Like Whatever Gen-X
Remember the 1980s and 1990s and all things Gen-X. Take a stroll down memory lane, drink from a hose, and ride until the street lights come on. We discuss the past, present, and future of the forgotten generation. From music to movies and television, to the generational trauma we all experienced we talk about it all. Take a break from today and travel back to the long hot summer days of nostalgia. Come on slackers, fuck around and find out with us!
Like Whatever Gen-X
We're Gonna Need A Bigger Podcast
Two lifelong movie fans peel back the layers of cinematic history to reveal the chaotic, problem-plagued production that unexpectedly created one of the most influential films of all time. What began as a seemingly straightforward adaptation of Peter Benchley's novel about a man-eating shark became a masterclass in filmmaking innovation when everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
The mechanical shark—famously nicknamed "Bruce" after Spielberg's lawyer—refused to cooperate, sinking, malfunctioning, and looking decidedly unrealistic when it did appear. But this seemingly catastrophic failure forced the young director to reimagine his approach, relying instead on suggestion, sound, and the viewer's imagination to create terror. The yellow barrels breaking the surface, those two ominous musical notes composed by John Williams, and the expert editing by Verna Fields transformed what could have been just another monster movie into a suspense thriller worthy of Hitchcock himself.
As we dissect the troubled 159-day shoot (over triple the scheduled time), the ballooning budget that nearly derailed Spielberg's career, and Robert Shaw's unforgettable USS Indianapolis monologue (which he rewrote himself after attempting to film it drunk), we discover how the confluence of accidents, limitations, and inspired artistic choices created cinematic magic.
The hosts share fascinating behind-the-scenes stories, including how Roy Scheider improvised the iconic "You're gonna need a bigger boat" line, why Spielberg now refuses to be present for the final scene filming of all his movies, and the strange moment when the production team actually considered training a real great white shark before realizing the impossibility.
Did you know that Spielberg originally scoffed at John Williams' simple two-note theme? Or that the film's troubled production was nicknamed "Flaws" by its frustrated crew? Dive into the deep water with us as we explore how a film that went dramatically over budget and schedule changed Hollywood forever by creating the summer blockbuster and keeping generations of viewers afraid to go in the water.
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Speaker 2:Welcome to Like Whatever a podcast for. By and about Gen X. I'm Nicole and this is my BFF, heather. Hello, so let's see here I'm excited for this week's topic.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm melting.
Speaker 2:I have melted.
Speaker 3:It's warm, it is warm it is. It's going to storm though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably while I'm driving home Probably, but it stormed when I drove home last week, so I'm good Look at that.
Speaker 3:See, it's bookended, it is. I did want to. It's bookended, it is. I did want to talk about one thing that's very up. This week was the last the Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne Farewell and I've been just obsessed with it. Yeah, I mean, the emotion he put into my mom coming home is just gut-wrenching. It's gut-wrenching and. I'm not ready for Ozzy to go yet, but I do think it's going to be soon, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 3:If you haven't seen it yet, you should check it out. It's back to the beginning. I only watched Ozzy's part. I didn't watch Metallicaica or anything else. I really probably should, right, I didn't yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what about you? Um, yeah, I've been binge watching only murders in the Building, which I love. You've never seen it, right? No, it is a show about a podcast. Oh, if you didn't know that, I didn't. The three of them have a podcast and people keep getting murdered in the building they live in in New York City and they solve the murders on their podcast.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, that would be awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We should do that. Yeah, we should do that we should start solving murders.
Speaker 2:We'd be very good at it. We would be very good at it, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, maybe if we didn't even solve it, but maybe we just talk about them and just break it down.
Speaker 2:Yeah. This is what we decided happened.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there we go. I'm almost always right when I listen to my date lines. Which there have been some crazy date lines that I've been listening to the last couple of days. Which there have been some crazy date lines that I've been listening to the last couple days, Although you know, oh my God, I'm so stupid Because I was at work and I listened to it while I'm putting my mail up and stuff, and sometimes I listen to. The Rest is History. I very much enjoy that. That's a good podcast.
Speaker 3:But I wasn't in the mood. I was like I don't want to think about anything, I'm just gonna put my date lines on, yes, and unfortunately I don't pay attention it. They just roll into the next one, another next one, and it came up that it was um flight 93.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they were playing the the um yeah, they were playing the messages and I was like, why am I doing this to myself? Because I'm standing in my thing and I'm like trying to choke back the tears and I'm like why am I doing this to myself? And then I continued to do it to myself Instead of just turning it off and moving it along.
Speaker 2:Where's the fun in that?
Speaker 3:I know I was like you know what. I'm just going to torch myself here and hope no one notices.
Speaker 2:I am leaving for Austin on Sunday. Oh yeah, mm-hmm, are you?
Speaker 3:excited.
Speaker 2:I am. I don't like to fly, but I do like to travel.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:They're a little wet down there. Yeah, I do feel a little bit of guilt going down there right now, because I don't know exactly how close it is to Austin. But I know it was Central Texas that it happened in. And I know Austin is Central-ish but it's a big state so hopefully I won't be close yeah.
Speaker 3:It's really sad. It's really sad.
Speaker 2:It's very sad. I saw a guy on the news this morning and his daughter survived, thank goodness, but she's devastated that she lost her bracelet.
Speaker 2:So he's there every single day digging through all the rubble trying to find her bracelet for her. It just I mean, every story is just gut-wrenching. Yeah, the counselor's driving the little girls out on the bus with them all singing. Um, who were they singing? I wanted to say ave mar, but that's not what they were singing. But it was a Christian song and just their little voices. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. The counselors were trying to distract them.
Speaker 3:I can't even imagine how terrified they were.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know who's going to be more traumatized the little kids or the counselors? They're like 16, 17, 18-year-olds, and now you're responsible for all these children, as all this tragedy is crashing down around you. Yeah, and PTSD, all of it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's so sad. It is sad, but that's what happens when you cut the funding to the National Weather Service and people can't be given time to evacuate. To evacuate, I think they had five, ten minutes notice. Five minutes notice. Did you see that relapse video? Yes, the guys in the trucks, yes, and how fat. And they like hauled ass out. And two more. It was in fast motion. The two come down real quick and then they just back out. I did see that yeah.
Speaker 2:It's so sad, it's terrifying. It reminded me of, uh the scene in oh brother, where art thou? Yeah when they purposely flood the yeah flood, the area, like that's had to have been what it was like there is a whole.
Speaker 3:Not to change subject. Not to change subject. I'm good with that. There is a town. I want to say it's in one of the Carolinas or somewhere that I'm probably not in the Carolinas Anyway, a way long time ago they flooded a whole town to make a like, on purpose, to make this lake. So it's the lake and underneath is all of the houses and you can see them, whoa yeah and it's like super creepy.
Speaker 3:That's so creepy I forget what it's called, but it's like they flooded the whole area and then the houses are still there. Wow, under the water. Creepy town. Yeah, I mean nobody, I don't. I think they moved everybody out first before they did that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, but I'll bet that it's still haunted, I'm sure, like I definitely wouldn't fish in that pond, no, no no, no, no, that's creepy, yeah, but I want to go because I want to see it.
Speaker 3:Of course yeah, hit. Of course yeah, because now that the water level is dropping everywhere, yeah now you can see the houses their little rooftops.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now you're like what is going on?
Speaker 3:why?
Speaker 2:is there, oh my god yeah, other than that it's been hot as 80s here all week.
Speaker 3:I mean it's like it is preparing us for our afterlife, though we were literally just talking about this, we were, yeah, how much fun hell's going to be.
Speaker 2:It's going to be great Casinos and booze and drugs.
Speaker 3:And all of it. All of it, because I've been having a poker tournament issue, the last. I've been playing poker tournaments like left and right now. Did you know that you could play a poker tournament for a penny Whoa and you could win $100.? Oh, exactly, I did come in 34th Nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Out of like 200 and some Very good. Yeah, I had like so many straights. I don't know what happened. I was like it was just one straight after another after another, and then I went all in on two pair and I lost yeah, after another after another, and then I went all in on two pair and I lost yeah, yeah, but that's how it goes.
Speaker 2:No one to hold them.
Speaker 3:No one to hold them. I did not know when to walk away, Nor did I run. Kenny wasn't. I didn't follow his advice.
Speaker 2:So that's it. I think that's it All right. But before we get into everything real quick, she forgets every time. Please like share rate review. We're on all the socials at like whatever pod. We have an email like whatever pod at gmailcom, and is that?
Speaker 3:it. That's it, okay. Yeah, so now we're going to fuck around and find out about Jaws, yay.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited. I have been dying for you to do this topic.
Speaker 3:I was. I thought it. I actually thought it was Shark Week, but it's not so. But we did have here in the Ocean City, maryland, somebody got bit by something from the ocean. It was the exact article title. They got bit by something. And I said I mean, if you get bit by something that's not in the ocean, while you're in the ocean, that would be way more alarming than if you got you got a bit by sure.
Speaker 2:I love, though, how they think if they don't say it was a shark that no one will know they'll be like oh, it was just something. It was something. There were two shark attacks in new york this week too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, fuck that I mean, if you go into their house look, here's the thing. I heard somebody else say this once if you, if somebody comes in their bathing suit and is just wandering through your living room, I mean you get to shoot them. Yeah, so why wouldn't sharks get to me?
Speaker 2:I mean I have a similar philosophy to bugs. If I'm outside, I'm not going to kill a bug, except a mosquito, because they're assholes, yeah, but everybody else? I mean this is your space. If you're flying, you come in my house, I'm gonna kill you. I mean, you came into my space, you're not supposed to. I mean I might try to let you out if it's possible or whatever, but I'm I do take spiders outside I never kill spiders.
Speaker 3:You shouldn't take them outside. Oh no, you should because they're. There's different things there's house spiders and there's outside spiders you know what?
Speaker 2:actually, I used to take them outside, but now that you say it, I just leave them alone. Yeah, they don't hurt anything.
Speaker 3:No, because inside spiders don't know how to live outside.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I heard that somewhere it could be a total lie everyone on that I don't, I probably didn't, I probably just totally lied to you.
Speaker 3:Just leave them alone, why don't do their thing?
Speaker 2:yeah, they're really not gonna do I mean everyone's on a blue moon. It's been a while, but I've gotten a spider bite in my sleep or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Nothing major, it's just.
Speaker 3:They also say and I don't know if this is a lie also that spiders know your habits and try to stay away from you. So, that if you see a spider, it's because you went out of your, off your routine.
Speaker 2:You snuck up on them. You snuck up on them.
Speaker 3:And they were like oh shit, I used to have a spider that lived in my shower. We actually do have a black widow living in the house somewhere. Yeah I, I moved her to a different area that was not in the bathroom where she was, and then I got yelled at because I was told, why would you move a poisonous spider? And I said she's venomous and not poisonous number one. And I said she has a right to live. Also, exactly, she got moved and I'm not telling anybody where I moved her do you ever see her?
Speaker 3:not anymore now, since I moved her, so see she figured it out, she did. She was like thank you, and then she moved on.
Speaker 2:She's like I was stuck in this bathroom. I can figure out how to get out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because there's no bugs in there. Now I moved her to where there's fruit flies. Yeah, I moved her to the fruit fly section.
Speaker 2:I said do your damn job. Yeah, if you're gonna live here, at least clean up a little bit, be here with your hourglass, do your damn job.
Speaker 3:Everybody's got a job here, yeah, yeah, except for the fucking dog and the cats and bird, whatever. Let's talk about jaws yeah, yeah, yeah yeah uh, so, um, my, mostly my content was from imbd and movie web and there's like 118 different documentaries.
Speaker 2:And just the general knowledge in your brain.
Speaker 3:Because I've seen Jaws 387 million times.
Speaker 2:I was hoping to rewatch it this week before we did this just to freshen my memory, because you know I have a horrible memory. But I've also seen that movie like 300 times, so I't know. I'm pretty sure I can get through it. Yep, You'll be fine.
Speaker 3:Mostly, I'm not even going to really talk about the plot much.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because I think we all know how it goes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the fun stuff is in making it, yeah.
Speaker 3:So Jaws is based on the Peter Benchley novel about a man eating great white shark, about a man eating great white shark. The great white shark, Carcarodon carcarus, also known as the white shark, white pointer or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. Because you knew I was going to give you a lesson on sharks.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, you've watched enough Shark Week. You should certainly.
Speaker 3:And I love the great white. It's my favorite of the sharks.
Speaker 3:It's the only and it's the most perfect predator. Fyi, it's the only known surviving species of its genus, Carcharodon. The great white is notable for its size, with the largest preserved female specimen measuring 19 feet in length and around 4,400 pounds in weight at maturity. However, most are smaller Males measure 11 to 13 feet and females measure 15 to 16. On average, the lifespan of the great white is estimated to be as long as 70 years or more, making it one of the longest lived cartilaginous.
Speaker 2:Cartilaginous Say that three times real fast, I can't say it.
Speaker 3:Fish is currently known. Great white sharks can swim at a speed of 16 miles per hour for short bursts and to depths of 3,900 feet Because they're made of cartilage. The great white shark is arguably the world's largest known exodent micropredatory fish and it's one of the primary predators of marine mammals such as pinnipeds and dolphins. The great white shark is also known to prey upon a variety of other animals, including fish, other sharks and seabirds. It has only one recorded natural predator, the orca. Which, by the way, right now the orca are like waging war on the great white. Which, by the way, right now the orca are like waging war on the great white, like they're worried that they're going to put the great white out of, into extinction because they just keep coming and they just steal their liver and then they leave them the little they just come in, they go put on their salmon hats and yes, and they parade around with the shark liver.
Speaker 3:I don't know what's going on with that, but orcas are assholes like they really are they're're horrible.
Speaker 2:Which is hilarious. When you think of SeaWorld, Everybody's like oh, look at the pretty little and that's just it.
Speaker 3:Everybody's like, oh, sharks are horrible, but we love Shamu and Shamu's awful, awful.
Speaker 2:Awful. I mean, if I was Shamu, I'd be awful too.
Speaker 3:Swimming around that tiny pool all the time Right.
Speaker 2:But yes, they are shamoos in general, are mean and they like to like torture. It's not like they kill their prey. They'll take a seal and toss it around and that poor thing is. Yeah, they they don't.
Speaker 3:They kill for fun yeah, they're horrible I mean. I will also note that it's not a natural predator, but you know, human beings also are not great for a great white.
Speaker 2:Anything in the ocean or on land or anywhere or in the sky. Pretty much, we just are. Yeah, we just destroy everything.
Speaker 3:We're the biggest invasive species on the planet, yes, so the species faces numerous ecological challenges, which have resulted in international protection. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the great white shark as a vulnerable species. It's also protected by several national governments due to their need to travel long distances, for seasonal migration and extremely demanding diet. It's not logistically feasible to keep great white sharks in captivity Because of this, while attempts have been made to do so in the past, there are no known aquariums in the world believed to house a live specimen. I don't remember. I want to say it's Jaws, like three or four, where they tell you that they have to keep moving with the water going through their gills.
Speaker 3:I don't know if that's true or they're just lying to us, but I don't know. How do they sleep? How do any fish sleep? Well, whales sleep up and down like vertical in the water.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I did know that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they just kind of bob there. That's creepy. The great white shark is depicted in popular culture as a ferocious man-eater, largely as a result of the novel by Peter Finchley and its subsequent film adaptation by Steven Spielberg. While humans are not preferred prey, this species is nonetheless responsible for the largest number of reported and identified fatal unprovoked shark attacks on humans. Attacks are rare, typically occurring fewer than 10 times per year globally. If you would like to know about, there's www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www www, www.
Speaker 3:Www www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www, www. Because they have to come up close enough to the surface, they tag them with GPS tags but they have to come up so close to the surface in order for them to ding.
Speaker 3:But they have turtles, all kinds of species of shark, and you can see anywhere. It's pretty cool to look at them it is cool, yeah, so check that out. Plus, you can give donations to them, and what have you?
Speaker 3:and they are trying to track the movements of the great white and help save them. So awesome, nice. The film is considered the first summer blockbuster, which you can hear more about summer blockbusters in episode 33. If you chill it they will come. I actually looked it up. So released released June 20th 1975. Director Steven Spielberg, directed by Steven Spielberg, roy Schneider as Police Chief Brody, marine, biologist Hooper Richard Dreyfuss and Captain of the Orca Quint, robert Shaw.
Speaker 2:I had such a crush on Richard Dreyfuss when I was little. Really I don't know why, like when I first like 12, when I first got into boys. I don't know why, like when I first like 12, when I first got into boys.
Speaker 3:I don't know, and it's because of jaws I guess I mean he was pretty smart shot mostly on location at martha's vineyard in massachusetts from may to october of 74. Jaws was the first major motion picture to be shot on the ocean and consequently had a troubled production going over budget and schedule as the art department's mechanical shark often malfunctioned. Spielberg decided to mostly suggest the shark's presence, employing an ominous and minimalist theme created by composer John Williams to indicate its impending appearance. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of director alfred hitchcock. Universal pictures released the film to over 450 screens, an exceptionally wide release for a major studio picture at the time, accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign with heavy emphasis on television spots and tie into merchandise. Hence the reason why it's the summer blockbuster. So we're just real quick. The plot, because, again, if you don't know the plot, like what are you even doing here?
Speaker 3:In a new Inklid beach town of Amity Island, a young woman goes for a late night ocean swim. An unseen force attacks and pulls her underwater. Her partial remains are found washed up on the beach the next morning After the coroner concludes it was a shark attack, amnesty police chief martin birdie closes the beach. Mayor larry vaughn persuades him to reconsider, fearing the town's summer economy will suffer, and having grown up in a summer economy, I totally see how it happens, absolutely like literally. They just, I just we just told you a story of how they said it was something in the ocean I was gonna say and we'll not call it what we just said about ocean shark.
Speaker 3:They won't say it, and right now we got a um tropical storm depression. I don't know what it is currently but that's what's common the cyclone, yeah, yeah, and they're already like well, they might have rip currents, like just stay out of the water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's better yeah. You really want in your papers that somebody died because nobody told them about the rip currents. Go to a pool. I grew up at the beach and I got caught in a rip current once and I really truly thought I was going to die. I've never been in a rip current. You just roll around and hope you pop up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm banging on the bottom and all of a sudden my head popped up and I was like I always say that I have a 0% chance of getting attacked by a shark or an orca or any of the above, because I don't go in the water.
Speaker 2:I don't anymore either.
Speaker 1:I go to pools, that's my philosophy on a lot of things anymore either I go to pools, that's my philosophy on a lot of things.
Speaker 3:You can't die bungee jumping if you don't bungee jump that's a true story, unless somebody ties you up and throws you.
Speaker 2:I'm sure of that, but you probably have bigger problems, if that might not be the worst thing that's going to happen Bungee.
Speaker 3:Oh goodness sakes.
Speaker 3:The coroner, apparently under pressure, now concurs with the mayor's theory that it was a boating accident. Brody reluctantly accepts their conclusion until young Alex Kittner is killed at a crowded beach. A $3,000 bounty is placed on the shark, causing an amateur shark hunting frenzy. Quint, an eccentric local shark hunter, offers his services for $10,000. Consulting oceanographer Matt Hooper examines the girl's remains, confirming she was killed by an unusually large shark. When local fishermen catch a tiger shark Vaughn declares the beach is safe. A skeptical Hooper dissects the shark and, finding no human remains inside its stomach, concludes that the killer shark is still active.
Speaker 2:They made the government so realistic in that movie.
Speaker 3:I know my favorite part of that is probably not many people know it as well as I do, but when he's like I am not opening that thing up so that Kittner boy can fall onto the Yep.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it wasn't him, I think they just find a um license plate. Where do I go? While searching the night waters in hooper's boat, hoover and brody find the half sunken boat of ben gardner, a local fisherman. Hooper dons a scuba suit and goes underwater to check the boat's hull and finds a large shark tooth embedded into it. He drops the tooth after encountering Gardner's severed head, and that part scares me Still. That's, that's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm still not ready for that. I have a fun fact about that. Later, you better, I do. I have some fun facts, of course Not as good as the fun facts from the last time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Not the ear cannabis.
Speaker 2:I have shared that fun fact with so many people, and they laugh so hard.
Speaker 3:That's the greatest fun fact ever. It really is. He drops the head. He drops the tooth. That's the scene. The head Vaughn dismisses Brody and Hooper's assertions that a great white shark caused the death and refuses to close the beaches, allowing only increased safety precautions On the 4th of July weekend, which just happened. That's probably why I picked right now.
Speaker 2:It was a stunningly beautiful 4th of July weekend around here. Anyway, if you're into that kind of thing, I'm not.
Speaker 3:I didn't leave my house. I just stared at people from the window.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you actually grounded yourself. I didn't leave my house, I just stared at people from the window. Yeah, you actually grounded yourself. I did ground myself it was very necessary.
Speaker 3:It was absolutely necessary. I should not be allowed out On the 4th of July weekend. Tourists pack the beaches Because, if you're not familiar with the beach area, 4th of July is basically the Super Bowl of summer.
Speaker 2:It's insane, yeah. Not only is literally everyone on vacation, but then everyone's coming down for fireworks, so it's like and it was on a Friday Bursting at the seams.
Speaker 3:So that means everybody had a long weekend, which makes it like the biggest Super Bowl of all the Super Bowls.
Speaker 2:I saw a picture of Rovis Beach Beech's boardwalk Friday night. There's no way in hell, I mean, I don't know how it looked like a concert like that many people packed in.
Speaker 3:Well, having to fight the traffic to deliver mail on Thursday and Saturday, I can tell you that it was a record amount of people here. It was just awful.
Speaker 3:Which is why I grounded myself. Tourists pack the beach. The shark enters a nearby lagoon, killing a boater and nearly killing Brody's son Michael, who is hospitalized with shock. Brody then convinces a guilt-ridden Vaughn to hire Quint, convinces a guilt-ridden Vaughn to hire Quint. Despite initial tensions between Quint and Hooper and Brody's fear of the ocean, the three head out to the sea on Quint's boat, the Orca, to hunt for the shark. As Brody lays down a chum line, the shark suddenly appears behind the boat. Quint estimates it's 25 feet long and weighs three tons. They harpoon it with a line attached to flotation barrels, but the shark pulls it underwater and disappears At nightfall. Quint and Hooper drunkenly exchange stories about their assorted body scars. One of Quint's is a removed tattoo. He reveals that during World War II he survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, during which sharks killed many US soldiers or sailors. Is that a true story or did he? I'm going to get to that, okay.
Speaker 3:The shark returns roaming, ramming the boat's hull and disabling the power. The men work through the night repairing the engine. In the morning, broody attempts to call the coast guard, but quint, obsessed with killing the shark without outside assistance, snatch, smashes the radio. After a long chase, quint harpoons the shark with another barrel. The line is tied to the stern cleats, but the shark drags the boat backwards, swamping the deck and flooding the engine compartment. As quint is about to sever the line, save the boats. To save the boat, the cleats break off, the barrel stay attached to the shark. To brody's relief, quint speeds the orca towards shore to draw the shark into shallower waters, but the damaged engine fails as the boat takes home water. The trio attempts a riskier approach. Hooper suits up and enters a shark-proof cage, intending to lethally inject the shark with strychnine via a hypodermic spear.
Speaker 2:Shoo. How much strychnine would it take to kill a three-ton shark?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't think you would have to kill a three-ton shark.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to have to go with a lot you would have to throw like barrels of it in his mouth.
Speaker 3:I think so. The shark attacks the cage, causing Hooper to drop the spear. While the shark destroys the cage, hooper escapes to the ocean bottom. The shark leaps onto the boat's stern, subsequently devouring Quinn Trapped. On the sinking vessel, brody thrusts a scuba tank into the shark's mouth and, climbing onto the crow's nest, shoots the tank with a rifle. The resulting explosion kills the shark. Hooper resurfaces and he and Brody paddle back to shore, clinging to the remaining pieces of the boat.
Speaker 2:Nice summary there.
Speaker 3:End scene, the boat nice, nice summary there and see the principal. Photography began may 2nd 1974 on the island of martha's vineyard, massachusetts, selected after consideration was given to eastern long island. Brown explained later that the production needed a vacation area that was lower middle class enough so that an appearance of a shark would destroy the tourist business. Martha's Vineyard was also chosen because the surrounding ocean had a sandy bottom that never dropped below 35 feet for 12 miles, which allowed the mechanical shark to operate while also be on site of the land. As Spielberg wanted to film the aquatic sequences relatively close up to resemble what people see while swimming, cinematographer Bill Butler devised new equipment to facilitate marine and underwater shooting, including a rig to keep the camera stable regardless of tide and a sealed submersible camera box. Spielberg asked the art department to avoid red in both scenery and wardrobe so that the blood from the attack would be the only red element and cause a bigger shock. I don't know. Very smart Initially, the film's producer wanted. This is my favorite part.
Speaker 3:I should have put this in the fun facts, but Initially the film's producers wanted to train a great white shark, but quickly realized that this was not possible so three full-size.
Speaker 3:I think it's a fucking lassie or something geez full-size pneumatically powered prop sharks were made for the production A sea sled shark, a full body prop with its belly missing that was towed by a 300 foot line, and two platform sharks one that moved from camera left to right, which it's hidden left side, exposing an array of pneumatic hoses, and an opposite model with its right flank uncovered. The sharks were designed by art director and production designer joe alves during the third quarter of 73, between november 73 and april 74. The sharks were fabricated at raleigh harper's motion picture and equipment rental in sun valley, california. Their construction involved a team of as many as 40 effect technicians supervised by mechanical effects supervisor bob maddy, best known for creating the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. After the sharks were completed, they were trucked to the shooting location.
Speaker 3:In early July, the platform used to tow the two-sided view shark capsized as it was being lowered to the ocean floor, forcing a team of divers to retrieve it. The model required 14 operators to control all of the moving parts it. The model required 14 operators to control all of the moving parts for quint's boat, the orca. Alves and his team constructed two identical 42 foot models for the film. The second boat, dubbed orca 2, had no motor and was designed to sink on command. So jaws was the first motion picture to be shot on the ocean, resulting in a troubled shoot, and went far over budget. David brown said that the budget was four million and the picture wound up costing nine million. Yeah, and this was in the 70s. Yeah, the effects outlays alone grew to three million due to the problems with the mechanical sharks.
Speaker 3:Disgruntled crew members gave the film the nickname flaws. Spielberg attributed many problems to be to his perfectionism and his inexperience, because it was only the second movie he had done. The former was epitomized by his insistence on shooting at sea with a life-size shark. I could have shot the movie in the tank or even in a protected lake somewhere, but it would not have looked the same. As for the lack of experience, I was naive about the ocean. Basically, I was pretty naive about Mother Nature, and the hubris of a filmmaker who thinks he can conquer the elements was foolhardy. But I was too young to know, and I was being foolhardy when I demanded that we shoot the film in the Atlantic Ocean and not in a North Hollywood tank. Gottlieb said that there was nothing to do except make the movie. So everyone kept overworking and while as a writer he did not have to attend the ocean set every day. Once the crewmen returned, they arrived ravaged and sunburnt, windblown and covered with salt water I miss those days, if you know I hate being covered in salt water.
Speaker 3:it makes makes you itchy. I love it Okay.
Speaker 2:Awful.
Speaker 3:Sand gets everywhere.
Speaker 3:I love sand I hate sand Shooting at sea level at sea led to many delays, unwanted sailboats drifting into frame, cameras got soaked and the orca once began to sink with the actors on board. The prop sharks frequently malfunctioned owing to a series of problems, including bad weather, pneumatic hoses taking on saltwater frames, fracturing due to water resistance, corroding skin and electrolysis. From the first water test onward, the non-absorbent neoprene foam that made up the shark skin soaked up liquid, causing the shark to balloon, and the sea sled model frequently got entangled among forests of seaweed that happens to be in the ocean too.
Speaker 3:Yes, spielberg later calculated that during the 12 hour daily work schedule, on average, only four hours were actually spent filming godlob, who was nearly decapitated by the boat's propellers, and Dreyfus was almost imprisoned in the steel cage. The actors were frequently seasick. Shaw also fled to Canada whenever he could due to tax problems, engaged in binge drinking and developed a grudge against Dreyfus, who was getting rave reviews for his performance in Dudley Kravitz. Editor Verna Fields rarely had material to work with during principal photography as, according to spielberg, we would shoot five scenes in a good day, three in an average day and none in a bad day. The delays proved beneficial in some regards, however. The script was refined during production and the unreliable mechanical shark forced spielberg to shoot many scenes so that the shark was only hinted at. For example, much of the shark hunt. It's located. Location is indicated by the floating yellow barrels.
Speaker 3:The opening had the shark devouring Chrissy, but it was rewritten so that it would be shot within, with backlining being dragged and yanked by cables to simulate an attack. It's crazy about that is she did not know that was going to happen when they did it. What? So? That's her actual reaction to them snatching her. That's fucked up. And then I don't know if I put this in the fun facts. I don't think I did. When they went to film the sound and stuff. You know how they do that post-production Steve Bielberg made her scream while he dumped water on her that poor girl, yeah um the delays.
Speaker 3:I did that, oh, spielberg also indicate included multiple shots of just the dorsal fin. This forced restraint is widely thought to have added to the film's suspense. As spielberg put it, years later the film film went from a Japanese Saturday matinee horror flick to more of a Hitchcock the less you see, the more you get thriller. In another interview he similarly declared the shark not working was a godsend. It made me become more like Alfred Hitchcock than like Ray Herrhausen. The acting became crucial for making audiences believe in such a big shark. The more fake the shark looked in the water, the more my anxiety told me to heighten the naturalism of the performances, and that is what makes it such a phenomenal movie, and it's what makes Spielberg a genius.
Speaker 3:Footage of real sharks was shot by Ron and Valerie Taylor in the water off Dangerous Reef in South Australia, with a very short actor in a miniature shark cage to create the illusion that the sharks were enormous. During the Taylor shoot, a great white attacked the boat and cage. The footage of the cage attack was so stunning that Spielberg was eager to incorporate it in the film. No one had been in the cage at the time and the script following the novel originally had the shark killing Hooper in it. The storyline was consequently altered to have Hooper escape from the cage, which allowed the footage to be used. As production executive Bill Gilmore put it, the shark down in Australia, rewrote the script and saved Dreyfus' character. Although principal photography was scheduled to take 55 days, did not wrap until october 6 1974 after 159 days. Spielberg, reflecting on the protracted shoot, stated I thought my career as a filmmaker was over.
Speaker 3:I heard rumors that I would never work again because no one had ever taken a film 100 days over schedule spielberg twice the budget spielberg himself was not present for the shooting of the final scene in which the shark explodes, as he believed that the crew were planning to throw him in the water when the scene was done so what?
Speaker 3:I got a fun fact about. I got a fun fact about that too. Afterwards, underwater scenes were shot at the metro-Golden-Mare water tank in Culver City with stuntman Dick Warlock and Frank James Sparks as stand-ins for Dreyfus in the scene where the shark attacks the cage, as well as near South Catalina Island, california Fields, who had completed a rough cut of the first two-thirds of the film up until the shark hunt, finished the editing and reworked some of the material. According to zanuck, she actually came in and reconstructed some scenes that steven had constructed for comedy and made them terrifying, and some scenes he shot to be terrifying and made them comedy scenes.
Speaker 3:The boat used for the orca was brought to los angeles to the sound effects team could record sounds for both the ship and the underwater scenes. Two scenes were altered following test screenings as the audience's screams had covered up Schneider's bigger boat one-liner. Brody's reaction after the shark jumps behind him was extended and the volume of the line was raised. Spielberg also decided that he was greedy for one more scream and reshot the scene in which Hooper discovers Ben Gardner's body using $3,000 of his own money after Universal refused to pay for the reshoot. The underwater scene was shot in Field Swimming Pool in Encino, california, using a life-cast latex model of Craig Kinsbury's head, attached to a fake body, which was placed in the wrecked boat's hull To simulate the murky waters of Martha's Vineyard. Powdered milk was poured into the pool, which was then covered with tarpaulin.
Speaker 2:I remember drinking powdered milk as a kid. I know, did you yes?
Speaker 3:My grandmother had it all the time.
Speaker 2:That shit was nasty, it was nasty.
Speaker 3:It was gross. It continues to be gross. When producers Richard D Zanuck and David Brown hired Spielberg to direct a film based on Peter Benchley's 74 novel, he was just 27 years old and professionally untested. His theatrical film debut, the Sugarland Express, hadn't hit theaters yet. Though Spielberg compiled with a request from Zanuck and Brown to cast known actors, he wanted to avoid hiring any big stars. He felt that somewhat anonymous performers would help the audience believe this was happening to people like you and me, whereas stars brought a lot of memories along with them, and those memories can sometimes corrupt the story. The director added that in his plans, the superstar was going to be the shark. The first actor cast was Lorraine Gray, the wife of Universal president Sidney Sheinberg as Ellen Brodydy and maury hamilton as the mayor of amity island stuntwoman turned actress. Susan backline was cast as christine watt chrissy watkins, the first victim as she knew how to swim and was willing to perform nude most minor roles.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's pretty much you win.
Speaker 3:Most minor roles were played by residents of Martha's Vineyard, where the film was shot. One example was Deputy Hendrix, played by future television producer Jeffrey Kramer. Lee Fierro plays Mrs Kittner, the mother of the shark's second victim, alex Kittner, played by Jeffrey Voorhees. I did not put this in the fun facts and it's a little outside. It's not 100% proven, but she was called the Lady of the Dunes and she was found the same year dead down from where they shot Jaws and she's wearing a red bandana, jeans and a t-shirt and they were never able to identify who she was. And when Spielberg's son, somebody watched the movie and she's in it. She's an extra Whoa, yeah, and they think she was a victim of whitey balker. Ooh, look it up. They don't know. It's not been 100% proven, but she looks like the girl in one of the scenes. Wow, I know the role of Bertie was offered to Robert Duvall, but the actor was interested only in portraying Quint. Charlton Heston expressed a desire for the role, but Spielberg felt that Heston would bring a screened persona to Grand for the part of a police chief of a modest community. Roy Schneider became interested in the project after overhearing Spielberg at a party talk with the screenwriter about having the shark jump up onto the boat. Spielberg, at a party, talked with the screenwriter about having the shark jump up onto the boat. Spielberg was apprehensive about hiring Schneider, fearing he would portray a tough guy similar to his role in the French Connection.
Speaker 3:Nine days before the start of production, neither Quint nor Hooper had been cast. The role of Quint was originally offered to actor Lee Marvin and Sterling Hayden, both of whom passed Zanuck and Brown just had finished working with Robert Shaw on the Sting and suggested him to Spielberg. Shaw was reluctant to take the role since he did not like the book, but decided to accept at the urging of both his wife, actress Mary Earle, and his secretary. The last time they were that enthusiastic was from Russia, with Love, and they were right. Last time they were that enthusiastic was from Russia, with Love, and they were right. Shaw based his performance on fellow cast member Craig Kinsberg, a local fisherman, farmer and legendary eccentric, who was cast in the small role of fisherman Ben Gardner. Spielberg described Kinsberg as the purest version of who, in my mind, quint was and some of his off-screen utterances were incorporated into the script as lines of both Gardner and Quint.
Speaker 3:He is also the one whose head. That's the guy whose head. Another source for some of Quint's dialogue and mannerisms, especially in the third act at sea, was vineyard mechanic and boat owner Lynn Murphy. For the role of Hooper, spielberg initially wanted john boyd, timothy bottoms, jan michael vincent, joel gray and jeff bridges were all also considered for the part spielberg, which I didn't. I don't think I realized jeff bridges was that old I didn't either, and I love him so much.
Speaker 2:He is one of my all-time favorites. He's also in the Fisher King.
Speaker 3:Yes, my favorite Robin Williams movie. That is her favorite movie Again.
Speaker 2:That's why her daughter is that is where my daughter got her name.
Speaker 3:The Tattooed Lady. The actor initially passed, but changed his decision. Oh no, spielberg's friend George Lucas suggested Dreyfuss, whom he had directed in American Graffiti. The actor initially passed, but changed his decision after he attended a pre-release screening of the Apprenticeship of Dudley Kravitz, which he had just completed. Disappointed in his performance and fearing that no one would want to hire him once Kravitz was released, he immediately called Spielberg and accepted the role in Jaws. Because the film the director envisioned was so dissimilar to Benchley's novel, spielberg asked Dreyfus not to read it. As a result of the casting, huber was rewritten to better suit the actor as well as to be more representative of Spielberg, who came to view Dreyfus as his alter ego.
Speaker 3:There was so much free time. Beer had to be banned on the boat. All over the picture shows signs of going down like the Titanic. Gottlob wrote On booze. Robert Shaw was an Olympian drinker. During an on-camera interview, the British actor was asked how he prepares Scotch vodka gin. Whatever he said, but Spielberg underestimated this fact. When shooting quinn's famous monologue to richard dreyfus, hooper and roy schneider's brody aboard the orca, he let shaw throw a few back. Robert came over to me and said you know, steve, and all three of these characters have been drinking and I think I could do much better job in this speech. If you actually, let me have a few drinks before I do the speech.
Speaker 3:Spielberg told entertainment weekly in 2011 and I unwisely gave him permission shaw was plastered crew members had to carry him onto the boat and he was so drunk that they wrapped the day. At about two o'clock in the morning my phone rings and it's robert. The director added he had a complete blackout and had no memory of what had gone down that day. Been there, done that. The scene was reshot, sober. It was like watching olivier on stage. Spielberg said for many years john milio was given the credit, steven. Spielberg says milio milius directed the speech on the phone, resulting in a 10-page monologue which Robin Shaw edited In a featurette about the film's production. He said it's Millett's words and it's Shaw's editing the speech.
Speaker 3:Gottlieb said that there was originally 10 different versions, including one he himself wrote. These were all given to Shaw, who read them and came up with his version which was used in the film. Gottlieb recalled that Shaw took it all, synthesized it and one night, while we were all at dinner, he came in with a handful of paper and said I think I have the pesky speech licked and he basically performed it for the table and we all went wow. And Stephen said that's what we're shooting. The movie co-screenwriter concluded by saying it was Shaw's speech and that, because John and Stephen are close friends. Stephen has always supported Milius's version, which, in Gottlieb's estimation, is false. Having served in the Pacific Theater throughout World War II, the USS Indianapolis was sent to Tinian with parts for the little boy which was to be dropped over Hiroshima. This is the true story of the USS Indianapolis.
Speaker 2:Really quickly.
Speaker 3:I don't know, but this is the true story. It was delivering parts for the little boy which is to be dropped over Hiroshima. After completing this task and briefly stopping in Guam, the Indianapolis headed back for the Philippines. At a quarter after midnight on July 30th 1945, the Japanese cruiser submarine I-58 fired two Type 95 torpedoes at the US Navy vessel, striking her on the starboard side. Because it was a secret mission, no one knew it had been hit and no one knew it was going down. They didn't even know it was there. Indianapolis sank within 12 minutes and roughly 300 sailors died aboard the ship.
Speaker 3:The remaining 895 crew members were stranded in the water. Just like Quint described, they faced the threat posed by sharks. After four days the survivors were rescued, but only 316 wound up. Making it out of the terrifying incident, john Williams composed the film oh wait, I want to set it up. So yeah, the Indianapolis did happen. They did get eaten by sharks. It was bull sharks, tiger sharks, and they have people. The speech is fairly accurate of what they act. A lot of them died of hypothermia and drowned.
Speaker 3:But, they were being eaten by sharks. And they said that they could hear them being pulled under For four days. Yeah, can you? In the middle of the ocean. It's dark, yeah, it's dark. You can't see land, no, and then you're just being picked off. But that's coming from up underneath you and just snatching.
Speaker 2:The sharks are like hey guys, check out this new joint I just found Great. It's an all you can eat.
Speaker 3:So yes, that's it. It is a kind of a crazy story to look into. They didn't, they did deliver it, I mean being in the military back in the day.
Speaker 2:I mean not that it's any picnic now, but at least we have technology now back then, man like. So the boat got hit twice and no one even knew till the boat started sinking. Did the guys on the boat know they?
Speaker 3:knew it was going to sink. Okay, because they felt it get hit. It was two shots quick, the torpedoes.
Speaker 2:So I wonder how they knew to come look for them.
Speaker 3:It didn't show up when it was supposed to. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I was thinking that, but I was like how many days was it supposed to get back?
Speaker 3:And then they finally were like huh, where'd that boat go? It's a really cool story. Actually, I think the guys on the last podcast on the left do several episodes on it. It's a crazy, crazy, crazy story. Yeah, so John Williams composed the film Score, which earned him an Academy Award and was later ranked the sixth greatest score by American Film Institute. The main shark theme, a simple alternating pattern of two notes variously identified as E and F or F and F sharp, becamecame a classic piece of suspense music synonymous with approaching danger.
Speaker 2:I promise you I did not sing that in E and F.
Speaker 3:I don't know notes. Williams described the theme as grinding away at you just as a shark would do Instinctual, relentless, unstoppable. The piece was performed by tuba player Tommy Johnson. When asked by Johnson why the melody was written in such a high register and not played by the more appropriate French horn, william responded that he wanted it to sound a little more threatening.
Speaker 2:It was fucking scary.
Speaker 3:It's the scariest two notes ever played. Yes, still yes. If you were to play that right now, I would be like uh-oh. When Williams first demonstrated his idea to Spielberg playing just the two notes on a piano Spielberg was said to have laughed, thinking that it was a joke, as Williams saw similarities between Jaws and pirate movies at other points in the score he evoked pirate music, which he called primal but fun and entertaining, just like pirates, yeah, which he called primal but fun and entertaining Just like pirates Calling for rapid percussive string playing.
Speaker 3:The score contains echoes of Claude Debussy's La Mer and of Igor Stravinsky's the Rites of Spring. There are various interpretations of the meaning and effectiveness of the primary music theme, which is widely described as one of the most recognizable cinematic themes of all time.
Speaker 3:I can't even fathom someone not knowing that Music scholar Joseph Canceliero proposes that the two note expression mimics the shark's heartbeat. According to Alessandro Teiss, the thing that, like themes, bernard Herman wrote for taxi driver North, north by Northwest and particularly Mysterious Island, it suggests human respiration. He further argues that the scene's strongest motif, the score's strongest motif, is actually the split, the rapture, when it dramatically cuts off, as after Chrissy's death. The relationship between sound and silence is also taken advantage of in the way that audience is conditioned to associate the shark with its theme.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't need the artsy fartsy explanations of what the. It's just fucking scary and it's two notes and it's perfect. Yeah, it's no heartbeat or breathing or any crap like that, it's the shark is coming for you. That's right.
Speaker 3:You better watch it, yep. And if I was a lifeguard on the beach, I can tell you that I would play that at the end of every day. Oh my God, you have to Like, don't you have to at some point?
Speaker 2:Yeah, instead of blowing the whistle and making everybody come out at five o'clock and then they can go in on their free will afterward, just play the music and everybody leaves. Yeah, or you can stay and get eaten by a great white. It's up to you. That's your problem.
Speaker 3:Which we do have great whites off here.
Speaker 2:We do. They come very close and with climate change, which is real, our water is getting very warm here. I actually saw on the news Was it a Delaware beach or a Jersey? I think it was a Jersey beach. The jellyfish are like huge. They're like human head size and the families are like. They used to be like little, little and now they're huge. I hate jellyfish. I hate jellyfish. They're the worst. They're so bad. I would never go in the ocean late summer Cause they wouldn't come until the waters got warm. So bad. I would never go in the ocean late summer because they wouldn't come until the waters got warm, but now it's fucking warm all the time. Do you know they're immortal and you don't like them?
Speaker 3:I don't want to be immortal, maybe if I was a glob of jelly. But you like things that are you like things that are immortal.
Speaker 2:It's true. You like the song my immortal. You need to revisit Jellyfish. I don't.
Speaker 3:They're globs of goo they are. Spielberg later said that without Williams' score, the film would have been only half as successful and, according to Williams, it jumpstarted his career.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't even know. I don't think there is a Jaws without that film. I don't think you can imagine it without it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, the two go hand in hand. Yeah. He had previously scored Spielberg's debut feature, the Sugarland Express, and went on to collaborate with the director on almost all of his films. It's kind of like a Tim Burton Danny Elfman situation. Yes, Not that I have to bring Tim Burton and everything.
Speaker 2:It's okay it's okay.
Speaker 3:The original soundtrack for jaws was released by mca records on lp in 1975 and as a cd in 1992, including roughly a half hour of music that williams redid for the album is there like a five minutes of in?
Speaker 3:2000 the two versions of the score were released. Decca Universal reissued the soundtrack album to coincide with the release of the 25th anniversary DVD featuring the entire 51 minutes of the original score. Jaws won three Academy Awards, those being for Best Film Editing, best Original Dramatic Score and Best Sound. So Spielberg didn't get any of those for Best Film Editing, best Original Dramatic Score and Best.
Speaker 2:Sound so Spielberg didn't get any of those.
Speaker 3:It was also nominated for Best Picture, losing to One. Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, oh, well, that's fair. Spielberg greatly resented the fact that he was not nominated for Best Director.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's fair too. Yeah, I mean, if you're going to lose with Jaws, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is not shameful to lose to because that movie is amazing.
Speaker 3:No, but I see Spielberg. I mean he had to overcome a lot of it, yeah, and he was still just a kid.
Speaker 2:It was only his second movie, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest had Jack in it. It did have Jack in it.
Speaker 3:I can never remember if it's Nicholas or Nicholson, so that's why I stopped. I know and.
Speaker 2:I enjoy golf and Jack, whoever he is, movies, and I still can't keep them straight, and I can't either.
Speaker 3:It's very hard.
Speaker 2:It's so annoying.
Speaker 3:I know I'm always like Jack Nicholson Nicholas, whoever the actor is.
Speaker 2:Jack J, yeah, whoever the actor is Jack J.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Along with the Academy Award, John Williams and his score won the Grammy Award, the BAFTA Award and the Golden Globe Award. To her Academy Award, Verna Fields added the American Cinema Editor's Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Film. The film was voted Favorite Movie at the People's Choice Awards. It was also nominated for Best Film Director, Best Film Director Actor, Richard Dreyfuss, Screenplay, Editing and Sound at the 29th British Academy Film Awards. And Best Motion Picture Drama Director and Screenplay at the 33rd Golden Globe Awards. Spielberg was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for the DGA Damn.
Speaker 2:That movie did make his career yeah.
Speaker 3:There are three sequels Jaws 2 in 78, jaws 3D in 1983, and Jaws the Revenge in 87, and all of them are horrible.
Speaker 2:I don't think I've ever seen any of them. They're terrible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, jaws 2's not bad, but Spielberg did not do any of the other sequels.
Speaker 2:Oh, and Richard Dreyfuss and all of them aren't in it either. Brody is in the second one.
Speaker 3:Okay, I don't think he's in the no third one is 3d. Yeah, jaws, 3d and then um, jaws, the revenge is the last one and it's in. I want to say one of them's set in the bahamas and it's brody's son, michael, and the shark chases him down there like the shark's baby or I don't know. That's stupid, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. It's not worth it.
Speaker 3:If you would like to know more about Atlantic white sharks and their conservation efforts, you can go to Atlantic white sharkorg or you can go to the ocean conservancyorg for the ocean conservancy If you would like to learn more about great whites and how to protect them. So that's what I have, except for the fun facts. Yay, fun facts In Hawaii and California, where they have an. I don't think it's actually Hawaii, it might not be, it might just be California. Anyway, california, off the coast, has a real big problem with great whites attacking surfers because they look like seals. So they the locals there call them the men in the gray suits, and they do this so they don't freak everybody out.
Speaker 2:I think I've heard that before. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:That was probably told me. Maybe I learned it on one of the shark week. You probably told me Maybe I learned it on one of the Shark Week.
Speaker 2:They named the shark Bruce after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Raymer.
Speaker 3:In 2001, the Library of Congress selected Jaws for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. This is one of my favorite fun facts. It has since become a tradition for Spielberg to be absent when the final scene of one of his films is being shot. He does not watch the last scene of any of his movies.
Speaker 2:I love that. I know Because of Jaws, that is so cool.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's probably superstition, right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. I've heard that actors and people in theater are very superstitious.
Speaker 3:You're not allowed to say. You have to say the Scottish play instead of Macbeth when you're in a theater.
Speaker 2:I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious. I stole that from Michael Scott on the Office.
Speaker 3:I am very superstitious Because I am a gambler. Yeah, yeah, herman melville's movie dick is the most notable artistic antecedent to jaws. The character of quince strongly resembles captain ahab, the obsessed captain of the pequod who devotes his life to hunting a sperm whale. Quince monologue reveals a similar obsession with sharks. Even his boat, the Orca, is named after the only natural enemy of the white shark. In the novel and original screenplay, quint dies after being dragged under the ocean by a harpoon tied to his leg, similar to the death of Ahab in Melville's novel.
Speaker 2:Red Moby Dick in high school too.
Speaker 3:I have Red Moby Dick.
Speaker 2:It's really hard to get through. It's very long, it's very long, it's very boring in parts. I actually think in high school we had sections to read.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't think they made us read. It's like 800 pages long. Yeah, it's really long and it's really like all boating stuff.
Speaker 2:Yes, somebody was very excited about their uh obsession.
Speaker 3:yes, really had a thing for white whales. Yes, for the film's 50th anniversary, the 2025 tsm classic film festival held a special screening followed by a limited theatrical re-release that will be from August 29th to September 4th 2025. Alongside a celebratory exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, which I can tell you right now that I, from August 29th to September 4th, will in fact be going to see Jaws, and I heard a rumor that they're going to put it in IMAX. What?
Speaker 2:I love me some IMAX. I know you do.
Speaker 3:Peter Benchley, who wrote the novel, had a cameo as a TV reporter in the film. The shark in Finding Nemo is named Bruce, a nod to the mechanical shark in Jaws. The slate, also known as sticks clapperboard or clapboard, is a well-known tablet with a hinged top that gets clapped down to mark the beginning of a film scene. For Jaws, the normally flat edge was replaced with a sharp set of teeth uppers and lowers.
Speaker 2:Nice no.
Speaker 3:Shaw. Back to Shaw, who is a playwright and an actor, had just arrived with his wife, mary you're, and their elegant not man servant, eric harrison. I enjoyed the elegant man servant.
Speaker 2:Elegant man, sir, I mean, that sounds dirty, uh-huh and fancy all at the same time to mar Martha's Vineyard to begin filming.
Speaker 3:Imagine their shock that the first night when a local eccentric fired a few rifle bullets through the front door of the rental house, which penetrated walls and even chipped tiles in the downstairs bath, yeehaw the bullets weren't meant for the star, however. The locals thought that the place was empty, and all credit to Harrison who was the first thought that the place was empty, and all credit to harrison who was the first, out of the door in robe and slippers, examined the fresh bullet holes in the doors, proclaiming I believe they're shooting, sir so they assumed a house was empty and started shooting bullets into it, and they almost they tried.
Speaker 2:Maybe that's what's happening in philly when people are dying in their houses. Maybe, speaking of Philly, real quick to go off topic, I watch the Philly News. Do you know what's going on up there right now? They are in day nine. Oh, the trash thing Of the union strike and I am full on supporting the union. Although I love Philadelphia's mayor I think her name is Sheree, I can't think of her name, but she's awesome, I love her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's been nine days in this fucking 100 degree heat and people are taking their trash to the dump sites around town. Like they keep dumpsters around the city where people can take their trash because, like here, you drive to the landfill or you put your thing on the curb, but they don't have that there. So it's stinky and bug and animal infested and disgusting. And they are still. They were supposed to meet today. The union wants a 20 over four yearyear increase. The city's saying 13 over the next four years and they aren't budging. But apparently the city's going to come with a new offer today, can I just tell you I probably shouldn't, but our new contract.
Speaker 3:We're getting a 1% raise.
Speaker 2:I get my 2% raise starting August 1st Maybe. I'll say but they also live in the city and they have strong unions and they are doing a very. I wouldn't want to do their job for any amount of money, so I think they should get paid.
Speaker 3:Oh, I agree with you.
Speaker 2:Oh, here's the reason I should get paid too here. Agree with you. Oh, here's the reason that I get paid too here was the best part about it, though. Did you hear about ll?
Speaker 2:I did not hear about ll so fourth of july they always have a huge party in um, philadelphia, and ll was the headliner and the day or two before he went on the TikTok or Instagram or something and said I cannot go out here and perform and take money while people are fighting for a living wage. And he pulled out of the. He said if you fix it before the concert, I will perform. And he stayed in Philly just in case. But it didn't happen and he stood by the union workers like I needed another reason to fucking love LL Cool J it's hard to not love, that there's not many reasons to not love, and he was very upset to let the people of philadelphia down, but he said he just could not get up there and perform, knowing that was going on.
Speaker 2:Well good that's good I know sorry to interrupt your story, but I meant to say all that in the beginning and I forgot. Okay, back to my fun facts.
Speaker 3:Just like alfred hitchcock, who famously appears in his cameos in his own films, the young director spielberg shows up in jaws in two arcane and only audible places. One, his voice crackles over the radio of quint's boat, the orca, as the amity Island dispatcher that patches Brody through to his wife when the chief is out with Quint and Hooper. Two for a scene including a local band marching through town. On the Fourth of July, famed composer John Williams was afraid to ask his professional orchestra to sound well amateur, but Spielberg had already professed his love of playing clarinet in his high school band to sound well amateur, but Spielberg had already professed his love of playing clarinet in his high school band to Williams. And that was just the amateur touch.
Speaker 3:The soundtrack needed. Spielberg picked up the clarinet again playing a Sousa March with Williams' orchestra, and several perfectly flawed bars made it to the final film cut Police. Chief Brody's dogs are played by the director's cocker, spaniels, elmer and zalman. And you're gonna need a bigger boat, uttered unforgettably by roy schneider. It was improvised by the actor on the day of shooting wow, wow.
Speaker 2:That's so cool, that's like it's an iconic yeah, wow.
Speaker 3:The sound of jaws fin coursing through the water was created by spraying Coke onto concrete. In the book, hooper and Brody's wife Ellen are having an affair. I know Scandal Filming the scene where the grieving Mrs Kittner confronts Brody over the death of her son Alex. Actress Leigh Fierro slapped Schneider 17 times in one day.
Speaker 2:Hard.
Speaker 3:And people have always, since the movie, approached her and requesting she slap them. That is my fun facts Yay, yay. That was so much fun, jaws, I love it. I have been waiting forever for you to do this one. I love me. Fun Jaws, I love it.
Speaker 2:I have been waiting forever for you to do this one.
Speaker 3:I love me some Jaws yeah go watch it. What I say August 29th to September 4th go check it out in the theaters. I would love to you should be supporting the local theaters. Did you know? I did not know this until recently.
Speaker 3:I would love to you should be supporting the local theaters. Did you know? I did not know this until recently movie theaters do not get to keep the money for the movie that you pay for, the movie that goes to the studios. The money that a theater makes is off the food. Yeah, they don't get any of the money from the ticket sales.
Speaker 2:Do they get paid by the movie place to?
Speaker 3:run there? I don't think so. I think they only make money off of the food. So that's why a small popcorn costs $57. That's why you have to take a small loan out to get popcorn.
Speaker 2:It's so good though it's totally worth it. I mean really I don't know Also so good, though it's totally worth it. I mean really I don't know Also check it out.
Speaker 3:Shark Week is at the end of July. Protect the Great Whites. Yes, they're my favorite shark. They have been around before dinosaurs. They are pretty much the perfect predator and apparently their livers taste really good to orca. Don't kill them that's just gross and you're not allowed to fish, you're not allowed to catch them, you have to throw them back. The white marlin open is coming up. The first week of August. I love the white marlin open, but sometimes somebody'll somebody will catch a great wine.
Speaker 2:They have to put it back wow not allowed to have it um I wouldn't want to bring that sucker in my boat. No, they will bite your ass. So yeah, that's it okay, nice work, awesome. Thank you so much, and you perfectly placed it between the anniversary and Shark Week. Yes.
Speaker 3:There we go. That's going to rewind.
Speaker 2:That's exactly why.
Speaker 3:Thank you for listening. You can like, share, rate and review. Find us where you listen to the podcasts. You can follow us on all the socials. At likewhateverpod, you can send us an email about what your favorite apex predator is. To likewhateverpod at gmailcom. Or don't like whatever. Whatever. Bye, bye, bye.
