At a dock on Martha's Vineyard is the Orca, the boat from "Jaws." It's a replica, of course; the original one sank, weighed down by a five-ton man-eating shark.The guy next to the Orca, however, is the real thing.
Of this Orca, Richard Dreyfuss said, "It's too neat, by far."It's been a while since Dreyfuss was on Martha's Vineyard.He says his memories of making "Jaws" are great.
But back then, he did everything he could not to be in the movie."I turned the film down a couple of times because I was thinking that it was gonna be a bitch to shoot.
And I was not wrong!" he laughed."But it was such an adventure.
And if you had to pick one word to describe the shoot, it was waiting."Now 77, Dreyfuss remembers the standing around, but he also knows "Jaws," made here on the island in the summer of 1974, turned him into a Hollywood star.I asked, "Was there ever a moment where you think, 'We're making one of the greatest outdoor films of all time'?""No," Dreyfuss replied.He was convinced that what they were making was obviously a turkey, "and this thing was gonna crash and burn." The production was a legendary slog.
This was the first Hollywood movie to shoot on the unpredictable open seas of the Atlantic.The mechanical shark rarely worked in salt water, and the budget more than doubled.But Steven Spielberg, a 27-year-old director making his first big studio picture, turned misfortune into opportunity."Jaws" became one of the most influential American films of the 20th century, and ushered in the summer blockbuster.
Set 50 years ago over the July 4th weekend, the plot, says Dreyfuss, is simple: "This was the story of three guys against this shark.It was this human thing.
And we were really good and we knew it.Wow, a kid getting bitten? And if you remember the beginning of the film, you are terrified before you see the shark."Before the shark brought terror to the big screen, it arrived at the bookstore.
In 1974, Peter Benchley's novel became a bestseller....