In the latest episode of Rewind of the Living Dead, we’re going to say farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies and go get a bigger boat as we review the 1975 classic “Jaws”…
Producers at Universal Pictures heard about a new book coming out from author Peter Benchley that told the story about a Great White shark attacking swimmers at a small, fictional island.
The producers were so engrossed by the story that they immediately bought the rights to the book before it was ever officially released and they started to make plans to adapt this novel into a movie.
Several directors were approached for the project but nobody seemed to truly understand show to make the movie work but a young, 26-year-old named Steven Spielberg very much wanted the job and he sold himself to the producers after they backed his first feature film “The Sugarland Express.”
Spielberg tackled Benchley’s novel — making some key changes from the book, in particular some of the interactions between the lead characters — but at the heart of it all the story involved a small town police chief, a scientist and a shark hunter going after the killer creature in the seat.
The entire project was an utter disaster with filming going over budget and taking far too long to finish not to mention a mechanical shark named Bruce that just did not want to cooperate.
Through sheer will, Spielberg managed to finish the movie but then something strange happened. The film opened and immediately exploded at the box office with the movie earning over $100 million in the first 60 days of release.
It was the first true summer blockbuster and a movie that made people never want to go into the water again.
In the latest episode of Rewind of the Living Dead, we’re going to say farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies and go get a bigger boat as we review the 1975 classic “Jaws”…
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