Jaws

Jaws

Jaws was released in 1975 and was directed by Steven Spielberg. It focuses on Amity island. The island's main income comes from vacationers and beach goers, so after the chief of police wants to close the beaches after a shark attack, the mayor does not agree. A boy is killed by the shark and his mother puts a bounty on the shark so many hunters come to the island in search of the shark.

The 1970s was an important time in film history for many reasons. There were many social and political things taking place that influenced the film industry. Mistrust of authority and government, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam war, the assassinations of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy, the conspiracy and government connection to their killings, the space program, the counter-culture led by the hippy movement, the drug culture, and Woodstock to name a few. It was a time when films were allowed to build reaction, to open and let audiences find them and decide for themselves if the film was good or not. No internet, only TV ads, film magazines, and newspaper articles announced a film was coming. A film could stay in theaters, the same theater for as long as seven months, longer in Los Angeles or New York, depending on box office. 

Other films that were coming out around the same time include Patton (1970), Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Last Picture Show (1971), The Godfather (1972), Cabaret (1972), Deliverance (1972), The Exorcist (1973).  Both Star Wars (1977) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) were science fiction films, hardly a popular genre, yet each was a blockbuster, each a multiple Oscar nominee. The Exorcist (1973) was a major horror film, the first to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture. So it was a time that blockbuster films were beating out better and more thought out films. 

Jaws itself was such a popular film and did many things on its own for the film industry. Jaws was the first film to break the box office receipt of $100 million. The film beat The Exorcist, which had taken $89 million in 1973. Jaws is currently the 7th highest grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation. Had the film not done as well as it did, Steven Spielberg's career would have gone very differently. Jaws was budgeted for 4 million dollars but Spielberg spent around 9 million dollars. The studio was very upset about it but it was quickly forgotten after the film did so well in the box office. The 1970s saw filmmakers leave the studio in favor of authentic on-location shooting. Jaws was no different. However, it went further by shooting its ocean scenes actually in the sea. This adds a realism that couldn’t be achieved in a studio tank. Spielberg was frequently advised not to shoot on the actual sea but ignored this advice. The end result proves the director was right despite the logistical problems posed by the ocean.

Jaws would not have been what it is without the direction of Steven Spielberg. One thing that made him such a great director is that he did not cave to the pressures of the other people working on the film. For example, with the amount of money he spent on the film. He had a vision of what the movie was going to be and he went for it. Luckily it worked out well for him or we may not have many of the other great movies he has worked on. The period the film was released greatly influenced Jaws but the film itself also influenced future films.

Admin. “10 Reasons ‘Jaws’ Might Be the Best Film Ever Made.” Massachusetts Film Office, 21 Sept. 2010, https://mafilm.org/2010/09/20/10-reasons-jaws-might-be-the-best-film-ever-made/.

Foote, John H. “10 Reasons Why the 1970s Was the Greatest Decade in American Cinema.” The Cinemaholic, 26 May 2017, https://thecinemaholic.com/reasons-1970s-greatest-decade-cinema/.