The Twin Geeks 35: Jaws

During our 4th of July hiatus, we gathered together to watch the ultimate summer film, Steven Spielberg's blockbuster-birthing masterpiece, Jaws. This film is a beloved favorite from all our staff here, and so we look forward to celebrating its legacy on this most appropriate of holidays. The auteur-driven spirit of 1970s New Hollywood gave way for the kind of creative filmmaking that made a disastrous production like Jaws turn into one of cinema's most beloved and celebrated films. With broken animatronics, unstable filming environments, and an amateur director like Spielberg it's a miracle this film was ever completed, let alone coherent. It is those very tumultuous conditions, though, that made way for the creative inspiration that defines Jaws to manifest, resulting in a phenomenal blend of suspense, action, adventure, and brilliant character drama, all centering around the story of a behemoth man-eating shark. The shark may look fake by today's standards, but the earnest and maverick energies put into the film have not waned with time. Jaws remains one of the seminal films in all of cinema, and a truly treasured piece of filmmaking for all of us here.