know,
there was something too about it. The fact that this
island is a place you have to travel via plane,
train or automobile and then take a ferry to get
out there. It was a commitment. Yeah, folks who did
come from out of town, it was a commitment. There
were people as from as far away as Europe, and

(12:58):
remember they were asking in the crowd out and all
over the US, and you know we weren't coming from
as far, but you know, it was definitely people were
there to really take in this major moment celebration, and
it was It was really joyous.

Speaker 5 (13:14):
It was so much fun.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
I mean how people reacted to things in the crowd
and how you know they were when they saw Quint.
I mean, when Quint shows up, they went banana, right.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
That was a superstar. It's funny because Quint is great.
I don't know, I just love Brody. I just love
our main character. And I mean they're all great, but yeah,
the crowd favored Quint for sure. Who is your favorite
character do you have?

Speaker 3 (13:41):
I think I think I really am still a Brody. Yeah,
but I have a soft spot for Hooper because I
think I just I really fell for Richard Dreyfus as
an actor in my young days after when it was
Close Encounters and then you know, in Neil Simon's stuff,
and I just always thought he was so charming and interesting.

(14:04):
But as I get older, I think I really hold
on to Brodie. But there are so many female characters
that I love so much, but we don't get that
much of them. So as much as you know, I was, oh,
I have to make make sure I have this note here.
As much as I love Brodie's missus Brodie, but also
our favorite missus.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Taft Oh love her.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
I mean, she is so amazing.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
I can't say they're my favorite character in the whole
film because you know, they we're just not They're not
our main yeah, you know, so, yeah, I think I
go with Brody. I also love Roy Scheider. He know,
big right. My family were fans of his across the board,
not just with Jaws. So he was someone that like,
you know, I knew his name when I was young.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
I knew you know, yeah, yeah, very captivating lead and
he just looks good and like he doesn't have to
do much on his face to pull us in. I
think that's the character, but also it's him, you know,
like I love and we'll talk soon about our favorite
moments and everything. But I just want to say. I
mean when it's those great cuts of him sitting on

(15:08):
the beach and he's getting nervous thinking it's the Sharkinger
getting closer, I mean, that is just great sequence. But man,
it's just the little baby steps of worry and fear
and seriousness on his face. It gets a little bit
more intense each cut. You know, Ah, really good, will
be right back.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
There is a creature alive today who has survived millions
of years of evolution, without change, without passion, and without logic.
It lives to kill, a mindless eating machine. It will
attack and devour anything. It is as if God the

(16:00):
devil and gave him Shaws.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Not to start off the show with like one thing
I would have changed. But going back to those female characters,
and because I do like missus Brodie a lot, and
I know she's in the sequels, at least one of them,
maybe two, I forget now, I would have been really
nice to see her in a scene without her husband
or without really talking much about her husband, still talking

(16:29):
about the problem, like, I don't know like that. I
just feel like it would have been really interesting if
someone took their anger out on her about the chief's decisions,
and just to see her in her own element. How
does she navigate that kind of thing when it's not
her doing. And also she's going to support her husband,
you know. So I do kind of wish we just

(16:49):
got a little bit more of his wife, because I
know we were saying, like, she doesn't have a ton
to do, but she is very good in the scenes.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
She is in right, Yeah, she's she so feels so
baked in and real in terms of their relationship of
her being mom to those boys. I'm so sold by
everything she's doing and just how you know much she
loves her husband and without her having to say anything

(17:18):
really out loud, how this move has been tough on her.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, oh yeah, I feel like we should right now
say the line we even said after seeing the movie,
We're like that line is so good. When they're at
the hospital with their son, right, doctor's left, and and
he said, and Roy Scheider says, all right, take them home, right,
something like that, and she goes to New York. He's like, no,
you know, she's She's just like, Okay, this is the

(17:42):
sign to go. But he can't go, you know, even
if he wanted to. He's got to fight this thing
and figure it out, you know. But she's like, let's run.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
Yeah, And it's so simplest. There's the simplicity of it,
which is it's not seven lines back and forth, or
if it's not a major argument, it's one little bump
of a oh you mean to New York.

Speaker 5 (18:06):
I know, okay, And that's about it.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
And it's just that intention we're shown through just that
dialogue one line fantastic. I mean, it's just I miss
a lot of writing like that. I think I think
allowed oftentimes now as screenwriters to be able to be
subtle where we're asked a lot to broadcast, forecast, you know,

(18:31):
and I just think to give that kind of faith
to an actor.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, that's a really good point. And obviously, everybody, I
hope you remember Cec in the past. Her last episode
was Tutsy. But she is a screenwriter. She loves and
knows scripts and talks about them all the time. So
but like, you're sorry, if this movie was made today,
I bet that scene would be even just a little longer,
with a little bit more dialogue. It'd be like take
him home to New York. He'd say, no, here, wait

(18:59):
you want to go to New York? Well, don't you.
It would be a little bit more when it's like no.
What makes it work is that it's almost like a
little conversational hiccup of like, oh, you're talking about that,
and then it's like oh, no, you know, and then
it's okay, see you later, right, yeah, Oh love it,
you know. I actually, you know what, I just got
an idea maybe in one of my future acting classes

(19:22):
will just do that brief exchange with like partners and
just see, you know, how can you say a lot
with a little and I don't know. That could be
a really fun little exercise.

Speaker 5 (19:33):
Right well, I love that, right, I think that's a
great idea.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Or you know, speaking of some of our cast in
this film, you could even do the plastic scene from
the Graduate where it's just that one word and just
one light of dialogue and what that is saying to
that young guy because it's only supposed to be like
twenty years old, so I know you work a lot
with young Yeah, olks. But yeah, there's so many great
examples of that, and I think a lot of our

(19:57):
early film stuff from the forties to you know, the eighties. Yeah,
that's interesting, great idea.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Well, speaking of fifty years ago, everybody, we were officially
diving in. Let's go back in time, CC, We're going
we're rewinding to June twentieth, first official day of summer
of nineteen seventy five. So I'll just kind of set
the scene for you. I'll talk a little bit you
I'm sure know a lot of this is why i
want you to chime in. I'm going to just tell
the story of how this kind of started. Peter Benchley,

(20:25):
of course, wrote the novel Jaws. I didn't know until
literally today, just doing some research. I didn't realize the
book came out only a year before the movie. WHOA,
there was not much breathing room. It was just like
it was one of those many situations, as we know,
when the galleys of the book are being kind of
passed around. The studio got the rights before I think
it was even really published, right, So it was one

(20:47):
of those kinds of things very fast. So by the
time the book was really on bookshelves. There was already
word of like, oh yeah, they're going to make a movie,
you know. So that was very fast, right. But Peter
Benchley his parents had a house in Nantucket, and so
he would summer in Nantucket and that's apparently where he
got the inspiration for this story of a shark of

(21:08):
a jaws of a shark, you know, terrorizing like a
seaside small community or an island, right. And he It's
funny because fast forwarding to when the crew was going
and scouting, he even said, I don't think you need
to go to Martha's vinyard. Do you want to go
to Nantucket? There's not much in Martha's vineyard, which, to
quote Cluis, well, what a snob and a half. I'm

(21:29):
just like, what okay, Nantucket? Right? No, I kid, I kid.
But so he wrote the book in the early seventies,
from seventy one to basically you know, seventy three. It
was out early seventy four, and it so the Galley's
got the attention of the Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown,
who was married to Universal producer David Brown, who worked
with Richard Zanik, and so they bought the rights they

(21:52):
brought on Steven Spielberg, who was making a movie Sugar
Lane Express, only on I still need to see that.
I've never seen it. You've seen. I'm sure you like
that one.

Speaker 5 (22:02):
Yeah, I do. I think you know. It's sweet.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
It's it's not doesn't have the gravitas that a Jaws
might have, but it's sweet. And same with Duel in
very interesting, but it still feels like a TV movie.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, yeah, I have seen Duel, but it's been many years,
so it'd be fun to rewatch that. But yeah, he
didn't really. He was twenty six years old. So CC
you are a director as well? Can you imagine because
I cannot. Can you imagine doing all of this, this
big movie, the buzz, the Buzz alone, I'd be like, oh,

(22:37):
I'm feeling the pressure, right. Can you imagine doing all
of this at twenty six years old?

Speaker 5 (22:44):
Well, no, of course not. I think I was trying
to think about.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
I think I was about that age when I entered
graduate film school and moved to New York, and I
was literally I felt like a zygote in terms of
what I kind of knew and understand and understood.

Speaker 5 (22:59):
Excuse me about filmmaking.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Let alone. You know, I knew a lot more about
film history. But you know, Spielberg, as we now know
of his storied you know, films he's made and things
we've heard about that he's been obsessed with film his
whole life. And you know he was early days getting
involved with cinema. But you know, I heard Carl Gottlieb,
the screenwriter, one of the screenwriters of Jaws, he talks

(23:25):
about how really because Sugarland Express was critically acclaimed but.

Speaker 5 (23:30):
Really bombed for him.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
You know, he still was working with Xanak and you know,
his agent a the time, Mike Metavoy, said, you have
to go in and see what they have. What you know, products,
what you know, actual properties they have to choose from,
and you really should think of doing something that could
actually have a bit of a box office appeal. And
he was the one who chose Jaws that according to

(23:56):
Carl Gottlieb, and said hey, guys, I want to do
this one next. And they were like, oh, okay, because
the book was doing really well.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
So I always thought, you know, the.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
Way you described it, it was like Xanak said, here,
you should do this one next. I don't know which
one's accurate. I'm sure there's probably a record somewhere. I
thought it was very interesting that Spielberg might have been, like,
I want to under I want to take this on,
this undertaking of this script, and that took a lot
of hutzpah.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Is Universal's extraordinary motion picture version of Peter Benchley's best
selling novel Jaws.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
There must have been something sparking for him, because this
original script also wasn't near as tight and specific at
the adaptation of the book in there there was a
lot of subplots that didn't make it that he just
must have had something. And we know now from Spielberg's
history that his early days he was just hitting into

(24:55):
something that we all collectively were interested in, whether it
was et coming up or then a Jurassic Park. Literally,
there was something that he was clicking or Indiana Jones
clicking into that was just like we wanted it, And
so he was right on the right if he chose
it or they chose it for him, it was the
right time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
But yeah, yeah, And I'm just reading a quote that's
at the Great Martha's Vineyard Museum that we were at
that has for I think the whole summer the Jaws Exhibit,
although I know you've been before, there's always a little
bit of Jaw stuff there. But everybody, it is a
beautiful museum. You gotta go, really great stuff. But a
quote on the wall that I just thought was so funny.

(25:37):
He it's a Steven Spielberg quote saying we must have
been complete idiots to have expected to have an easy
ride in the middle of the ocean making a movie.
I mean, like, it's amazing because this was the first blockbuster.
This is fifty years ago. It's not like I mean nowadays,
we are used to movies like this, right, big budget,
big spectacle, big shocks. You know. So we've learned from

(26:00):
of other productions. We've read stories, but like they didn't
really have much to compare, it seems with a story
like this on the water, you know. So it's really
so wild and it's so cool that A the movie
works and that b people love They seem to love
it even more fifty years later, you know what I mean,

(26:20):
it's only getting more popular. It feels like I also think.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
That, you know, it's amazing when a film can have
such lasting impression that it's being handed down to the kids.
Of the folks who loved it when they were kids.
It like just keeps, you know, being introduced to families
and then the cousins, and then who knows, and you know,
growing more fans. But it made me think of something

(26:46):
when you were talking about the open water. I was
reading a little bit about how prior to this, if
you were making something like you know, in the water
everything else, you were typically going to a tank, you know,
you were at a studio. And one of the things
that Spielberg just kept demanding. I don't know why they
were saying yes to him, because it was hard and
very expensive. He just kept demanding that needed to be

(27:08):
in Atlantic Coash, need to be in open water. It
had to be in open water. And I think that
even now I don't I cannot think of all my
friends who are indie filmmakers, you know, my friends who
work on films, on crew, I just can't see them
letting them shoot on open water for as long and
treacherous of.

Speaker 5 (27:29):
A time that he was.

Speaker 3 (27:31):
And I do think that's one of the reasons too
that it is so beautiful and is so powerful in
terms of its cinematic feeling, is because they really were
there it is not. You know, we have all this
AI stuff going on. It's a really good example of
this is powerful because it's happening right there.

Speaker 5 (27:49):
I mean, yes, the shark is fake. We all know
the shark is fake.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
It's still absolutely terrifying. It is so terrifying, right.

Speaker 5 (27:56):
Yeah, I just don't know.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
I'm just so still so shocked as to why they
just kept conceding to him, especially after all the production
problems and how many days they were going over. They
just kept saying, okay, if that's what you're you know,
wanting to do. And there's also something wonderful about that
idea that independent, you know, rebellious minds can really make

(28:21):
some beautiful work. You know, it can really make a
difference because I mean, who knows, maybe Jaws, if it
was shot in the studio would have been, you know,
just as thrilling. But I don't know, there's something really
visceral about those the Martha's Vineyard itself, the beaches, the Oak.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Coastline shots and like. And then of course you know,
the basically the final act is all on the water
and the boat like and I mean yeah, when you
don't really see anything around, it just adds to the pressure,
to the overwhelming dread. You know, yeah, absolutely, it's really special.
Of course, this movie was huge. It's not like it

(29:02):
was a cult classic. I mean it was a box
office success, it was a critical success. It went on
to win Oscars, it didn't win Best Picture. I looked
up what did One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Do
you agree with that? Or do you wish Jaws did?

Speaker 7 (29:15):
What?

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Do you think? Well?

Speaker 5 (29:19):
It would you know what else was nominated? By a chance?

Speaker 3 (29:21):
Do you have a list?

Speaker 2 (29:22):
No, let me look it up real quick while we talk.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
I think I think it's so interesting because that's that's
putting me in a rock and a hard place here,
because I think that.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
We asked the hard questions here on I know, you
really do.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
Milo's Foreman and that film also really kind of made
you know. I'm sure you probably know too that Michael
Douglas was in his company. It was an indie company
that produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and it was,
you know, one of the few first I think indies
that got such a claim like that and one and

(29:53):
there's something about that that I really love.

Speaker 5 (29:55):
And I just think the film is amazing, but Jaws
is its own. I also just think it's so fantastic.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
I mean, if it was happening right now, I don't
know if I could choose which which of my children
would I choose?

Speaker 8 (30:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Well here were, here were the other the four, well
the three others, because we have one flew over the
Cuckoo's Nest nest, Jaws, Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, and Barry Lyndon.
So I feel like I feel like this is your like,
oh yeah, these are these are this is your letterboxed
like four or whatever.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah, I mean, oh my gosh. It's interesting too because
Roy Schidter was also in Dog Day Afternoon?

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Oh was he okay?

Speaker 5 (30:37):
And I'm just thinking about.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
How funny wow, wow, Wow.

Speaker 5 (30:41):
That was a loaded year.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
That was a hot year.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yes, talk about oteur directors. Just so much amazing creative
talent going on there.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
I just found up that the girl got killed here
last week. You knew it, you knew there was a
shock out there, you knew it was dangerous.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
I don't know if I've actually seen Nashville. I know
it's crazy, but.

Speaker 5 (31:17):
I'd even talk about Altman, who's just I know.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Nashville is huge, right, And it's so funny seeing the
directors that were nominated. All of them were the same
except for Spielberg. He was not nominated. Instead, it was
Fellini for a movie called Amar Chord Record. Yes, and yeah,
so what a year. I guess they thought, like, oh, Spielberg,

(31:40):
he might be a fluke. He's only late twenties by then,
you know, mid twenties.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
So well, I'm sure that the Academy and also across
the all the different academia, they were probably amazed at
what Jaws had done box office, and probably enjoyed the film,
but probably felt like it didn't hold up to some
of the other gravitas of you know, some of these

(32:04):
bigger Academy movies.

Speaker 5 (32:06):
But you know, if you break it.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Down and you just look at it piece by piece,
if you don't look at the actual content of it
being a shark movie, I mean so beautifully made and
directed and every step of it.

Speaker 5 (32:22):
So wow, what a great year.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
I now feel like I have to go back and
revisit nineteen seventy five as a year in general in
terms of like what else came out that year?

Speaker 5 (32:31):
If those are the top.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
Five, yeah, right, what else was happening.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, it was a pretty amazing time when you think
of memorable movies that I've really lasted the test of time.
So yeah, but it's funny going back to what you
were saying about, how like I wonder why the studio
was just sort of conceding to Spielberg. It is interesting
because maybe you read this too. I forget where I
read it. But Joe Alvis, who I believe was the
production designer, and we saw his name a lot at
the museum, and you know, very involved. He really ended

(32:57):
up it seems like doing more than just production design.
I mean, he was scouting the island. He was really
very involved. He was one of the first people hired
on the crew. But he was quoted saying that the
studio I guess, even though they were pumping money into it,
they didn't really like have a lot of faith in it.
So like there was that's why they didn't hire like
an actual locations manager or team, like they just sort

(33:20):
of had like there were people that kind of doubled
up on some positions, kind of like an Indye even
though it wasn't Indy. So it is interesting how maybe
they just sort of thought like, yeah, this is a
big deal, but it could also be a total mess,
which I mean it kind of was, you know, and
we can talk more about that, but yeah, it's just

(33:42):
you would think, because maybe they were cautious, you would
think they would say no more, but they didn't. So
it's interesting. You know.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
In some of the things I read, they were consistently
talking about how Xenak was so stingy. You know, WoT
didn't put you up a nice hotel, didn't have nice food,
didn't give you know, the perks of a lot of
studio heads. I mean, he was very tough. But I
think also you're onto something there where I think that

(34:11):
the total budget for Jaws was still so much smaller
than what they were maybe giving to other productions. That
the fact that like he's like, well I want to
be on the water. It's like, well, what go for
a kid? Because that's your budget, and you know, if
you're going to do that, good good luck. I hope
it works out. But it's still not near as expensive

(34:32):
as some of the other projects, which is also why
there were so many people doing double duty and folks
doing free or very low paid extras and day players
and all that kind of fun stuff. So yeah, I
think they were cautious, but also like, well, it's not
that expensive, right, yes, actually spending that much.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
You know, I just looked it up some sites say
nine million dollars was the budget, which back then and
I did. I just did some website. What was nine
million and seventy five compared to today today it would
be around fifty three point seven million, So that's definitely something,
you know, but I guess for them, but.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
When you compared to I wonder what the new Jurassic Park.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Oh it is, yeah, totally right, like two hundred something.

Speaker 5 (35:19):
Exactly, So there's it still has that.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
It's still probably you know, a quarter of what like
a Blockbuster would now totally cost. Yeah, how much centers cost.
You know, it's like I'm curious, you know what what
these these films cost. But yeah, there there obviously was
some support there. But because they were also not in

(35:42):
the West Coast, they were off on this little island,
things were very inexpensive I think in terms of locations
and you know everything, and you know, Spielberg stayed in
the house that most people were staying in houses and cottages.
There wasn't like there was some hotel expenses.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
We know, Yeah, I read that whatever hotel they stayed at,
I forget now, I didn't write a review. Was it
the harbor view of That's right. Yes, the owner was
so apparently grateful that he got this big influx of
money from them, because I guess he was going through
renovations and things were looking a little stressful, so it
came at the right time. I love that. But yeah,

(36:19):
they really took over mostly. It seems like edgar Town
was like where their base kind of was. They seemed
to really shoot in spots all over the island, it
looks like, but Edgartown was sort of it seems like
the main hub for Jaws.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Right, definitely, And it makes sense because it's got a
little bit more of you know, looks like governmental buildings
and those kind of things. Even now, I mean, it's
so not changed that much at all, even from nineteen
seventy five. We were watching a video someone put together
of you know, here it is now today in twenty

(36:55):
twenty five, and here's what it looked like before. And
so many of the buildings they're exactly the same, be
for using for a different purpose, like right, he might
not be a courthouse or something like that or those streets.

Speaker 5 (37:06):
But they've done a.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Really lovely job on that island of holding to the
kind of you know, original beauty. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Yeah, and we were saying that too. Absolutely nothing things
have changed, but like the heart and the soul of
it is all very similar when you compare it to
this movie, you know, and everybody was fun, even like
unofficial stuff that Ceci and I did with Mark. We
drove by Brodie's house. We found his house, which I
feel like we sort of did we sort of We

(37:34):
didn't really plan to drive by, did we just know?

Speaker 3 (37:37):
No, it was just we were going that direction and
we were like, wait, we had just seen the film
and had been at the museum, right, had this whole
reunion day, and we were like, hold on a minute,
we now know this has got to be over here
at East Chop And we got to we're driving that way.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
That was really fun and we're like, was it this house?
Is it that one? Right? But his house? Right? Did
we figure out it was the guest house of the
main house that's there now.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
Yeah, it's yeah, definitely we found the spot that the
actual buildings aren't necessarily the same. Yeah, things have changed, yeah, yeah,
a little bit. But when you look at the if
you guys remember in the those who are listening watching,
if you remember when Brody leaves his house for the
first time to go into his office, there's this long
kind of winding rope beside the ocean, and that I

(38:23):
think you took some images of it almost exactly the same, Yeah,
as I did in nineteen seventy five.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Totally, it's some us today.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
The beaches are opening, the people having wonderful time.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Okay, in your own words, I think everyone knows what
the story of Jaws is. But give me the log
line your own, you know, elevator pitch. What is Jaws about?

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (38:52):
I always forget about this part that I should probably
prepare for this.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
And it's fun to just you know it.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
Ah, Can you think about how I would described Brody
in the best way. Newly appointed sheriff from the big
city is shocked and appalled when a shark happens in
his tiny island town and has to overcome all kinds

(39:22):
of obstacles to decide how to keep his community safe
while jumping into the water with a team of very
odd ducks to try to shake down the shark and
kill it to save his town. It's not the best

(39:43):
log line off the cuff.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Love it.

Speaker 5 (39:45):
That's basically what we got going on there.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
I love the aquatic animal theme with like ducks and
sharp like that was pretty great. Yeah, because you're right,
they are odd ducks. It's a very fun odd I
think what makes the movie have some all kind of
heart is is the trio. They're all like, these three
guys like if it wasn't for a shark, they probably

(40:07):
would never write.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
And that is and I come into each other's you
know faces.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Right, And I guess that's also less the movies contribution
and really the book that you know, Peter Benchley's ideas
of these characters coming together, that is pretty smart, you know.
And I forget I asked you, but I forget. Did
you ever read the book?

Speaker 5 (40:27):
No, I never read the book.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
I was thinking about maybe digging in a little bit
to it here, but I felt like, you know, having
read some of the differences. But in the adaptation, I thought,
you know, I kind of want to hold on to
the Jaws that I first met, which is the Jaws
of the screenplay, and you know, looking forward to to
chatting a little bit about the adaptation process too, because oh.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
Yes, just one, Oh tell us, Well.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
It's it's interesting because, like we were talking about, if
it's true that's been Olberg plucked this script off of
a desk at Xeni's office and said, this is the
one I want to do. It was already it had
already been adapted by I have the name here, Howard Sackler.
So Howard Sackler had done the major, big brunt of

(41:16):
the work of adapting the novel to the screenplay, and
that was the base of what they were using and
what you know, Spielberg read. And of course, you know,
I think Spielberg felt pretty good about it. I mean,
he definitely was interested enough to want to direct it,
but felt like there was some stuff in there that,
you know, it just wasn't exactly hitting everything for him.
But they had already started pre production, already getting into it.

(41:38):
And so Mike Medavoy was Spielberg's agent. If you don't
know about Mike Medavoy, he's a fascinating book he wrote
about kind of his time in Hollywood that I highly recommend.
But he was this kind of first agent that really
started the kind of packaging we hear this term packaging
now where he had his clients, and he's like, help

(42:00):
and I get all my clients to work. You know, hey,
I have a talented person here, a talented person here.
They are my clients. Why aren't they working together. I'm
going to do my best to get a lot of
my clients work on this project. So Carl Gottlieb was
a writer actor who was also one of his clients.
And Carl It said to him, Hey, I want you

(42:20):
to find yourself a role in this script. And I'm gonna,
you know, Steven's good with it. We're going to give
you a role in this script. And you know, and
because you're a writer, maybe you can give some you
know points. Steve, you want to take a look at it.
And he's like, yeah, of course, you know, I'll take
a look. And he went through and he said, oh,
I'd like to be the you know, one of the

(42:42):
like the reporters. He's like the editor of the newspaper.
He's kind of cut out, but he's he's there a
little bit. And they were like, great, well, we'll shove
you through casting real fast and we'll get you in there.
And then Steven apparently sent him a copy of the
script and there was a post it note on it
probably didn't have posteds. Then there was a note on

(43:03):
it that said eviscerate it. This is a Carl Gottlieb quote.
And so Carl was very excited, as most screenwriters are,
if you're given an opportunity to look through something that's
actually being produced and say, oh, here are my thoughts,
with the hope that you might get the gig to
maybe rewrite or poplic it. And he wrote what they

(43:24):
did at that time as he wrote like a three
page memo of his thoughts on the script, and everybody
was jazz. Zanik was jazz, Shilburg was jazz. But they
were still kind of playing Koi. So they said, hey,
you know, subercast to go to Boston to see a
lot of local actors and extras. It's going to be
there for a little bit of time. Would you mind

(43:44):
going out to Boston with him. You guys can chat together. No,
because you're going to have to go to Vineyard anyway,
because you're going to be in the film, So you
guys can chat.

Speaker 5 (43:53):
So you know, he's getting himself ready.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
Apparently he's telling his wife, Okay, I'm just going to
go for a few days and then the next day
they called with the offer and they said, you know,
you got a week to do a kind of polish
on the script. And he was like, great, Gangbusters. So
he quit his job. He was a story editor for
the TV show called The Odd Couple I Love then

(44:16):
you remember the Rerunch. You probably saw the Simon play
that became the TV series. He quit the job and
he was like, fantastic, I'm going to do this thing.
And he and Stephen were I had a great rapport,
worked like all night long on different things, and you know,
he put this draft together and that particular draft he

(44:39):
did take out there was a mafia subplot with the mayor.
Oh wow, I didn't know about until just you know,
doing some research for this, and he you know, tightened
a bunch of things up, and you know, he there
was always that long, long, long monologue about the Indianapolis,
and he had also tightened that up a little bit.
But you know, he put it into pretty good place.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Is it true that most people get attacked by sharks
in three feet of water about ten feet from the beach.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
Yeah, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine,
an eating machine.

Speaker 6 (45:18):
You might not only going to have to close the page,
We're gonna have to hire somebody to kill the shark.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Steven Spielberg has a bunch of friends at this time.
You've heard about this kind of gang of friends. You
probably you know. There's a George Lucas, there's a Mechus,
there's Bob Gail, there's Oh Millius, and he has them
all read it once Scott Leeb has done this draft. Yeah,
and you know, they all bring points and they all
give little notes. And so apparently Millius had some notes

(45:45):
on the monologue. And because of that, and because there's
this rumor that Millius was someone who was on the phone.
Have you heard this rumor he was on the phone
when they were shooting the monologue scene with Robert Shaw
his time in the service with the Indianapolis, and he
was dictating mines over the phone. There's this whole about

(46:08):
how he's the guy behind this monologue. And it was
so interesting to hear Carl Gottlieb's POV because he said, well,
I didn't write it to start with. That was Sackler.
I'm going to give him credit, you know, So I'm
not saying it was me. So you can believe me
here that I was there when they were shooting it,
and it was Robert Shaw.

Speaker 5 (46:26):
Who made it his it wasting at least.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
He said.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
Robert Shaw came in one night at dinner three days
before because he was really worried about this monologue. And
it was also apparently two and a half pages single space,
like it was.

Speaker 5 (46:39):
We can feel it, right.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
I already Yeah, I have to admit it always. It
always makes my eyelids flutter. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry,
and it happened. I never told you, but it happened
when we were just watching. I always it's so long,
and it's a little monotone for me. People love quint
and I love that you love Quinn, but when he
rattles on like that, every time I've seen this movie,

(47:01):
I start to fade a little bit. Anyway, that's just me.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
Oh, I just I love your honesty, and that's one
of the things I also love about your podcast and
that you're the host here, because I do think there's
this feeling of like, how can you say these things
about it? I know there's a cinema listen, I totally understand.
I don't do that in this monologue. But there are
times in other films. I just don't know how people
keep captivated. I'm not sure why they love certain parts,

(47:27):
but we know it's a famous monolog anything, of course.
And the funny part is is that because there was
already worries about potential WGA Writers Guild arbitration on the script,
Carl Gottlieb also made a lot of notes, and so
he remembers he has the notes about shooting that scene,
and he's like, it was like it would have been
like five am where Millius would have been, So why

(47:49):
would he be on the phone. He goes, I didn't
talk to him that day. I did have a note
that I talked to him that day, and he was
really close with Steven, so maybe they also talked. But
he said, I give all credit to anything that wasn't
in the original script. To Robert Shaw. He goes, and
trust me, I want to take credit for everything, but
I can't. And so you hope you'll believe me because

(48:11):
I'm not saying, oh, it was me. I'm saying no,
I don't think it was him nor the original screenwriter.
I think it was Shaw who made it his interesting.
But it was very interesting to see how they were
really doing. What I guess is more and more common
in modern cinema. They were rewriting just as they were
going and discovering things together when you would get these
notes back from friends. So for example, there was an

(48:33):
affair in the original script between sus Baroti and Hooper.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
Really hmmm, oh, I wouldn't have liked that.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
Yes, And they said that, you know, when they really
saw the actors working together. Apparently the you know, line
producer had purposely pushed any of those scenes toward the
end of production because they weren't sure what they were
going to do yet with it, and it was a
little bit unknown. And there's a lot of there's a
lot of really great compliments to a lot of the

(49:04):
crew in this film, and like just surrounding it. They
were even if it was tough and it was kind
of Indian, it was out of their home base. People
were working so hard, really ingenious about how they made
things work by all the problems. But anyway, so ultimately,
you know, they were writing things even two to three

(49:25):
nights before and getting them to the actors. But luckily
production design wise, for Joe Alves and for the team,
they didn't ever write something outside of the things they'd
already organized and had set up. It was more the
actual inner part of the scene, what was happening between
the characters. There were a few times they needed other

(49:45):
actors to come in that might not have been set
up for that day. So there was a few times
when there was that might have been an issue. But
when it came to like they didn't have to build
a whole new set or relte something that they were
very smart in that way. So there, you know, the
big question always comes down to like how did the
cast handle it? And everyone always says, these guys were
such pros that you know get and you know, you

(50:08):
know how it is. You've worked in sets and we've
made movies. They have a little time to look over
the news stuff.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yeah, it's not like they're acting from eight am to
eight pm. They have breaks, yeah, you know, but still still,
you know, just practicing lines at home or wherever is
different than you know, practicing them being on set on
set or at like your hotel. I mean, it might
not be super cut, you know what I mean. So
I still give major credit to performers who can get scenes.

(50:38):
You know, we hear that all the time, like new
scenes were printed that morning, you know, like jeez, crazy now.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
I mean too as someone who's also never been an
actor myself, really, I'm amazed at what actors can do
with their gift. I don't know how they do it
sometimes and especially under pressure like that. And when I
look at the performances in this film across the board,
for the most part, I feel like even with the
non actors really great acting, there's really really truly feel

(51:07):
like I'm I'm not watching people play I'm. I'm in there,
you know world with them and Lass.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
And and one kind of not I guess she's an actor,
but we were reading at the museum that she had
sort of retired so she wasn't really acting as much
as the mother of the boy.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
Oh my gosh, shreaking great perform fantastic performance and also
just what I love about I'm. I do have a
lot of nostalgia for films of especially the seventies and eighties,
for lots of reasons because it was my you know,
as a kid, right, but also because there was you
were allowed to be messy, actors were allowed to look like,

(51:46):
you know, not beautiful with you know, beautiful skin peels
and air done perfectly. You know, there's there was allowed
to be freckles on camera. There allowed to be like
sweets sans jacket. And I think now we have a
little bit of a crisis of perfection in a lot

(52:07):
of our work. And I think it's across I mean,
there's not much one can do, meaning it's just what
people feel they have to do for their jobs as
well as to make everything like really crisp and beautiful.
But it's just so wonderful to see like the real
you know, hair messed up and you know, just nothing

(52:29):
is I just can't imagine that there was any body
makeup for Roy Scheider. I just want to say that, like, yes,
there was someone out there with a you know you're
right and listen, makeup artist, I love you, You're incredible.
Oh yeah, I'm not saying that, you know you you.
I want you to work hard and I want you
to be on every set, many of you. But now
there would be I think a lot more worry and

(52:50):
concern about all these things that and I just think
that brings the authenticity level up so much totally.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
When like you know, the wind's blowing and like so
you're part art is all wonky, but like that's what
happens when the wind blows, you know, on an island
or on the ocean. You know, yes, totally.

Speaker 9 (53:08):
But I'll catch him. I'd killing did you hear your father?

Speaker 3 (53:12):
The woman? Now?

Speaker 9 (53:13):
Sure, swallow you.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
It feels very real. And that's why I don't make
fun of the shark at all. I know there are
people that are like, oh, it looks fake. I don't know.
I just saw it again. I've seen this movie probably
at least ten times. That shark is terrifying. It always
works for me, right, so you.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
Know absolutely, And I feel like, you know, really being
critical about this time, knowing we were going to talk
about it. You know, I'm really looking at it and
thinking about it.

Speaker 5 (53:44):
It to me is so much.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
More interesting, even if it's a little mechanical than some
of the CGI stuff. Although I mean, I'll say I
haven't watched too many recent shark films to see how
they're doing in terms of the the CGI. But I'm
thinking about all the stuff in the aughts, right, you know,
in the early aughts that I was checking out. I

(54:08):
just kudos to all those folks who were trying to
make that stuff work.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
And a lot of them were locals. I was reading that, like,
I guess, especially for like the sort of design team.
A lot of them were local people designing the sharks.
That were three sharks, you know, and I was reading
like one was the one that turned left, the other
one was the one that turned right, you know, so
like I know, such crazy, you know. And of course

(54:35):
we now know there's the play the shark is broken,
because you know, some of these sharks would break and
hold things up, and now we know that the shark
was supposed to be in the film much more. But
it works out great that a lot of it is implied,
maybe just to Finn. You know, we were not seeing
the actual shark for some time, and then even when

(54:57):
we do see it, it's not like it's in every scene,
pops up every now and then, and really you know,
uh shocking chilling ways right.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
Oh yes, And I think that'd be a great thing
for a lot of younger filmmakers to learn and think about.
I mean, of course, Bielberg had a lot of very
recent influence, you know, with a filmmaker of course, like Hitchcock,
who in Psycho was not showing us the knife going
into flesh, was not showing even the you know, full.

Speaker 5 (55:29):
Figure of the murderer.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
You know, I'm in Psycho, But there's such impact to
that scene and such horror and I think that you know,
we rely now so much, and you're such a horror
fan and a filmmaker who loves to make horror films
that I'm sure too. It's sometimes easier to just be like, oh,
I'm just going to show, you know, I'm going to

(55:52):
eventually reveal the thing and it's going to be this,
and you're going to use it that way. And that
makes sense because you know, it is scary and terrifying
to see things, you know, the witness things. But I
just love when there's a happy mistake like this, something
that is so hard for them, and you know, made
Spielberg have to just rely on so much that he'd

(56:13):
known and understood about, you know, editing and building.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
A scene and right, And what's kind of great is
and maybe this was always the plan, who knows, but
like what's kind of nice is not seeing the shark
as much. You know, it makes us actually pay attention
more to the victims or to you know, like there
are those two guys and that really I forgot how
creepy that scene is on the dock, you know, and

(56:37):
we think, like, that's a great scene that I completely
forgot about for whatever reason, I don't remember that that well.
But we really kind of pay attention to either the
victims or the almost victims more, you know, people of
different ages, and you kind of or at least I
kind of also really focus on the mayor, who who
is like the human villain againist right, you know, you

(56:59):
got the shark in the water and got the shark
on land and the mayor. What a great role if
I if I, like, if I was asked to be
this movie, I'd be like, yeah, I want to play
the mayor because I don't know he's I feel for him,
like I get it, but like and then how how
he has his kind of fall from grace and he
realizes way too late, like, oh man, I did mess up?

(57:22):
You know? What an interesting role and just and I
feel like Alien, the whole Alien franchise kind of does
this too, like kind of corporations, they're the real villain,
like sort of hears like this town the money coming
in for fourth of July, well, tomorrow's fourth of July
you know, like we got to have that beach open. Right.
It's the money, it's the it's the activity, it's the tradition.

(57:44):
That's he's putting people in danger like that? Is that
really like hit me on this latest rewatch, you know,
on the vineyard was all that stuff, desperate to keep
things going, don't rock the boat on that end, you know,
really good stuff. I love that character. I know he's
a dick, but I just I think he's got some
really interesting things to do and puts Brody in such

(58:08):
a tricky spot and the town's folk. I mean, it's stressful, right.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
Yeah, the conundrum of I think everyone is being put
into such a specific conflict, even within their own decision making,
that it's not just that they're in each other's way,
it's also that they're mentally in each in their own heads.
So Brody's in his head, I mean, and I think
Stielbert does an amazing job of showing that, like with

(58:33):
that brilliant scene with his son at the dinner table,
oh yeah, and the scene with the mayor two where
he's having those moments. What a great actor, just one
of those character actors from that time period who just
was so great and so many things he did, but
he definitely had that you know moments where you see
him working in his head when he's trying to decide yes, yes, yes,

(58:55):
keeps the beat like you know, he's also struggling with
himself and there in each other's way, you know, where
they're they're opposed, and I just think, wow, like you said,
it really keeps a dynamic tension consistently and allows them
to be really interesting characters that are you know, more questionable.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
That one line. I mean, he has some great lines,
but one line I do really like is the Barrakudah line.

Speaker 7 (59:20):
I don't think you appreciate the gut reaction people have
to They say, you yelled Barrakudah.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
You yelled shock.

Speaker 7 (59:30):
We've got a panic on our hands on the fourth
of July.

Speaker 3 (59:37):
I find that upon rewatching as I get older, and
you know, I realized and trying to remember when.

Speaker 5 (59:42):
I first saw this film, I really.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
Don't reading my mind. I was gonna say, let me
ask you that.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Perfect I feel like I couldn't pinpoint a time when
I could say it was this was my first. I
feel like it really just lived in my world as
soon as I was in world I knew Jaws.

Speaker 7 (01:00:02):
Yeah, Amite is a summer town.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, and
we definitely were a town TV watching town. Every you know,
even if we didn't have cable, it was a TV
watching town. And I feel like there was a time period,
especially in the early eighties and the late eighties, where
Jaws would be on a regular channel on the weekends

(01:00:34):
pretty frequently. Yeah, not sure why. I don't know if
there was something going on or it was just so
popular that they would put it on different times. But
I feel like I remember so distinctly with my cousins
it being on their TV in their house, and I
was very young and everyone being like, Oh, we can't

(01:00:54):
be watching it, you're too young. But I remember just
knowing all these details about it, knowing about the shark,
knowing that there's a shark loose, knowing it's a movie
that like, you shouldn't watch when you're you know, it's scary,
and then you know, thinking about it later. I feel
like it really wasn't until sleepovers started happening, when we

(01:01:16):
started to really seek out jumping horror type films and
my my group of friends, it was you know, we
wanted to be scared at our sleepovers. I'm not sure
your sleepover? Oh yeah, I'm sure right, And and then
Jaws became something that would be more on rotation, depending
on whose house you were at or what was going on.

(01:01:37):
So I was I would tend to pick a Nightmaen
ONLM Street or Friday the thirteenth, like I really liked
the you know, Slashers.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
Yeah, yeah, because Jaws is a tricky sleepover movie if
you're like a true teen, because I mean a lot
of it went over my head the first few times
I saw. You know, it's very talky and it's very adult,
you know, but yeah you're thinking like the fun.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
Yeah for me personally, but I had a lot of friends,
like my friend across the street, Monica. Shout out to Monica,
Hey Monica, he.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Listens to this.

Speaker 3 (01:02:12):
She's the kind of friend who sleeping over with her
was the Exorcist. Oh, it's going to be hardcore. She's
a little older than me. She was always going just
that much. Or you know, it would be something like
that I had, like like a return to Oz. It
would be something that I wouldn't have necessarily seen myself.
And then I got to film school, and of course
was the first time I realized what art really was

(01:02:34):
in the film. I mean, you know, when you're young
and small and you're just having fun having jump scares
like I still have when there's the discovery of the
fisherman's head.

Speaker 5 (01:02:46):
Uh huh, I still jump.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
You you felt me.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
It was great. I felt you. I heard you.

Speaker 5 (01:02:52):
It felt me jump.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
It was great. I loved it because I knew. I
had my I had my phone ready like it's coming
right now. So I knew, and you knew.

Speaker 5 (01:02:59):
All the exact time, and so I still jump.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
But oh, when I got film school, I recognized all
the craft and the skill and the talent that went
into making those moments so powerful. And same even too
with some of the bigger horror franchises now like Alien,
which as a kid was just another one of those shockers.
We'd watch it for the shock, and then I learned

(01:03:22):
later just wonderful like screenwriting craft, you know, filmmaking craft, yes.

Speaker 5 (01:03:28):
You know, so it was.

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
It was wonderful to have it kind of grow into understanding,
you know, what a strong film it is, and then
to find that kind of renewed love over.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Time your brain when you first see it, usually when
you're younger, you're remembering the kills, the tension, the suspense,
and then and so you're thinking of that, the shock,
the fun, you know, and then the more you actually
like watch it, really study it, you know, whether on
your own or in school, then yeah, you realize, like,
oh it works so well, not all because of those

(01:04:00):
great shocks, but because of all the other stuff in between.
A bad horror movie, the shocks don't get us because
other things aren't working, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
So such a good point, right, and that speaking of
those kind of other things. One of my favorite scenes
that I feel like, it's a sequence of scenes that
I can't get enough of.

Speaker 5 (01:04:23):
I've rewatched it now since.

Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
We saw at the fiftieth is the first time Already
goes into his office, and it's this whole sequence of
him getting the actual medical examiner to tell him that
it's shark, and he then has to rush over to
he starts to do we don't know what he's doing,
but he's getting paints and he's getting bored, and all

(01:04:47):
this in action and all this conflict everywhere, everything is
coming at him at once, and he is just urgent
and freaking out, and all these other characters are being
introduced very quickly, very specially, and it ends up and
lands on the chap Equittic faerry and they're shooting on
the ferry, right, It's like such a like Brava sequence.

(01:05:11):
And they end up on this ferry and there's like
a crowd of the of course mayor and the medical
examiner and the newspaper and everybody's on, you know, on
him while they're moving trying to get to those boy scouts,
and I just am every time I watch it. I'm
so impressed with how much they're doing in terms of

(01:05:31):
weaving together and introducing story and world building so quickly,
connecting to what pressure this guy's under being a new
sheriff this summer, and the fact that he's really now
realizing it's a shark and he's going to do something
about it. And now we have this layer of boys
in the water and meanwhile they're trying to get at
him while he's trying to save the boys. And I

(01:05:53):
was just like, you know, this is so swiftly done.
It's so beautifully shot. It's not one of those scenes
that you think of as like the most famous scenes
from Jaws. But after watching, and you're watching, especially the
screenwriting part of me is, you know, absolutely enamored with
what they were able to do do so well. There's
nothing expository, there's nothing arbitrary. Everything has a purpose, Everything

(01:06:19):
is used and character wise too, even the small things like, remember,
is what do they call the sheriffs?

Speaker 5 (01:06:25):
Is it a deputy?

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
That?

Speaker 9 (01:06:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
That guy, yeah, deputy. I believe you know this from
screams Dewey. Yep, he's the Dewey. This is the.

Speaker 3 (01:06:33):
Original Dewey, the original Dewey from Jaws. When he tells
the guy you know, his deputy to paint the signs
as he's going off to go save these boys, right,
he says, let the secretary do I forget her name?

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
I'm so I forget her name too, but I know
exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 5 (01:06:51):
And he goes, what about mine?

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
And he goes, let her do the thing, and he
just rushes off, and I just thought, again, it's one
of those small little things that is so wonderful for character.
You get to know just that much more about that deputy,
how he wants to be more important, to have more,
you know, of a say in his job and to
be respected, and all we need is that tiny, tiny
little line and we get to have that like extra

(01:07:18):
coloring of that character.

Speaker 5 (01:07:20):
Meanwhile, all those other great you know, conflict is going on.

Speaker 3 (01:07:23):
So it's a probably a rarity that that is that
would be the sequence that folks would talk about in
terms of a favorite part.

Speaker 5 (01:07:31):
But I think that's the kind of stuff, like you
were just saying.

Speaker 3 (01:07:33):
That glues all together so that when there is real
danger in the water and we're really dealing with the shark,
we are at a really high level of fear and
worry for all, but especially Brodie.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Absolutely, I love let you mention that sequence because I'm
looking through my notes of what I was typing while
we were watching the movie, and it's because it had
been a little bit since I last watched, maybe ten years,
maybe a little shorter by you know, it had been
some time, so I forgot some details. And I absolutely
admire that this movie. Once we meet our lead, yeah
it's moving literally it's physically he's physically moving, right, But

(01:08:11):
but the story and what a great way because a
lot of movies, a lot of older movies, you know,
you have the iconic opening, of course, with our with
our girl, Chrissy, Poor Chrissy, just trying to lucky and
go skinny dipping with this guy who drunkenly falls asleep
on the beach. I mean like thanks buddy, right, But
so you have the iconic opening, but so many movies
can then take their time and it's getting a little slow,

(01:08:33):
not really right now, what a great way to meet him,
and there's already trouble, he's already kind of behind and
catching up both literally and you know, with with knowledge
of the of this incident, you know, And yeah, it moves.
I love how fast we're like, oh wow, okay yo
it started like it's not like you can kind of

(01:08:56):
like zone out for a minute until like the next kill.

Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
No, there are moments the film that I think are
allowed a little bit more time. Yeah, maybe some of
our current films are allowed. Like that great moment on
the beach you mentioned, which to me is probably one
of my my favorite cinematic moments in the film, is
when he's looking out there and just how the sound editing,
the score, everything going on there that is just so fantastic.

(01:09:21):
But I think that the you know, if you don't
care about Brodie, if you're not connected to the problems
that he's facing, you know, as our protagonist, even in
just the kind of way of just a general like,
oh god, how's this guy gonna save folks? You know,
you don't have the ability there to be as it's

(01:09:44):
like doubly worrying because now it's all on his shoulders
and we can we can feel it and how it's shot.
And yeah, I just think the more and more we
can remember how important the world building is and setting
up a protagonist who is already someone who has something
to prove, like he's already coming into this going. I

(01:10:06):
hope I can make the summer work because we moved here.

Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
Mm hm oh yeah, you know a great way. I again,
I hadn't really caught this before. One of the first lines,
his wife says in bed, they're kind of making fun
of the Boston accent. So what a great way to
very quickly show us like, Okay, they're outsiders, they're newbies. Yeah,
you know, they they speak the same language. They're together,

(01:10:31):
like they're kind of making fun of these now neighbors,
you know, together, So what a great fast way for
us to laugh, but for us to understand Okay, yeah, Boston, Yeah, Okay,
we're here now, right.

Speaker 3 (01:10:46):
Especially in our first sequence, the first ten to twelve
pages of a feature screenplay, like we really got to
be getting right into the thick of things. Maybe not
right into the full big problem, you know, Like obviously
for them it's like will there, won't they shut the
beach because of the mayor. I mean, he knows the
problem very early on and he believes it, but he
has to get that kind of going. But just you

(01:11:08):
have to be so thoughtful about how quickly you get
into who the characters are and what they want in
this particular story, especially the protagonists and a lot of folks.
You know, they Doddle, They loved a Doddle, they loved
you know, like you said, the people love a good
We have a wake up scene in this film, which

(01:11:29):
I have a pet pet of, Oh yeah, the whole
good old wake up, brush your teeth, what do you
do in the morning. But like you said, this is
a different story. This is a wake up scene where
we get character development immediately. We're learning where our ears
are perked immediately, and you know, we're getting helpful story
info about who these people are.

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
None of men's fantasies of eager and compare with the
reality of yours.

Speaker 4 (01:12:00):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
And also I have to say I forgot the depths
actually are not as spaced out as I remembered, Like
that moves too, because we have the dog what was it,
tip it? I just remember the boy tipp pippin yeahipa yeah,
something like that, right, he shouted, and that dog's gone, right,
and then there's the boy, you know, going back to

(01:12:21):
the mom like that's you know, with the bloody float
and all that that. I mean such I would say,
want of like to pick to kind of go back
and forth here a favorite scene or just favorite shots are.
I love how close the camera is on many of
the people in the water, and how when they're getting out,
we're just seeing a lot of bodies and kind of

(01:12:43):
not seeing details, and we are there with them in
the chaos. You know. That is so effective, so smart
to be right there, right on the line of the
water and all of this, right.

Speaker 3 (01:12:56):
I love, I absolutely love that line of the water,
and he really puts you there. That's another scene I
also really love, though, is the fake out. I absolutely
love the fake out and I love that he made
me do it, and I just I think also just
as a precursor to understanding one of the things I
think that Spielberg that we have to give him credit

(01:13:18):
for is his work with kids and how he truly
kids are allowed to be kids and they are, you know,
fully three dimensional characters, and just even that small moment there,
it's like again like they're not kid acting, right, and
none of the kids in his next few films will
be kid acting, And there's just something so refreshing about it.

(01:13:41):
And I just also love in any horror film honestly,
when there's a fake out situation like that. I mean,
we now kind of go over the top with a
lot of fake out to fake out to fake out,
but this being one of the kind of original fake outs,
I just think it's such a great sequence.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
It's so great and to see what they're seeing, like
this guy with like the gun or what you know,
the harpoon or like right there looking at the camera.
It's a great scene. And if I remember correctly, there's
a like it's a fake out, but then the shark
really is nearby because that's when he kills right, So
like so good. It is actually really good because again

(01:14:21):
I just thought, okay, fake out and then like the
next day, it's like, no, no, the shark actually is
just over there, because then the girls starting to scream
like oh you know, oh god. And that's I believe
if I remember correctly. Now, that's kind of when we're
seeing the shark for the first time. Get the guy
with and so Brodie's son talk about a beautiful shot

(01:14:43):
and talk about great kid acting. I think the actor
that played his son has passed away, but that beautiful
shot of his shocked face that close up in the water,
Holy cow, like that that could have been the poster,
do you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (01:14:58):
Absolutely yeah, it's so effective and it's so a true.
I don't know how they got that reaction from from him,
but it's such an honest, terrified, confused reaction.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
And I wonder if like Spielberg was like in the
water just right there with him, just talking him through it,
you know, like yeah, because it's so good. It's not
too much. It's not like he's like, you know, like.

Speaker 5 (01:15:23):
No, no, really great, it's gosh.

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
I kept being I was marveling consistently through this watch,
knowing we're going to talk just how like wonderful. As
I said before, the so many of other performances are
of all the non actors as well as the actors.
I just couldn't. I just kept, you know, you forget
sometimes we see so many films and television shows where

(01:15:49):
we do get some you know, mediocre kind of acting
and it's not necessarily in estiately the actor's fault, right,
you know, totally be the words, it can be there.
And I just think all these elements were coming together
in this film to allow these these non actors to shine.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
Hey, Rewinders, I'm pausing our chat for just a moment
to say thank you and to shine a spotlight on
some other folks. Check out other fun pods on the
U Run podcast network, like The Reaction Shot, hosted by
Dave Herman. Dave also talks about classic movies in each episode,
much like me, and he brings on a guest who's
never seen that movie before, so we hear their fresh

(01:16:33):
reactions versus his seasoned fandom. His recent episodes focus on
what lies beneath one of the best. Plus, he also
chats with costume designer Mona May like I did a
few years ago, and he just had art the clown himself.
David Howard Thornton from the Terrifier franchise on his show.
So check that out. Now, everyone back to nineteen seventy

(01:16:54):
five to keep celebrating Jaws. Here are more friends of
mine who wanted to take a bite out of this masterpiece.
I guess that wasn't really a shark sound, but you
know what I mean. Here are the Kaufman family who
hosted me and Martha's Vineyard in a round table love
fest sharing their love for Bruce the Shark, and also
my friend and playwright Tommy Jamerson. We're gonna need a

(01:17:16):
bigger boat for all these great voices.

Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
You're a boat.

Speaker 2 (01:17:21):
Here they are with their cameos.

Speaker 9 (01:17:23):
We'll start with you.

Speaker 8 (01:17:24):
My name is Mark Kaufman, and I do love the Jaws.

Speaker 1 (01:17:27):
Movie.

Speaker 8 (01:17:28):
Screening was extra special because I think it was on
because it was on Martha's Vineyard with a bunch of
other Marthas Vineyard people outside like a drive in movie
with a live orchestra, people cheering, probably like they did
in the original. Uh, it was just an elevated experience. Well,
I love Quinn. So Quinn Quint Quint Quint, Oh, you're

(01:17:53):
I call him Quinn and uh anytime he's on screenmaker, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:18:01):
Oh my Jack Jack Fallon.

Speaker 4 (01:18:03):
Actually I remember like vividly my dad used to have
I think it was like the thirtieth anniversary or like
maybe thirtieth anniversary CD of Jobs, So it was like
the old like CD that had thirtieth.

Speaker 9 (01:18:14):
I remember seeing like distinctively.

Speaker 8 (01:18:15):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (01:18:16):
I was like maybe I don't know, like six seven
maybe I.

Speaker 9 (01:18:19):
Was really you are you freaked out?

Speaker 4 (01:18:21):
Oh yeah, I remember, Like I think I like started
crying or I had to like turn it off almost
because when he when they were pulling the tooth out
of forgot his name's the boat and then Ben Gardner
that's in his boat and they saw like dead Ben Gardner.

Speaker 2 (01:18:35):
That like got me pretty bad.

Speaker 9 (01:18:38):
Were you a free to go into the water or no?

Speaker 4 (01:18:40):
No? I mean I was like I was, okay, I think,
but like I remember, oh yeah, oh yeah, I mean
like I remember I used to go down to salcon
Line like when I was real young. I used to
always collect shark teeth and all that. It's been because
we've been going to the vineyard, I mean since what
we were babies, like basic yeah, I was born, and
it's been like a like we watch it here every year.

Speaker 9 (01:18:59):
I mean it's a big thing. It's a way of life. Yeah,
Mylliam's Emma.

Speaker 7 (01:19:04):
The first time I saw Joe was two years ago
here in them.

Speaker 9 (01:19:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:19:11):
I heard of it, but I didn't even know what
it was about anything.

Speaker 9 (01:19:15):
So so whatd you think? Were you like bored or
were you pretty captain?

Speaker 2 (01:19:17):
No?

Speaker 8 (01:19:18):
I he actually got me on the jump scares every
time you would.

Speaker 9 (01:19:24):
Opening is so good. The opening is good.

Speaker 3 (01:19:26):
I think about the part where the police officer kills
for sorry.

Speaker 2 (01:19:31):
Oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah that the big explosion.

Speaker 9 (01:19:34):
Yeah right, he saves the somebody. Oh, there's definitely yeah, yeah,
there's definitely explosion. I remember the most is the dog
when the dog does like no one talks about that.

(01:19:55):
Was always like that was like you you were like
that the it's gonna be the whole movie, just you WI.

Speaker 3 (01:20:04):
My name is Christy.

Speaker 6 (01:20:06):
I was too young to see Jaws in theaters. These
guys weren't born yet, but I was. It came out
in seventy five, so I was five. But I think
I just I mean, we started vacationing in the vineyard,
I don't know in the late seventies whenever, late seventies,
and I don't think we knew at that point that
Jaws was filmed there, but I think I saw it

(01:20:27):
as a teenager or something, and I made the connection
between the vineyard and being like a lifelong vineyard person.

Speaker 9 (01:20:35):
I think that one of the coolest things.

Speaker 5 (01:20:37):
About the fiftieth anniversary is meeting.

Speaker 3 (01:20:39):
All these vocals that they didn't have big roles.

Speaker 9 (01:20:43):
Or maybe it was the back of their head. Or
the girl today that was talking about the flue. So
she was in like the band in the.

Speaker 6 (01:20:52):
Fourth of July and they were performing today like a
Jaws reunion thing, and she was like, you know, she
just posed with her flute. She's like, this is So
I think that's been the most fun part for me
at being such a life long vineyard person and the
people who actually lived here and who were part of
the experience and talking to them they still have such

(01:21:12):
a thrill over it fifty years later, whether they yeah,
whether they were kids or whether they were twenty or whatever,
and so I think for me that's the most fun part.
And then watching last night, so Cec was right in
front of me and that that scene with Ben Gardner
in the boat, and I sympathized because I forget every

(01:21:33):
freaking time and I thought it was hysterical that Caesar's
and she's like such a movie buff.

Speaker 9 (01:21:39):
Yeah, I remember like it was.

Speaker 4 (01:21:42):
It was sometime We're here for Christmas and we watched
it because they had they play every Sunday and we
watched it and Missus Calvin was sitting right next to me,
and when it happened, she jumped.

Speaker 9 (01:21:52):
Like, so it's scared because I'm like, I'm like used
to it. Scared up, scared.

Speaker 2 (01:21:57):
She jumped like sod she jump so hard and scared you, like,
like it was crazy.

Speaker 6 (01:22:03):
Not only was it the first summer blockbuster, but it
changed the island, you know, which some people would say
for good or for bad, but it changed the island,
and you know, it's just been really fun.

Speaker 9 (01:22:13):
How many times have you seen the movie now? Would
you guess? I think I've seen it like five times?

Speaker 2 (01:22:17):
Okay, all right, all right, what about you mark five
times or more all the way through? Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:22:23):
Yeah, probably once, probably four or five times the way
through through, you know, thirty forty times when you catch
it on TV and you leave it on.

Speaker 4 (01:22:33):
Ever since I like my first watched it, I watched
it every summer. But I remember like sometimes I definitely
would watch it more. Wow, Like my older brother Connor,
Like he can say every.

Speaker 9 (01:22:41):
Line in the movie, Wow, Joe, Oh my gosh, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:22:44):
Hey there.

Speaker 7 (01:22:45):
So why is Jaws my favorite movie the all time,
my my go to, my desert Island movie, the one
that I can quote more than all the others. I
honestly don't know. I do love sharks because I mean,
you know, they're sharks. They're cool, But it's so much
more than that. It's the first movie I remember being
terrified at I was seven years old and watching it
on television, and I remember that night my father trying

(01:23:08):
to get me to take a bath and being so
scared knowing that Bruce the shark was going to come
up through the drain somehow and get me. It's a
movie that I think is relatable to all of us
on some human level. It's a movie you can analyze
to death. Is it about masculinity? Is it about man
versus nature? Is it about greed? Is it a political film?

(01:23:29):
I think it's a movie that gets under your skin
and makes you feel in a way that very very
few movies do. And I mean, you know, let's be honest,
it's got a killer, killer soundtrack thanks to John Williams.

Speaker 3 (01:23:44):
At The Corny Footer twenty five three times out of
them knowing how tricky, how complicated this shoot was, and
all things to do. That's why I think I'm also
more amazed and about the performances, because you know, I
feel like it was probably a lot of stopping and starting.

(01:24:07):
It's water stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:24:08):
Wow. Yeah, you're right on the money there. Yeah, all
the stopping and starting and how for everyone, but especially
performers in a horror film. You know, you're kind of
working yourself up and then it's like okay, the shark
It's like, oh okay, and then all what's working okay?
Like you know, like I just imagine, yeah, you got
to get to these places. Yeah, and again again it.

Speaker 3 (01:24:29):
Was when it started to become a little off season.
It was cold that New England water, especially north where
they are, it's you know, not going to stay warm total.

Speaker 2 (01:24:40):
It's not like you know, it probably was rarely warm
even because I believe I know they went what one
hundred days over? Is that what we right? Oh my god,
that's wild. That is like, oh my god, I'm so
stressed just thinking of that. But no, I was reading, yeah,
because they started filming in like April, ish, I want
to say, of seventy four, so spring, so that water

(01:25:01):
is freezing, right, so springtime June, I mean the water
is not warm, a little bit more high intent, but
not yeah, maybe July, August, maybe September. It's okay. But man,
I mean that those the kids, all these they make
it look fun when they're all just like lounging in
the water. Meanwhile, oh my god, I'd be blotchy from
the cold water. I mean my skin would be.

Speaker 5 (01:25:22):
Like, you know, I shiver very quickly, like I'm I'm
not very good at faking.

Speaker 2 (01:25:27):
Oh well, sometimes, especially when you're cold and you're trying
to fake warmth, it just you cannot fake it, like
it's it's comes out even worse, you know, you're really
trying to. So yeah, it's really And I believe they
were filming until did I read somewhere like kind of
like they were there until like November or something, right, yeah, crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:25:47):
You know, whenever you shoot on location, everything is a
question mark if you don't have any way to control anything.
And we're mostly independent filmmakers, so we know what it's
like to shoot on locations.

Speaker 5 (01:25:59):
Kind of all we know yea.

Speaker 3 (01:26:01):
You know, I've never made a film that was you know,
at a studio or you know, I'd love to do that.
I'd love to see what that's like.

Speaker 2 (01:26:07):
But wow, it feels honestly so easy. Like I remember
standing in for Owen Wilson on James L. Brooks's how
do you Know? And no shade, but like it's in
a studio, it's a fake apartment, Like why how are
we still filming this scene?

Speaker 9 (01:26:22):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:26:23):
Like it's all so easy. It's all right there, I mean,
especially for that. I mean it's a rom com, but
you know what I mean, Like so I have a
little bit of like shade with these nice studios because
it's like you're like, come on, are you there's no
traffic to shush? I mean, you can't hear anything. Let
this get this over with? Why are you still you
know what I mean? Whereas yeah, when we're actually on
the street or like actually in some weird building and

(01:26:46):
you know, it's just like that stuff out of your control.
So yeah, totally, that was a fun little rant. Sorry,
James L. Brooks, I really was looking this time. I
knew it was coming, but I was really I felt
like a kid like waiting for it. And this is
a fun just technical thing of like the perfection of
the of the technicality, which we know can take many
takes and like so many things can go wrong. But

(01:27:08):
when the guys are cutting open the I think it's
the tiger shark, like to see if maybe may they
maybe they look the shark. We know they didn't. You know,
it's not even halfway maybe it's halfway through the movie now,
you know, But I just love it's Richard Dreyfus and
and Roy's a few like kind of feedback and he's
cutting it open. We don't see it, but then we
see all the liquid coming out of the stomach on

(01:27:30):
the floor and they're backing up. I just love that
because you know that had to take some practice and rehearsals.
Where's the liquid coming from? How many crew are like
now hosing like it's probably just water, you know, sure,
yeah right, But like I love that kind of stuff,
and I knew it was coming, and I'm just like
I wanted to know, like is it Like I just
wanted to maybe catch a mistake, but I couldn't, you know, like,

(01:27:53):
is there is there water coming from that end? Why
is it coming from over there? You know, But it's
all I'm sure it was all. You know, these guys
are pros. But I just love a little nerdy technical
stuff like that, and it's fun to see the guy's
squirm and it's obviously they're wretching and it stinks, and
they're pulling out like the license play all that fun
stuff they're pulling out. It's no bodies, it's not not
the shark, you know. But I do love that scene

(01:28:15):
because it's also after Hooper just briefly met you know,
the family Missus Brody so and they're they're drinking and
it's like, all right, you want to cut this thing,
you know. So it's it's just a I like that
fun sequence of It's they're kind of friends, like they're
both maybe kind of a little lonely. We know, Hooper's
not from here, he's been brought in, so it's a
little bit of a nice kind of weird social activity

(01:28:37):
to cut this shark open, you know, which then leads
them to the iconic you know, going into the water
and the head popping out in that whole bit.

Speaker 5 (01:28:45):
You know, that was super fun this time around for
me too. I wasn't looking like you were.

Speaker 3 (01:28:49):
I wasn't looking that way, But I was just thinking
about how much I'm affected by what should be very
disgusting and smelly in film. I'm very I mean since
I was a little kid when I would watch period pieces,
you know, even something like you know, Brave Heart, and
I would just say, how can they be having like
a love story?

Speaker 5 (01:29:09):
They must smell like I just can't.

Speaker 2 (01:29:13):
Well, you also have a great sense of smell, so
you're you're already like.

Speaker 5 (01:29:16):
I have a really good noggin for that.

Speaker 3 (01:29:19):
But that was what I was also really thinking about
in that moment, is where Shutter is just really doing
such a good job making me feel the stench and
same with the all the chum. He does a great
job of making that all feel so disgusting to him
and so smelly to him, and really showing off just
how not nautical and hating water and the whole thing

(01:29:41):
that he is. I just thought, you know, keeping that
up was a super smart move, and I really felt it, like,
as someone who's so sensitive smells, don't show it now,
don't wait for me now. I really love a lot

(01:30:04):
of the sequences that are the kind of one upmanship
happening between you know, Quint and Hooper, and I especially
love the kind of you know, crushing of the beer
can and then the crushing of the styrofoam cup.

Speaker 2 (01:30:18):
Which I realized we didn't end up doing at the museum.
We saw they were doing it, We're like, oh, we'll
come around.

Speaker 3 (01:30:23):
And do that.

Speaker 2 (01:30:23):
We didn't get around to it.

Speaker 3 (01:30:24):
We were havingam They had a Narragansett who was the
one who made the beer that Quint drank in the film.
They did a fiftieth anniversary can that looks exactly like
the can in the film, and then they had this
funny setup at the reunion where you could be and
kind of backdrop and you could crush the can and yeah,

(01:30:45):
we just never got around.

Speaker 2 (01:30:46):
Yeah, we're like, oh, well, come we'll do a lap.
We'll come back around, but we just got so you know,
carried away with all the other good stuff. So, speaking
of the kind of one upping between the characters, it
also seemed like the actors, right, were not so potio right.

Speaker 5 (01:31:01):
I had to say, listeners out there, you could do
three full podcasts alone, like series on Robert Shaw and
Richard Dreyfus's relationship I just saw a clip today.

Speaker 3 (01:31:13):
I'm jp.

Speaker 7 (01:31:14):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:31:14):
They were contentious the whole way through. Apparently Shaw did
not respect Dreyfus very much. It was very connected to
how they were in the film. Shaw is apparently much
quite a drinker and had a very specific thought on
how things should go, and Dreyfus had his own ways.
Apparently he's a bit of a pisser. He likes to

(01:31:35):
get people's goats. So, I mean, it's great casting in
terms of what you get on the chemistry on screen.
But I just saw this clip today because we saw
all these clips of Dreyfus just saying all this terrible
stuff about Shaw, and then he had that great, wonderful
quote when he came out at the fiftieth screening. He
was there, right, he showed up second and he came

(01:31:56):
out and maybe you can remember the quote for me.
He said, I'm the only one alive and I'm the
only one relevant. And the thing that we were so
shocked is like there was at least sixty percent of
the people at the screening were also in the film. Yeah,
and we were like, way to go, Richard. But you know,
I saw this clip today that I mean, it's why
I was thinking it should have its own podcast because

(01:32:17):
he was in Ireland doing an interview in the nineties
and it was a clip about how the interviewer of
this talk show said, you know, we know you had
a contentious relationship with mister Shaw, and we got a
call from his granddaughter earlier and she said, you know,
I'd really love to meet mister Dreyfus, and so we
asked her if she could come here today. And when

(01:32:39):
you met her backstage, you got really emotional. And Richard
Dreyfus like can't contain. He's like almost in tears just
hearing the story back again. And he said, why were
you so emotional? He and then he started talking about
the closure and you know, this great experience and everything else.
I thought, Wow, you know what a rollercoad of a

(01:33:00):
relationship this really was if you kind of were to
look at it from Robert Shaw's history and dreyfu Is
coming in as like a new actor coming up in
his career and an establish actor and this rivalry they
had kind of on this and then how the rivalry
kept going after the film, and how they would just

(01:33:20):
shit talk each other for years, and then having this
moment with this young granddaughter and just breaking him down.

Speaker 2 (01:33:29):
I know.

Speaker 5 (01:33:29):
So it's just fascinating.

Speaker 3 (01:33:31):
So I just wanted to say I also feel like,
by the way, disclaimer, there are Jaws experts out there,
there are people that know every little detail about this film. Oh,
we are just fans. We are not this is so
please you're going to correct us, We're going to say
things wrong. We're That's all I just wanted to say
to all of you. I love you for being experts,
but we are just lovers of the film and are

(01:33:53):
happy to talk about it. But I'm sure even me
trying to describe that clip, somebody's going to say, that's
not what he said.

Speaker 2 (01:34:00):
No, No, it is so fascinating because and I do
really want to see that play. I don't know enough
about it, but I would assume part of that feud
must come up, you know, right, I would think, right,
So that is so interesting. Yeah, and we know and
not only just from what we heard at the screening
with Richard Dreffers, but yeah, it seemed like he was

(01:34:21):
sort of already like a hot shot and he kind
of wanted to like needle people and like and and shaw.
I guess, yeah, just and it's interesting. I was reading
that Lorraine Gary she I read just like a silly
article recently in the last few days that she actually
had a major crush on on Shaw. On Robert Shaw.
She was like, he's he was so like exotic, so foreign,

(01:34:45):
so strong. Like she she was really, you know, fantasizing
about Robert Shaw, which I just thought was funny and
kind of goes back to that interesting trivia you brought up,
not that their characters had the affair, but just kind
of a fun little connection there. I can't imagine her
having a with Hooper. That's weird. I don't I mean,
I don't know if maybe if it was a TV series,

(01:35:06):
if they ever bring Jaws back as a TV series,
there's some extra stuff you could do there. But I
just don't know. I don't know. I really do like
the Brodie's together. You know, they already got like enough
kind of inner where do we belong, you know, where
his home kind of stuff that I don't know. Man

(01:35:35):
Quinn's death, holy crap, And I knew it's it's brutal,
but like that is true horror movie, you know, because
I'm sure some people out there, is this a horror movie?
Is it not, you know, but that there's no denying
that is terrifying. It's bloody, it is violent and visceral.
He is screaming, I mean talk about a scream king Wow,

(01:35:59):
like you can feel his pain. Not even like shock anymore,
you know, because there are those screams where it's like
a lot of a shock. It's like, no, he is
screaming in agony as this, his legs are in the mouth.
I mean, wow, what do you think of that? Do
you remember like seeing that part for the first time
at all or not really?

Speaker 7 (01:36:17):
I do.

Speaker 3 (01:36:18):
I think that the whole climax for me when I
was young was one of these situations where I really
felt the like constant one upmanship of it, where I
just thought like, oh, it can't it can't be that
much more horrible or scary or violent, and then the

(01:36:39):
next thing would happen, and I really did think. I
think I remember as a little kid, because you know,
you don't remember everything when you watch. There was a
time period where I really remembered everyone dying as a kid.
I just I don't know why I had this, Maybe
because Quin's death was so violent. I didn't remember the
raft moment. I just kept being like, oh my god,
everyone dies because I think maybe maybe I missed moments

(01:37:01):
when Richard Dreyfus is still below.

Speaker 2 (01:37:04):
Right, because he kind of kind of disappears.

Speaker 9 (01:37:07):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:37:07):
Yeah, I don't remember. I didn't remember till maybe middle
school or high school that there was actual two of
them survived and there's like a saving moment, and and
I was like, oh here, I thought it ended on
this like super dark existential place of like nobody survived.

Speaker 2 (01:37:26):
Yeah, and then I oh, it does.

Speaker 3 (01:37:28):
Have this kind of you know, almost sweet ending of
them on the raft and we really do feel like
they're not in danger.

Speaker 2 (01:37:39):
And yeah, also, I have to say, and we even
I think said it in person after the screening, it
kind of ends abruptly. It's like we don't even see
family reunited. We don't see the mayor, like it's over
the studios, like okay, Shark's dead, so cut to credit,
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:37:56):
And you know, I think about a lot in terms
of how I set up something and how I pay
it off in my feature work, and I think most
screamwriters are thinking about how you pay something off. And
I do think that this is beautiful ending in its
own way. It definitely has that last breath energy of like,
all right, you don't need to see everything else. But

(01:38:16):
I think because of the time they spent with his
family and the time they spent with the mayor, maybe
it's not that they have reached them yet, but we
get a sense of their kind of ending. And maybe
I know there's critics out there would say, you know,
it's perfect as it is and don't think about how
you might change it. But it really did occur to

(01:38:37):
me this time that it was. It was especially those
really personal moments with his you know, Brody and his
wife and his children, and the danger of it to
not see at least a sense that she knows he's
going to be okay maybe or something like that. But
you know what I realized, and I didn't get to
tell you this, so I'm glad we get to talk
about it today. In a modern film, I think there's

(01:39:01):
no way that producers and execs wouldn't push the writer
or director to kill the mayor.

Speaker 2 (01:39:09):
Oh that's so interesting.

Speaker 5 (01:39:10):
Don't you think that's so? Because there would have to
be the like, oh, we got you, we got you.

Speaker 3 (01:39:16):
The man, like you know, you're yeah, because he's the
man even wanting this the whole time.

Speaker 2 (01:39:21):
You get what you wish for, you know, be careful
what you wish for. Yeah, that's so interesting. I'm glad
he doesn't because in my perfect ending, because of course
the ending's perfect. But I don't know, I envision like
I don't think it would add to I don't think
it would like kill anything. But like I don't know.
I see like a bunch of people on the edge
of the land looking for them, you know. Then they're

(01:39:43):
in a like an emergency boat coming back. We see
wife holding the kids, and all she needs to say
is just literally like oh thank God, Oh thank like
just over and over, thank God, Thank God. And and
maybe they hug. I don't know. Maybe this is two
on the nose, I don't know, but he gets out.
Maybe they hug just in like like the near distance.
Is the mayor just stunned and like feeling embarrassed and

(01:40:08):
mortified and like, I mean, he's done, you know, So yeah,
part of me would love to kill the mayor. And
you're so all right, because I think I didn't think
about that. But you're right, he's got to pay the
price for his Yeah, terrible choices, and I think it's
worse if he does it and now he's gonna be exiled.
He'll be fired, He'll be exiled to be kicked out

(01:40:28):
of the island, you know. But yeah, I just envisioned
him almost in the distance, watching them hug and cry
and just say thank God. And I don't know, maybe
like Brody kind of just gives him a look and
we don't even he doesn't even know what, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:40:41):
Yeah, you don't have to have dialogue, no, and.

Speaker 2 (01:40:43):
It doesn't even need to be a very strong look.
It could literally just be eye contact. Yeah, and it's like,
I'll talk to you later, know what you did.

Speaker 9 (01:40:50):
Right, you know?

Speaker 2 (01:40:51):
You know, I don't think that would make it worse,
But I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:40:55):
Maybe on your perfect I mean, I'm going to take
one small scene, yeah, that can give us the same
feeling as the raft. Maybe is that after that homecoming
not laborious, not lots of dialogue, just visuals of like
coming back up and living and surviving and people recognizing
that they did and the shark is gone.

Speaker 5 (01:41:16):
Then you have a moment.

Speaker 3 (01:41:17):
Let's go back to the the beach bonfire scene in
the beginning, but it's just Brody and Hooper on the
beach by a fire and they're sharing one little tug
of ipercup brandy.

Speaker 9 (01:41:31):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:41:32):
Oh yeah, and it's a goodbye and kind of a small,
probably very snide thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:41:40):
Yep, yep, and it could and yeah, I'm envisioning like
maybe cameras behind them. We don't even need to necessarily
see their faces, right, we get it, We know where
they are.

Speaker 3 (01:41:49):
And maybe there's a little little, kind of small joke
where you know, Dreyfus goes but he drinks you know,
he drinks it anyway, you know. Yeah, I feel like, yeah,
that gives you that same sweetness. Yeah, you want to
kind of end it with that.

Speaker 2 (01:42:02):
But and it honors, you know, someone who was pivotal
in the killing of the shark, right, you know, this
is our.

Speaker 3 (01:42:10):
Pitch hunting form when we pitched the TV series to
HBO Limited.

Speaker 2 (01:42:15):
Series, Yes, Hbo Max, Yep, you're so right, Oh my god.
Or maybe it'd have to be Hulu if they're because
they're doing this not geo doc that comes out in
a few days. Maybe, so maybe it's a Hulu. I
don't know, right, but you're so right, because it's gonna
have to be a little different and they're you know,
with the show, you got to spend more time with everyone. Yes,
that actually would be a really beautiful ending. He was

(01:42:38):
a handful we butted heads.

Speaker 3 (01:42:40):
Right, but but he lost his life just for us
to be here, you know, a little bit of a moment. Yeah,
And you know, I wouldn't be surprised, knowing the way
the industry is that we won't get some kind of reboot.

Speaker 1 (01:42:53):
Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfus, Jaws See You before
you Go Swimming.

Speaker 3 (01:43:05):
I did learn that Carl Gottlieb, who did you know,
was credited with writing this The Jaws. He also wrote
Jaws two and Jaws three D. But he also wrote
things like the Jerk that's so interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:43:19):
Wow, he's done a lot. He's done more than I
because you know, you don't hear that name a ton.

Speaker 5 (01:43:23):
No, you know, And I mean I really didn't know
much of his history.

Speaker 2 (01:43:28):
It's funny. I was doing just a little little bit
of easy research on the sequels. We know they're not
nearly as grade and memorable as the original, although Jaws
two does have like one of the best taglines, which
was just when you thought it was safe to go
back in the water. That's from Jaws two fantastic, And
I feel like that comes up in conversation like at

(01:43:49):
least once a week you hear someone say like just
when you you know, so you know, and people do
actually have said that Jows two is not as terrible
as they thought back then. You know, age kind of
makes things not so bad. But Josh three D apparently
really is, you know, and four with Michael Kane, we
were saying was.

Speaker 3 (01:44:07):
Just I mean, and the idea of I guess it
was such a thing at the moment. The three D
you know, of course, yeah, but it is just so
funny and anything three D most likely probably isn't that great.

Speaker 2 (01:44:19):
Yeah, I mean, because it's just so immicky, right, I'd
have to really think maybe some things. But when you
have a sequel that's in three D, I mean, it's
just all about the Monday and money, right. But I
do have to say, not only was this, of course
the first summer blockbuster, the first blockbuster, but it is
interesting because I feel like there I was surprised when

(01:44:40):
I was doing some quick looking at the sequels. Jos
two came out in seventy eight, only three years later,
so this really did kind of start the modern Blockbuster franchise,
because you know, there are so many movies where it's
like ten years later they did a sequel. Right, this
was very you know, uh were they didn't sleep on

(01:45:01):
this for too long, and then the remaining ones it
was like every three to four years. So I just
thought that was interesting because I figured, like, oh, what
was it like nineteen eighty five, ten years later. No,
by eighty seven, the fourth one was out, So they
moved quickly. You know, it's pretty pretty quickly, not as
quickly as some of these franchise can where it's like
once a year, of course, but they moved fast. So

(01:45:22):
I just thought that was, you know, some interesting trivia
looking at the franchise as a whole, you know, And I.

Speaker 3 (01:45:28):
Just looked up because I remembered this being from the
era that the Star Wars movies were also coming out
very quickly, and they're been between like three and five
years in between them, and I think that was absolutely
influenced too by this, is that they were like, oh,
when we have something and it's successful, we should really
like start popping more of the Ride the Wave, Yeah, exactly,

(01:45:50):
Ride that Wave.

Speaker 7 (01:45:56):
I was terrified I was going to be fired, but
I never once felt like I wanted to quit.

Speaker 3 (01:46:03):
This particular film shifted so much that what it did
for the film industry in terms of commerce and business,
what it did in terms of merch. Remember how much
we saw just in the Museum of they were wearing
Jaws T shirts on sets.

Speaker 2 (01:46:17):
I was truly surprised by that because like, you don't
even really see that happen much nowadays, and this was
fifty years ago. And again that' thought, I'm just like, man,
there was so much pressure, Like there's Steven Spielberg, like
a picture of him directing with the Jaws logo and
a shirt there all you know, Yeah, I was really
surprised by that. It's cool, but whoa, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:46:37):
It's a miracle that it worked the way it did.

Speaker 3 (01:46:40):
And I think most people that worked on the film,
and what we heard time and time again from people
we met over the weekend was that there was as
much as they were kind, and Spielberg has always been
given such praise for being a nice human person and
good to know. It just seemed like, how could this
movie be something that would stand the test of time.

(01:47:03):
It was so so many problems, so many things, so
many like weather issues, and then this issues and it's
just a very it's totally miraculous that it is what
it is. And I was even thinking of it the
night we were watching. I thought, wow, the sound work
they did, the like on location sound, the diagetic sound.

(01:47:24):
I just can't believe it because you know how hard
it is on a beach. You've shot things on a beach.

Speaker 2 (01:47:29):
Yes, oh my god, the wind, the waves, the continuity.

Speaker 5 (01:47:33):
I just think like it's just it was meant to
come together in some way, and it then shifted, you know,
the landscape of how we look at, you know, cinema.

Speaker 2 (01:47:45):
You just sort of knew what Jaws was like. You
didn't even really need to much like Psycho like some
of these, especially much like the Exorcists, like they all
came out and you already knew like the music or
the head turning or whatever, like you already kind of
it was just in pop culture, you know. So that
was like Jaws too, right, you know, like.

Speaker 3 (01:48:05):
Absolutely it's just been part of our lives.

Speaker 5 (01:48:08):
Yeah, for you and I and.

Speaker 3 (01:48:09):
Maybe not everybody our age, But if you were a
film person, if you were a film was was the
culture that made you excited. Jaws was ever present totally.
The film that I thought would end my career is
a film that began it this year. On June twentieth,
Spielberg got a print of the film for himself and

(01:48:30):
he watched it alone, and he apparently had a really
good time. And the quote and the article was like
he said, I like it.

Speaker 1 (01:48:38):
That was his.

Speaker 2 (01:48:39):
I just read that today too.

Speaker 3 (01:48:40):
I like it.

Speaker 2 (01:48:41):
It was it was I guess like, which is crazy
and makes a lot of sense, but it's also kind
of crazy his It seemed like it was one of
or his only time watching it, like not like in
filmmakers Stress Brain. It was he watched his own work
as like an audience member, right, he tried yeah, and
he was alone, Yeah, which is surprising. I'm like, Kate

(01:49:03):
Capshall didn't want to watch it again with you or
You're like, what was she doing? She's like, oh, honey,
I'm going out.

Speaker 8 (01:49:10):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:49:10):
Maybe also one of those things where that's how he
tried to do it without commentary, you know, to not
be thinking of it.

Speaker 5 (01:49:16):
I remember this, and what did you do then? And
the interruption. Maybe it was just to kind of take
it in.

Speaker 3 (01:49:21):
But I really love to hear I get a little
sad when I hear about actors and directors not watching
their work. I understand you need time away from it,
but I understand it it's often just for self preservation.

Speaker 5 (01:49:35):
It's hard to not be critical. But I feel like,
I'm glad he did it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:39):
I'm so yeah, that was a really sweet article. Yeah
it works. It's like, uh yeah, yeah, you're allowed to
say you like it because everyone loves zig. I mean,
you know, yeah, now everybody, I'm gonna just ask. See.
So one of the many other things we got was
this cool uh like magazine. Yep, you got yours too,
this fun jall fiftieth like kind of free, commemorative what

(01:50:04):
would you call, I guess kind of like a like
a yeah, it's like a magazine. A lot of it's ads,
but there's really great trivia, old articles, which I thought
was really cool that they actually like you know, didn't transcribe,
but like you can actually read it. You don't have
to read like an old photo. I thought that was
pretty cool. A lot of never before seen photos, really
cool stuff. But at the back of this magazine, everybody,

(01:50:25):
it's called are you a Jaws junkie? And I would
ask some questions Okay, I'm sure you might have even
read this. You might know I didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:50:34):
I actually didn't read the trivia questions. I did read
a lot of the articles in the Peace. I thought
it was a really great magazine.

Speaker 2 (01:50:40):
Oh total, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:50:41):
But I just have to say, it's so hard for me,
being a film nerd, to do this trivia because I
know I'm gonna get a lot wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:50:48):
Whatever, it's all right.

Speaker 5 (01:50:50):
I want to say to the world out there.

Speaker 3 (01:50:52):
I am a lover of film, and I watched things
so much, but I don't retain every single detail. Like no,
I've probably retained you know, something really silly, like a
line I really like more than I even totally. I
am ready for trivia totally.

Speaker 5 (01:51:08):
I'm not going to look at the magazine just so
you guys all know I'm putting it.

Speaker 2 (01:51:11):
Okay, good, she's hiding that. Okay great. And I barely
I literally got this idea, like as I opened this website,
so I'm like, oh, that could be fun. So I
have not really practiced, but I have the answers. It's
one of these fun things where you got to turn
it upside down and see the answers. All right, everybody
here's some questions. Are you a Jaws junkie? Take a
quiz and find out how much you remember from the
classic nineteen seventy five blockbuster. Here we go, sec Number one.

(01:51:34):
Who was Bruce the name of all three of the
mechanical sharks used in filming this movie named after? Who
was Bruce named after?

Speaker 7 (01:51:41):
Do you know?

Speaker 5 (01:51:43):
Mark?

Speaker 3 (01:51:44):
We just saw all this at the museum.

Speaker 2 (01:51:46):
I know, I forgot too, so don't be this one.
I did saw a.

Speaker 3 (01:51:51):
Replica of Bruce, and we were reading all about Bruce,
and I did read almost all the little you know
plaques at the museum.

Speaker 2 (01:51:59):
But I totally know this, and I do too, and
I forgot. So the answer is Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer, right,
his lawyer. I love that. What's the title of the
song that Quint sings and hums throughout the movie?

Speaker 6 (01:52:14):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:52:15):
No, oh, I would have no idea.

Speaker 3 (01:52:17):
All ye is that?

Speaker 5 (01:52:19):
Is there something about ye in there?

Speaker 3 (01:52:21):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:52:21):
I figured there would be, but no, it's two words. See,
this is the kind of stuff I.

Speaker 5 (01:52:26):
See a real Jaws fans. No, Like every every verse
of that.

Speaker 2 (01:52:30):
There are people screaming at you in their cars right.

Speaker 5 (01:52:32):
Now, That's what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:52:33):
I'm just gonna it's called Spanish ladies. Did you know?
I didn't?

Speaker 3 (01:52:38):
I did not. You know. I grew up in a
house that loved folk music, and my grandmother especially, and
she's she's she's not impressed.

Speaker 5 (01:52:46):
At the moment, I would not know this.

Speaker 2 (01:52:50):
Maybe you would, but no, I'm I'm jumping around. Who
did Chief Brody's dog in Jaws actually belong to? Who
owned that dog?

Speaker 3 (01:53:01):
I'm going to say that it belonged to Roy Scheider.

Speaker 2 (01:53:06):
Great, guess it was Steven Spielberg's dog Elmer.

Speaker 7 (01:53:09):
Oh kill you?

Speaker 2 (01:53:11):
Oh you'll know this. The score for Jaws launched which
composer's career, John Williams. That's amazing. So I should have
looked him up. Was this was this early on in
his career? Yes? Holy shit? Wow? And he won the
Oscar for the first score I think right one? Three?

Speaker 3 (01:53:29):
The original score, Yes, film editing, best sound mixing.

Speaker 2 (01:53:33):
Oh, this is so easy. But I'll give it to
you who who improvised? Which we forgot to say this.
The most famous line of the movie is improvised, which
is just amazing. Who improvised the most famous line in
the film. You're gonna need a bigger boat.

Speaker 5 (01:53:44):
I mean, duh, Roy Scheider, but I have to say
I have a bit of a MythBuster here. Really.

Speaker 2 (01:53:49):
Oh, oh tell me, which is that?

Speaker 3 (01:53:52):
Roy says in interviews he did not improvise that line.
Oh that in fact, the crew it was in the script,
because the crew was using it as a joke throughout
the whole movie when something would go wrong, they would go.

Speaker 5 (01:54:06):
We're gonna need a bigger boat. We're gonna need a
bigger boat.

Speaker 2 (01:54:07):
Oh my god. So it was already a saying like I.

Speaker 5 (01:54:10):
Was definitely in the script.

Speaker 3 (01:54:11):
It might not have been in that moment, okay, in
the scene in the script, but it wasn't something that
he conjured up of his imagination and said in that moment.
It was something that was in the script at one
point somewhere, and maybe it was still in there somewhere,
but he said it then.

Speaker 2 (01:54:28):
And I see, so, yeah, he didn't improvise. He sort
of what would another what would a better word be?

Speaker 5 (01:54:33):
He's sort of like he used it in a more
probably funny, interesting point.

Speaker 2 (01:54:37):
Yeah, he moved it. He moved the line right, love
that trivia. See this trivia is out triviaing this trivia.
Oh I wrote this down in my notes. So let's
see if you know this. See this is like quint
h wink wink quintessential trivia. How much money did Quint
want to catch and kill the shark in the movie?

(01:54:59):
Do you remember what he says in the meeting?

Speaker 5 (01:55:01):
Ten dollars?

Speaker 3 (01:55:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (01:55:03):
Wo ding ding ding?

Speaker 2 (01:55:05):
What was Hooper's first name in the film? Oh remember.

Speaker 5 (01:55:11):
David?

Speaker 2 (01:55:12):
Great? Guess Matt another another simple Matt Hooper.

Speaker 5 (01:55:16):
Never I knew it was a simple name.

Speaker 2 (01:55:18):
Literally like so, and he's already like a hipster, like
showing up like in his beanie you know, Matt Hooper? Right? Oh, okay,
this is a fun one. What now? Famous film director
visited Steven Spielberg on Martha's vineyard while Spielberg was directing Jaws.
Do you know director friend is thinking.

Speaker 3 (01:55:36):
About I'm thinking about his friends. So I'm gonna say,
maybe was it Zamechis?

Speaker 2 (01:55:42):
It wasn't Mecas, it was John Landis. Oh wow, that's fun.
Oh who provided the voice of the radio operator when
Missus Brody tries to reach her husband on the Orca
Do you know no, I have no idea Spielberg. I
realised his voice is in the movie that's fun. That's

(01:56:03):
a good little cameo. Take that, m Night, Shyamalan. Maybe
don't take on a full roll. This, you know, broke
box office records. This was the biggest most successful financially
film of all time until what film surpassed Jaws as
the highest grossing film in seventy seven?

Speaker 3 (01:56:23):
Star Wars.

Speaker 2 (01:56:23):
Star Wars, Yes exactly, episode four New Hope, Yep, there
we go.

Speaker 5 (01:56:30):
So we didn't get a lot of trivia, right, but I.

Speaker 2 (01:56:33):
Mean they were kind of funky questions.

Speaker 3 (01:56:35):
Yeah, but I feel like ladies who knew it's a
it's such the kind of film and its legacy that
it makes sense that there's so much trivia and there's
so much love for it. And I hope that the
experts out there will appreciate just how much we love
it totally can me tell, but that you know, it's
it just is such a great thing to do in

(01:56:58):
this time in our lives, celebrate these films. And that's
why I think the podcast is such a fantastic, you know,
kind of gift to us, because well, yeah, I think
it's like it brings back all these great memories, but
it also highlights and celebrates these artists and this work
that you know, sometimes they're huge like this, some of

(01:57:18):
the other things that you highlight are you know, maybe
not weren't as big at the time, but have lots
to talk about. So I just think it's so wonderful
to we got to do this and got to celebrate
the film and all its glory.

Speaker 2 (01:57:31):
Thank you, thank you. I know how amazing that not
only did we get to do this here, but got
to like do a lot of this in person where
they shot it. I mean, it's been great, it's been
so great, very special time. So that's what it was
just so wild, is you can make a great movie
and you still don't know like the life it will

(01:57:52):
continue to have fifty years from now. Like that's special.

Speaker 3 (01:57:56):
He just put it all. He put everything into it.
And when you put everything into it, hopefully have a
little talent, but you put everything into it, Hopefully there's
going to come some reward and maybe it won't be
as big as Jaws, but you know, you'll have something
you're proud of. So I think it's just also a
great inspirational tale.

Speaker 2 (01:58:13):
Yeah, oh yeah. The story on screen is amazing and
the story behind the scenes is really amazing. They could. Honestly,
it'd be so cool to see a movie about the
making of this movie.

Speaker 3 (01:58:25):
But maybe because of release date rewind and it will
become more clear too that we should be celebrating. We
should be having big screenings for anniversaries and happy thank
you right, people really want to enjoy and be nostalgic
about the films they love, and we should.

Speaker 2 (01:58:42):
Thanks everybody for listening to or watching this episode of
Release Date Rewind and for supporting indie podcasting. And thank
you to my guest screenwriter, filmmaker, teacher, film scholar, and
great friend C. C. Webster for sailing with me to
Amity and also for and bye me to the Big
Jaws fiftieth weekend this year in Martha's Vineyard. Love that

(01:59:04):
island any time of year, but especially loved it for
those fun festivities, so thank you. Thanks also to the
Kaufman family, Mark, Jack, Emma, and Christy for their cameos
and for their hospitality, and thank you also to superfan
Tommy Jamerson as well. Tell your friends and fellow Jaws
fans about this episode and follow me on Instagram at

(01:59:26):
release date rewind to see more footage from this fun conversation.
And from this famous movie. Thanks Straw Media, the You
Run podcast Network, Kyle Motsinger and the Portland Media Center
in Maine. And coming up on release date, rewind everybody,
I sit down with a Disney animator in a very special,
very nostalgic episode. Until next time,