So many movies ... so little time ...
Folks, there are some films that -- for any number of reasons -- are almost timeless.
This isn't to say that the period in which the feature was made isn't a bit obvious, because nothing could be further from the truth. Faces and places manage to rather loosely date any picture; and styles -- even though they might come and go -- definitely give viewers ample opportunity to look at the parade of scenes and make an educated guess on when if not where a great deal of the action takes place. Whether we actively try to or not, we sometimes recognize elements much more deeply than we know; and active watchers tend to see and even hear enough detail in any film to perhaps place it historically when it took place.
My point is that some stories just manage to transcend such minutiae to the point wherein those facts become less important to the actually story unfolding before our eyes ... and one such adventure remains Steven Spielberg's phenomenal Jaws.
Based on a popular novel of its day, the film did have a bit of advance publicity that led some to expect that a theatrical version could be something special, and yet it was being martialed to the screen by the relatively unknown director Steven Spielberg. In fact, I've read that Spielberg himself wasn't exactly thrilled with the finished product, stating that he thought the big mechanical shark used with which to weave this violent Fantasy was a bit clunky and unrealistic. Even Google.com cites an article which suggests that Universal Pictures -- the studio behind the effort -- had very little faith in the feature, expecting it to even bomb at the box office.
Well ...
History shows us that Jaws went on to become the very first film to cross the $100 million dollar gross in theaters. To Spielberg and the studio's utter amazement, the flick -- buoyed by its massive sea legs (snicker snicker) -- went on to top out not all that far from $500 million, a figure equal to nearly $2 billion in today's dollars. As a commodity, the franchise produced an incredible three sequels over the next twelve years, none of which quite matched anything close to the sheer, raw power of the original; and, yet, they swam their own course in film history.
To the film's credit, Jaws even took home an astonishing three Oscars at the 1976 Academy Awards, cementing both the film and Steven Spielberg as things to watch in the years ahead.
So ...
Happy Birthday -- Happy Anniversary -- to Jaws, a motion picture which most definitely made each and everyone of us question when it would ever be safe to go back in the water!
-- EZ
Folks, there are some films that -- for any number of reasons -- are almost timeless.
This isn't to say that the period in which the feature was made isn't a bit obvious, because nothing could be further from the truth. Faces and places manage to rather loosely date any picture; and styles -- even though they might come and go -- definitely give viewers ample opportunity to look at the parade of scenes and make an educated guess on when if not where a great deal of the action takes place. Whether we actively try to or not, we sometimes recognize elements much more deeply than we know; and active watchers tend to see and even hear enough detail in any film to perhaps place it historically when it took place.
My point is that some stories just manage to transcend such minutiae to the point wherein those facts become less important to the actually story unfolding before our eyes ... and one such adventure remains Steven Spielberg's phenomenal Jaws.
Based on a popular novel of its day, the film did have a bit of advance publicity that led some to expect that a theatrical version could be something special, and yet it was being martialed to the screen by the relatively unknown director Steven Spielberg. In fact, I've read that Spielberg himself wasn't exactly thrilled with the finished product, stating that he thought the big mechanical shark used with which to weave this violent Fantasy was a bit clunky and unrealistic. Even Google.com cites an article which suggests that Universal Pictures -- the studio behind the effort -- had very little faith in the feature, expecting it to even bomb at the box office.
Well ...
History shows us that Jaws went on to become the very first film to cross the $100 million dollar gross in theaters. To Spielberg and the studio's utter amazement, the flick -- buoyed by its massive sea legs (snicker snicker) -- went on to top out not all that far from $500 million, a figure equal to nearly $2 billion in today's dollars. As a commodity, the franchise produced an incredible three sequels over the next twelve years, none of which quite matched anything close to the sheer, raw power of the original; and, yet, they swam their own course in film history.
To the film's credit, Jaws even took home an astonishing three Oscars at the 1976 Academy Awards, cementing both the film and Steven Spielberg as things to watch in the years ahead.
So ...
Happy Birthday -- Happy Anniversary -- to Jaws, a motion picture which most definitely made each and everyone of us question when it would ever be safe to go back in the water!
-- EZ
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