Film & Water #164 – Jaws Audio Commentary

THE FILM & WATER PODCAST

Episode 164 - JAWS AUDIO COMMENTARY

Rob and longtime pal/fellow obsessive fan Dan Colon provide an audio commentary track for one of their favorite films, Steven Spielberg's JAWS! Why? For Chrissakes, tomorrow's the Fourth of July!

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10 responses to “Film & Water #164 – Jaws Audio Commentary

  1. Great show again and it’s my favorite film as well. I first saw this film at the drive-in when I was very young. I don’t remember if it was 1975 or 1976 but my parents must have seen it before as my Mom would cover my eyes when it would get to the scary or bloody parts. I also remember when it was a big premier on ABC Sunday night movie. Since then this is one of the films I have to watch at least once a year. Usually around Summer season begins. (My 4th of July film is The Music Man.) Can’t wait for commentary for any other the Jaws sequel.

  2. I never once thought ‘coffee ice cream’. I always assumed it was a joke regarding Brody’s son being in shock and how the encounter is the death of his youthful innocence. He doesn’t want ice cream, get him a coffee.

  3. How wonderful Brody’s relationship with his wife cannot be understated. I love it and it has been become definitive of a ideal marriage for me. There is nothing I want in life more than to have a marriage like these two.

  4. I am really enjoying this commentary. One item I would like to comment on is the adventure feel as they chase the shark. This and the other elements that were in the original novel lead me to believe that Peter Benchley was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”. Not the more grisly parts, but the thrill of the hunt and the parts of the story dealing with the adultery. The affair in the Benchley book between Hooper and Mrs. Brodie appears to mirror in some ways the affair between the White Hunter Wilson and Margot in the Hemingway story. But there was that moment in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” when Wilson and Francis are chasing the Buffalo across the plains in their vehicle that is so similar to the scene where they chase the shark across the water in the movie. I may have to do some digging to see if that was the inspiration.
    As always, you keep recording, I’ll keep listening.
    Brian Hughes
    3rd Degree Byrne
    Twotruefreaks.com

  5. I hope everyone had a fun and great white shark attack-free 4th of July!

    Thank you for the fine commentary, which I enjoyed immensely. I actually live on Cape Cod, and once or twice a year my family and I will take a day-trip out to Martha’s Vineyard, or, more often than not, my wife and daughter will go, while I’m at work. The next time I get to go with them, I’ll have to try and get them to visit some of the locations that were used in the movie. Jaws is still a going concern on the Vineyard. It’s pretty easy to walk into a souvenir shop on the island and find Jaws-related merchandise.

    I can also speak somewhat to the popularity of coffee flavored ice cream. I’ve never thought of it as a strictly New England-thing before, but I can attest to the fact that every local ice cream shop in my area (and there are a lot of them) seems to have their own version of coffee ice cream. Coffee actually ranks as one of my daughter’s top three favorite flavors of ice cream.

  6. Gents!

    This was a fantastic commentary. I watched it along with you and you hit on the great marks of the movie. It is one of my top five favorite movies and to me the movie is like the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” for Christmas except it’s for Fourth of July and I always have to watch it every year.

    I knew a security guard who was an extra in the film, he was a kid who just had to run in and out of the water repeatedly.

    The cocker spaniel early in the film is Speilberg’s own dog. Our dog looks just like that dog, so we always have a laugh at that scene.

    If anyone wants to know more trivia and history about the movie, Wondery did a podcast on the movie ( https://wondery.com/shows/inside-jaws/ ) – sorry I am promoting another podcast in this commentary. I particularly like the whole history on Speilbergs start at getting this film to be made.

    One thing this time while watching the film. There is a scene where Quint is down at the engine trying to fix it. The toolbox is on the top of the deck. This is an identical shot in Star Wars Empire Strikes back when Han Solo is fixing the Millennium Falcon in the engine compartment and all you see is the toolbox. In a lot of ways Han Solo is Quint and the Millennium Falcon is the Orca. Coincidence? I think not!

    Finally, Rob talks about how scary would be to swim in the ocean at night. I have done it, I went snorkeling at night to try to see squid swimming. It was COMPLETELY SCARY! You don’t see a @$#(*@#$&@ thing at night underwater. I had one flashlight and whatever the light was shining on was the only thing I could see which was only about 10-15 feet beyond me. Then, I kid you not, a giant shadow thing swam past me. I doubt it was a shark but probably a sea bass (they can get to be about 8 feet large) . I got back on the sailboat I was on and decided the night diving sucked. It was the fear of the complete darkness and not knowing what was near me that really freaked me out.

  7. Great commentary track gentlemen! I chose NOT to watch Jaws this summer, since I am going on a beach vacation in a few weeks. But thanks for making me relive the movie in my brain! I think I’ll be staying closer to the shore now.

    Chris

  8. Allow me to add to the echo that this was a great commentary. I learned some stuff that I didn’t know and you both had a great conversation.

    One thing that jumped out at me, though, was the comments such as, “I didn’t think Quint would have a fire extinguisher” or “Why does he have life jackets?” Well, the answers to these are pretty easy, the Coast Guard. Quint, no matter how manly he is, still has to adhere to boating regulations or get fined. I have a feeling he just has the bare minimum to avoid a fine, but he also probably also has been fined enough to want to avoid that kind of thing again.

    Also, on the “weapons” that Quint has on the boat, these are all items used when you’re going out after big fish. The large hook is a Gaff, and is used to bring the fish on board. A heavy fish, like a tuna, would break the line if you tried to lift it that way and they don’t make hand nets that big, so you’d have to gaff the fish to get it on board. Similarly, the machete was probably used to kill the fish once it was on board. My dad used to keep a sawed off baseball bat in the boat to kill the flute we caught.

    I’m looking forward to your Jaws 2 commentary next year. What? I like that movie. 🙂

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