It’s actually kind of hard to overstate what a big deal “Jaws” was when it came out in June 1975, and what a big deal it’s been in the history of cinema ever since.
It was the first modern blockbuster. It was the first summer blockbuster. And it became the highest-grossing movie ever made at the time.
Across Connecticut, theaters, museums and other cultural institutions are finding ways to celebrate the movie’s 50th anniversary. And it’s giving people a chance to discuss the enduring appeal and importance of “Jaws.”
James Hanley, who co-founded the movie theater Cinestudio on the Trinity College campus in Hartford, remembers the first time he saw the movie.
“It’s one of those films that hit a chord at a time,” he said. “Somehow it captured the audience, and you could feel the tension in the theater.”
According to Hanley, “Jaws” turned into something even bigger than just a popular movie.
“It became a phenomenon, where everybody had to see it, and everybody was talking about it,” he said. “It drove the market into a new place.”
“Jaws” is the rare blockbuster that still requires investigation and discussion and dissection all these decades later, said Mark Shanahan, the artistic director at Westport Country Playhouse.
“It’s one of the great, perfect films in its construction, in its acting, in its writing, in its music, in the way it’s shot,” Shanahan said. “Everything about it is worth going back to over and over again and figuring out why it works so well.”
The Playhouse showed “Jaws” on June 2 as the first of a couple of events celebrating the movie’s anniversary. Shanahan thinks there’s no better way to watch “Jaws” than in a room full of other people.
“There’s usually a big scream at a certain moment, followed by the audience laughing at themselves,” he said. “And all these years later, the movie still works like gangbusters.”
One especially fitting place you’ll be able to see “Jaws” this summer, on a big screen with an audience, is at the Mystic Seaport Museum.
“It’s such a beloved movie, especially in the maritime culture,” said Allison Smith, the museum’s public programs manager.
The movie had a real impact on people’s relationship with the water, she said.
“Something that we always want to try and inspire in people is their connection to the water,” Smith said.
On Fourth of July weekend, Mystic Seaport will put on a day-long JAWSFest, with shark-themed crafts and a discussion on shark conservation and a pre-premiere screening of a new National Geographic documentary on the making of “Jaws.”
“We have the great opportunity to bring up that conversation about shark conservation education while coupling it with those fun activities,” Smith said.
There will be other special anniversary screenings of “Jaws” in Connecticut this summer at places like the Westport Library, the Southington Drive-In, and the Garde Arts Center in New London.
And for something a little different, on June 9, Westport Country Playhouse will put on a script-in-hand production of a play about the making of the movie.
“It’s just a few actors on stage with music stands and the scripts and five hours of rehearsal beforehand,” Shanahan said. “It’s really bare bones; it’s simple.”
As a script-in-hand reading, there are no costumes, no props, no fancy set.
“It’s like a radio play,” Shanahan said. “The audience always sort of fills in with their imaginations — the lighting, the costumes, the sound, the set, and everything.”
The play, called “The Shark Is Broken,” ran in the West End in London and on Broadway. It tells the story of the three main stars of “Jaws” — Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw — and their time on Martha’s Vineyard making the movie.
“It’s about friendship and how they fight with each other [and] the weather and also battle against this mechanical shark that never seems to be working,” Shanahan said.
From showing “Jaws” in his theater to putting on a play about it, Shanahan just wants to get people discussing this great, classic, now-50-year-old movie.
“There are so many different angles from which people study this picture that you can sort of endlessly take it apart and get in conversation about it,” he said.
“And yet the next time you see it, it will still scare you half to death while you’re watching it.”
