‘Jaws’ at 50: The blockbuster that changed movies — and still echoes in the Berkshires | Local News
Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” was originally released on June 20, 1975. Now, to mark the film’s 50th anniversary, it is being rereleased in select theaters in time for Labor Day.
Da-dun. Da-dun. Dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun!
A two-note theme composed by John Williams terrified audiences who saw Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” on June 20, 1975 — and 50 years later, its effect lingers. So too does the menace of that giant, made-for-Hollywood shark.
“I think even 50 years later, you look out into the water when you go in the ocean,” said Diane Pearlman, executive director of the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative. “Whether it’s conscious or unconscious, when you go swimming in the ocean, you still look for a fin because of that film.”
Clarksburg resident Emma Waryjas attended the Phoenix Theatres Beacon Cinema screening of the 1975 film “Jaws” on Thursday. The film is being rereleased in theaters to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film.
Pittsfield resident Steve Mottor went to see the release of the 1975 classic “Jaws” on Thursday at Phoenix Theatres Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield.
Just in time for Labor Day weekend, and beachgoers to get in one last swim — if they dare — Spielberg’s classic horror film is being rereleased in select theaters to mark its 50th anniversary. Locally, the film is being shown at Phoenix Theatres Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield and at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, which will host an interactive screening event on Saturday.
Even though Berkshire County is more than four hours — and plenty of dry land — away from Martha’s Vineyard, where major scenes in the film were shot over 50 years ago, there are still strong local connections to the movie. There’s Williams’ iconic score, which does more to strike fear than the image of the shark itself. And the book that inspired the movie has ties to another famous larger-than-life marine creature — Pittsfield’s own Moby Dick.
THE ORIGINAL SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER
In 1975, “Jaws” opened on more than 450 screens in North America, grossing over $470 million worldwide on a final budget of $12 million. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won three (Best Original Score, Best Film Editing and Best Sound).
Crowds run out of the water in a scene from the film “Jaws,” 1975. Fifty years later, many moviegoers are still afraid to go in the water after seeing the film.
The film — directed by Spielberg and starring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw — was mostly shot on Martha’s Vineyard and was adapted from the 1974 suspense novel “Jaws” written by Peter Benchley.
“Jaws” the movie is iconic because it established the idea of the summer blockbuster, according to Lauren Ferin, assistant director of the Berkshire International Film Festival.
The marketing of the film also changed the Hollywood landscape, said Ferin, who was 9 or 10 years old when she first saw the movie. She remembers seeing the iconic book cover and movie poster showing a shark ready to attack a woman swimming above the water, which she said was “terrifying and moving.”
Susan Backlinie swimming as the Great White Shark swims up in publicity art for the film “Jaws.” This publicity art, and the movie poster it later created, changed the way Hollywood would go on to market its movies, according to film experts who say “Jaws” birthed the summer blockbuster model.
“That in and of itself was so memorable,” Ferin said. “You see this woman floating at the top of the water with this giant shark. That scared the heck out of me.”
Universal Studios spent $1.8 million promoting the film, according to USA Today.
It was an unprecedented amount of money for film promotion at the time, but it spawned a trend of studios rolling out big marketing campaigns.
“Marketing is everything,” Ferin said, adding that she has a “Jaws” hand puppet that she got on Martha’s Vineyard.
Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” was released on June 20, 1975, terrifying audiences around the country. The film is being rereleased in theaters nationwide,
Today, marketing has grown. For example, Warner Bros. reportedly spent $150 million on the marketing for “Barbie” in 2023, according to Business Insider. The actual budget for the film was $145 million.
“[The studio] definitely started something with not just relying on the movie itself to make back their budget, but to sell the memorabilia,” she said. “I think it’s genius … ‘Jaws’ and ‘Star Wars’ started that whole trend.”
The decision by Universal Studios paid off as “Jaws” became the first film to break $100 million in domestic box office, replacing “The Godfather” as the highest-grossing film to that point, according to History.com.
“[It] started a trend with the summer blockbuster,” Pearlman said, adding that people were available and had money to spend. She said the big films of the year are typically rolled out in the summer, and “[It’s] basically how the industry has been structured ever since.”
Moviegoers enjoy the 50th anniversary release of the movie “Jaws” on Thursday in Pittsfield.
A SHARED SCARE
I went to a recent screening of the movie at the Beacon Cinema, and it was my first time seeing it in a theater. The first time I saw “Jaws” was with my mother, who used the film as a way to scare me away from the water, and it worked as I’ve refused to go into the ocean ever since.
People seated to watch the 1975 film “Jaws” at Phoenix Theatres Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield. The film, directed by Steven Spielberg, is being rereleased in theaters nationwide from through Thursday for Labor Day weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film.
However, throughout my life, when my mother would put on the film during a “Jaws” marathon on AMC, I would find myself sucked in by the suspense and Spielberg’s magical directing.
Pearlman — who, when reached by phone, was on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, coincidentally — said she was a young teenager the first time she saw the film and that it was “completely and utterly terrifying” and that the “shark was realistic.”
Actor Richard Dreyfuss (left, as marine biologist Hooper) and actor Robert Shaw (as shark fisherman Quint) look off the stern of Quint’s fishing boat at the terrifying approach of the mechanical giant shark dubbed “Bruce” in a scene from the film “Jaws” directed by Steven Spielberg, 1975.
Ferin agreed. “No one, I think, really thought about sharks in the water when they were swimming until that movie,” she said.
Jana Laiz, emeritus writer-in-residence, education coordinator at Berkshire County Historical Society, saw “Jaws” as a teenager on Martha’s Vineyard in 1975 with her family. Laiz said she doesn’t believe it was the actual premiere for the film, but remembers seeing remnants of the sets.
Laiz remembers the horrifying nature of the opening scene, where a woman gets viciously attacked in the water.
“That was it [for me],” Laiz said, adding that she didn’t even want to go into a swimming pool after watching the film.
MELVILLE
Obsessed captains. Large, vicious sea creatures. And a destroyed boat.
These are the literary qualities shared by Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” and the original novel “Jaws.”
Local author Richard Matturro said there are many parallels between the two books.
Matturro will host a talk about the relationship between the two classics on Sunday at Hot Plate Brewing Co. in Pittsfield. Berkshire County Historical Society at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead is hosting the event, which will also feature a special beer brewed for the occasion, according to Lesley Herzberg, executive director of the Berkshire County Historical Society.
Matturro wrote in a prepared speech that he will be giving at the talk that Benchley, who wrote the novel “Jaws,” “freely admitted that ‘Moby-Dick’ was an inspiration” for his own water-based suspense novel.
Laiz said that some of the themes shared between the two are revenge, retribution and survival.
“[‘Jaws’] is kind of the modern-day ‘Moby-Dick,’” she said.
Benchley, who first became enamored with sharks as a young child spending summers on Nantucket Island, went on to write other ocean-themed suspense novels, such as “The Deep.”
A FRIGHTENING SCORE
Sound is a huge part of how we feel about films, and it drives our emotions, Pearlman said, adding that Williams’ theme for “Jaws” captivated the audience.
“When we hear that score, we know exactly what the movie is,” she said. “We know exactly where we were when we saw that movie for the first time.”
Williams, 93, has composed more than 100 film scores and has 54 Academy Award nominations over seven decades, the most of any living person, with five wins. Spielberg and Williams have collaborated on 29 films, and “Jaws” was their second film together.
John Williams takes the stage at Tanglewood. Williams has composed more than 100 film scores and has 54 Academy Award nominations over seven decades.
Since 1980, when he was tapped to succeed the legendary Arthur Fiedler as conductor of the Boston Pops, Williams has been a nearly annual presence at Tanglewood and hosts an annual film night. Dennis Alves, director of artistic planning at the Boston Pops, has known Williams since Alves was a trumpet player in the orchestra in 1983.
Keith Lockhart, center, conducts the Boston Pops in a film tribute to the legendary John Williams, 93. John Williams’ Film Night, a beloved tradition at Tanglewood, was held on Aug. 9.
“Working with John was a wonderful blessing,” Alves said, adding that he played the trumpet in the first-ever concert Williams did with the Pops.
Williams is a chameleon, Alves said, adding that he can adapt different styles to suit the movie he is working on. Alves said that characters are more two-dimensional before a Williams score and that he finds ways to make them three-dimensional.
“[Music] affects our emotions, and he just finds a way to nail the character of a certain personality,” Alves said.
The two-note ostinato, consisting of the notes E and F, in the theme creates an impending sense of danger and tension and was performed by musician Tommy Johnson using a tuba. Alves said that when Williams played Spielberg the theme for the first time, Spielberg thought he was joking, but eventually trusted Williams’ vision.
Composer John Williams and director Steven Spielberg pictured in 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. When Williams first played the two-note ostinato for the “Jaws” score for Spielberg, he thought he was joking. Spielberg went on to trust Williams’ vision, creating one of the most iconic film scores in Hollywood history.
“Those two notes start out very slowly and pick up speed, and as the speed picks up, it creates this atmosphere of inevitability,” Alves said. “He creates this fear of the approaching monster.”
Alves highlighted the opening scene of the film, which features a girl getting attacked, but the shark is not shown in the scene.
“You didn’t need to see the shark because of the music,” he said, adding that it never fails to affect him each time he watches it.
At the annual John Williams film night on Aug. 9 at Tanglewood, Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart said that when “Jaws” was released 50 years ago this summer, beachgoers were reluctant to swim where sharks might dwell, “even in Stockbridge Bowl.”
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Ferin said that Spielberg’s usage of the shark, which has approximately four minutes of screen time, is brilliant because it allows for the power of imagination. The film score adds to the character, Ferin said, adding that “everyone knows what [the score] pertains to.”
‘TIMELESS’
Although “Jaws” may look dated in some areas, Pearlman said that the film is relatable to all audiences regardless of age, which makes it relevant.
Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss stand next to a giant man eating Great White Shark with a hook piercing through it in a scene from the film “Jaws.”
“Jaws is timeless,” she said.
Ferin said the memorable characters are what keep people coming back to the film time and again. Whether it’s Chief Brody saying, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” or Hooper and Quint arguing, there is rich material for people to dig into each viewing.
“It’s the connection of these three different personalities that join forces to kill this shark,” Ferin said. “That’s what I think makes the film [memorable].”
Although the film scared people away from the water and inspired a wave of negativity toward sharks, Ferin said that the film also sparked interest in shark research. For the film, Spielberg used footage of real sharks from an Australian couple, Ron and Valerie Taylor, according to the New York Times.
Research on sharks has expanded since, and researchers have now identified 540 species of sharks and have studied their behavior and role in marine ecosystems, according to the University of Miami.
“There was a lot of conservation and studies after that film to learn more about these creatures,” Ferin said. “It was so impactful in so many ways.”
Watching “Jaws” will never get old, Ferin said.
“Fifty years later, it’s still so relevant and it still hasn’t lost its flavor,” she said. “It hasn’t lost its suspense, and it’s going to be around for years to come.”