‘Jaws' at 50: The cult classic and the parental debates it set off
LOS ANGELES — It didn't take long for 'Jaws' to make an impression. The movie that launched the summer blockbuster season and changed how people view sharks and the ocean 50 years ago also created a dilemma for parents: Was it a movie their children could watch?
To help answer that, The Associated Press went to the film's star, Roy Scheider.
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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
New Hampshire city in ‘Jumanji' marks 30th anniversary with animal costume race
Madeline Murphy remembers the instructions she was given on the set of 'Jumanji' when she was an extra some 30 years ago: 'Pretend you're frightened and you're screaming because an elephant's coming after you.' So, that's what she did in the Central Square of Keene, New Hampshire, running back and forth, over and over, on a long day in November 1994. 'I was pretty tired by the end of the day, and it was cold,' said Murphy, 61. She got a check for $60.47 — and several seconds of screen time. Murphy was one of about 125 extras cast in the classic Robin Williams film, which is marking its 30th anniversary. It's spawned several sequels, including one planned for next year. The city of about 23,000 people in the southwestern corner of the state is celebrating its ties to 'Jumanji' this weekend. A featured event is a 'Rhino Rumble Road Race' saluting the film's stampede scenes of elephants, rhinos and zebras on Saturday. Runners in inflatable animal costumes are sprinting about a quarter mile (less than half a kilometer) around the square. There's also a cast party, a parade, and a scavenger hunt, among other events. Keene gets picked thanks to coffee craving Based on the 1981 children's book by Chris Van Allsburg about a mysterious jungle adventure board game, the movie version of 'Jumanji' is set in the fictional small town of Brantford, New Hampshire. Veteran location manager Dow Griffith was crisscrossing New England in search of the right spot. A coffee lover who grew up in Seattle, he recalled feeling desperate one day for a good brew. He was a bit east of Keene at the time, and someone suggested a shop that was near the square. 'I took my cherished cup of double dry cappuccino out to the front porch, took a sip, looked to my left — and by God — there was the place I had been looking for!' he told The Associated Press. 'So really, we have coffee to thank for the whole thing.' Scenes were filmed at the square that fall and the following spring. The fall scenes show a present-day town that had declined. Extras played homeless people and looters, in addition to panicked runners fleeing from the jungle animals. Joanne Hof, now 78, had needed her son's help to spot herself behind the elephants, running with her hands up. Hof, a reading specialist, bought a videotape of 'Jumanji' and showed it to the kids she worked with. 'They were very impressed that I was in the movie,' she said. The spring scenes, appearing early in the film, depict the town in 1969. Extras drove classic cars around the pristine-looking square and others walked around, dressed for that time period. 'I told the makeup person, 'Do you know how to do a French twist?'' recalled Kate Beetle, 74, of Alstead, who said she can be seen for 'a micro-second' crossing a street. 'They just found me the right lady's suit and right flat shoes, and then the hair is kind of what I suspect did it.' The city helped transform itself The 'Jumanji' crews worked well with the city in getting the permits to transform Central Square into a dilapidated, neglected piece of public property, recalled Patty Little, who recently retired as Keene's clerk. 'They brought in old, dead shrubbery and threw it around and made the paint peel on the gazebo,' she said. Items such as parking meters and lilac bushes were removed and a large Civil War-era statue was brought in to cover a fountain. Graffiti was on the walls and crumpled vehicles in the stampede scene were anchored in place. Everything was restored, and fresh flowers were brought in the following spring, she said. Crews spent a total of about a week in the city for both settings. Little, whose classic 1961 Ambassador is caught on camera, could see everything happening from her office window. 'Did I get a lot of work done? I don't know during those days,' she said. Locals watch and meet Robin Williams A crowd turned out to watch a long-haired, bearded Williams run down the street in a leaf-adorned tunic. In the movie, he had just been freed from the game that had trapped him as a boy for years. 'He's shorter than I thought he was!' one viewer said, according to local chronicler Susan MacNeil's book, 'When Jumanji Came to Keene.' Others said, 'He has great legs — muscular, isn't he? But so hairy!' and 'Isn't he freezing dressed like that?' The mayor honored him with a key to the city. Williams, noticing the mayor was a bit shorter, suddenly announced at the presentation, ''I am the mayor of Munchkinland,'' with a voice to match, City Councilor Randy Filiault recalled. He stayed in character for 15 to 20 minutes, 'just bouncing off the walls,' approaching people in the audience and pulling their hats over their eyes. Eventually, he stopped, ending with a solemn 'Thank you,' Filiault said. 'I am really seeing something cool here,' Filiault remembered thinking. 'How fortunate we were.' When Williams died by suicide in 2014, people left flowers and photos beneath a painted 'Parrish Shoes' wall sign advertising a fictional business left over from 'Jumanji.' Former Keene police officer Joe Collins, who was assigned to watch over then-child actors Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce, also died by suicide, last year. Festival organizers planned a discussion about mental health and suicide prevention to pay tribute to Williams and Collins. 'I think Robin would have been impressed with that,' said Murphy, who met Williams and shook his hand. ___ In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at
Toronto Star
6 hours ago
- Toronto Star
‘Jaws' at 50: The cult classic and the parental debates it set off
LOS ANGELES — It didn't take long for 'Jaws' to make an impression. The movie that launched the summer blockbuster season and changed how people view sharks and the ocean 50 years ago also created a dilemma for parents: Was it a movie their children could watch? To help answer that, The Associated Press went to the film's star, Roy Scheider.
Winnipeg Free Press
14 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
AP WAS THERE: ‘Jaws' and the parental debates it set off
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It didn't take long for 'Jaws' to make an impression. The movie that launched the summer blockbuster season and changed how people view sharks and the ocean 50 years ago also created a dilemma for parents: Was it a movie their children could watch? To help answer that, The Associated Press went to the film's star, Roy Scheider. Legendary AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch interviewed Scheider and others for a story that ran on July 28, 1975, roughly a month after 'Jaws' arrived in theaters. The story is included below as it ran. ___ At a sunny hotel swimming pool, a small freckle faced boy rushes up to Roy Scheider and exclaims with delight: 'I think you played really good in 'Jaws.'' 'You see,' says Scheider as the boy runs off to swim. 'Some children seem able to handle it.' Scheider, star of the smash hit film which is breaking box-office records, was reacting to a stormy issue now almost as hot as the movie itself — should children see 'Jaws'? The debate stems from the rating given to the movie — PG, meaning parental guidance suggested. Several critics and members of the movie industry have called the rating too lenient. Some use it as an example of flaws in the frequently criticized rating system. In practice, PG places no restrictions on who may see a film. Any child with the price of a movie ticket can view 'Jaws,' which climaxes with a man vomiting blood as a giant shark chews him up. Los Angeles Times critic Charles Champlin noted that the PG 'does not sufficiently warn parents that the giant shark includes children among its victims and that children are known to be particularly impressed by what happens to children on the screen.' Movie makers whose films recently were give the more restrictive 'R' rating — requiring an adult to accompany any child under 17 — have protested loudly. Some have even appealed to the rating board of the Motion Picture Association of America for a rating change. 'With some of our innocuous action pictures we've been hit with Rs,' says Paul Heller, producer of 'Enter the Dragon.' 'But here we get a picture where there's all sorts of gore and blood, where arms and legs are seen floating in the water, where a girl is seen covered by crabs on the beach, and other horrifying scenes, and it gets a PG.' Producers of the film 'Rollerball' unsuccessfully appealed their R rating after 'Jaws' was released, claiming their film's violence was far less objectionable. Universal Studios, which released 'Jaws,' has taken the unusual steps of warning in its advertisements that the film 'may be too intense for younger children.' Youngsters interviewed at a Los Angeles area beach after the movie's release expressed fears of swimming in the ocean. One 12-year-old girl confessed 'I think about it so much. I dreamed about it. It really scared me.' But Universal has no complaints about the PG rating, and, according to Rating Administration, no one may appeal a film's rating other than its producer and distributor. Scheider, who portrays the sheriff of the beach resort menaced by the killer shark, recalls that 'Jaws' was made with the intention of obtaining a PG rating. 'The picture was judiciously shot to avoid unnecessary amounts of gore,' he says, recalling that some bloody scenes were added after final footage was reviewed by the filmmakers. 'When the film was brought back to the post, the editor and director found that it was necessary to show, after an hour and a half, what the shark does. the audience demands it.' The scene of the girl covered with crabs was added later, he notes and the finale in which Robert Shaw is chewed up was embellished. 'I personally think that scene could have been modulated a bit,' says Scheider. But Jack Valenti, president of the MPAA and father of the seven-year-old rating system, defends the 'Jaws' rating. 'In the view of the rating board, 'Jaws' involved nature's violence, rather than man's violence against man,' Valenti has said. 'This is the same kind of violence as in 'Hansel and Gretel.' Children might imitate other kinds of violence, but not the kind seen in 'Jaws.'' Valenti declared that, 'If this were a man or woman committing violence as seen in 'Jaws,' it would definitely go in the R category. But it's a shark, and I don't think people will go around pretending they're a shark.' The rating controversy hasn't hurt business. Universal reports that 'Jaws' grossed an incredible $60 million in its first month and seems destined to grow richer than 'The Godfather,' the current record holder. Scheider says his own 12-year-old daughter has seen 'Jaws' twice — but only after he and his wife explained 'which things she was going to see were real and which ones were not real.' 'She was scared in many parts, but she knew it was a movie,' he says, suggesting that parents who let children see the movie explain first that 'This is going to scare you. It's going to be like a roller coaster ride.' 'Some kids understand his and some don't,' he concedes. '… I would be very careful about children under 10. If they're susceptible to nightmares, get scared easily and are impressionable, I'd say no, don't see it. If the child can handle it, fine, see it.' Scheider holds the cynical view that the rating system exists because 'most parents don't give a damn what their kids see.' But he is convinced that a child who sees 'Jaws' without guidance won't be permanently traumatized by it. 'It'll go away,' he says. 'You can live through it. Traumatic shocks in entertainment disappear. Traumatic shocks through the lack of love and ill treatment by parents and peers persist through all of life.'
