JAWS Filming Locations | Then and Now | Interesting changes to the beaches.

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First off, I want to give a huge thank you to @movclips1828 for providing all the “then” movie footage for this video. A great channel that uploads scenes from a variety of classic movies.

Now, in this video you will see where the 1975 classic was made. My visit to the real life town of Amity was incredible, and this was my greatest movie location experience yet. Getting to walk through the real life places used for one of favorite movies was mind blowing. We stayed in Edgartown, a two minute walk to much of what made up “Friendship” Island. While most of what you see in town is amazingly still in tact and holding up well, the beaches are very different.

Appearing:

Opening Scene - South Beach, Edgartown, MA

Brody House - 265 East Chop Dr, Vineyard Haven, MA

Billboard - Aquinnah Circle, Aquinnah, MA

Police Station - Davis Lane & South Water St, Edgartown, MA

Medical Examiner’s Office - 24 South Water St, Edgartown, MA

Amity Gazette - Chappaquiddick House, Edgartown, MA

Bad Hat Harry’s Bike Rental - 3 South Water St, Edgartown, MA

Amity Hardware - The Port Hunter Restaurant, 55 Main St, Edgartown, MA

Amity Ferry - Chappy Ferry, Edgartown, MA

Attack Beach - Joseph Sylvia State Beach, Edgartown/Oak Bluffs, MA

Amity Town Hall - Edgartown Town Hall, MA

The Docks - Edgartown Harbor, MA

Quint’s Shop - 511/515 N Rd, Chilmark, MA

Masterful story telling, legendary performances, ingenious editing and arguably the most well known movie score ever made, are some of things that make this classic very special.

During production Spielberg was under so much pressure from studio people, producers, etc even months after filming ended he was waking up from nightmares thinking he was still on Martha’s Vineyard. He also has a natural fear of the ocean which didn’t help him but served the movie well. You see that play into Roy Scheider’s character, who’s performance as Chief Brody is one of my all-time favorites. So he opted out of any involvement w the sequels for more than a fear of being typecast. The process was pretty miserable for him, especially with the mechanical sharks constantly malfunctioning. The salt water being the culprit.

It’s true Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss didn’t always get along. There was a natural clash of personalities with the added dimension of old vs young. I think it became worse by the extended shooting schedule. The actors became very bored and cases of cabin fever were setting in... They often had to wait around for boats and people to clear from shots to go along w the shark issues. Shaw liked to drink and this became his cure for boredom. The feud between Shaw and Dreyfuss has definitely been exaggerated over the years but they did have issues at times. I imagine Shaw being a seasoned professional, realized pushing their differences behind the scenes would help increase the tension between their characters on screen. All adding to the young Spielberg’s already increasing pressures. They didn’t even have a script ready when they began filming LOL. Think about it, the book was only released in 74 and they began shooting in May of 74… Crazy… They say pressure creates diamonds and while JAWS isn’t flawless, it’s certainly brilliant in every way.

And then there was John Williams, can't say enough good things about this master of his craft. Basically, the all-in-one Beethoven, Mozart and Bach of our time. Just a special, special talent.

The original budget was for 3.5/4 million and it swelled to 9 million (roughly 45 million today which is low by the current blockbuster standard cost). It went on the make a record breaking $470,000,000 world wide. Which would be almost 2.4 billion today.

RIP
Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Murray Hamilton