You yell shark, and we've got a panic on our hands on the 4th of July

June 20, 2020 3:42 PM

Happy 45th anniversary, Jaws (SLYT) "Produced by The Daily Jaws and created by over 100 super-fans around the world, this special 45th anniversary film uses a mix of live action, animation, action figures and stop motion to reimagine the 1975 shark thriller."

I happened to actually be watching JAWS when I came across the link, posted today, June 20 -- 45 years to the day from the release of JAWS in 1975.

I first saw the movie out the back window of our convertible, watching it on another screen at the drive-in while we were parked at a more youth-suitable movie. I've since seen it 100+ times and could probably recite it verbatim. (The dubbing in of crowd voices was especially good for the time -- "24 hours is like three weeks!")

Enjoy. And keep a lookout for sharks in the pool...

posted by profreader (24 comments total)

He was in a movie
You should watch it
It’s called Jaws
posted by Parasite Unseen at 4:34 PM on June 20, 2020 [20 favorites]

Okay, Parasite Unseen, that music video is a delight.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:58 PM on June 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

That song is the greatest thing I have seen in a very long time.
posted by Lord_Pall at 5:05 PM on June 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

This has made me SUPER. HAPPY.
posted by invincible summer at 5:19 PM on June 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

Golly.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:21 PM on June 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

(profreader - is there a reason you linked to 10:53 of the tribute video instead of the beginning? or should the non-time-stamp youtube url be swapped in?)
posted by oh yeah! at 5:30 PM on June 20, 2020

And now that I’ve skimmed through the tribute “wemake”, that is also big fun.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:39 PM on June 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is AMAZING. I'm especially appreciating the efforts made to evoke the Mayor's Fancy Blazer.
posted by theatro at 5:41 PM on June 20, 2020

This is my friend Jeff. He was in a movie called Jaws.

Here's me helping my nephew in common law jump off the jaws bridge for the first time.
posted by vrakatar at 7:15 PM on June 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Quotes from The Movie Jaws in Which “Shark” is Replaced by “Jimmy Page”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:47 PM on June 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

This summer....at a theater near you...love comes to the surface.
posted by vrakatar at 8:31 PM on June 20, 2020

Okay, obviously this film and I have a serious interlocking. I've got a Quint action figure FFS. I've been in the water at probably every beach in every frame of this movie. I've seen it at least 40 times, and when I first moved to NYC in 1997 I was so homesick for the Vineyard I watched it again and again on VHS just to see glimpses of my now home.

I'm going to hold off on how the metaphor of shark to covid plays out. The memes are out there. And the sharks are here!

I got one more lil linkable short- Brody and Quint make a phonecall. Smashing!
posted by vrakatar at 8:47 PM on June 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

I've got a Quint action figure FFS.

Does it have a beer? Detachable legs?
posted by thelonius at 9:21 PM on June 20, 2020 [8 favorites]

This is amazing! I come from a die-hard Jaws family from Cape Cod who sit around the table reciting lines from the movie at every get-together (and it just never gets old) and named our cat Quint. This remake is so much goodness!!!
posted by carlypennylane at 9:30 PM on June 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Does it have a beer? Detachable legs?

He has a rifle but he's still in the package. I have the shark also, from this line.

I'm going to the beach tomorrow, I'll bring my camera binocs.
posted by vrakatar at 9:57 PM on June 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

"We're going to need a bigger..."
"Sharkbag!" (SNL, "Reel Quotes")
posted by filthy light thief at 10:50 PM on June 20, 2020

Pretty sure I saw it opening night, opening weekend. I was fifteen, almost sixteen. Nothing was ever the same afterward. And that's not hyperbole. That movie affected people.
posted by philip-random at 10:57 PM on June 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

Let me also take a moment to plug the Ravensburger-published Prospero-Hall-designed Jaws board game. I would not have thought that a board game based on the movie would be so engaging, but it's frickin' gold, y'all. Enough mechanics to be chewy but not so many you get overwhelmed, a little fiddly to set up (especially the second half) but nothing too demanding, and it plays in about an hour, teaching to cleanup. The pieces are also great fun, with little wooden meeples that can sit in little wooden boats for absolutely no reason other than that it's hella fun to put a little wooden meeple in a little wooden boat.

It's an asymmetric game, with one player as the shark and the other three playing the three men hunting it. Phase One is a stripped-down hidden-movement game with the shark sneaking around trying to eat swimmers at the four beaches while the humans work together to narrow down which space the shark is in and shoot it with a floating barrel harpoon "to force it to the surface." Very quickly, the shark either eats its fill or gets tagged with a second barrel, at which point you turn the game board over for the second half. Phase Two is the shark versus the humans in direct conflict on the boat, with the shark ripping chunks of boat off and knocking the humans into the water while the humans have to guess which of up to three possible spots the shark will surface at and aim their attacks accordingly. Shark wins if it destroys the boat or eats all the humans. Humans win if they kill the shark. The faster the humans cornered and tagged the shark in Phase One, the more gear they have and the fewer abilities the shark has for the fight.

It manages to be pretty good at two different flavors of board game AND create a strong feeling of narrative throughout a session of play without getting too complicated or slowing down. Highly, highly recommended. (If anyone wants to try it out and has Tabletop Simulator, I am ethically comfortable with running it and teaching it digitally, since I own a physical copy. Memail me, I guess? I can probably scrounge one or two additional players to fill out the roster, time zones depending.)
posted by Scattercat at 3:53 AM on June 21, 2020 [4 favorites]

Our local drive in is showing the original Jaws this weekend.
posted by terrapin at 4:35 AM on June 21, 2020

Several years ago, we took on a new captain on the Erie Canal tour boat I work on. We were introduced and I told him I had only one question:

"How many times have you seen Jaws?"

"Oh, probably 4 or 5 times." he replied with a grin.

"I'd like to see higher numbers," I said levelly, "But I'll allow it."
posted by valkane at 5:49 AM on June 21, 2020 [4 favorites]

There is an EXCELLENT episode of The Rewatchables podcast on Jaws that is super fun to listen to for Jaws-heads. Lots of geeking out over the movie + deep dives (sorry) into trivia/lore from the making of the film. Highly recommend!
posted by Kemma80 at 7:21 PM on June 21, 2020

Scattercat, my friend had the Jaws game with plastic shark head that would snap shut if you triggered it trying to fish out things like a camera or a swim fin. It was pretty fun to play as I recall.
posted by emjaybee at 9:45 PM on June 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

If you have about two hours to kill, Board Game Geek has a YouTube video for you -- Jaws - GameNight! Se7 Ep10. I watched the first half and I have to admit it, I want to be the shark.
posted by TrishaU at 9:56 PM on June 21, 2020

Yeah, my mother has a game like that for the grandchildren when they visit. It is not really much of a game, but they all love it the best of anything because of the giant shark head that snaps.

This Jaws board game is much, much better from a gameplay perspective, I promise.

TrishaU, watch the second half. You will not want to be the shark for that one. It's a rough ride, getting hooked and set on fire.
posted by Scattercat at 10:44 PM on June 21, 2020