Jaws Is On right now

Denby

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I have loved Jaws each time I've seen it. So far about 20 times and hopefully another 20.
 

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If i honestly had to guess, i would say in my 37 years of life, i must have seen it a couple hundred times...

it is always on HBO, Showtime, Starz etc, not to mention AMC, TBS TNT etc...whenever it is on, i have to watch it, even if just in the background.

It is such a classic, has it all

great writing, humor, fear, suspense, intelligence, visuals etc...

it is hard to find a single fault with it, which is rare.
 

Xcuze

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Well I wasnt impressed with the actual shark. It didnt look that big to me. Or real. But maybe thats not the point of the film.

I also find it a bit too slow paced.
 

Flashy

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Well I wasnt impressed with the actual shark. It didnt look that big to me. Or real. But maybe thats not the point of the film.

I also find it a bit too slow paced.

how old are you? It had a much different effect on people who are much older, from the era before the discovery channel/shark week etc. when Sharks were much more mysterious and there was very little filmed or know about Great Whites, so that might have alot to do with not being impressed with the shark itself...but you have to admit, for special effects in 1975 it is a pretty amazing shark

but as you said, that really isn't the point.

i understand some folks may find the pacing slow, but that is deliberate and i find adds to the building of tension, each one becoming progressively more frightening, until the full horror is revealed and kept at a certain level for a long period of tension, uncertainty and fear before the finale and defeat of the creature...

(The Exorcist is exactly the same) they are both masterpieces of psychological horror...very Hitchcock...though i understand that younger audiences have less patience for slow pacing, i love it...

in reality it is only 2 hours and 4 minutes or so, depending on the version...but the film-making is so good, and the story so broad, many feel like they are watching a much longer tale...I know i always felt that it was like 3 hours or so...but that is the pacing and the engrossing nature of the story (IMO)
 

pym

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It is a great film....I saw it in the Theater upon initial release.
Let me tell you what.......When the shark suddenly stuck it's head out of the water when Brody was chumming.......Whoa man!:eek: Everyone in the theater Jumped back in there seats and gasped!
 

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It is a great film....I saw it in the Theater upon initial release.
Let me tell you what.......When the shark suddenly stuck it's head out of the water when Brody was chumming.......Whoa man!:eek: Everyone in the theater Jumped back in there seats and gasped!

yeah, that was awesome...

but the first time you really see the shark is before that, when it goes into the pond, and grabs the guy in the little rowboat! :eek:
 

D_Ivana Dickenside

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eeek! that movie still scares me til this very day.

when i was in my teens i always spent the weekends at the beach with friends. my brother would join too, and when everyone was out in the water splashing around, he would purposely yell out "SHARK!!!!!!!!!!" i've never seen my friends run out of the water so fast. he and i would laugh our asses off. ohhh memories...
 

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Well funnily I've just written this in another thread on favourite horror films but I first saw Jaws on VHS when I was 9 on a boat. I'm not kidding. Well, you could say it was more a small ship, but I was visiting my dad who was first mate on it while they were docked for repairs in Wales and some of the crew put Jaws on in the TV room one night. I sat through it kacking myself but riveted and then had to go to bed sleeping next to a fucking porthole.
I was not happy!

Great, great film though. It took me a few years to watch it again (I was really too young) but I love the way I first saw it nowadays. You can't buy a movie experience like that. (Unless 'Alive' is your in-flight film).
 
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Well funnily I've just written this in another thread on favourite horror films but I first saw Jaws on VHS when I was 9 on a boat. I'm not kidding. Well, you could say it was more a small ship, but I was visiting my dad who was first mate on it while they were docked for repairs in Wales and some of the crew put Jaws on in the TV room one night. I sat through it kacking myself but riveted and then had to go to bed sleeping next to a fucking porthole.
I was not happy!

Great, great film though. It took me a few years to watch it again (I was really too young) but I love the way I first saw it nowadays. You can't buy a movie experience like that. (Unless 'Alive' is your in-flight film).
At the age of 9 you would have been perfectly set and ready for another Peter Benchly novel converted to a movie with The Island starring Michael Caine who is on a boat with his young son and they are attacked and kidnapped by pirates. That kept me off of boats for a few years. The movie was and is considered one of the worst movies of all time and has not made it to DVD yet.
 

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(The Exorcist is exactly the same) they are both masterpieces of psychological horror...very Hitchcock...though i understand that younger audiences have less patience for slow pacing, i love it...

...but that is the pacing and the engrossing nature of the story (IMO)

I think Jaws, The Exorcist, The Shining, Close encounters, Sixth sense & The Thing all have a similar slow pace to them. I dont really have the patience for it & need to be grabbed by the balls very early on for a film to keep my attention.

But they are clever in the way they throw in a few shock punches that are very memorable. Indeed, its those punches that people tend to remember rather than the long boring parts inbetween them. I also understand that the slow, understated build up adds to the menacing atmosphere & impact of the shock moments. But I can only watch these films once coz those shock moments just dont shock me 2nd time round.

Flashy, I know youre gonna say theyre not boring parts... :rolleyes:
 

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eeek! that movie still scares me til this very day.

when i was in my teens i always spent the weekends at the beach with friends. my brother would join too, and when everyone was out in the water splashing around, he would purposely yell out "SHARK!!!!!!!!!!" i've never seen my friends run out of the water so fast. he and i would laugh our asses off. ohhh memories...


stacy have you ever heard the story of the boy who cried shark? :wink:
 

Flashy

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Well funnily I've just written this in another thread on favourite horror films but I first saw Jaws on VHS when I was 9 on a boat. I'm not kidding. Well, you could say it was more a small ship, but I was visiting my dad who was first mate on it while they were docked for repairs in Wales and some of the crew put Jaws on in the TV room one night. I sat through it kacking myself but riveted and then had to go to bed sleeping next to a fucking porthole.
I was not happy!

Great, great film though. It took me a few years to watch it again (I was really too young) but I love the way I first saw it nowadays. You can't buy a movie experience like that. (Unless 'Alive' is your in-flight film).

lol...or titanic while you are on a cruise! :biggrin1:
 

Flashy

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I think Jaws, The Exorcist, The Shining, Close encounters, Sixth sense & The Thing all have a similar slow pace to them. I dont really have the patience for it & need to be grabbed by the balls very early on for a film to keep my attention.

But they are clever in the way they throw in a few shock punches that are very memorable. Indeed, its those punches that people tend to remember rather than the long boring parts inbetween them. I also understand that the slow, understated build up adds to the menacing atmosphere & impact of the shock moments. But I can only watch these films once coz those shock moments just dont shock me 2nd time round.

Flashy, I know youre gonna say theyre not boring parts... :rolleyes:

well, no, not to me...but to each his own on that account...younger audiences tend to have more of the desire that you have mentioned top be shocked and scared and grabbed rather quickly...it is more about the visceral shocks etc. and less about the story....nothing wrong with that...it is a generational thing i suppose.

i simply believe that stories like Jaws and The Exorcist are brilliant not so much because of the visceral terror, but because of the story of that terror, and the possibility of it...and the dread of the terror to come.

For example...Jaws and the Exorcist both fill you with dread of the next encounter in a specific place...with Jaws it is the Ocean, with The Exorcist, is the Room. You do not have to go in the ocean...Jaws cannot get you on the land, so if you stay on land, hey no problem...same with the Exorcist...you don't have to stay in the house...you don't have to go up to the room.

But something in the human mind must confront that fear...to the point where the audience is dreading following the character into the confrontation...for gods sake do not go in the water where you see the big fin! for gods sake do not approach the door to the room where you hear that horrible voice and the screams coming from!

as each scene passes and you must keep going back to confront the terror that gets worse and worse, you dread each confrontation more and more,as the terror becomes so pronounced that they destruction of the creature(s) is the only salvation...

IMO :smile: