Went with Jessica, Jen, Jaci, Rick, and Neil to a midnight showing of Jaws last night at the Royal Oak Main Art Theatre. While watching, I was able to confirm to myself that I had never actually scene the movie in its entirety in one sitting, but rather most of it from a couple of different viewings. Now, I didn't know anything about the movie before it started, other than it's directed by some guy named Steven and stars the guy from All That Jazz. Also, I thought it was about a T-Rex.
Boy was I wrong! Apparently the title refers to the yammering of one Robert Shaw and it's actually a revenge tale about what happens when you treat every nautical killing as a "boating accident". Thanks, Mr. Mayor! Also, Ms. I'm-sleeping-with-the-producer gets the biggest female role (notice how Lorraine Gary was the only one in all four Jaws's... it's not like her acting talent got her a lot of non-shark-related work) and Jessica pointed out to me that the author of the source novel has a cameo as an on-camera reporter.
It's easy to respect the camerawork on the film, especially since so many parts of the movie have become practically iconic images: the shark finally peeking up out of the water; Roy Scheider's snapping upright when this happens (not to mention the often misquoted "You're gonna need a bigger boat."); the thrashing around in the water at the beginning of the film; and, all the underwater shots of unsuspecting legs. It's also funny to think about how many people were scared of swimming after the movie came out, especially since I didn't find the movie that frightening. Not that I didn't really enjoy it, of course.
Score: 9/10
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