Jaws @ 50
Collage drawing I made on December 16, 1986, based on drawings by Mort Drucker in Mad Magazine.
As we all know, Steven Spielberg is a genius filmmaker, and his version of Jaws is excellent. Peter Benchley's novel is equally excellent, IMHO, as thrilling entertainment. There are scenes in the novel that stay with me and scare me as profoundly as any of the images in Spielberg's film. Three in particular stand out:
In Benchley’s opening, the shark passes beneath Christine Watkins's feet without touching her. She feels herself rise and sink in the water, doesn't understand why, and feels fear for the first time. She calms herself by imagining seeing a silhouette of a person pass by a window in a beach house on the shore. (Knowing her exact thoughts moment by moment sets the scene apart from the film and makes it unbearably frightening.)
With the beaches closed, a group of bored teenagers—knowing about the shark attacks—challenge a boy to swim out and back roughly 100 yards. The boy wants to impress a girl, so he goes for it. The scene is a masterclass of POV and suspense.
The final confrontation between Brody and the shark is nightmarish. Spielberg opted for a crowd-pleasing and (literally) explosive ending, which was terrific, but Benchley's ending is realistic and haunting.
If you love Jaws but haven't read Benchley's novel, treat yourself. Grab a copy.
Happy 50th, Bruce.
