'We're gonna need a bigger boat'





When you think of Steven Spielberg today, you think of E.T, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan. All films that have garnered numerous awards and made billions of dollars collectively. But back in 1975, Spielberg was just a kid who had gotten lucky with a movie about a crazy truck driver (Duel). Yet, with youth comes a certain degree of hubris of which Mr. Spielberg was not exempt. It turns out that he was so convinced of his chances of receiving an Academy Award nomination for the film, that he invited a camera crew into his home to watch the nominations being read on television. When the film was nominated for Best Picture, but Spielberg failed to receive a Directing nomination for himself, he was said to have been livid. He publically berated the Academy for snubbing him merely because his film had made a considerable amount of money at the box office. Incidentally, up until Schlinder's List in 1992, Steven Spielberg would suffer the same fate with all his films, as he had with Jaws. Lots of cash, no respect.

Jaws is widely considered to be the first summer Blockbuster film, grossing more than 100 million dollars at the box office, a profit unheard of at the time. The movie's popularity spilled over into other areas as well. Martha's Vineyard, which was the shooting location of the movie (filling in for Amity Island), had an average summer tourist population of 5000 people before 1975. After the movie was released, that number escalated to an astounding 15000. All because of a nutty shark movie.

Another trend that Jaws seems to be partly responsible for is the movie franchise. The film was so successful that it spawned (heh heh) three sequels and laid the ground work for all successful movies to come. Now we know who to thank for Friday the 13th Part 15: Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the nursing home...

Comments are welcome. Email us at reelmud@movieposter.com