JAWS At 35

[Lord Jim]

Oh, thanks.

Never seen it...

I'd say I'm surprised, but then you are a Detroit Tigers fan...

[Gob]

The first time I saw the "hole in the boat" scene in Jaws I achieved a perfect 10 for "backwards leap over the seats, with popcorn and lemonade distribution".

[dales]

"Jaws" didn't frighten me as much as "The Exorcist".

[The Hen]

Now the Exorcist was 'brown trouser' territory.

[Lord Jim]

I was just about to write a post saying that Jaws probably holds the record for biggest drop in quality from an original movie to the sequel of all time...

But actually I'd have to say it's second in that department...

First place belongs to The Exorcist....

[dales]

Never saw any of the sequels.

[Gob]

I think Jaws three is probably the worse ever, I saw it in 3D when 3D was still a novelty, even that doesn't rescue it....

Apparently Jaws 4 (Jaws: The revenge) is supposed to be even worse. I must get a copy of it!

The film focuses on Ellen Brody's (Lorraine Gary) convictions that the shark is stalking her family, especially when a great white shark follows her to The Bahamas.

Yep, they do that, don't they?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws:_The_ ... #Reception

[@meric@nwom@n]

Now The Exorcist scared the living shite right out of me. I think I was 15. I slept on the floor that night....

[Timster]

(in my best Steve Martin voice) Well exuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me! for mentioning The Magnificent Seven in the JAWS thread...

I did not realize it was exclusive. Honest.

However since it seems that the topic is already slightly adrift (this observation may be safe).

I would add that I saw The Exorcist in a huge turn of the century theater, The beautiful Orpheum on State street here in Mad Town, when I was 13, alone. I have always loved horror and still do. But even at my world wise - hard arsed best, at that age (I had already seen a lot of the Very ugly side of life and was not shocked and or scared by anything); I was hard pressed to sleep for about three nights after viewing it.

By today's standards it is a walk in the park suitable for kiddie parties. "LOL, Pea Soup! LAME!"....

Today's kiddies have seen and are subjected to MUCH worse in cinema.

In an increasingly commercially driven desensitizing spiral that leads them into the quagmire of Hell fire!!! [Ahem...ED.] Fine. But that is the subject for a different thread.]

But at the time? It freaked the shit out of me!

[loCAtek]

Shoot, just the music was creepy!

[Big RR]

I didn't like The Exorcist when i first saw it, probably because i recently read the book (which was far better IMHO), and because I thought the pea soup was a bit (really quite a bit) over the top, but I have since been able to appreciate some of the horror aspects of the film. But for real horror, I recommend either Kubrick's "The Shining" or Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby"; both show the sublety that was lacking in a lot of the Exorcist. The documentary on jaws Jim mentioned talked a lot about how the movie was really scary when you didn't see the shark; IMHO good horror directors realize that, and are not in your face with effects--scenes in The Exorcist like the Cat Scan in the stark white room, or the stand in for Linda Blair walking bent over backwards down the stairs, even Blair pissing on the rug while telling the astronaut "You're gonna die up there" or the "help me" appearing on her abdomen showed some of this sublety (as did the scenes of Father Damien with his mother).

[@meric@nwom@n]

There is going to be a Jawsathon on Encore July 4th for those who desire to see devolution in action.

[Gob]

I'd add "Don't Look Now" to BigRR's suggestions.

[Big RR]

Absolutely Gob, it's a modern equivalent of the gothic horror tale set in the streets and alleys of Venice, and wonderfully directed by Nicolas Roeg. A great movie all around.

[Guinevere]

Thanks, you can have Jaws, the Exorcist, and every other horror movie out there. I'll happily settle for my 150th viewing of GWTW. And then re-read the book again (which is even better than the movie), too.

[Big RR]

Guin--while I like the spectacle of GWTW, I do find some of its ideas and scenes as offensive as any in Birth of a Nation.

[Guinevere]

Well yes, BigRR, it was an offensive time in many ways. That doesn't mean we forget about, ignore, or wipe away the history. And I don't think the movie glorifies any of it.

(We've had this discussion before, btw).

[Lord Jim]

The first half of GWTW is a fast paced, exciting epic of grand scope and pageantry....

The second half, is a molasses paced, dreary, soap opera snooze fest....

It's as though they took a great movie and a lousy sequel, and put them both together back-to-back in the same film....

[Big RR]

And my complaint is, throughout, they depict a south that never really existed--happy slaves who wanted to stay enslaved because they weren't capable of doing anything else ("we's house niggers, we can't work in no fields), black stereotypes (like "I don't know nothin' about birthin' no babies" Prissy, the female equivalent of the coon), the courageous Klan that had to stand up and defend white peoples' honor, and to top it off, a black version of Hazel who had something to say about everything and always spoke her mind (what self-respecting master wouldn't have beaten or sold her?). I have no doubt thatthere were many people who treated their slaves well (much as they treated their livestock well), and some slaves who feared release, but I doubt there were many people who were just happy to remain the property of others.

Indeed, Guin, it was an offensive time; but IMHO GWTW attempts to rewrite history, at least as it applies to slavery and the Klan, much as Birth of a Nation did.

[dales]

Many people consider GWTW the pinnacle of American film making.

I don't.

That era (pre WW2) I would award to Citizen Kane.


ROSEBUD...........