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2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the film JAWS, so here’s a look at how the film was made, why it was so successful and how it nearly never got made at all. Oh and why it’s one of my favourite films of all time.
Safe
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water…actually that was the tagline for Jaws 2. The Jaws 3D tagline was, “just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water again… in 3D!”
Okay, it wasn’t but it should’ve been.
Best?
So, is Jaws the best film of all time? No, but it’s up there as a classic film, but not just because of its popularity.1
But why did it do so well, if it’s not the best? To understand that you’d have to go back to 1974 to fully appreciate its impact. Which is where I’m off to now. You can tag along if you want. Keep an eye on the water though.
1974
In 1974 I was 14, and my interests, much like most of my friends, lay mainly in football, girls, books, music, guitar and films (so, no change there, then). One of the things I had little interest in was oceanography and the study of marine species. But that was all about to change.
Shark Attack
In a pre-Jaws world, there was very little known or reported on when it came to sharks. Occasionally you would see a report on TV or in a newspaper about a Crocodile Dundee type character who’d been involved in a shark attack off the coast of Australia. The report would go on to say something about him giving the shark a left hook, forcing it into a half-nelson before swimming to safety.
Frinton
And whilst shark attacks were quite shocking, they were also rare, plus they occurred on the other side of the world, so people in the UK paid little attention to them. Had there been shark attacks off the coast of Frinton-on-sea for example, it would have been a completely different story.
Writer
But in the US in the late 60’s, a writer by the name of Peter Benchley had an idea for a novel, which centered around a coastal seaside town where a shark comes to feed on an abundance of unsuspecting, chubby humans.
He outlined the plot to his wife and her response was, “What a ridiculous idea!” He was to hear that reaction quite a lot. But the germ of the story kept nagging him and eventually he wrote the novel and it was finally published in 1974.
Whale Shark
Universal Pictures bought the film rights and assigned a director to it. However, at the pre-production meetings he kept referring to the shark as a whale. It didn’t bode well for the film.
Director: “So, we’re setting the picture in Amity, a quiet seaside town, where nothing ever happens and then suddenly kids go missing and it’s all due to a killer whale and then…”
Producer: “It’s a shark, not a whale.”
Director: “Yeah, whatever. Anyways, this whale keeps coming back for a feeding frenzy and…”
Producer: “It’s a shark goddamit! A killer shark. There’s no whales in the picture. We’re not making Moby Dick.”
Director: “Ok, keep your hair on. So, it has a feeding frenzy but nobody believes the Police Chief when he says there’s a killer whale on the loose…”
Producer: “Ok, that’s enough. Ladies and gentlemen, talk amongst yourselves, I need to have a private chat with our director here.”
Gone in 60 Seconds
Anyway, he got fired before filming even started and so the producers found this fairly young and very inexperienced director by the name of Steven Spielberg who they decided to put in charge of the project.
Offers
One of the biggest problems he had was convincing anyone to be in the film. It had been turned down by half of Hollywood and the other half weren’t suitable. Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Steve McQueen, Charlton Heston, Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall were all considered but for varying reasons were not offered a part. To paraphrase Spielberg who said, “If Charlton Heston had been in the film, the shark wouldn’t have got a look-in.”
The Worst
Richard Dreyfuss turned the film down, as did Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum and Oliver Reed. Then Dreyfuss saw his performance in his previous film, decided he was “the worst actor in the US”, and started to worry he’d never get offered another role, so phoned Spielberg and asked to be reconsidered.
Broken
The special effects team built three mechanical sharks for filming but didn’t have time to test them in salt water. The salt played havoc with the hydraulics and consequently they spent most of the time either broken, lying on the sea bed and often both. This is the reason the shark doesn’t appear until the second half of the film.
And because of this, a 65 day shooting schedule ended up being a 157 day schedule and costs started to spiral out of control. The film was being rewritten as they went along, adding things in and taking things out because they couldn’t film the shark scenes, and all the while the producers were crossing their fingers, praying it would all make sense at the end.
Indianapolis
One such scene was with Robert Shaw recounting being on the USS Indianapolis after it was torpedoed during WW2, where he states, “1200 men went into the water and only 300 came out. Sharks got the rest.” This was a true story although it’s now believed most died of hypothermia or dehydration.3
Fight
Then, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss discovered that although their characters didn’t get on in the film, they didn’t like each other in real life either. Then the Orca, the boat that sinks at the end of the film, sank, weeks before it was supposed to.
But despite “Murphy’s Law” where it’s accepted that ‘everything that can go wrong will go wrong’ Spielberg doggedly continued and the film was finally completed.
Campaign
Although the book had been a bestseller, it was when the studio started it’s advertising campaign the world went shark crazy. Once the film was coming up for release, you couldn’t move for shark information. There were news items, books, TV programmes, documentaries, magazines. The newspapers went mad and it seemed every day for months, there was some shark related story in the papers.
Specials
One such newspaper (the Daily Express I think), ran a number of special “pull out and keep” articles on Jaws and sharks that ran for a week at a time. My Dad worked as a printer on the national newspapers in Fleet St. and he’d bring all the papers home every night, which was great for me because I got all the articles and all the Sunday supplements too.
Shark Crazy
In short, the world went shark crazy and so did I. If I’d been caught in a storm I’d have been called Sharknado but I’ll come onto that later.
Fool
The film’s tagline was “See it before you go swimming.” Which foolishly, is exactly what I did. When Jaws went on general release (films were usually premiered in London first before traversing the country later), my family were on holiday in Lowestoft. By this time I’d read the book, devoured the magazines and Sunday supplements of any shark-related information, and suddenly I was going to be in some backwater seaside town that hadn’t even heard of moving pictures and I’d miss the whole thing.
One Screen to Rule Them All
Again, in 1975, most cinemas only had one large screen. Multiplexes didn’t exist. So, a film would be released and would be shown at the local ‘flea-pit’ usually for a week. If it was a blockbuster, as Jaws was, it was shown for 2 weeks.
Anxiety
Luckily Lowestoft did screen it and I got my Dad to take me to see the film while we were on holiday, and it scared the bejesus out of me. So much so, it took me several days to go anywhere near the sea again. Even having a drink of water gave me anxiety.
It seems funny now but I even had problems just paddling up to my ankles as the tide came rushing in. I’d be on the beach, roasting away in the sun, when my mum would suggest I go swimming to cool down, and I’d be, “No, you’re alright I’ll just sit here and cook.”
Lunch
I obviously wasn’t alright but whereas the day before everything had been fine, I was now in receipt of new information and today it was clearly unsafe in the water. I don’t think there has ever been a shark attack in Lowestoft but it was now obvious to me it was only a matter of time, and I didn’t want to be a Great White lunch, so I stayed firmly on terra firma.
Head
The most frightening scene for me (and lots of others) was when Dreyfuss’s character Hooper, goes diving down to a wrecked boat at night and a disembodied head comes bobbing out of the broken hull. That alone was enough for me to stay out of the water for the rest of my life, and that’s without a three tonne Great White with a face full of steak knives.
Knowledge
The film had both positive and negative effects on sharks, in that it inspired many people to become oceanographers and so knowledge of sharks increased exponentially as a result. However, it also increased the fear of shark attacks and inspired certain other types of people to become shark hunters, whether they needed hunting or not.
Effect
The other effect of Jaws, was the plethora of animal related horror/thriller films which flooded (haha) the market as a result. As well as Jaws 2 – when a shark returns to Amity Island, Jaws 3D when a shark attacks Sea World (in 3D) and Jaws 4 The Revenge, when a shark follows the Brody family to the Bahamas – there was Anaconda, Arachnophobia, Lake Placid, Alligator, Piranha, Orca, Grizzly , along with many others.
Jaws 4
Anyway, I watched Jaws 4 recently and it stars Michael Caine. Other than the shark, he is the only one who breathes any gravitas into the film. The other characters were so annoying I ended up rooting for the shark and found myself disappointed it didn’t eat more of them sooner.
Spin-offs
Then there were all the Shark spin-offs. Here’s a few. The Shallows (2016)4, Finding Nemo, The Deep, The Meg, Dark Tide, Deep Blue Sea, 47 Meters Down, Open Water and a particular favourite, Sharknado. Yes, a story so absurd you have to watch it to believe someone actually spent time making it into a film. Actually, to date there have been six Sharknado films (shocking, I know).
LA
Essentially, Sharknado is a story of what happens when a tornado travels across the Pacific, sucks sharks into its vortex and then deposits them in LA. And of course, by the time they land on unsuspecting people out shopping or going to the park, they’re really angry and bitey.
Where’s the Shark?
So, why is Jaws such a good film? Well, to begin with, as I have said, the shark doesn’t appear until ⅔rds of the way through the film and this builds tension, because we don’t see the shark, we only see the consequences of its actions. Also, the film is really told in two parts. The first half from the land, and the second from the water, specifically The Orca, the boat owned by Quint (Robert Shaw). So as the story unfolds the characters are getting closer to the danger.
Jaws effectively defined the modern Hollywood blockbuster. It set the tempo and the framework for success, and while many have attempted to copy the formula, few have succeeded.
Vertigo
Then there is the scene on the ferry where everything moves except the camera, and the famous Jaws Shot or “Dolly Shot” borrowed from Hitchcock’s Vertigo where the camera appears to zoom in and out at the same time.
Music
And I haven’t even got onto the “You’re going to need a bigger boat” scene yet. Or the music score, riffed in Airplane’s opening scene. Dun-dun!
Airplane! (1980) [Opening Scene]
Girl
Talking of opening scenes, when the girl gets attacked by the shark after going night swimming, Spielberg discovered her screams were too clear and precise, so afterwards they recorded her screaming whilst pouring water down her throat, to get the sense of an attack in the sea.
CIA
And in doing so he inadvertently invented waterboarding, which the CIA took great joy in testing on innocent people incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay. They also enjoyed denying it too.
Popular Culture
So, Jaws found it’s way into popular culture, through quotes and references which 50 years later, still reverberate through society.
TV
And currently (July 2025) on ITV you can watch Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters where real live celebrities get fed to sharks around the shores of the Bahamas. Ok, so not quite but they do go swimming with them. Admittedly, some of them are absolutely terrified, but eventually the sharks overcome their primal fear of celebrity overacting, and they all receive a certificate which proudly boasts “I swam with a celebrity…and survived!” It’s a shark joke.
4K
JAWS 50th Anniversary edition is released on July 23rd on a limited edition 4K Blu-Ray. Also, as of July 2025, Jaws is available to stream on Amazon Prime, Netflix (UK) and ITVx.
It is also playing at selected cinemas this summer. Chomp chomp.
Thank you for your time.
Back to blogs
- It made a whopping $500m at the box office from a budget of $7m and was, at the time, the biggest grossing film of all time
- Fox designed and built the first submersible safety cage to observe sharks in the ocean
- The USS Indianapolis delivered the atomic bomb used against the Japanese in 1945. Because the mission was so secret, no distress signal was sent out which is why nearly 1,000 men perished at sea.
- I watched The Shallows recently. The title appears to reflect the depth of characterisation rather than the depth of the water
- Steelbook is a special edition in a steel case rather than plastic