Celebrating the original blockbuster

It is one of the most overused words in the entire lexicon of hyperbole that is Hollywood, but 36 years ago today there was one cinema release that earned its epithet, and started the trend of ig summer movies. It was the film for which the word was coined and it ctapulted the director, one Steven Spielberg to international fame. it is still one of the highest grossing films of all time and tells the tale of one mans battle against the forces on nature personified and indeed demonised in the shape of a killer great white shark with a hunger for human flesh. The film of course was Jaws, and the epithet was coined for the queues of cinema goers who lined the blocks around movie theatres throughout that summer.

The story was written by Peter Benchley, perhaps the best author in the genre of nautical adventures being a highly experienced diver and quite a passable marine biologist. He had written the story of a rogue shark lured away from its usual hunting grounds into the shallow of American coastal waters, and kept there by the ready availability of prey items, namely Americans enjoying their summer. There has been a lot written about the unlikely circumstances of the story, but it is in fact based on real events 30 years earlier when there were a series of attacks on swimmers around the American coast and even in tidal creeks and rivers moving inland. The most likely candidate for these attacks was actually the more aggressive Bull shark, which can effect the transfer from salt to fresh water, and is the only shark so far known that can achieve this. However for the purpose of the story the more well known, and feared Great White was substituted.

This transference mirrors nicely the scene in the film when the response to the shark attacks is to demonise every species of shark in the area, with a nurse shark being hailed as the killer, which is very unlikely. It also highlights the prevalence of the American attitude found throughout the cold war era that threats should be met with overwhelming force rather than perhaps rational thought. In the end it comes down to the efforts of a small group of unlikely heroes to rescue the beaches of America from the lurking menace in the best traditions of the disaster movie and creature feature, but Jaws did something that was very new. It approached what had traditionally been B-movie fodder as a major feature with a strong story, high quality cinematography and a stunning soundtrack including that now iconic theme music based on the sharks heartbeat accelerating as it prepares to attack.

So heres to the summer blockbuster, those big ticket super films that appear each year and stimulate so much debate about quality and content, and more specifically to the film that started it all. Happy birthday Jaws!