45 Years of JAWS: Welcome to Amity, June 20th, 1975

By Michelle McCue | June 20, 2020

This was the original tagline of what’s still a perfect film: “JAWS: See It Before You Go Swimming.” 45 years ago this weekend movie goers at their local cinemas were introduced to Bruce, the great white shark. JAWS sits at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In his review Roger Ebert wrote: “Jaws” is a great adventure movie of the kind we don’t get very often any more. It’s clean-cut adventure, without the gratuitous violence of so many action pictures. It has the necessary amount of blood and guts to work — but none extra. And it’s one hell of a good story, brilliantly told.”

The film is streaming on HBO Max as well as it three follow-up movies.

The trailer’s ominous narration said, “There is a creature alive today who has survived millions of years of evolution, without change, without passion and without logic. It lives to kill – a mindless eating machine. It will attack and devour anything. It is as if God created the Devil, and gave him Jaws.”

The characters and the shark are Funko Pop figures that you can find over on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/POP-Movies-Martin-Hooper-Figures/dp/B07P5RH3GS/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=funko+pop+jaws&qid=1592604584&sr=8-9

Read this in-depth article about the film https://musingsofamiddleagedgeek.blog/2020/06/13/jaws-1975-the-movie-that-invented-the-summer-blockbuster-turns-45/

Check out the collection over on MONDO: https://mondoshop.com/collections/jaws

For more on the anniversary check it out over The Daily Jaws https://thedailyjaws.com/jaws-45-year-anniversary

While fans celebrate the 45th anniversary, read my original article from June 2010 posted below.

Martin, it’s all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, “Huh? What?” You yell shark, we’ve got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.

June 20, 1975 and the Summer Blockbuster was born. Opening night and I was a 9 year old kid sitting in the theater on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington, CT and scared shitless by what would later become my favorite film of all time. (Hey, that’s how we rolled in my house). After that evening, I became very wary of going down to the shore. 35 years later my love affair with the film is ever passionate and this trailer still manages to give me the creeps!

Being that its Father’s Day, I feel its safe to say that Chief Martin Brody is one of the best film Dads ever!

Winner of 3 Oscars including Best Score (John Williams), Editing (Verna Fields) and Best Sound and nominated for Best Picture (classy AMPAS!), today fans celebrate the 35th anniversary of JAWS. It was the summer movie that put Spielberg officially on the map and scared many, including this Connecticut native, from going swimming in 1975. While being one of the most quoted movies ever, including the memorable, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” and filled with unforgettable scenes, without a doubt Quint’s soliloquy is one of the finest in film history.

For JAWS enthusiasts today, the ultimate retrospective on JAWS is the documentary The Shark is Still Working.

Maybe one of these days I’ll get up the courage to go the FLOATING JAWS SCREENING where you watch JAWS while sitting in an inner tube in the deep, dark Lake Travis … AT NIGHT! Yeah right.

Happy 35th Birthday JAWS so Smile you son of a BITCH!