Jaws was on Sci-Fi last night. I've always loved (and been frightened of) this movie. Hell to this day I still won't swim in the Ocean except to rescue someone. I spent 8 years in the Coast Guard but whenever "swim call" was announced I'd say, "that's alright, I'm good". I digress.
So when I was about 10 or so my dad was stationed in Germany. From there he shipped to us a VCR and 4 movies. The VCR was one of those super old ones where the buttons are reminiscent of the old Rockford Files tape recorders. You really had to lean into it to press them down all the way.
As for the 4 movies he sent back, the list looks like this:
- Cat Balou
- Mary Poppins
- Jaws
- The Empire Strikes Back
I can't tell you how many times I've watched each of these, but I will say that I warped the tape on more than one of them.
What I noticed last night was that Jaws has some of the best picture angles and editing that I've ever seen. Whether it's Chief Brody flipping through the book on sharks where all you can see is his face and the book in the reflection of his glasses - or possibly the scene where the Chief is sitting on the beach and each time someone walks past him and blocks him from the camera the next shot brings you instantly closer to him.
A lot of little subtleties went into making this movie the classic that it is.
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