A Greater Jaws Movie

  

Netflix done gone and done it again. They have all four Jaws movies available to stream this month. Since I was in a fishy mood I decided to watch the first Jaws film again. I didn't have any real memory of the movie from my childhood. I knew it starred Richard Dreyfuss and was directed by Stephen Spielberg. So of course, I knew it was a classic. Great storytelling and character building, and Quint..what a way to go out. That was great.

  

The next night I pushed play on Jaws 2. This one I had seen on tv in the 80s, and along with Superman 2 always seemed to be on cable when I visited my Aunt so I was always seeing random clips. Still, I didn't have any concrete memories outside of the patrol copter scene which I thought was really scary.

  

I watched it expecting to see a half-cocked sequel, but what I saw was an elevated horror movie. The original Jaws had done a great job of developing Brody's character as the oft overwhelmed police chief. Without Quint and Hooper, the movie is dependent on Brody's humor and nervous intensity. He delivers.

Following the mischief of the teens on the island, the movie feels like Jaws meets Friday the 13th. We rarely see Jaws in the first half of the original film. In Jaws 2 he is very present, stalking from the opening scene. Relentless in his quest to make the people of Amity Island suffer.

My initial thought was that Jaws was being overexposed in this film. But it's this omnipresence that makes this a horror masterpiece. Though there is not a single scene as grotesque as Quint's death scene from the original, there are more kills. That the victims are teenagers really ups the scare factor.

This movie has my all-time favorite Jaws attack. The aforementioned patrol helicopter attack. Vicious. The runner up being the water skier scene. The panic by the boat driver when she fumbles spilling gas all over herself before blowing the boat up is incredible and sets the stage for a greater Jaws movie.

  

The Greatest Jaws Movie

In 1983 I took a road trip to Tennessee from Maryland with my Uncle. My cousins were in Tennessee visiting their grandmother for the summer, and my Uncle was going to spend the last two weeks of their visit with them. Then we would drive back to Maryland. He had a Cadillac with a sunroof. What a ride.  A lot happened over those two weeks. I had my first corn dog, drank fresh spring water flowing through some rocks, shot bb's at soda cans in the woods, took my first sip of beer, slammed my face into the corner of the kitchen counter, and saw Jaws 3-D at the movies.
        

I have such great memories around the time of seeing this movie.  At the young age of 7 I felt special being allowed in the theater to see it. The movie was awesome and very scary. Released a year after Friday the 13th 3-D, Jaws 3 was the first scary movie I saw in the theater and my first ever 3-D movie. I was clearly too young as I remember cringing in my seat for the majority of the movie. 
        

My cousin was a teenager 7 years older than me. He already had a younger sister. I was like the younger brother he never asked for. Always following him around trying to tag along. Later the same year I would have a younger brother of my own and many years later I would find myself in my older cousin's shoes. His sister was 2 years younger than me. Essentially making her the sister I never asked for. We played together but this was also the era of dolls. I was into He-man and she was into Cabbage Patch Kids. We were always competing for attention with our silly challenges like who could stay up the latest. We played that silly game until 1989. I'm glad we eventually got over that one. When I was allowed to go to the movies to see Jaws 3-D with the big boys and she wasn't it was a win for me. See I'm older than you. I was excited and proud. I came out of the theater running my mouth about how great and scary the movie was. It was crazy! I was the biggest hype man for this 3-D movie. It was the greatest movie I had ever seen.
        

Two or three years later Jaws 3-D was airing on television. Channel 4 or 5 as the Friday night 8 o'clock movie. I was staying overnight at a friend's house while my mom was on a weekend retreat. There was a lot of hype about the movie being broadcast on T.V. The 7-Eleven market was selling 3-D glasses for the broadcast. My friend's dad drove around to 5 different 7-Elevens to get a few pairs, but they were all sold out. Wow, I wasn't the only person that loved this movie! I was a bit disappointed to not be able to watch it with 3-D glasses, but it's a movie about a killer shark. The first I had seen in the theater so I was still pumped. As we watched it on television that night, I thought to myself this is kinda boring.
        

In 1988 Jaws 4 The Revenge was released. I asked my mom to drop me at the movies but money was too tight. My obsession led me to flipping through The Washington Post newspaper to the now showing section with the movie ads and clip the Jaws advertisements to collect in a book. I eventually watched Jaws The Revenge on video and it was super boring. I settled on the fact that there were only three good movies in the series with Jaws 3 being the greatest.
        

I watched Jaws 3-D recently and it really sucks. I was shocked at how bad it is. Not how I remembered it at all. I guess I was so mesmerized by the effects of images coming inches from my nose that I didn't see how terribly bland the film was. I guess I'll always have the good memories of my time in Tennessee. You know what else sucked though, slamming my face into the corner of the kitchen counter. Had to wear a patch over my eye for a couple weeks after that. Yeah, that sucked too.