Quickie Review: Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

I’ve been working on a writing project that I had to deliver this weekend, so I haven’t been able to watch much or really get into my own writing over the last week or so. But I did give myself a little treat earlier this week, as I took some time to watch the National Geographic documentary, Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, and thought I’d take some time to share some thoughts on it here.

In our house, I’d wager that Jaws is definitely in the top 3 movies that we have watched together, as we are creatures of habit, and no matter what the mood is, Jaws just always gets the job done. There’s a reason it became the first-ever summer blockbuster back in 1975, as it shocked and thrilled audiences in ways that no other movie really ever had before, and very few movies have been able to capture the collective imagination of society the way that Steven Spielberg and Bruce the Shark did all those years ago.

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I’ve been fortunate to have covered several re-releases of Jaws throughout my career, so going into Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, I wasn’t really expecting to learn a ton here. And admittedly, I didn’t. But I think what made this project from director Laurent Bouzereau so engrossing for me was examining the legacy of Jaws under a lens that was keenly aware that we are now a half-century removed from when the film became a pop culture phenomenon, and there aren’t a ton of movies that have that kind of legacy anymore.

I also loved how candid Spielberg was about the stresses he experienced while working on Jaws as he expressed how it took him a long time to fully understand the trauma that he endured during that process decades ago (the fact that he would escape to one of the boats from the film at Universal and just hide away from the world and cry put a lot of things in perspective in terms of just how grueling that must have been for him and everyone involved with Jaws).

Something else that I also appreciated was how there seemed to be some genuine regret over how the framing of sharks was presented in Jaws and how that hurt these creatures for so long. A few years ago, I watched the Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks documentary, and it was she and her husband, Ron, who helped capture the real-life shark footage for Spielberg in Jaws. The duo who were pioneers in the world of scuba diving had spent most of their lives swimming amongst these grandiose ocean beasties (Ron passed in 2012, but Valerie is still with us at 89 years young), so they were excited to be a part of Jaws and get to collaborate with Spielberg on the film. But of course, the film came out in 1975, and pretty much everyone decided in that moment that sharks were nothing but mindless feeding machines, and these creatures suffered greatly as a result.

I know Valerie deeply regretted working on Jaws in hindsight, so I thought it was great that in Jaws @ 50 that Bouzereau not only examines the cultural impact of the film, but dives into the fallout of how sharks were impacted as well. Also, I think it’s pretty rad that some of Peter Benchley’s kids now work in marine studies as a result of the success of his 1974 novel and Spielberg’s subsequent adaptation.

As mentioned, there isn’t a ton of new information offered up in Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, but honestly, it hardly matters. The way these familiar materials are all presented here and shared alongside those who were part of making Jaws, as well as a number of notable Hollywood folks, makes it an enjoyable viewing experience. Probably the most emotional part of the whole thing for me was at the end, when Spielberg talked about how amazing it was that all of these incredibly dedicated crew members and actors could come together so selflessly to make something that continues to endure, without ever centering himself in that equation at all, and the emotion you hear in his voice as he talks about these people he worked alongside of for months and months helps you understand the real impact Jaws had on his life beyond the obvious stuff.

So even if Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story doesn’t change up the conversation when it comes to this ultimate summer blockbuster, there’s just something so comforting about seeing one of the greatest movies ever made get its flowers yet again.

Fun fact: When they talk about shooting the scene where Ben Gardner’s head is floating in Verna Fields’ swimming pool, it was a story I was very familiar with as legendary horror director Tom Holland was there when they shot the scene and told us about it years ago. I’m just a nerd who thinks it was pretty cool that he just happened to be hanging out there that night when one of the best jump scares in cinema was being created.

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