MARTHA’s VINEYARD – It should have been a waterlogged disaster.
The shoot ran too long and over budget, the script was still being written as scenes were filmed, the young director woke up every day fearing he would get fired and the mechanical shark built for the movie sank to the bottom of the ocean.
And yet, 40 years ago this summer, people lined up around the block and around the world to get scared silly by “Jaws,” widely seen as the first summer blockbuster.
A horror story wrapped in an adventure, the movie tapped into our deepest fears about what dangers lurk beneath the ocean’s surface. Some people told screenwriter Carl Gottlieb the movie, about a giant shark terrorizing a summer resort town, even made them afraid to venture into swimming pools.
Yes, the fake shark looks a little cheesy now. But in 1975, long before computers could create any spectacle onscreen, it was plenty terrifying.
The movie overcame a troubled shoot to launch Steven Spielberg’s career as a master craftsman of popular entertainments. With its wide release and aggressive ad campaign, it also pioneered the current Hollywood model for how big-budget movies are springboarded into the market.
And it sparked a cultural fascination with sharks — especially great whites — that endures today in everything from IMAX documentaries to the “Sharknado” movies to the Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week.
The original “Jaws” will return to select theaters nationwide on June 21 and 24, giving today’s moviegoers a rare chance to see it on the big screen. Which means that 40 years later, it’s still not safe to go back in the water.
Here’s a roundup of 21 salient and strange facts about the movie:
