Saturday 14 September 2013

Jaws (1975 Steven Spielberg)

Robert Shaw has heard something over Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider singing "Show me the way to go home":


Lovely scene with Scheider at home with son Jay Mello. "Give me a kiss." "Why?" "Because I need it."


"Do not smoke in here!"
Why on earth did they bring the dogs with them?

With Lorraine Gary. Scheider and Dreyfuss at the zenith of their careers.

There's some skilful framing and blocking going on by young Mr Spielberg, e.g. Murray Hamilton artfully stepping in to shot below:

 
Yes, there is a shooting star behind Scheider's head in night boat scene.

Beautifully edited by "mother cutter" Verna Fields, whose 60s/70s career included these exceptional items: Targets (sound editor), Medium Cool, What's Up Doc?, Paper Moon, Sugarland Express. She won the Oscar for this (as did composer John Williams) and promptly retired.

Shot by Bill Butler, with Michael Chapman operating, because he needed the money. Note how the camera is often at water level. Evidence of troubled production is in the continuity shots of scenes at sea: though I now find these rather endearing.

Perhaps the most chilling moment in the film, Shaw's recounting of the fate of the crew of the USS Indianapolis, is a true story.

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