Jaws @ 50 chums the water and lures in family of late cast members and Jaws novel scribe Peter Benchley, shark biologists and conservationists, and some of the Martha’s Vineyard locals who were recruited for bit parts, all of whom contextualize various elements of the film, from its inception as a bestseller to the worldwide anti-shark crusade it inspired to the way it latched onto the public consciousness and never let go, like, I dunno, something that’s big and hungry and terrifying and bites a lot. Spielberg’s struggles on the set are infamous lore, and hearing the stories from the (war) horse’s mouth is a lot of fun, as long as we properly acknowledge how the guy absolutely went through it for the sake of his art. Some of what Jaws @ 50 digs up isn’t as broadly infamous – Bouzereau digs into some of the finer details of the casting process (some locally famous Martha’s Vineyards weirdos got screen time, and even a line or two), and the prickly rivalry between stars Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw is characterized as iron sharpening iron.
Author: mliss1578
Published at: 2025-07-15 22:30:00
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