Well, we've reached the big one - Mike and Mike go long as they discuss Roy Scheider's role in what is probably their favorite movie of all time, Steven Spielberg's JAWS. What a picture.
[00:00:00] It's showtime folks! It's on bad hat Harry. What was the weight of the car when you got it? You're not right or wrong. You just don't care. Benway! Oh sons of bitches. I didn't know. I didn't know.
[00:00:18] And welcome to episode 12 of The Complete Works season 4, a deep dive into the career and films of actor Roy Scheider. My name is Mike Smith and joining me on this journey across the Scheiderverse is my friend, co-host and fellow Roy boy. Mike D'Cruccio. How'd you do, Mike? I'm doing great. We've made it to the promised land. We're here. Yes, we made it, Ma. This is the official We Made It, Ma movie of this season, I think. Yes, absolutely.
[00:00:49] Yeah, it is time to talk today about the movie that Roy Scheider is probably best remembered for to this day. A movie that instantly became the highest grossing movie of all time at the time of its release. A movie that launched director Steven Spielberg into superstardom. A movie that Mike and I each basically pick as our default answer to the question, what is your favorite movie of all time? Yes, correct. Yeah, that's that's one of those questions. I mean, you know, when you're very into movies, it's a tough question to answer.
[00:01:19] Yeah, so we've all seen the the Mimi letterboxed, you know, top four on the red carpet thing. Everyone's it's very hard. It's very scary. Yeah, absolutely. And if you're really into it, you have so many favorites. How do you how do you choose? But Jaws is just like the default for many years now. It's just been my default. Like, yeah, Jaws is like the perfect choice for my favorite movie of all time because a it probably is. Yeah, or at least like, you know, very high up there for me. And B, it's one that everyone's heard of. You know, that's also the thing.
[00:01:48] It's a it's a good conversation to have, you know, when you get asked that question and you say Jaws, people are like, oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, yes. Uh, there was a speaking of those letterbox top four ones. One of my favorite ones, I think it was Emily Blunt who was doing like the letterbox top four thing. And she was like, oh, God, what do I do? Is it Jaws? It's probably Jaws. I don't know. Do I like any movies more than Jaws? I don't know. Amazing. Emily Blunt would be our best friend is what you're saying. Yes, exactly. Emily Blunt, please come on the podcast.
[00:02:16] We have we have Nick Wormuth booked for Jaws, too, but we will bump him for Emily. Yes. But that's the only reason. That's the only reason we would bump Nick. Yeah. If only for Emily Blunt. If a celebrity of lesser status wanted to be on our Jaws 2 episode, Nick still has precedent. They got to come for Jaws the Revenge. Exactly. Yes. When we do the Michael Caine season. Yeah. In 1973, Universal Pictures producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown both heard about a new
[00:02:43] book by Peter Benchley entitled Jaws. They each read the book in a single night. And they called it the most exciting thing they had ever read. And they immediately bought the film rights to produce a movie version. Now, I have never read the book Jaws. You have, right, Mike? Yes, I have. It's it's pretty good. It's fine. I mean, look, it's fine. Yeah, it's trashy summer beach read of a book, which is like perfect. It's exactly what I would want Jaws to be, the book.
[00:03:10] You know, like sitting on the beach, afraid to go in the water because of sharks reading Jaws. Nice. Yeah, I actually did buy the book a while ago because at a certain point I was like, I've seen this movie 50,000 times. I should read the book. I haven't done it yet. Maybe I should read the book. Yeah, it's fine. It's very different. It's very, it's very different. And it's and it's a testament to like what a movie, the film version is like what the like a work of adaptation, like what they determined we don't need in this movie.
[00:03:38] It's not inessential to the plot and not exciting. Like, for example, that that Hooper and Mrs. Brody have a torrid love affair. What? Yes, there's a whole a whole thing. And it's like weirdly racist. I don't know. It's very strange. It's one of those like 70s exploitation kind of like you wish I was black, don't you kind of things. It's very strange. So that's in there. The only thing that that I remember like the most like, oh, this could have been interesting
[00:04:03] in the movie, but it's like totally unnecessary to the plot about the shark is the the reason the mayor wants the town to stay open so much, not only just because he needs those summer dollars, you know, right rampant capitalism, but the mafia paid for his campaign and he owes them the money back. So he needs the town to stay open so he can make money to pay off the mafia. That that is the element of the book that I knew that I knew was in the book that I knew wasn't in the movie. I did not know about the torrid love affair between Hooper and Ellen Brody. That's crazy. Yeah.
[00:04:31] A hot, hot young college boy, you know, and she can't resist. Yes, absolutely. So Zanuck and Brown, big fans of the book, and they looked at a few filmmakers to adapt the novel. And they originally actually had John Sturgis in mind. What? That was the original choice, director of The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. He had also directed The Old Man in the Sea in 1958. And so he had experience with a similar tale that Jaws told.
[00:04:57] They then offered the job to Dick Richards, who had just directed a film called The Culpepper Cattle Company. And they dropped him from the project because he kept calling the shark a whale. He didn't seem to grasp what the movie was about. It's like the one thing you got to get right. Exactly. And then Steven Spielberg comes along. Steven Spielberg had just directed his first theatrical film, The Sugarland Express, which Zanuck and Brown produced. And he was in a meeting with them, like kind of in the post-production of that film.
[00:05:26] He saw a copy of the book Jaws lying on a table. He read it and he was hooked and kind of noted its similarity to the television film that he made, Duel. And so Spielberg was hired for the job. You ever seen Duel, Mike? I have not. And I've never seen Sugarland Express either. OK, both very good. I love Duel. Duel rules. Whoa. And I actually it just occurred to me like you probably haven't seen it or you might not have seen it. So I'm putting on a Mike Makes Mike watch list for a future for next year's Mike Makes Mike watch. Because it's a TV movie, right? From what I understand.
[00:05:55] Yes, it is Spielberg's first feature length film, but it is a TV movie. Sugarland Express was his first theatrical film. Got it. And that's also pretty fun. That's like kind of a long car chase sort of movie. Duel is. Isn't that what Duel is also? Well, yes. Duel is also a long car chase movie. But Duel is literally just Jaws, but with a truck. It's this guy being chased down by a truck on the highway for 90 minutes. And it is awesome. Love it. Duel's great. I own it on Blu-ray and you should too. OK. That's not directed to you. That's to everybody listening to the podcast.
[00:06:25] You should own Duel on Blu-ray, which is part of the Steven Spielberg like director's box set that I have, which also includes my Jaws Blu-ray, which I got to watch for the first time for this podcast because I had Jaws on DVD, watched on DVD for many years. I finally upgraded to Blu-ray when I got that box set. But then every time I've watched Jaws in the last few years, it's always been like at a theater or something because it's always play. Yeah. And actually, I hadn't watched it in full since 2020. So it had been a little while since I had seen the movie.
[00:06:54] But anyway, Spielberg noted the similarity between Jaws and Duel and he was hired for the job. He did get a little nervous about being typecast as the truck and shark director. And he actually tried to leave the project. He tried to leave Jaws. Wow. Yeah. Imagine right before production began. He was like, I can't do this thing. I'm out. But Universal Pictures, I had him under contract. They exercised their rights. And so he had to stick around. And actually, I think it was Zanuck who had a pretty good quote to Spielberg at the
[00:07:22] time being like, listen, if you direct Jaws, you're going to be able to make whatever you want for the next 40 years. Guess what? He was right. He was right. The results? Pretty much the best movie ever made. And since Roy Scheider is in it, it's time for us to talk about Jaws. There is a creature alive today who has survived millions of years of evolution without change, without passion, and without logic.
[00:07:52] It lives to kill. A mindless eating machine. It will attack and devour anything. It is as if God created the devil and gave him Jaws.
[00:08:24] This is Universal's extraordinary motion picture version of Peter Benchley's best-selling novel, Jaws. I just found out that a girl got killed here last week. And you knew it. You knew there was a shark out there. You knew it was dangerous. But you let people go swimming anyway.
[00:08:54] You yelled shark. It's on the 4th of July. Is it true that most people get attacked by sharks in 3 feet of water about 10 feet from the beach?
[00:09:24] Yeah. What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. We're not only going to have to close the beach, we're going to have to hire somebody to kill the shark. Bad fish. But I'll catch him and kill him. Did you hear your father out of the water now? This shark will swallow you whole. You're going to need a bigger boat. That's a 20-footer. 25.
[00:09:54] Three tons of them. He's coming straight for us. Don't screw it up now. Don't wait for me. Now!
[00:10:37] Fantasies of evil can compare with the reality of Jaws. Roy Scheider. Robert Shaw. Richard Dreyfuss. Jaws. See it before you go swimming. All right. So Roy Scheider stars as Chief Martin Brody, the lead character in Jaws.
[00:11:04] Zanuck and Brown actually wanted Spielberg to hire known actors, which he did. But he wanted to avoid any big stars, saying that the superstar of the movie was going to be the shark, which is the same logic he followed with Jurassic Park 20 years later. Right. Paid off. So why not do it again? Exactly. Yeah. And it worked out there, too. Originally, Chief Martin Brody was offered to Robert Duvall. Well, that would have been cool. That could have been interesting to see. Turned out Duvall actually wanted to play Quint.
[00:11:32] And so he he refused the role of Brody because he wanted Quint. Didn't get Quint either. But Robert Duvall was considered for Brody. Also, Charlton Heston really wanted the part. Charlton Heston wanted the part of Martin Brody. Too much. Too big. That's exactly right. That's too big. Exactly the reason Spielberg was like, yeah, he's too big of a presence for this like small community sheriff, you know, like that kind of thing. Roy Scheider became involved because he and Steven Spielberg happened to be at the same
[00:11:59] party one night and he overheard Spielberg kind of talking to someone about the scene where the shark jumps onto the boat. And Scheider was intrigued by that and kind of struck up a conversation and they started working together, although Spielberg kind of hesitant on Roy Scheider at first. Didn't want him at first. How come? Do we know? Yes. The reason is, you know, he was familiar with Scheider from French Connection and films like that. Uh, and he thought that Scheider was going to be, uh, playing too much of a tough guy for the role. Uh, too, too much of like his character from French Connection. Makes sense. Yes.
[00:12:28] Uh, and so, but eventually he did go with Scheider. Uh, the roles of Hooper and Quint were cast only about a week before production began. Uh, which is crazy. That's nuts. Uh, Matt Hooper is played by Richard Dreyfuss, of course. Uh, although Spielberg originally wanted John Voight in the role. Uh, that was his original choice. Uh, Dreyfuss actually got the part, uh, because he was starring in American Graffiti and George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are best buds. And so it doesn't take much, you know? Yeah. I mean, that's, that's how it is.
[00:12:57] Uh, and so George Lucas suggested him for the part. He got it. Uh, meanwhile, Quint is played by Robert Shaw, who is Zanuck and Brown, uh, worked with just recently on the sting. Uh, and so that's how he came on board. Uh, that role was actually originally offered to Lee Marvin, uh, which would have been crazy. Also Sterling Hayden was offered the role too, and he turned it down. Well, that would have been a wild reunion to have, you know? He was loving Sterling Hayden. Oh yes. Yes he was. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, just imagine the trio of Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw. That's an iconic trio right there.
[00:13:27] But imagine if Jaws had instead starred Robert Duvall, John Voight, and Lee Marvin. A different film. A different, a different earth. I think we'd be like a different trajectory for the planet. It sends us off on a different, yeah. Yeah. A timeline. 100%. Uh, so from there, Lorraine Gary, who also appeared in Spielberg's 1941, a few years later, uh, plays Ellen Brody, Scheider's wife. Uh, Murray Hamilton from films like Anatomy of Murder and The Graduate plays Larry Vaughn, the mayor of Amity.
[00:13:57] Carl Gottlieb, who also co-wrote the screenplay, uh, plays Ben Meadows, the editor of the local paper. Jeffrey Kramer, who also appeared in Halloween 2, plays Deputy Lenny Hendrix. Uh, stuntwoman Susan Baclini, who, uh, actually just passed away a few weeks ago. Uh, she plays Chrissy Watkins, the girl in the beginning who gets eaten by the shark. Uh, Lee Fierro plays Mrs. Kintner, the mother of the boy who gets eaten on the beach. And she actually passed away in April 2020 as a result of COVID at the age of 91. That's crazy. Yeah. I, I completely missed that when that happened.
[00:14:26] Uh, and Peter Benchley, the author of the book, appears as the news reporter on the beach. Uh, so a couple of, uh, fun cameos for Jaws heads out there, uh, that people can check out. He's the guy that the mayor says, Amity, as you know, means friendship. Yes, exactly. Uh, the film was written by Peter Benchley, uh, and Carl Gottlieb, who Spielberg actually brought on to add more humor to the film and give the characters more dimensions. Carl Gottlieb was a writer on the odd couple TV show. Uh, and so Spielberg kind of brought him on there.
[00:14:53] And then of course it was directed by Steven Spielberg one year after his previous film, the Sugarland express in 1974 and two years before his next film close encounters of the third kind in 1977, which is also a banger. Yeah. It's, I mean, I don't know what his run is in order, but like, come on. I mean, it'd be the amount of top tier blockbusters, uh, and non-blockbusters that Spielberg has directed is, is pretty unbelievable, but weirdly his, his runs are always weird because it's
[00:15:22] always like, Oh, Jaws close encounters. 1941 is his next movie, which is a huge flop. Uh, but then he comes back. Raiders of the lost Ark ET temple of doom. Still a hit, but like a questionable, like, yeah, like less, less acclaimed then. And then I think it's, uh, or a twilight zone, the movies in between those two. And he directed one of those segments. There's so much great stuff in the Spielberg career. And even the bad stuff is usually like pretty good. Yeah. But there's like, there's weird, like dips in the Spielberg filmography. And then you get into Amblin and all the stuff he produced.
[00:15:52] And it's just like, uh, you know, what, what a legacy. Oh yeah. I mean, there's nobody in the last 50 years of Hollywood that has had a bigger impact on pop culture at large. Uh, I don't think so. Yeah. I mean, maybe, maybe Stan Lee, you know, like, you say like Roger Corman, maybe. Yeah. You know what? Roger Corman. Yeah. After all those. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he, he's somebody who discovered a lot of people who like that then. Yeah. Uh, which obviously that's, that's huge too. Yeah. A very small handful of people. Spielberg is definitely like top, like very high on the list. Yes, absolutely.
[00:16:20] Uh, so Jaws released on June 20th, 1975, immediately hit number one at the box office where it remained all summer long. Uh, it would finally be displaced as number one on October 1st. Uh, so June 20th through October 1st, Jaws ran the gamut. It was the biggest movie of the summer. Uh, the movie that finally dethroned Jaws was Woody Allen's love and death. Sure. Yeah. Never seen it. Uh, and it's crazy that like, just cause it's not number one, you know, to think about in like today's world.
[00:16:50] Uh, it's still around, you know, like compared to today's world number is number two. Get it out of there. Get it on VOD. Yes, absolutely. Uh, so Jaws became the highest gross movie of all time upon release. Uh, and so it was obviously the number one film of the year. The rest of 1975's top 10 includes one flew over the cuckoo's nest, uh, which beat Jaws for best picture at the Oscars, the Rocky horror picture show, which that should have an asterisk next to it.
[00:17:17] Um, that's that, that did not make that money in 1975. Oh, I was going to say, yeah, that's from, you know, continuous rep screenings for the last 50 years. Uh, that's why Rocky horror is at number three here. Uh, Hal Ashby shampoo, uh, dog day afternoon, the return of the pink panther, uh, three days of the condor funny lady, the other side of the mountain and the who's Tommy, uh, or the rest of your 1975 top 10. Weren't we talking about in one of the way early episodes about the pink panther movies?
[00:17:47] Uh, yeah, the, uh, the pink panthers were liable performers, uh, in the, uh, crazy in the, uh, sixties and seventies. Uh, so jaws nominated for best picture at the Oscars did not win. Uh, the other nominees were, uh, one float cuckoo's nest, which one Barry Lyndon dog day afternoon and Nashville, uh, which of course we covered on the gold bloom season of the podcast. That's right. A lot of crossover. Yes. Uh, and that 1975 best picture lineup, maybe one of the best, best picture lineups of all time. Uh, that's pretty great right there. Yeah. For real.
[00:18:16] That's nuts. Yeah. Uh, but jaws did win three Oscars, uh, best film editing, best original score and best sound Spielberg, not nominated for best director. A fact that at the time he greatly resented. Yeah. Wasn't it like a, like a, it was a, it wasn't it a like European director for a movie that came out the year before it was like the fifth nominee. It was like some, some shenanigans. Yes. Let me, uh, I'll, I'll look that up. Yeah. It was like a, one of those weird things where it's not, yeah, sometimes the, the picture
[00:18:45] and director lineups, uh, don't, they don't line up exactly correct. They don't match. Yeah. They don't match exactly. Uh, they don't have to necessarily, necessarily. Uh, especially now when there's 10 best picture nominees and five best director nominees, uh, it, that happens more often, obviously. But, uh, yeah, the 1975 best director lineup, Milos Forman for one flow of cuckoo's nest, Robert Allman for Nashville, Stanley Kubrick for Barry Lyndon, Sidney Lumet for dog day afternoon. And then yeah, Federico Fellini for, uh, I'm record.
[00:19:11] I can't believe I said some European director and it was Fellini. Whoops. Uh, that is very funny to picture, you know, 26 year old Steven Spielberg who just directed the jaws, maybe the greatest achievement that any 26 year old has ever done. Uh, and he gets, he doesn't, doesn't get the best director nomination, but like the person who took his spot is Federico Fellini. Yeah. It's not some schmo off the street. Right.
[00:19:37] You know, uh, but still Spielberg, uh, pretty upset about it at the time. There's a great video that went around a while ago, which is actually like Spielberg, uh, watching like the, uh, the Oscar nominations announcements and, uh, like that live reaction to it. Uh, and it's him watching it with Joe Spinell, uh, of course from the seven ups. That's right. Parking lot attended in the seven ups. Yes. Uh, and, uh, Joe Spinell is just like, like angry on Spielberg's behalf and it's like, what are you talking about? Who directed the movie? The fucking shock.
[00:20:09] Love Joe Spinell. Yes. Uh, which is very, very fun. And, uh, yeah, I think part of that is, you know, the movie became the biggest movie of the year, like, you know, cemented itself in, uh, pop culture history almost immediately. Uh, and it was a grueling shoot, uh, from, uh, all accounts. Uh, it just seemed like it was a very difficult movie to make, uh, parcel because they really, uh, they really shot out on the water for a lot of it and, uh, shooting on the water really hard to do. Uh, you can't really control what the water is going to be doing.
[00:20:35] Every time I hear any production story about a film that was made actually on the water, they're like, I've made a huge mistake every time. Yes. Why, why did I do this to myself? Uh, and of course the, the shark, uh, the bait, the mechanical shark that had been built for the movie, it very famously, uh, was, did not work the way it was supposed to. Right. Yes. And that's, you know, one of those weird movie magic things that made the movie better because they could never show the shark because the thing was broken. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. There was actually a very good, uh, Patrick Williams, uh, YouTube essayist.
[00:21:05] Uh, he did a video, uh, recently about jaws, uh, and about like, basically like what would have happened if the shark had worked correctly? Like what, what if the shark had worked perfectly? Wow. Would, would jaws be as acclaimed as it is today? Because you know, they're the narrative kind of surrounding it is like, yeah, that's what made the movie good is that we didn't, couldn't show the shark. So you lift it up to the audience imagination, but like the building blocks of a good movie are still in jaws regardless. Like it's still, it's still a Spielberg movie. It's still like, you know, acted and blocked, but like perfectly.
[00:21:32] And yeah, it's just, uh, it's interesting to kind of see how the narrative is kind of formed over the last 50 years and be like, the reason the movie is good is because you can't show the shark. That is, that's part of it. That's part of what made it better. Yeah. Yeah. It's part of what made it better, but it's not like the whole reason why it's good. Uh, but we're going to get into it all in just a second. First of all, the IMD plot synopsis for jaws reads when a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a Marine biologist and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down. Hell yeah.
[00:22:02] Tease rock. Yeah. What a synopsis. All right. Mike D. Uh, like, like we kind of said at the beginning of this episode, uh, we're both big jaws fans. Uh, big jaws, big jaws fan. Uh, and you actually just watched it like a month ago too. Um, did you, did you rewatch it again for this or did you? Yeah. Okay. So you, you happen to be at a friend's house and you guys turn jaws on or whatever. Uh, so you've watched jaws twice in the span of the last month. I've seen jaws countless times. Uh, but it had been a while since I've watched the whole thing, but it is one of those things
[00:22:31] where like, if I'm scrolling through cable and jaws is on, I'll probably turn it on and watch at least a little bit of it because it's jaws. It's great. Uh, but this was the first time I've watched it in full in like four years. Wow. Uh, so yeah, it's been, been a little bit, uh, and yeah, holds up really good. Good movie. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely a comfort watch level for me. Um, yeah. So, and it's, yeah, one of those movies that I, I literally do not know how many times
[00:22:57] I've seen it more, just impossible to count a hundred, a hundred minute, you know, like, I don't know a thousand possibly. I don't know. Yeah. Foundational Mike D text for sure. I saw this way too young. You know, I grew up on long Island, which if anybody, if you really know, that's where jaws takes place. It's not Martha. It's Martha's vineyard. It's Cape Cod, but it's long Island. Um, and I think actually Quinn is based on a real guy that is a fisherman in Montauk. I forget the whole story. There's some, yeah. I mean, they, they filmed around Martha's vineyard and I believe it was like one of those fishermen
[00:23:27] that were like, just happened to be on set. Cause a lot of the extras in jaws, uh, are like the residents of Martha's vineyard, like the people who like liver lived around there. Uh, and so the fisherman is just one of the guys who was there on sets and Robert shock on a basis performance on that guy who was also in the movie somewhere. I think he's one of the guys in the dock when the dock gets taken away by the shark. He's like the guy who like, Oh really? Okay. Throws the, uh, the roast beef or whatever in the, uh, in the water. His, his wife's holiday roast. Yeah, exactly. Uh, it's, it's one of those two guys. Amazing. Amazing.
[00:23:56] So where was I going with that? Oh yeah. That, so, you know, going to the beach all the time in the summer, of course, um, terrified of sharks, terrified of jaws would be in the water hearing the don't don't don't in my head. Uh, you know, one of those kinds of things that just profoundly, uh, affected me. I think I've mentioned it before, maybe on Mike and Mike pod probably, um, that I was afraid of the dark blue carpet in my bedroom because you have said that before. Yes. Yes. You know, six, however old I hope I was six.
[00:24:25] I'd actually don't know how old I was probably too old to be afraid of my carpet, but, um, so it's one of those kinds of movies and have seen it, you know, like I said, hundreds of times or whatever. Um, and I remember specifically also not so much with the sequels and we'll get into that, uh, I guess, you know, in a couple episodes or whatever, when, uh, whatever jaws two is, but, uh, I've definitely seen them. And I remember I have a core memory of being deathly ill on a Thanksgiving. Um, so we didn't go to the family thing.
[00:24:53] We just, it was like me and my parents and my, I think my grandma was here and I was like dinner time and I was like watching jaws three. It was like some marriage, it was like a marathon and I just couldn't get out of bed. So I was watching the jaws and then being like mad that I had to get up and come down to dinner and be like, but jaws three, I gotta see the, I gotta see jaw, you know, whatever. Um, which is crazy. I'm gonna get my Dennis Quaid fix. I gotta see it. Yeah. So, so it's one of those kinds of movies. And then had never actually seen it in a theater until we got to go together in, was that 2018? Right. I think it was, or yeah, I don't remember.
[00:25:23] It must've been 2018. Cause I was still in New York. Um, yeah. Cause I, cause I moved in like August, 2018. That's right. Uh, and so, yeah, it was like 4th of July weekend, Alamo draft house, 35 millimeter screening of jaws. Can't beat it. Can't beat it. You know, obviously it is funny. It is like, you know, there's a lot of comedy bits, but when you're just at home watching it, you, I'd never picked up on how just like laugh out loud, like wall to wall comedies
[00:25:50] in this movie until I was in a big crowd watching it and be like, Oh my God, wait a second. This is funny. Like I had no idea. So, uh, that was, that's, that was a blast. Yeah. I mean, it's just going to be one of those movies. Like you said, default. What's your favorite movie? It's probably jaws. It's probably jaws. Uh, yeah, it's a, uh, I think, yeah. Foundational text is a good way to put it. It's just a, it's very much imprinted on both of our brains. Yeah. Uh, and it's a weird one where, you know, there are a few movies that like, I can't remember
[00:26:17] a time before I've seen these movies. Correct. You know, star Wars is one of those movies where like, you know, I grew up watching the star Wars movies. I think I watched the first one when I was like three or four. And like, I, I don't have any like specific memory of watching star Wars for the first time. It has just always been, you know, and Jurassic park, same thing like that. But jaws, I think I watched when I was like nine or 10, I think I remember watching jaws for the first time then. And it was one of my dad's favorite movies. And I remember he would talk about it all the time.
[00:26:45] And, you know, he would talk about like, you know, he, this movie came out when he was 13. Uh, and you know, he would talk about like being there opening night and how exciting it was. And he would tell me about the first time he saw jaws and describe the audience reaction to the, uh, bigger boat scene. And specifically the part where, you know, the shark pops out of the water and then Roy Scheider does like the, uh, like sort of like full body, like double take almost, right? Like, uh, and he would describe it as like, that was the biggest scream I'd ever heard
[00:27:12] in a theater followed by the biggest laugh I'd ever heard in a theater, like back to back within seconds of each other, you know, the shark jumps up, the shark comes out, everybody screams. And then Roy Scheider does, it's like, whoo. And just like everybody laughs. Uh, and, uh, yeah, I remember like that, that really stuck with me, uh, in terms of how the audience like was reacting to the movie at the time. Uh, but I think the movie still evokes that reaction in people. Uh, it's, it's a weird one where like, you know, I've seen jaws a million times. Uh, I've seen it, uh, in a, in a public setting a few times now.
[00:27:41] Uh, the first time, the first, that first time, uh, seeing it at the Alamo was that first time seeing it in a theater. I saw it again a year later at the Roxy. Uh, at that point I had moved to Missoula, uh, and the Roxy, uh, had closed for renovations for like a week and a half. And so when they came back, they just programmed like a bunch of bangers to bring people back into the theater. And so jaws was one of them went to go see it there. Great crowd. And then I saw it again in 2020 for centerfield cinema. It was one of the movies they showed, uh, when we couldn't do movies, uh, in the theater, uh, it would be like the outdoor movie at the baseball stadium.
[00:28:10] Uh, and it was a packed crowd watching jaws. Uh, and I was watching it with my girlfriend then, and I don't think she had ever seen it. Uh, and so that was fun. Like she, she liked it, which was good. Nice. That's a good test. That would have been a real problem going forward. And I haven't seen it since then that I, I've only watched it, uh, with a crowd the last few times. Uh, so I had forgotten like, Oh, the, the comfort of just watching it at home whenever I, whenever I can. Uh, and yeah, it's, it's a movie that's just, it's, it's always on cable.
[00:28:39] It's usually on AMC sometimes. And they'll play like the big, like jaws marathons or whatever. So, uh, it's a movie that's kind of just always on. And so people kind of latch onto it in that way. Uh, but it has been really interesting, you know, watching jaws again. And then I go back and letterboxed, uh, and you know, everybody I know has seen jaws. Like everybody I follow has seen jaws and has left like, you know, within the last like six or seven years, they've watched it at least once usually. Right. Yeah. Uh, but what's really interesting is like I, because I work at the Roxy now, I have met a lot
[00:29:08] of people like younger, like college students, film students, that kind of thing. And I follow a few of them in letterbox. They follow me. We have like, we're mutuals, all that kind of stuff. It's been really interesting to see them watching jaws for the first time because a lot of them are like 18, 19 years old. At this point, I, I had seen jaws a million times. Yeah. You know, that's wild. Uh, and I would see like people who, uh, you know, I, I are, are huge movie geeks who like really love movies who were like watch jaws for the first time in like 2022.
[00:29:38] And, you know, gave it like a four and a half or a five star review and being like, yeah, this is the best movie ever made. Yeah. I don't know. It's just one of those things that we could all like universally agree on jaws. What a picture. Great movie. Yeah. Well, it's one of those things I sort of talked about on like a Mike, uh, maybe in the last year or so. I mean, we talk about it a lot, you know, like within re in reference to like Lawrence of Arabia and stuff like that. Well, where it's like for that, we're waiting to see it on a big screen, but also just like, yeah, I know this is one of the biggest, best movies ever. I'll see it eventually. Like, you know, like when a movie hits that status.
[00:30:08] Sometimes it loses the like imperative of like, I need to see this right now. Yeah. Kind of thing. Cause like, you know, it's just the generally accepted perfect movie and like, yeah, I'll get to it. But when you do finally get to it and you just like get to experience the like euphoria of like, yes, this is one of the best movies ever made and confirm all that. It's, it's a lot of fun. Yeah. And that's also, I think an interesting thing because you know what, a lot of times when you get to that conversation of what are the best movies of all time?
[00:30:32] Uh, it's going to be movies like, you know, Citizen Kane, uh, John Dielman, uh, you got that was Vertigo, Vertigo, right? Like those like big movies in like the, uh, you know, the art house cannon are like generally kind of thrown out there. 2001 Space Odyssey, all that kind of stuff. Right. Uh, and Jaws is a perfectly crafted, well-made movie. Uh, that just happens to be like a riotous summer blockbuster. Uh, yeah. Sort of invented the blockbuster, right? Is what I essentially. Yeah. Yeah. Essentially, uh, invented the blockbuster there.
[00:31:02] There had certainly been like thrillers before Jaws, but none that were like on the scale of the rollout of this movie. This movie played, uh, you know, got a wider release than any other movie had in history. I think like, uh, on launch day, day one. Right. Right. Uh, cause that at that time before that, you know, not now if a movie opens, it opens in theaters everywhere and then that's it. Uh, and sometimes if it's, if it's, you know, if it's a smaller studio, smaller movie, it'd do a limited release and then kind of do that whole thing. But that used to be every movie that like the limited release and then kind of expand
[00:31:30] to other places was every movie or like move from town to town or something like that. And Jaws was like one of the first ones that like, oh, this is playing in as many theaters as it possibly can. This opening weekend, Rocky came out a year later and then Star Wars came out a year after that and it just kind of snowballed into the eighties where like, okay, the, the summer blockbuster is a thing now because of the precedent set by Jaws and Star Wars. Yeah. I mean, and to sort of go off cause you mentioned Rocky made me think of the thing we've been talking about with all the seventies movies, happy ending. It's got it. It's one of those movies. Yeah.
[00:32:00] Yes. Uh, absolutely. It's, it's a movie where the audience feels like they won, uh, at the, at the end of Jaws, uh, even though, you know, Quint does die. So there is that too. But I think, I think, you know, one of, one of those three guys had to die. Right. Yeah. I think so. But yeah, it's, it's not like French connection where it was all for nothing. You know, it's funny just cause we're talking about the ending a little bit. I always forget that Hooper is actually like, I always remember him disappearing like with the shark cage and all that and him swimming off behind the rock. Yeah.
[00:32:29] And then being out of the movie for 45 minutes. Um, but he's maybe gone five minutes. Yeah. That's the very end of the movie. Yeah. I always remember it happening so much earlier and there being so, I mean like plot wise so much happens in those final 10 minutes or whatever, you know, with the square off with the shark. But, um, I always remember him being like, yeah, it's so weird that Hooper just disappears with the back half of the movie. Yes. You know, you know, what's really funny actually too, watching it this time around, it related to that scene. So we always talk about how there's like, Oh, the big jump scare in Jaws, uh, which
[00:32:58] we only good jump scare. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the only good jump scare, but it's, it's a jump scare that like still gets me almost every time I watch it, but I always forget about exactly where it is. Yeah. Uh, you know, and then this time around, I was like, all right, I'm stealing myself with the jump stare. I know it's going to be there. Right. Like I, like I always forget about it or I always forget exactly where it is this time. Okay. Hooper's going in the water. He's seeing the boat. That face is going to come out, uh, and all that kind of stuff. Uh, so I, I knew exactly where it was going to be this time. However, the sting that accompanies, it still got me.
[00:33:26] Uh, it's just like, it's like a screech on the, on the soundtrack. Well, Hooper also screams. Yes. And it's like, it makes it an extra level of scary. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Uh, but so that, that scene happened and I was like, okay, I know where that's happening. But then at the very end of the movie, when Hooper's in the cage, I completely forgot the shark comes up behind him. Yeah. It's a sneaky shark. Shark swims past him and he's like, you know, trying to get the thing ready and the shark bumps the cage behind him.
[00:33:57] Perfectly crafted movie. And that, and that is, I think the benefit of waiting a few years to, uh, to rewatch it. It's just like, okay, stuff's a little like a little bit as like, I know the movie very well, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Like these minor things like kind of leave your brain after a little while and then you get to rewatch it and like, it feels new again, uh, which is the fun stuff. And also, I mean, one of the things about jaws that, uh, you know, keeps it relevant today, everything surrounding the mayor just feels more true with every passing year. Every passing second.
[00:34:24] I mean, that's the thing, you know, when, uh, when COVID happened, you know, in 2020, uh, jaws got a lot of play. Like jaws became one of those movies that like would play at drive-ins in during COVID because it was like, oh, here's a popular movie that people will go see in the drive-in and they did. It was one of those like summers where like, oh, Hey, jaws and Jurassic park are back on top of the chart, which was a weird one. But, uh, there was a lot of discussion about jaws in 2020 and being like, yeah, I, I used
[00:34:51] to think the mayor keeping the beaches open, despite all the evidence around him that says like, Hey, you got to close the beaches. There's shark, there's a shark attack in the shark attacking people. Uh, I used to think that was like a little bit far-fetched and now like seeing how politicians are responding to COVID it's, it feels more true now. I don't know. Like I, like I think a new generation started embracing jaws like for that aspect. It is so crazy. Yeah. That this used to seem like a outlandish caricature of like capitalist greed. Um, yeah.
[00:35:18] And now it is just factually true, you know, and I guess probably always has been, um, but uh, yeah, yeah, it's crazy. And even now seeing stuff, uh, with certain states and cities and things trying to ban masks and it's just like, like outright ban them. Right. New York's trying to do that, isn't it? Yeah. Fucking love living in a democratic state with a democratic governor. Uh, that's very fun. Love that for me. Yeah. Yeah. Hochul is trying to, uh, ban public ban mask wearing on public transit and at protests,
[00:35:48] which is clearly just, uh, you know, the police state. So that's fun. Love that for us. Right. And, uh, and also the mayor in jaws probably would have supported it. You know? Yes. I think one of my favorite, uh, like things about like reacting to COVID, like was, there was some tweet about it or, uh, I think the most damning thing about, uh, jaws, uh, and the jaws mayor specifically is that in jaws too, he's still the mayor. Uh, he has not been ousted from public office or he must've been reelected.
[00:36:19] Yeah. Yeah. Cause he's acting in the town's best interest, you know? Right. He it's an, it's a summertime. We did summer dollars jaws. What a picture. Uh, it's great. Roy Scheider is the star of it. Yes. He plays, uh, uh, chief Brody. Uh, and yeah, well, I mean, what do you think of our shadow in this movie? He's really good. Huh? You know, he's like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. He's great. Um, but I think, I think it is fascinating to think about it in the context of the previous, you know, 11 episodes or 12 episodes or whatever.
[00:36:47] We sort of talked about this, I think maybe actually last episode, um, where she was a Sheilavine episode. She was it? Yeah. Like the Sheilavine, uh, connection between this and between it with jaws where you see the sort of softening of the hard man image that he, uh, had been in the last couple movies. And that really just starts like right down to the, the, his, his introduction, right? When he's like getting out of bed and he's doing the, you parked the car down in the yard, whatever I forget in the, by the boat, whatever. Uh, and he's just like kind of sleepy and he's with his wife and he's, he's all, he's in such a rush.
[00:37:17] Two scenes in a row. He walks out with a towel still over his shoulder. Like when he leaves the house, he's still got the dish towel. And then when he leaves the police office, the police station, he's still got the towel like this, whatever, uh, over his, around his neck. Um, and she's like, man, what a, he's just a harried guy, you know? Yeah. I mean, uh, obviously I've been watching this movie for years, uh, and have been a big fan of Ray Scheider as Brody for a long time, but I was watching it like kind of honing in on his performance and what he's doing in this movie.
[00:37:43] Uh, and I did think, um, him being a, a New York city cop who, uh, left that life behind so that he can kind of be the chief of this small like island town is really interesting within the context of the previous movies that we've talked about. Roy Scheider might be one of the most like New York city actors. Oh, maybe. Of all time, you know? Yeah. A hundred percent. Uh, and so having like this care, this guy who, uh, you know, is best known at this point for being in the French connection, uh, for being that like kind of hard boiled New York city cop.
[00:38:11] Uh, and I think the fact that he played New York city cops a couple of times before jaws, uh, where he's doing it in French connection, he's doing it in the, in the seven ups, uh, to have that actor in this role where he's like, you know, he's more of a family man. He's a much, is much more softened guy. Uh, and he has this monologue. He, he talks to, uh, Richard Dreyfuss about, uh, you know, how, uh, in Amity, you know, one man can make a difference back in New York. You know, you can be working and working nonstop, do all these things. And, uh, you know, nothing ever changes, all that kind of stuff.
[00:38:41] It's like, he lived the plot of the seven ups and he's now like, all right, I can't do this anymore. I got to retire with my family. Yeah. Yeah. He's, you know, you got to walk the kids, you got to walk the kids to school in the morning and pick them up because they can't walk home alone. And, and there hasn't been a murder or mugging on Amity in 25 years. Did you know that 25 years? Right. Yeah. Yeah. He's, he's, he's, um, world weary, but like, uh, it's, it's so interesting that he's, he is like so composed in that first half when it's the like sort of, you know, quote unquote
[00:39:10] murder investigation of a shark or whatever. Right. Yeah. Um, but then he's portrayed in the such like a, such like a bumbling land lover on the boat and like, doesn't know what he's doing. He can't tie the knots, all that stuff. I love that. Like that city boy thing. Um, and it really, I think, uh, undercuts the maybe like tough guy image stuff that he might be trying to portray. Cause like, you know, when you, when I noticed it a lot this time when the Chrissy's remains are found in the beginning, the deputy on the Island, like it's almost throwing up to like college kid doesn't know where to look.
[00:39:40] And Roy Scheider is just like stone faced. Like he's seen this before he knows what's going on. Um, and he's like, right, right away. We've got to close the beaches. He's typing up the filing system, you know, yelling at the secretary cause the filing system, right. All that stuff. He's ready to go. And it's, it's really, he's in, he's in the zone then. Uh, but once he gets on the boat, he's out of his element and he doesn't know what to do. I thought that, I don't know. It's good stuff. He's very much, uh, Simon Pegg and hot fuzz. I guess a hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, except, except like he's voluntarily there, right?
[00:40:07] Like he's, you know, where he's, uh, you know, this big city cop, he's, you know, a superstar cop or whatever. And like, he's very good at what he does, but he moves to the small town where there's just no crime. Uh, and, and the second something does happen, he's trying to do something about it. Uh, but it's kind of just being like, you know, barricaded by all sides, but just like the incompetency of the mayor and the incompetency of the rest of the police force. I mean, the rest of the police force is one guy, I think. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's just the other guy until they get those summer deputies on, um, they're alone. Yeah.
[00:40:37] And he's, he's not an Islander, so they don't accept him. Right. They keep, you know, they keep undercutting him and everything he does every turn. And yeah, I think it all, it all plays so convincingly through Shiders for Forbans. Like you, you, you, you get all that stuff with his tough guy background, uh, but without having them to like turn to the camera and explain it to you necessarily. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And so, and then he kind of like loosens up the more the movie goes on. And I mean, basically once he gets drunk with Hooper, you know, which is a, such a great scene. I love the perfect scene in a movie ever. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:41:04] Cause at, at this point, uh, you know, they, they think they caught the shark and then there's, but there's doubts in their mind because it's a tiger shark. It's not a great white. And the bite radius is different than that, than that on Chrissy. Uh, and at that moment, uh, Alex Kittner's mom shows up and slaps Brody and like chastises him for, you know, not closing the beaches, even though he knew there was a shark out there, you know, it's, it's really the mayor's fault, but he takes it on himself, you know, and he, he shoulders that guilt and he goes home and he's just, you know, broken and downhearted.
[00:41:30] And, uh, you know, we, we talked about this scene, I think last week on the podcast, but, uh, you know, he has that scene, uh, with his son where the son's kind of like imitating him and like, you know, putting his face in his hands and then doing like the scary face and all that kind of stuff. And it's such a, a tender heartwarming scene with Ellen watching in the background. Um, and then Hooper shows up. There's such a great, like dry sense of humor to the Brody character. Uh, you know, one of my favorite exchanges in the movie, uh, is when Ellen is talking to Hooper and he's like, Oh, well Martin, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't go in the
[00:42:00] water. He has this fear. What is it like, what's it called? Drowning. Yeah. I think there's a technical name for it. Yes. Drowning. And then just keeps going. Um, yeah, you know, he's pouring himself the wine and he just pours like the entire bottle into his glass. Like, yeah. Yeah. He's using like a regular water glass. He fills it up. Yeah. And then the button on that scene is very fun too. When, when they're like, uh, I say we have one more drink and then we go down and cut that, that fish open and see what's inside. And Ellen's like, can you do that? He's like, I could do anything. I'm the chief of police.
[00:42:29] And then just like fade to them at the, at the Harbor or whatever. It's good stuff, man. Yeah. Yeah. So good. And I think the, uh, the bond that happens between, uh, Scheider and Dreyfuss in this movie, especially is, uh, one of the best parts about it too. I mean, their, their relationship is so fun. And I think, uh, you know, him being somebody who is on the Island sort of voluntarily, like he wanted to get his family out of the city and away from like the danger that is kind of surrounding it there. But, you know, is kind of bored by his new job there and isn't really comfortable being
[00:42:56] like on an Island, uh, which also great line of dialogue. It's only an Island. If you look at it from the water, that makes a lot of sense. Um, uh, and then Hooper, who is, you know, a college, like college graduates, um, you know, a rich kid who, um, you know, that's kind of meant like briefly, mentioned once, but he's from the oceanographic Institute. He loves sharks. He like loves like learning about them, love studying them, but is like very serious about the danger they present, uh, and the danger that, uh, the shark, the shark is bringing.
[00:43:23] Uh, and then you also have a Quint who's the, the man's man that wants to go out there himself, but, uh, because it's Brody's a charter, he's the one who is calling the shot. He gets to come. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's, it's such a perfect pairing. I think of, uh, you know, you kind of have like the, the rich boy, like you were just saying the rich boy, Hooper college boy stuff, the, the working stiff guy in Quint and, and Brody kind of in between, right? They kind of, the full spectrum with the, across the three of them. I think that's kind of interesting too. Usually cops are generally portrayed as like also working men stiff, just like in,
[00:43:53] in, in media and like as blue collar stuff. Yeah. Um, so yeah, it's, he's kind of this, he's got glasses. I don't know. It's like this, he's like this weird in between he's got, uh, he's got to take the Dramamine so he doesn't get most seasick. And you can see that too. I love the, of course, you know, the, the famous comparing the scars scene on the boat, uh, where we're Hooper and Quint finally, Quint finally acknowledges Hooper has been through it also. You've got all these scars to prove it. Um, and then, and then that, that one cutaway to, to Brody just looking down at his appendix
[00:44:22] for scar and that he just doesn't say anything. It's amazing. Wow. Chef's kiss. Yes. Yeah. So good. I also love, uh, there's a moment there when they're all drinking and they're all like, you know, singing together and they're doing show me the way to go home. And like, you know, then they all kind of join in and Scheider's joining in there. Uh, when the shark like hits the boats, like when it like knocks into it, Quint's the first one to notice, uh, that it's doing that. And then Dreyfuss also like immediately is like, Oh shit. And Scheider like keeps doing the song for like an extra second or two.
[00:44:52] Yeah. Show me the way it like doesn't notice it. Oh, it's so good. Yeah. I mean, every time we could do that for every scene in the movie. So maybe. Oh man. So good. Remember that part where it's like that Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney. Uh, right. Yeah. It was so cool. That was so awesome. Yeah. So good. That's why like, you know, Steven Spielberg, one of my, uh, directing heroes, I would never want to meet him because that would be exactly how the conversation would. Yeah. It's like, I remember when you made minority report. It's pretty awesome. That was cool.
[00:45:22] Yeah. So yeah. Scheider is amazing in this. And I'd say it's a, it makes total sense that, that Spielberg would be like afraid he'd be too tough, you know, uh, to, to play this character and he, to, he calibrates it just right. You know? Yeah. No, I think he, he brings a lot of warmth to the character, um, which I think you can start to see in Sheila Levine, uh, which we watched last week. Um, but yeah, I think even just between the, uh, you know, the relationship between, uh, he and Ellen, um, which is not like, uh, the forefront of the movie or anything, but, uh, you know, Ellen is like a, you know, a solid character who would like that gets a couple of good lines.
[00:45:51] And, uh, there's, you know, they, they seem to have a very like good loving relationship, uh, between the two of them. Uh, and there's, you know, the one scene where, you know, she's like, just like kind of laying in his lap. It's like, Oh, you want to get drunk and fool around? Yeah. Yeah. There's a flirtatiousness to it. That is really fun. Yeah. They have like a healthy relationship, uh, which is why it's crazy that she has an affair in the book. Um, I don't really remember what the, what the relationship is with the book, but, um,
[00:46:18] between the Brodies, I mean, but, um, yeah, I think about that scene all the time. It's just like a normal, real couple moment. She just like, he's reading this book. He's all frantic, you know, these, like with these medical shark attack pictures and stuff and she hands him the, the whiskey or brandy or whatever. And it was just like, you want to get drunk and fool around? Like, I don't know. I just feel so like real. Yeah. Yeah. Married relationships in movies. And I think that's something that Spielberg does very well, um, in jaws.
[00:46:47] I think you get that with, uh, Laura Dern and, uh, Sam Neill and Jurassic Park. Uh, and also, I mean, this is a movie he produced and direct, but poltergeist, uh, Craig T. Nelson and Joe Beth Williams, maybe my favorite movie couple of all time. Uh, because they're, I don't know, you, you get a real sense of like who they are as people and how chill they are. I mean, literally chill. They're smoking weed in their bed. Uh, reading the biography of Reagan. Yeah. Classic. Yes. All that stuff. Um, so I think that is something that like Spielberg has done a very good job of throughout his career.
[00:47:17] Um, in addition to, you know, he's, I think it likes to explore, uh, adult relationships, uh, a lot of the time, like in their relationship with children, especially like, you know, divorced parents are a, are a big thing in, uh, Spielberg's, uh, career because of his own parents' divorce, which has been, uh, documented on many times, including, uh, in the movie, The Fableman's, which Steven Spielberg directed. Yes. Uh, which, uh, have you ever seen, did you ever watch The Fableman's, Mike? I never got around to it, no. Man, you should watch it. It's really great. Um, and, and I think like almost once you watch The Fableman's, it like, I feel like
[00:47:45] now that I, anytime I rewatch a Spielberg movie, I'm like, I'm constantly like going back to The Fableman's and being, and like thinking about it through that context. Yeah. Which is really fun. Um, but, uh, yeah, I love their relationship. Uh, and yeah, so we should talk about Spielberg a little bit as well. Just his, uh, like the direction of this movie. So many good things. So many good things to say. It's good. It's a good movie. Um, yeah. Yeah. I mean, one of the things I noticed too, of course, all the like hidden Spielberg one-ers, you know, that are in a lot of the, like throughout, obviously like the, I think
[00:48:14] the famous one is like the, on the ferry where they like tell them like, you know, you got to amend your reports or whatever. I never noticed that's a one-er for a thousand watches of this movie. Um, but there's just a bunch of things like that. In particular at the hospital at the end when, or not at the end, I guess it's more like the middle when, uh, the mayor Larry finally signs the waiver, uh, or whatever the charts, a charter Quint. That's that whole thing is like one take where they, they bring, uh, Michael, I think the
[00:48:41] son by on a, on a hospital bed into a room and he's got a shock, hands his son to Ellen and walks into the, down the hallway and finds Larry. Like, yeah, it's like that, that whole thing is like one long take one long scene. And there might be like a couple of cuts in there, but it's basically one long shot. Um, I was like, wow, holy shit. You never, I never noticed that before. I think it's so funny that those are the two examples that you, uh, brought up because I didn't take that many notes when watching jaws this time. Cause I was like, you know, I've seen jaws a million times, but I did make a specific note of the ferry scene and that scene with the mayor.
[00:49:11] Incredible. That's amazing. Uh, because yeah, I think Spielberg is somebody who, uh, is well known for doing these kind of very long takes, uh, but not drawing attention to them. Like he doesn't like, you know, it's not like, um, an Alfonso Cuaron long take, which are also impressive and like huge, but like the, like the appeal of them is that they are the long take. Right. Uh, and with Spielberg, I feel like they're almost like, they're so casual. You don't even notice that it's happening. Like you're halfway through and you realize like, oh, they've cut in the last two minutes. Like, yeah.
[00:49:38] Well, I think the thing that makes it so impressive is there's multiple like setups or shots or whatever going on within the, like it'll start in this long, like a wide shot or whatever, and then slowly close into a medium to his, to a closeup and the, and this whole thing. So there's the, the like shot is dynamic and stuff. So you don't, you like, he's just cutting basically he's doing editing within the single take, uh, just with where the camera is going. Uh, yes. And so you don't even notice it until you're like, wait a second, hold on. Yeah.
[00:50:05] And, uh, now, and again, having in a post Fableman's world, uh, there's a, there's a scene in the Fableman's when like, you know, 16 year old Spielberg is like making a home movie and he's making a war movie. Uh, and he's like presenting it to, uh, like an audience that people are into it and all that kind of stuff. And he's talking to his dad afterwards and his dad is like, well, how did you make the, uh, the screen like flash like that? Because, uh, you know, like there's like gunshots in the movie and every time that would happen, like a flash would happen on screen. Uh, and you know, it's the fifties or sixties or whatever. It's like tough to do on a 60 millimeter camera, you know?
[00:50:35] And like kid Spielberg, like very excitedly, like I poked holes in the film, uh, so you can do that. Uh, which is such like a fun, like inventive thing. Uh, and I'm picturing like doing these like wonder takes, I'm picturing, you know, 25 year old Spielberg, just like giddily doing that. Yeah. Yeah. Just like very excited about it. Uh, when the reality of it is probably him being like, Jesus Christ, that shark's still not working. Right. Well, I think there's one, there's one in particular, um, one moment where I'm like,
[00:51:03] this has gotta be because the shark wasn't working, which is most of it. No. But, um, the scene in the pond with Michael, this, the, when his friends on the boat, they get knocked out of their little sailboat thing. And then you see the shark come up under the water and bite that the like guy that was trying to help them. And you see, you see the leg fall down, which is incredible. PG movie. Um, um, and then the camera buzzes Michael as he's treading water and you're like, Oh, that's gotta be because we can't, the shark doesn't work. We can't show the shark buzz him.
[00:51:32] We have to just have the camera fly past his head. Right. Which I don't know if that's true. Like it just feels like it. Yeah. And that, when that you see that shark in that moment, that is like your first real, glimpse of the shark in the movie. Yeah. And it's like through the water, it's not even out of the water. It's just kind of like through it. Just in the depths. Yeah. And, uh, that, that is a really good, scary moment. Like it's, it's a really intense, like, Oh my God, that's the shark. Uh, and then you don't even really get to see it again until they're out in the orca. Right. Like when they're out in the boat. Yeah. And, and then I love the payoff to that too. Right.
[00:52:01] So they, you see that, that, uh, guy's leg float down to the bottom of the pond. And then when they pull Michael out of the water at the end of that scene, um, they spend, they, they, they hold the reveal of his legs still being attached for so long. Um, I don't know if like, uh, they like pulling them out and you don't see him, they're dragging and they're dragging him and people keep getting in the way until the camera finally like swings out to the, to the edge of the shore. Uh, and you see that he still has both his legs and you're like, Oh God, tension. Yes.
[00:52:29] And I, I love how that scene, you know, that, that is after, uh, the little Kintner boy has died. Uh, Alex Kintner, uh, has been killed. Uh, and so they closed the beach for 24 hours. Uh, and then they reopened the beach because it's three weeks. Yeah. Sorry. No. Yeah. I mean, we have to mention it. Uh, my, my favorite bit of ADR in any film ever, uh, is the, uh, the town hall scene where, uh, you know, they're Brody's like, we're going to close the beaches. Uh, and everybody's like murmuring like, what? You can't do that. And then Murray Hamilton's like only 24 hours, only 24 hours.
[00:52:59] And then you hear one like girl in the background go 24 hours is like three weeks. It's so funny. Cause it's the only clear line of dialogue that comes out of that seat, like out of that crowd noise. Yes. It's, it's so funny. Uh, and it's so good. I love that. I love that line. But yeah. And so they've, they've reopened the beach. It's 4th of July weekend. It's packed, but nobody's going in the water. Yep. And, uh, you know, the mayor is like desperate to get people in the water, uh, which if I was the mayor, I got people out on the beach.
[00:53:29] I don't know. They're already here. We already got their summer dollars. Like already got, already got the money. What do we care if we go in the water and if they go in the water or not? And I also questioned the logic of everybody who went to the beach, but was scared to go in the water because of the show. Like why did they go? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, and, and I love the, well, those people have been in the water for five seconds, so it must be safe. It's okay now. Yeah. It's just the masses all go in. Yeah. Uh, and then Scheider's like, listen, tell Michael to go in the pond, like the pond, like near the beach. Yeah.
[00:53:59] Uh, because like that's, that's where it'll be safe. It's so shallow over there. The shark won't ever go there. Uh, and of course that's where the shark goes. After the hoax of the kids with the cardboard. Oh, it's everything. Boy, who cried wolf? We got it all in this movie, baby. Yeah. So everybody's like run out of there and the point of view shot from the kids, like lifting up the shark thing and just seeing like a team of people pointing guns at them. Yeah. Yeah. Immediately sells out his brother. He made me do it. Yes. Uh, but then somebody sees the shark fin in the distance going towards the pond and, uh, is shouting and shouting, but nobody can hear them because everybody, there's
[00:54:28] so much commotion on the beach at the moment. Uh, then Scheider finally hears there and it's of course my, and Helen's like, Michael's in the pond and they run over. I was going to bring that up. That's such a great character moment too. Cause he's, so they, they finally hear this lady who's yelling like, shark in the pond or whatever, whatever she's selling. And he's like, Oh great. And he's like kicking rocks or whatever, you know, like he's like, here we go. And Ellen like stops him and says like, Michael's in the pond. And there's a moment where he pauses and then he starts to walk and then he starts to jog and then he starts to sprint.
[00:54:58] And it's like, well, like that is, I don't know. It's such a tiny, little, tiny little detail that like he, he, he's processing all this, uh, and then realizes what a panic this is. Yeah. There's so much going through his head, both, uh, because, you know, his son's in danger. I mean, you know, people are in danger than his son's in danger. Also, he's the one who told Michael to go to the pond. Right. Yeah. What a movie. Yeah. So, so many layers to this. It's, it's incredible. Um, uh, yeah. Also a couple other quick, uh, other scenes I wanted to bring attention to the quince
[00:55:26] introduction scene, uh, which is in the town hall right after the famous line, 24 hours is like three weeks. I think what really struck me about quince intro this time, you know, there's so much commotion going on and there's a big reward out for the shark. $3,000. If you, uh, capture the shark that Mrs. Kintner put out in the paper and not just our paper, she put it out in like all the neighboring papers also. Uh, so fishermen are coming in from all over to try to catch the shark. And then quince does the whole, you know, hand on the chalkboard scratching all, all that kind of stuff. And everybody's ears, all that.
[00:55:53] And he opens his speech by saying, y'all know me, know how I earn a living. And here's the thing at this point, this is the first time we've ever seen quince. Like this is the first time we've ever seen him as an audience. Yeah. As an audience. And the second he says that I'm like, I do know what he does. Yeah. I don't know. I can, it's a, even though like I have the extra knowledge of having seen jaws a million times and knowing what Quint does for a living. Uh, I feel like I immediately know who Quint is. The second he says, y'all know who I am.
[00:56:23] Yeah. It's like, yeah, I do. And the best part is he's taken the time to draw the shark eating the man, uh, the little stick figure guy on the chalkboard behind him. Uh, yes. Good stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's wild. And I, I think I've known, I've never really noticed or thought about is that, that, uh, Quint has like an Igor character. Yes. I was thought about that watching it this time too. Actually, uh, there's a guy who follows Quint out of the room. Yeah. And let's walk in his dog and he's there at the end when they're getting ready to like leave on their charter. Yeah.
[00:56:53] He's like, yeah. Putting stuff on the boat. Yeah. Who's that guy? I have no idea. Love him. What is the inner life of this character? Um, yeah. Yeah. But that's the thing. There's so many like small details in this movie that really make it feel like a very lived in world. Part of that is just cause it's the guy, the people at Martha's Vineyard who are just around and then could be there. Yeah. I think one of the, the best scenes about with that, uh, effect also is the scene when Hooper first arrived and it's, it's when the ad has gone out and, uh, there's like all the insanity in the Harbor of the boats trying to get out at the
[00:57:21] same time and, and there's the moment where, where Hooper shows up and he gets off the boat and he's like, hello to that giant dude. Who's just like, hello back. Uh, I don't like, I don't understand that guy rules that, that, that moment is incredible. And yeah, that, and that whole scene in general, like, yeah, that, I mean the introduction of Hooper is so great too. Uh, it's so funny, um, because it's, it's, there's so much chaos of like all the fishermen, like, you know, getting their stuff together. We're going to go out, we're going to catch this shark. Uh, and meanwhile, Hooper is just like trying to find Brody, trying to figure out where he is.
[00:57:49] And, uh, there's so many like kind of back and forth of like, uh, you know, Hey, uh, any guys can tell me where to get a restaurant around here? Like, yeah, walk straight ahead. Like over the, over the pier and it's like, Oh, they're all going to die. Yeah. Uh, you know, that's the thing. I really love Richard Dreyfuss in this movie. Uh, I'm really glad that it's not a Richard Dreyfuss season of the podcast based on recent events that have happened in real life. Yeah, for sure. Um, I don't, I didn't even look at what he said, but I know it was supposedly very bad. Um, yeah.
[00:58:15] I think the lesson for that is like, stop asking 87 year old dudes about stuff, you know? Yeah. I mean that, that really does seem to be like, why bring this up to them? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I actually know the context of what, what other than he said some like transphobic stuff or something, I think. Yeah. Well, I think it was like at a screening of jaws, like he, like people were about, and like Richard Dreyfuss was going to, going to like do an intro and like do a Q and a afterwards or something. Uh, and I'm not even sure what prompted it. Uh, but yeah.
[00:58:42] And I'm not exactly sure what happened because I kind of just saw the gist of it, but it seemed like he like came out and did like a bunch of transphobic stuff. Uh, and like doing a comedy bit, like what is happening? And like half the audience left. Cause they were like, well, this is kind of putting a damper on my jaws screen. Yikes. Uh, so yeah. Unfortunate that, uh, that that happened. However, Richard Dreyfuss, really great in jaws. Very good in 1975. Yes. Uh, yeah. And I think he is, uh, his energy is so unique to the rest of the town of Amity, uh, and
[00:59:11] kind of makes him like pop as a more memorable character. I don't know. He's a really goofy character. It's really like, like you forget how goofy Hooper is. I think until he's like making faces at Quint. Uh, I'm not going to have to take this much longer. I think of that all the time. I work every day. Just like, which is one of those things where it's like, that has to be a reference to something. And I have to like look up what that reference is. Gotta be doing a bit. Yeah. Uh, according to IMDb, he's imitating, uh, WC Fields, probably a more, I mean, that's a, you know, a thirties, forties actor who's imitating.
[00:59:40] Uh, and now we're watching a movie from the seventies. So I don't know. It would be like doing a Richard Dreyfuss impression today. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So today's youth, right? He's a bit further. We're further away now. Um, we are further away from jaws than jaws was from WC Fields. Yes, that's true. Oh yeah. I also just in terms of things I think about all the time. Um, well, no. Okay. We'll go back to Richard Dreyfuss and his stuff. Cause he's great in this. I, I do think about the scene when it's after the Ben Gardner jump scare.
[01:00:06] Uh, and there he's, they're talking to the mayor and he's telling him, I had this tooth and I, but you don't have the tooth now. Right. And the whole thing, he dropped it. Uh, you just, you'd love that. Wouldn't you love it? Get your name in the national geographic or whatever. And, um, he's so mad. Yeah. The, the way he says, uh, the way Hooper says to Brody, like, I'm not going to take this or whatever. I'm not going to listen to a guy who's lining up to be a hot lunch. And he like walks out of the scene. I don't know. It's very, very funny. Yeah.
[01:00:34] Shider's kind of able to calm him down and be like, kind of bring him back. Like, listen, like we need to work with this guy. Yeah. And that whole scene is, I think is one shot also. Cause it starts with them just like off on the side and the reveal of the billboard with the graffiti on it is very funny. Um, and then, and then just the way they perfectly are blocked. I mean, Spielberg's, you know, like a perfect talent, um, of blocking the scenes that they all end up like spaced just right. So you can still see the shark fin and the girl screaming face, uh, in the background in between them standing there.
[01:01:04] And you can see a guy like on a ladder in the background kind of getting up there to try to paint it. Yeah. Yeah. Trying to paint it or whatever. Uh, yeah, it's, it's so good. And I love, you know, the mayor is more pissed off about that, about the vandalism than he is the shark attacks. Yes. Yeah. At least outwardly. He's like telling Brody like this, this is what you guys should be concentrating on. I want these hoodlums packed in and strung up by their Buster Browns. It's a public defacement of a public service message or whatever it is. Yeah. Yeah.
[01:01:31] And like there's trying to talk to the mayor and nothing's happening and nothing's getting through to him. Uh, you know, he's just solely focused on like, bringing in those summer dollars because Amity is a summer town. If we don't have that town's going to go under, uh, and going to be on welfare for the winter. Right. And you know, if we, if we close the beaches today, maybe we can save August and like August isn't good enough. We got, this is 4th of July weekend. This is the biggest weekend of the summer. I think I had forgotten how impactful the scene is that we talked about. Uh, just, we kind of referenced earlier, but the scene with the mayor in the hospital after
[01:01:58] the shark has attacked the pond and you know, uh, Brody's kids in the hospital, uh, the mayor is like visibly very shaken up. Uh, his kids were on that beach too. Yeah. He's yeah. My kids were on that beach too. And he's, he's so like, you know, taken aback by everything. And like, I think there is a genuine like feeling of like, Oh God, what have I done? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think Brody, uh, uh, yeah. Brody even says like mumbling to himself, like maybe we can save August and Brody's like August, you're the mayor of shark city now.
[01:02:26] Um, you know, uh, it's summer's over. Um, and you know, but he's like, like going over a campaign speech in his head, which I never thought about like, uh, just too. It must've worked. Cause he's like, I was, I was acting in the town's best interest. He's like rehearsing to himself what he's going to say to the press and issue his statement or whatever. Um, and that's how Brody just like, he's in, he's like catatonic basically, you know, he's just, he's not paying attention. He just signs the thing that Brody hands him to charter Quint. And then I think last episode or recently, I forget recently I said, and then it turns
[01:02:56] into a pirate movie, but I meant to say swashbuckling, right? Because once they get on the boat, once they get on the Orca, the score changes completely. It just becomes man against the ocean. And we never cut back to any of the other characters. It's always, we're just like, we're with Brody Hooper and Quint for the rest of the movie. And that's it. There is a moment where, uh, Ellen Brody tries to call on the PA. Well, but we don't even hear, we don't hear Quint answers. And, uh, it's like, Oh yeah, husband's fine. He'll be home for dinner.
[01:03:26] And like, like caught a bunch of stripers. We're bringing them in for dinner. So you gotta go. He slams the radio down. Yeah. Uh, incredible. Yeah. And so you're really just like with those three characters. And so, I mean, even though that's only like, it's like the last 40 minutes of the movie, maybe you're right. Like something like that. Uh, it's not like a tremendously long amount of time, but it really feels like half. Yeah, exactly. But it really feels like you, you're like stuck with these characters, like for like the last part of this movie. Uh, and you're kind of watching them kind of go a little bit insane, like being around
[01:03:53] each other and like all, all the conflicts to kind of like these three very different personality types that are kind of clashing, but also the way they kind of like bond as the, uh, as the adventure goes on a little bit. Uh, and Scheider, especially, I think it's a lot of great moments. I think the moment when he finally ties the knot correctly, he's so excited. And, and, and the, and the filmmaking chops or whatever, the decision to have him go, Hey, I got it.
[01:04:19] As soon as the reel gets taken by the, by the shark is just like amazing. That's so great. And there's just moments that are like really like they could, they couldn't have possibly planned this, but watching the, watching this time, I was like, Oh, Hey, a shooting scar, a shooting star went across the sky. This one shot where like you're looking at Brody and it's like kind of up. Cool. I think, I think if I remember right, and this might be some weird apocryphal thing, if I'm not, I can't a hundred percent confirm. Cause I also have a Blu-ray and I probably could have watched some of the making stuff, but I didn't. One of them is real.
[01:04:48] Cause I think there's two shooting stars and then they added a second one to, cause they thought it was cool. Cause they were like, Oh shit, we caught a shooting star in the back of the scene. Uh, and so they added a set. There's, I think it's the one when it's Brody and Hooper are talking and it goes behind them. I think that's the real one. And then there's one, there's a wide shot of just the orca on the sea and there's another one that goes by. And I think that's the fake one. Okay. Well, the shot I'm talking about, it's, it's Brody. Like the camera's like just looking at Brody, I think. And, uh, it's, yeah, you see a shooting star across the sky, but I had, uh, I had forgotten
[01:05:16] about that or never noticed it before, but it was, it was pretty cool. It was neat. It made me believe in a magical world. A hundred percent where there's 25 foot great white sharks. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I mean that, that whole rest of the movie is essentially just that. Uh, and you're watching these guys kind of bond and also kind of drive each other a little crazy. Uh, but, uh, yeah, then you get to the scar scene, you get to Quint's, uh, big speech, uh, the, the iconic monologue where he, uh, does the USS Indianapolis speech, uh, which of course, uh, this movie is a sequel to, uh, the Nicholas Cage film, USS Indianapolis
[01:05:45] men of courage from 2016. That's right. Yeah. It's two, two different seasons. How can we connect Michelle Yotis to Jeff? Oh, we got to find it. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Connected to Jeff Goldblum with Nashville. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and we've talked about Jurassic Park a couple of times here too, actually. Um, I, I feel like I have not listened back to that episode. It's been a long time since we've done the USS Indianapolis episode. I think most of that episode was just talking about jaws. Like, I think we just ended up talking about jaws, right? Yeah. I think we ultimately were like, this movie is not good.
[01:06:14] Just watch that one scene from jaws. Yeah. And like this three minute monologue from Robert Quint or from Robert Shaw as Quint, uh, better than the entirety of USS Indianapolis men of courage. And I think that was like a, from trying to remember some, some stuff, I think that was like a relatively unknown or like newly declassified story at the time. I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think a lot of people knew about that in the seventies, which is interesting. Yeah. Well, I think, and when you watch the scene, Scheider, I think doesn't really know what it is. Yeah. I think he says what happened. Yeah. You're right.
[01:06:44] Yeah. Yeah. And then Scheider is the one who asks Quint's like, Oh, what's that one on your arm there or whatever. Shaw gets like really quiet. Uh, and like, just like really introspective and like, uh, Hooper like doesn't quite like get that hint at first. It's like, Oh, what happened? Yeah. Do it. Like what? Just mother. Let me guess. It was a tattoo that said mother. Yeah. It was a tattoo that he got removed. Right.
[01:07:12] Um, and it's like, no, it was a USS Indianapolis. And then Hooper just immediately like, Oh shit. Yeah. He immediately stopped. Yeah. He knew you were on the Indianapolis. Uh, and yeah, then that whole, that whole speech, which is so incredible and so iconic and it's been parodied so many times, uh, because it's so good. Black eyes roll over to a doll's eyes or whatever. I forget this line. Um, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. Yeah. Anyway, we delivered the bomb. You know, do the speech fight. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah.
[01:07:42] And the perfect movie is basically what we're getting at. Sure. And I think about like literally all the time, the it's, it's actually the, the, we're going to need to, or you're going to need a bigger boat scene. Right. Which we haven't even really talked about. Oh, you sort of talked about it. We talked about the, yeah, a little bit, but yeah. A little bit. This, the moment right before that. And I think about this all the time because Quinn, I think is up at the crow's nest. Maybe I forget what he's, he tells him like, start the chum line again. And he's like giving him a hard time.
[01:08:11] And Brody is muttering to himself and he's like, yeah, come down here and chum some of this shit. Right. It's his, it's what he says when the shark pops up out of the water to eat the chum. Yes. And I think about that all the time. One of my bosses who does not do my anything comes up with an idea and is like, I think this will be great. You should do this. Yeah. And I'm like, that will not work because you don't know what's actually going on because you're a boss and you don't do any work. Why don't you come down here and chum some of this shit?
[01:08:39] It's what I, I literally think that to myself a couple times a week. So that is the foundational text level of jaws to me. Um, and I think we should all, we should all tell our bosses to come down here and chum some of this shit. Agreed. Yes, absolutely. Uh, and then tell him we're going to need a bigger boat, which is we're going to need more money. Yes. That's what we're saying. You know, what's fun about that scene too, that I think always gets overlooked. Um, the, uh, you're going to, so, you know, he goes back and you know, he's so shocked
[01:09:06] that he just saw the shark and he, you know, walks backwards and says to Quint, you're going to need a bigger boat. You know, I think that's an improv line. First off, I think it likes, I think Scheider like improvised it or was like some kind of like variation of improv. There was something else written and he kind of said that instead. I think what's so funny about that is like, that seems like, oh man, there's this big dramatic, like, you know, thing to say at that moment. Uh, but it's kind of a joke line. It's kind of a laugh line. And then Scheider like follows up on it like right after. Yeah. It was like, okay, we're going to get a bigger boat, right? Yeah. We're going to call for help. We got to get a bigger boat. Yeah.
[01:09:37] Oh, it's so funny. And I feel like every time I watch the movie, I forget, like he says the last thing. A couple more times after. Yeah. We're going to get a bigger boat, right? We need it. We need a big road. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Uh, and yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's so, so good. And then when he does that and he's like trying to call for help, like on the PA system, uh, Quint comes in and breaks it, just smashes. Yeah. Uh, and I think that's, that's the moment when Scheider like just fully loses it. Like, well, that's great. That's just great. It's like, what?
[01:10:07] I think I learned what being certifiable is from because of this scene. You're certifiable, Quint. Uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's so good. And I think it really likes, like stresses, like Quint sees this as like his greatest challenge. You know, this is, uh, his, his Moby Dick. Yeah. Yeah. This is, he's essentially like living out the, the lot of Moby Dick with the shark. Yeah. I think Scheider is just so like incensed that like, I can't believe he did this. We could have called for help. We could have brought people in. And no, this is, this is Quint's fight entirely. Uh, and so Quint has to die. Yeah. Yeah. Quint must die.
[01:10:37] Yeah, absolutely. Uh, and when he does die, man, it's intense. And, and I think too, there's a great bit of foreshadowing actually early in the movie. So of course, like, you know, there's the moment on the boat when, uh, Scheider pulls the wrong rope and the air tank falls over so they could tell us, so you know, you're not careful with these. They're going to blow up. Right. Um, but way earlier in the movie, I think it's actually in the scene where the, you want to get drunk and fool around when he's looking through the boat, through the pictures in the book with picture of a shark with an oxygen tank in its mouth. Yes.
[01:11:06] Um, and you're like in an hour, this will be important. You know, it's one of those kinds of things. Um, so I think, I don't know, that's, that's a fun little, a little thing I noticed this time around that though, one of the pictures they show us is the end of the movie. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, and that, that's also the, um, right after that is when she, uh, yells at the kids to get out of the boat after being like, yeah, which is very fun. But yeah, uh, Quint has his death scene, uh, where, you know, the legs get pulled off of him and you know, all that it's just, they, when the shark gets on the boat, that, that
[01:11:36] looks like one of the most like technically difficult shots to pull off. Yeah. Maybe in film history. Uh, it's, uh, uh, it's, it, it's really impressive. It looks good. You know, here's the thing. I mean, they, they don't show the shark that often because they, because it wasn't working and I literally couldn't do it. Uh, and I think a lot of people were like, Oh, the shark like looks kind of fake or whatever, or whatever. Right. Um, but I think because it's used so sparingly, uh, you don't have that much time to like really like notice the shark all that much. Like whenever it does have a big reveal like that, it's really intense. It looks good.
[01:12:05] And I think because it is a physical object that's like working within the scene, you know, that's, that's part of what makes it scary. It feels real. Yeah. Uh, Robert Shaw is literally stabbing something for real, you know, obviously it's a mechanical version of a thing, but it's a real thing and it's not some green screen bullshit. Um, yeah, I think it's, it's like kind of funny now to think about, like I watched on shutter. There's a documentary called shark exploitation and it's just a history of shark exploitation movies. You know, uh, it's kind of all stemming all jaws ripoffs. Basically.
[01:12:35] Um, there's a couple other ones before jaws that are, were interesting that they talked about the stuff that they all get wrong about sharks. Like sharks can't swim backwards and like, uh, like that's true, but every movie has that basically except for like deep blue sea, which calls out that they can't swim backwards. Um, which is very funny. One of them is like the shark roar that like just because sound editors, you know, they, they make us hear the stuff that's happening on screen. So whenever they cut most movies, when they cut to a shark opening its mouth, they're like, there's gotta be a roar here, right?
[01:13:05] Even though they're underwater and can't make sounds. Um, so yeah, when the shark jumps up out of the boat, out of the water onto the boat, uh, it's, I don't know, it's just very funny to think about that in that kind of concept. Um, but it rules, it fucking rules and it works. And, and at that point, quince like mania has made it like, I mean, even the shark is, is deliberately, it's breaking the boat up. It's like when they're singing, showing me the way they go home is ramming into it to break the hull. So there'll be water. It is a smart shark. It's true.
[01:13:33] It tricks them a couple of times. Yeah. It's it rules. It's so good. Absolutely. It is a shark that is smart enough that, uh, in jaws for it does travel across the country, or I guess it would be a different shark. Cause this one's a different shark. The shark loves that. I think it's, is it the son of the shark? I think it's like, I think they get into it being like family members of the shark. Right. Yeah. And in jaws for it, like, I think that, I think it takes place in California or something. Right. Like, uh, I haven't seen jaws four since I was like 11, you know, but I, I think it takes place in like California or something.
[01:14:03] And like the shark has like traveled across, across oceans to get to California to hunt down Roy Scheider's wife. Not even Roy Scheider. No, they're hunting down Lorraine Gary, uh, which is insane. But, uh, yeah. And then, yeah, they blow up the shark. Uh, Scheider blows up the shark, you know, smile, you son of a bitch, you know, all that. It's a great triumphant moment. Uh, fun, fun thing about the sound design in this moment.
[01:14:28] Uh, the, the sound effect of the shark blowing up mixed in, uh, the truck horn from duel, uh, as like a little reference to, to, to schoolwork's earlier film, which is a fun thing. But yeah, the shark blows up and Scheider is so elated that it's finally done. You know, uh, like he, he just like cheers and like freaks out. Like, yeah, like he's so excited and it's, it's really, uh, endearing and fun. And I think it's a different side of Scheider than we've gotten to see in, than any of the
[01:14:56] movies that we've talked about so far. It's true. Yeah. It ends up, it ends with him having to be like action hero, man, right? He's got to get the gun. That's sort of one of the things that, you know, it's, it's interesting or funny to think about, like he's portrayed, like I said, on the boat, it's like a bumbling idiot that doesn't know what he's doing, but like, he's a good shot, you know, like he's still a cop. Yeah. So he's still trained like that. Um, and yeah, it's, it's funny how, like I was saying too, before, like I said, a Hooper gets attacked in the cage disappears. And I'm like, Oh, it's, he's gone for half an hour.
[01:15:26] But this movie, when it ends, it fucking ends. They blow that shark up and it's rolls in like 45 seconds. It's pretty crazy. Yeah. It's a, it sort of reminded me of those like Hong Kong action movies. That's a Michelle Yeo was in tie it back to those ones. You did it. There we go. Yeah. No, uh, they blow up the shark. He cheers, uh, Hooper shows up, he's alive. Great. Uh, and they start swimming back to shore and that's it. Roll credits. Yeah. Movies over. Get in on those and they roll credits. And I love that they're in the background of the credits.
[01:15:53] They're back there swimming up the credits, the, the, the text ends. You see them standing up on shore. Cut the black. Yes, absolutely. I love that. Uh, you know, and I think if, if jaws were made today, I feel like there would be like, you know, one or two like epilogue scenes, like right after that, you know, there, there would be like some kind of like, you know, Scheider reuniting with his family or that kind of thing. You don't need it. It's, this is like the perfect way to just end this movie. Who cares about what they're, his family's going through on the Island while presumably
[01:16:22] trying to make radio contact with the boat. Right. Yeah. Like they're, they're safe. They're good. There's no shark over there. Yeah. Uh, I can't, I can't remember how the Meg ends. So if jaws were made today, it would be the Meg. It'd be the end of the Meg, whatever it was. I don't remember the ending of the Meg was. Uh, yeah, I have to, I saw it in theaters. I don't remember. Uh, I watched the Meg two recently. Bad movie. Not a fan. Oh, damn. Yeah, no, uh, I was, I was very disappointed in Ben Wheatley's Meg to the trench, which is the full title of the film. Incredible sentence you just said. But yeah.
[01:16:51] And that, that's actually something I have, you know, I Spielberg one of my favorite filmmakers, but I think, um, in his later career, um, he has had a little bit of trouble with endings. I don't think that's the case with Fableman's or West Side Story, but I think, uh, you know, especially like Lincoln or Bridge of Spies, these movies like often have like a perfect ending point and then they continue for like two more minutes. Uh, Lincoln is especially the example that like comes to mind, uh, where there is a moment, uh, at the very end of Lincoln, after all the action has subsided, uh, you know, where
[01:17:20] the entire plot is like the civil war is ending and they have to pass this like bill essentially the last, there's a shot in Lincoln where he's about to go to Ford's theater and you know, he puts on his hat and he walks out, walks down the hallway and it like fades to black. And that's a moment where it's like, man, that would, that would be a great shot to end the movie on. And then there's two more minutes. How are we going to know what happens at Ford's theater? That's the thing. I feel like, okay, we all know what happens to Abraham Lincoln. We don't need to see it.
[01:17:49] We don't need to see the aftermath of this moment. Like God, just imagine the Fableman's ended with a title card that just said like, and then I grew up. I mean, Fableman's kind of just stopped short of doing that. It's, I mean, the ending of Fableman's is fantastic. It's a, it's a perfect final shot of the Fableman's. And if you don't somehow don't know what it is, I don't want to spoil it for you. I don't think I know. Maybe next year's Mike makes Mike watches. It'll just all be the, all the Spielberg movies you haven't seen. I mean, that sounds great for me. Make it a theme, you know? Yeah.
[01:18:20] Uh, actually I do have a Spielberg movie, uh, this summer that I'm making you watch actually now that I'm thinking about it. Yeah. The adventures of Tintin is coming up, Mike. So, uh, get ready. I thought that was a Peter Jackson or is it a co-production thing or something? They co-produced. Yeah. It's Spielberg directed, uh, Jackson produced, and it was written by Edgar Wright. Wait, what? Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. Uh, and also, uh, the guy who like wrote Dr. Who, um, like they co-wrote the screenplay together. Wow. Uh, and then, yeah. And the plan was for when they made the sequel, which has yet to happen, uh, Peter Jackson would direct.
[01:18:50] It was going to be Spielberg directed the first one. Jackson directed the second one kind of thing. 13 years later, sequel still hasn't happened yet, which is a bummer. Marcus Tintin rules. And you'll see that. We'll find out in a little bit. But yeah, any other scenes in Jaws that we should mention, Mike, any random stuff that, uh, feels like it should come up? Let me count the ways. Um, well, we haven't talked about, uh, the moment that is your Skype background. Oh, sure. Yeah. I mean, uh, we talked about that scene a little bit where Hooper shows up, but, uh, yeah,
[01:19:17] we didn't specifically mention the, uh, the famous line, uh, in Jaws. There's two famous quotes in Jaws. It's 24 hours is like three weeks and a tiger shark. What? Uh, yeah, the guy, the guys have captured, uh, you know, the shark they think it is. They ask like, oh, what kind of shark is it? And Hooper's like a tiger shark. And this like just big guy like turns around like, oh, what? Oh, what? Uh, yeah.
[01:19:46] Which is, uh, one of those things that like, I don't know, just the use of the word what, uh, was a thing in my family for many years. Amazing. A tiger shark? What? Uh, so yeah, I'm glad you brought that one up, Mike. That feels like that has to be mentioned. Yeah. Uh, Alex Kintner's death scene also, um, is brutal, brutal, a kid, a little kid with literal Monty Python fountains of blood. Yes. Uh, and I, I think, uh, one of my favorite things, what makes that scene, I think,
[01:20:14] it hit even harder is you do see this kid a little bit before that scene happens, uh, where you see him run onto the beach. He's like, goes up to his mom and he's like, okay, Alex, it's time to come out of the water. It's like, oh mom, like five more minutes or whatever. And it's like, yeah, he'll be getting into prune. All right, go in there. And then, you know, come out just in a few minutes. It's like, okay. And he runs back in, uh, and it's like in the middle, it's, it doesn't feel, um, like it's trying to set it up or anything like that because it's part of that, like a one shot, like continues over to Brody, like it continues over to Brody as that happens.
[01:20:42] And so she's like, oh man, perfectly paced, perfectly, like just so good. He goes back in the water and we have the, that guy asking Brody about that. So it's the, the, it's a, it's a red zone in front of my store, right? That whole thing, like trying to ask for a favor from the police chief, like all that shit. Yes. Uh, also, also that's some bad hat. Harry, uh, has been a staple in my family for a long time too. Absolutely. And what was the TV? I guess it was Spielberg's TV company or something, right? No, it's a, it's Brian Singer's, uh, production company. Brian Singer jump scare on the pod.
[01:21:13] Uh, yeah, no, I think like bad hat, Harry productions, um, is, is Brian Singer's production company. Cause he was just a huge fan of Joss. Fair enough. Sorry to, sorry to bring him up. Yeah. Jeez. But that scene, actually that, that scene on the beach with the dolly zoom and that whole, that whole thing, um, is, is our first, uh, uh, Roy Scheider shorts appearance. Oh yes. Yeah. And, uh, we did have to mention we're going to be on shorts watch. Um, as a, I think it was Brian Sauer who tweeted about it. Right. Right.
[01:21:40] Uh, we talked about this a little bit in the Sheila Levine episode too, where, uh, Roy Scheider, one of our finest shorts wearing actors, uh, on, so yeah, I'll, uh, I'll, uh, I'll keep a running tab of, uh, movies in which Roy Scheider wears shorts. I have to assume Jaws 2 is one of them, right? Presumably. That'd be crazy if not. Yeah. I mean the, the guy playing fetch with his dog Pippin on that, like as one of the, the tension building blocks of that scene also who doesn't come out, doesn't come out of the water. Yeah. The dog does die off screen. Thank God. Um, no wonder Cheryl was able to like this movie. Right.
[01:22:12] But, uh, so yeah. And then the, so the dog doesn't come back and that's the first like hint that something has gone wrong. And I, and I love all the fake outs in the beginning of that little split diopter stuff like the guy, the people like screaming and playing and, and, uh, Scheider like standing up and poking out over the guy's head. That's talking to him. Cause he hears the screaming. Uh, it's good. It's good stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Great stuff. And yeah, that, that Dolly zoom is, uh, you know, one of the most famous shots in jaws, uh, heavily inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, uh, the stuff that would happen in vertigo and things like that.
[01:22:41] Um, but, uh, yeah, it's, it's really, really cool. And then yeah, when Alex Kintner does die, the, the shark just like fully envelops the kid. Yeah. You see just like arms and legs flailing as blood spurts out. It's intense. There's just like the smooth motion of like, you see the shark kind of like sort of come over the water a little bit. Uh, and the kid just like disappears and it's like, Oh shit. Yeah. And the water turns red. Uh, it's very intense. Yeah. And it's one of the, there's a, another like, like perfect character.
[01:23:10] Nobody listens to him cause he's not an Islander moment there too. You where that happens, right? Everyone starts screaming. He runs to the shore and he's yelling everybody out of the water and it's everyone from the beach running into the water to get their kids. And like, they just all ignore him. Yeah. Um, and I, and because at the beginning of that scene, one of the things that there was like annoying people sitting next to him on the beach or like, if you're not born here, you're not an Islander. It doesn't matter how long you live here. Yeah. Um, and then, yeah, they just all completely ignore him to get her like yelling to stay out of the water or get out of the water.
[01:23:38] It's just the entire beach emptying into the water. And then poor Mrs. Kittner's the last one left looking for her boy. Yes. Uh, and yeah, and she, she was only ever in Jaws. Like she, she, uh, Jaws. And I think she actually reappears in Jaws four. Holy shit. But yeah, that actress like was never in any other movies. Like she's only in Jaws. Uh, and she's amazing in this movie. Yeah. The, the scene where she does confront Roy Scheider, uh, is so powerfully acted. Uh, and you know, it's, it's so intense and so great.
[01:24:05] Uh, and so yeah, shout out to Lee Fierro, uh, who, uh, yeah, is really great in this movie. There's been a couple of people, I guess, particularly actresses now that I'm thinking about it that are in like one or two movies. Like we talked about in Sheila Levine's dead and living in New York to a couple of those people, like the roommate I think was never in another movie. Right. Yes. Uh, yeah. And then curse the living corpse, Candace Hillinghouse. Right. Yeah. It was in two movies. Even, even, uh, Jeannie Berlin was only in whatever. Yeah. I mean, she's, you know, it has a steadier career these days or whatever, but yeah, just
[01:24:34] kind of like decided not to do it for a while. Uh, yeah, I think, um, in the case of Lee Fierro, I think she just happened to be, I think she was one of the people who lived on Martha's Vineyard. I think she was, I think an actress also, but, uh, you know, happened to live there. It was also like a school teacher or something like just, you know, this was like a side gig for her. Crushed it. She's great. Wild. One of the most impactful two scene performances ever, you know? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Uh, also a quick mention of something that I thought was very funny is the, uh, again in that scene where Hooper shows up right before Hooper shows up, um, you know, it's
[01:25:04] Scheider's like scrambling. He's trying to figure out like what to do. Like, it's just, there's no other cops. It's like just him and the deputy. Uh, and he's on the phone with somebody. He's like looking for the guy from the ocean and graphic Institute and he hasn't arrived yet. Uh, and he's trying to get his deputy's attention. His deputy's like outside, outside of the, out the window. Yeah. Out the window. And he throws a bunch of rocks at the window. Uh, and the deputy like looks over and he just kind of like waves. It's like, Oh, it's like a big shit eating grin and waves. Like, hello. And Scheider's like, get in here.
[01:25:33] Like he's, uh, man, it's so funny. It's so good. Hello back. Crazy. What a good movie. I just can't imagine why like he would think like Scheider only wanted to say hello. He's throwing rocks at the window. I like, I like the way his secretary in the beginning of the movie tells him that those boys at the karate school have been karateing the picket fence. All right. We're just going to start quoting lines. We got all that random stuff. One last thing, Mike. Uh, we haven't really talked about the Chrissy Watkins scene.
[01:26:02] Uh, the, the opening scene of the movie. I, we've used the word iconic a lot on this podcast, but yeah, I think watching it again, having seen it for a million times, I think one of the things that I found really interesting about it, uh, is that there is a buoy that she's able to grab onto in the water. Uh, you know, because that's when you, you're doing the sharks POV, you're hearing John William's theme song, you're done and you're going up and you see the legs like in the water and stuff like that. She gets pulled down for a second, which is, that's even scarier.
[01:26:29] I think, uh, that's only just for a second and she comes back up just enough time for her to realize something has gone wrong. Like something bad is happening. And then she gets pulled down again and she's screaming and all that kind of stuff. And it's, it's a very like prolonged sequence. Uh, I feel like in my head for whatever reason, it's like a shorter sequence than, uh, it actually is, uh, because it's just like, oh yeah, he eats the, he eats the girl at the beginning, but it's, it's her like flailing around in the water for a minute. Uh, and she's trying to call for help. And like the guy that ran out there with her is drunk and he's passed out on the beach. Yeah.
[01:26:58] Uh, and she like, and there's a buoy out there. And for a second, the shark like leaves her alone and she's able to kind of swim to safety to the buoy. She's able to hold onto it. And then she gets pulled down again. Uh, and I think just the detail of having the buoy there, like adds more dramatic tension to that scene, uh, then would be there otherwise, because there's like a moment where she could be safe, but she's not. Yeah. Yeah. That's one of those moments too. Even though like beach party part of that scene makes me think of like, you know, Robert Altman movies.
[01:27:25] Cause there's a lot of overlapping harmonica guitar conversation. You're here like a lot of stuff at once. And that whole like multi-track recording stuff, um, before Chrissy and this guy go off, uh, run down the beach. And, um, I think one of the things that made me notice in this watch, what, how insane is everybody in Amity that they only swim where they can't stand. Like if you ever notice every shot, obviously it's because they need enough room to get the camera there.
[01:27:51] But like everybody is treading water way like in 10 feet of water. It's like, that's not, that's not how you swim at the beach. What are you guys doing? They're, they're Islanders, Mike. They can, uh, they live their lives in the water, you know? Yeah, that's true. And yeah, but I noticed that with, with, uh, Chrissy in particular, she's, you know, I guess not that drunk. Uh, but she immediately is just like way out far enough out that there's a buoy there. Yes. Far enough off the shore that there's a buoy. Um, and, uh, yeah, yeah. Very, very impactful, you know, single, single scene performance.
[01:28:21] Yeah, absolutely. Uh, all right. Any other random scenes in jaws that you want to give a shout out to Mike, before we start wrapping this up? There was one moment I noticed, uh, for the first time in this watch where it's, it's at the end after they've got the barrels tied onto the orca, uh, and, uh, the shark is pulling them backwards and the shit they're breaking up. We're going to break up. And Quint goes to get the ax to, or not ax like machete thing or whatever. And there's one moment where it's just a wide shot. It's the, it's the ship being pulled back and it's, it's Hooper and Brody are like pulling
[01:28:51] at the cleats to try to get slack on the rope to untie them. And, and Quint just stands up and puts his hands over his eyes. Cause there's so much water splashing on them, like to look at the shark. Uh, and he just takes a minute with his hands or a second, uh, with his hands over his eyes like that. And then he turns around and goes into the boat to get the machete thing. And I just never, like never noticed that single beat where he's just like covers his eyes to like, look at the shark. I'm good. I gotta see you. You know, it's like, damn. Quint's awesome. Yeah. Quint's great. We haven't really talked about how great Robert Shaw is in this movie, but man, Robert Shaw is so great.
[01:29:20] What a, what a picture. Yes. Unbelievable. I mean, for, for a very long time, I only knew Robert Shaw from jaws. I mean, all these, all, all these actors, I think Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, you know, are actors that, uh, I think you see in jaws when you're 10. Right. Yeah. And then like years later, you're like, Oh, okay. Richard Dreyfuss is also in close encounters. I get like, you know, that, that kind of thing. The same way you see David Strathairn in the river wild or under 10, you just will forever be the guy from the river wild. Right.
[01:29:48] Um, but Robert Shaw is also, I mean, I think he's in from Russia with love. He's in one of the bonds. He's in the sting. He's in, uh, taking a Pelham one, two, three, uh, you know, really fantastic actor. And I think this was one of his last performances. I think he died like not that long after jaws came out. Right. I don't think I know actually, I don't know when he died, but I sort of wouldn't be surprised. Um, sure. Yeah. I mean, he was like sort of on the older side and I know everybody was smoking a lot, uh, back smoking and drinking and doing all that stuff. Yeah. He died in 1978. Yeah. Wow.
[01:30:16] 78 age 51, uh, which is not even that old actually, but, uh, that's crazy. Yeah. Died in 78. So three years after jaws came out, uh, Robert Shaw passed away. Uh, Roy Scheider and Richard, Richard Dreyfuss, the only one still alive, uh, actually, uh, of, of the original three. Um, but there you go. Jaws. What a picture. What a picture. I mean, even down to the title card or the opening credits of Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, like just all three of them on a single title card, like on a single credit card.
[01:30:44] Like the, they knew the movie knew this was the trio, you know? Yeah, exactly. Roy Scheider's name is like a little bit elevated above the other two, uh, because he's the main character of the movie. Right. Yeah. Um, but, uh, yeah, it is just, uh, yeah, you got all three of those names at the same time because those are the three people in this movie. Uh, and I think it is so smart to, uh, you know, have instead of casting, like, you know, you could have cast like Burt Reynolds or something, you know, like that. Yeah. Charlton Heston. Yeah, exactly. Like somebody who was a really big star. Um, but, uh, going for like more of a working class kind of vibe, uh, with these actors,
[01:31:14] I think really paid off, uh, with Jaws. Uh, it rules. Roy Scheider's great in it. We'll be talking about Jaws 2 in a few weeks on this podcast. It's pretty soon, right? And I think it's not that long after. Yeah. No, the run here, we got Jaws right now. Next week, Marathon Man. Uh, which is a great movie. Uh, week after that, Sorcerer. Uh, great movie. And then week after that, Jaws 2. Don't remember how I feel about that movie. Same. I'm really curious to see, uh, how I, I have seen all of the Jaws sequels exactly one time.
[01:31:42] Uh, and I, like you, I was like, you know, at home one day. Uh, I'm not sure if it was like all at once, but I, I watched all three Jaws movies on AMC when they were, like, they would do the Jaws, you know, marathons and stuff. And so I think, you know, at the age of 10, I saw Jaws for the first time at the age of like 12, I was obsessed with Jaws, uh, but I had not seen the sequels. And so I like use my DVR to tape Jaws 2, 3, and 3, and 4, uh, and watched them all and was disappointed in all of them.
[01:32:08] Didn't like any of them, but I have heard that Jaws 2, uh, for all of its problems, because I know Roy Scheider was not a fan of the movie and like did not want to be a part of it. Wow. We'll talk about that in the Jaws 2 episode. Uh, I have heard that it's like actually a pretty good sequel. There are a lot of people who are fans of Jaws 2. Crazy. I can't wait to join the Jaws 2 cult. I mean, that, that is the hope, right? Uh, I know at the Alamo Draft House that we used to go to in Yonkers, they did a Jaws 2 screening like a year after that Jaws screening that we went to. Wow.
[01:32:36] Uh, and I had already moved, so I didn't go to, I didn't go. Yeah. Yeah. But they did do Jaws 2 on 35 millimeter. I think on like the, the same day, like the 4th of July weekend that we went for Jaws. I don't think they did one for Jaws 3 or 4. Hmm. Interesting. Yeah. But they did do Jaws 2. There is a cult around that one for sure. And we will talk about it soon. Uh, yeah, I think we're going to get to that one in a few weeks. We might have to do a, a long legs episode before we get to that as well. So it might be an extra week out from that. Uh, but yeah. Jaws, the movie.
[01:33:06] Uh, we should do some letterbox reviews, Mike. I can't, I can't, I hope you found a negative one. That'd be fascinating. Uh, you know what? I didn't actually even look for a negative one because I assumed I wouldn't find one. I can't imagine there are any. Uh, just some guy being like one star, not good. Yeah. Shark looks bad. One star. Okay. Uh, no, first off, I got a five star review from, uh, director Mike Flanagan. Uh, Mike Flanagan, director of, uh, such films as Dr. Sleep and Ouija 2 and Hush and
[01:33:36] Haunting of Hill House, uh, the TV series. Uh, Ouija 2 is a good movie, Mike. I don't know what you're laughing about. You can't drop Ouija 2 while I'm drinking water, Mike. You can't. Have you seen Ouija 2? No, but I know it's supposed to be good. It's fucking great. I have been on the Mike Flanagan train since like 2015, 2016, and it's largely because of how good Ouija 2 was. Wild. Uh, but anyway, Mike Flanagan, five star review here. Got to revisit this today to cross it off the Kate's never seen it list.
[01:34:05] Uh, Kate, his wife, who's also thrown his wife under the bus. Yeah. Uh, what could be said? It's a perfect film. I've probably seen it 100 times in my life and I am always amazed. Absolute perfection. Case review. Amazing. Iconic. Mesmerizing. Could have used a bigger boat. TBH. Here's a five star review from Josh Lewis. Capitalism is a machine that will eat our children with far more ease than any shark. Yeah. Yeah. Hashtag true. Makes you think.
[01:34:33] Uh, here's a five star review from movie boy. Remember how every educated person in this movie warns the mayor about the imminent threat of mass death, but the mayor doesn't want to hurt the economy by closing the beaches like he logically should. So he opens the beaches and more people die. Ha ha. That was crazy. Good thing. It's just a movie and something like that would never happen in real life. I wonder what the date on that review. I'm pretty sure it's like May 2020. Yeah. Uh, here's a five star review from Silent Dawn.
[01:35:00] To talk about Jaws eventually just turns into a list of superlative elements working harmoniously in pursuit of particular tones and genres. It's a vicious horror film, a daring adventure, a portrait of masculine roles, as well as a vision of a small community unsettled by a natural force. Funny, scary, genuinely dramatic, edited to perfection. It's all there. It's a defining movie, motion picture, film. Yes, to whatever you call these things. But the devil is in the details. And with each rewatch, Jaws finds a new way to impress me.
[01:35:28] On this viewing, it struck me as an essential text of man versus nature, with the orca and the water surrounding them being the stage for their own individual reckoning. Spielberg is careful in how he places the actors in the frame and their reaction to the unfolding events. How they move and interact with the environment is always a product of the shark's control over the situation. As a battle of wits and strength, the shark puts up a hell of a fight. But Spielberg is aware that it isn't just a war for Amity Island, but for these men to remain confident in who they are as people. Small specks in a vast, unforgiving world. Whoa. Yeah.
[01:35:58] Hashtag analysis. Yeah, there it is. Jaws. Jaws. And I got one more here. It's a three and a half star review from Siobhan. I'm just wondering why a professional shark hunter was living in a town that had apparently never had a shark problem before. You see, you see how? Never mind. Yeah. Like, no wonder he was asking for $10,000. This was the man's only chance to get some coins. But look at how many sets of teeth he's got. That's true. Yeah.
[01:36:25] I think that the thing is, I think the town did have sharks before. They just never came out to the surf, like that shallow of waters before. Right? They just never attacked people. They just never attacked people before. They were always so far out, it was never a problem. Right. You know, because sharks are, yeah, they're out there in the ocean. So that's where they live. That's where, yeah, correct. That's where they're from. And so, yeah, it was just extremely rare for them to do that. So, yeah, that's I think he just goes out into the ocean and hunts sharks. But his base is an amity. Classic Quint, you know? Yes. Classic Quint. We all know him.
[01:36:55] Yeah. We know how you mix living. He's going to get to the head, the tail, the whole damn thing. We should wrap this up, Mike. We got to get out of here before we go longer than the movie is, which we've done a number of times, but not this season. Not this season, no, because we kind of restructured the podcast so that we don't have to do a specific plot synopsis every time, like a beat by beat plot analysis every time like we used to do, which is why our Jurassic Park episode is like two and a half hours long, because it was this.
[01:37:23] It was like basically just this discussion. And then we were like, all right, let's run the movie down scene by scene. Exterior night. So, yeah, we're not doing that anymore to for both for our own sanity. And perhaps for the listening public as well. But all right. That's the end of our Jaws review. What a picture. Mike D, where can we find you online this week? You can find me at MD Film Blog on Twitter and Letterboxd and Blue Sky.
[01:37:50] And if you would like to donate and support the show, you could do that at our Ko-fi page, which is ko-fi.com slash Mike and Mike Pods, where you can donate $50 and pick a bonus episode. Make us do it. Mike and Mike go to the movies episode, whatever you want. Yes. We double dog dare you. Do it. $50. Yes. Probably something that doesn't star Roy Scheider. We will cover that soon. Okay. One caveat when I do it on this episode's no Roy Scheider. Yeah.
[01:38:17] And if you would like merch, we have merch available on our Redbubble, which is Mike and Mike Pods dot Redbubble dot com. That's right. You can find me online at Emma Smith Film Blog on Twitter, Mike Smith on Letterboxd, Radio Mike Sandwich, Instagram. And I'll second the Redbubble thing. I just bought a Mike and Mike go to the movies hat, which is great. Love it. Nice. Yes. And I got to buy it, which means that part of the money goes back to me. I think I get like a dollar fifty or something. Let's go, baby. Yeah. I couldn't afford not to get it. All right. Thank you for listening to the Complete Works. I'm Mike Smith. This is my Decree Show.
[01:38:46] Don't forget to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or any other podcast app. And if you want to contact us, you can tweet at us at Complete Works Pod. That's W-R-K-S. No O in the word works. And you can find the rest of our podcast and Rapture Press alongside many other podcasts about all kinds of comic books and movie news and all that good stuff. Our theme song was created by Kyle Cullen. You can reach for your own podcast themes at kylespodcastthemes at gmail.com. And our logo was designed by Mac V or at Fearless Guard on Twitter. Next week, is it safe? Marathon Man.
[01:39:16] It's a line from Marathon Man. Is it safe? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. We've got another banger on our hands. Marathon Man is coming up with Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier, a movie that I saw when I was like 17. I haven't seen it since. Oh. But I really loved it at the time. Is Marathon Man like a big movie in your house, Mick? It's a big dad favorite. So yeah, it's around a bunch. Yeah. Gotcha. All right. So I'm excited. So it sounds like you know the movie more than I do. I've seen it one time. Really loved it. Haven't seen it since. I'm excited to revisit. Nice.
[01:39:46] So yeah, Marathon Man next week. Remember to check out other podcasts, Mike and Mike Oda, the movies, for all kinds of other movie-related stuff, including recent releases, ranked lists, general discussions, and a lot more. Thanks so much for listening, guys. And I'm going to use Kyle's sign-off from last week for this one, too, because I kind of like it. That's pretty good. I don't know. Maybe right between the lines is out. And this next one could be in, at least for a few episodes. And maybe if we come up with a new one, we'll use that. Yeah. Come down here and chum some of this shit. Yeah. Should that be the sign-off?
[01:40:18] At least for today. I was going to use Kyle's, but I really like that. All right. Thanks so much for listening, guys. And come on down here and chum up some of this shit. Bye. Bye.
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