Latest news with #Jaws'
New York Post
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Inside the ‘Jaws' theme song creation 50 years ago: ‘Everyone's scared of those two notes'
They were the two notes of terror heard around the world. They were the two notes of terror heard around the world. But director Steven Spielberg initially laughed off composer John Williams' 'Jaws' theme that would become the signature sound — and sign — of the great white shark's attack in the summer blockbuster that opened 50 years ago on June 20, 1975. 'I expected to hear something kind of weird and melodic, something tonal, but eerie; something of another world, almost like outer space under the water,' said Spielberg in a 2012 Blu-ray featurette on the making of 'Jaws.' 7 'When everyone came out and said 'Jaws' scared them out of the water, it was Johnny who scared them out of the water,' said director Steven Spielberg of John Williams' 'Jaws' theme. Bettmann Archive 7 John Williams won the first of his four Oscars for Best Original Score for 'Jaws' in 1976. Bettmann Archive 'And what he played me instead, with two fingers on the lower keys, was 'dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun.' And at first, I began to laugh. He had a great sense of humor, and I thought he was putting me on.' But Williams was scaring up the menacing motif that would sink its teeth into moviegoers — and terrify beachgoers — for generations to come in the film classic that would launch his and Spielberg's careers into historic heights. While Spielberg might have first thought it was a joke, Williams was dead serious about the ominous ostinato of notes E and F played by tuba player Tommy Johnson. 'He said, 'You can't be serious?'' Williams — who had previously worked with Spielberg on 1974's 'The Sugarland Express' — told Classic FM in 2022 about his chilling riff to 'represent our primordial fear.' 'I think in Spielberg's mind … you want something really complicated and layered and, you know, atonal horror music or whatever,' film music historian Tim Greiving — who wrote the upcoming biography 'John Williams: A Composer's Life' — exclusively told The Post. 7 'You can almost think of it as, like, it is the shark,' said film historian Tim Greiving of the 'Jaws' theme. Courtesy Everett Collection 'But John Williams has such a great story instinct that he knew that the simpler, the better, that kind of economy and just, like, pure drive was what this movie needed. So, yeah, in this way he knew better than Spielberg.' To Greiving, Williams struck just the right note with the 'Jaws' theme. 'It so perfectly represents the mindless, just predatory instinct of a shark,' he said. 'You can almost think of it as, like, it is the shark.' But, he added, there's also a 'sense of a heartbeat' that captures 'you in the water with your heart rate kind of accelerating as the shark gets closer to you.' 7 'He said, 'You can't be serious?' ' said John Williams (left) of Steven Spielberg's initial reaction to his 'Jaws' theme. Courtesy Everett Collection The 'deceptively simple' phrase was just the right hook to harpoon the masses. 'It's just a very effective storytelling device,' said Greiving. 'I think anything more complicated than that wouldn't have been nearly as effective.' The 'Jaws' theme became a cultural touchstone in and of itself. 'Because 'Jaws' was such a huge phenomenon, it … just permeated everything,' said Greiving. 'And you had this musical signature, this musical brand to that phenomenon. So it's just an easy way to sort of shorthand reference 'Jaws' as a whole phenomenon.' 'I think it's like the opening of Beethoven's Fifth or the strings of 'Psycho.' It's just something so instantly recognizable that those kinds of things just catch on … and, you know, they just never go away, right? That's the brilliance of it.' 7 The shark in 'Jaws' had its own theme, which struck fear across generations. Getty Images However, Greiving notes that the two-note 'Jaws' theme that that has struck fear across generations is just a small part of the score that won Williams the first of his four Oscars for Best Original Score. 'I talked to [Oscar-winning composer] Hans Zimmer for my book, and he just said, 'You know, everyone's scared of those two notes, but for composers, we're scared of everything after those two notes, because the whole thing is so impressive,' ' he said. 'And I think John Williams, as he often does, takes a simple idea, a simple motif, and just expands it and develops it into basically a symphony.' Williams went on to score more than 100 films, including other classic Spielberg collaborations such as 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' 'E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'Schindler's List' and the 'Indiana Jones' franchise,' but he never imagined that the repeated pattern of 'Jaws' would never go away. 7 'He knew better than [Steven] Spielberg,' said Tim Greiving of John Williams (left) proposing the 'Jaws' theme. Getty Images 'At that time, I had no idea that it would have that kind of impact on people,' he told Classic FM. And Spielberg has credited the 'Jaws' theme as a major part of the movie's success. 'When everyone came out and said 'Jaws' scared them out of the water, it was Johnny who scared them out of the water,' Spielberg said in the Blu-ray featurette. 'His music was scarier than seeing the shark.' 7 Richard Dreyfuss (left) and Robert Shaw co-starred in the 1975 summer blockbuster 'Jaws.' Getty Images But for Greiving — whose Williams biography will be released on Sept. 2 — the 'Jaws' theme is even bigger than movies. 'I think the two-note theme in 'Jaws' is maybe the most famous musical unit in the history of music. I think you could argue that,' he said. 'I think more people around the world recognize these two notes played as the 'Jaws' theme more than almost any other piece of music.'
USA Today
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Duhhh-nuh 🦈
Duhhh-nuh 🦈 Happy Friday!🙋🏼♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert. Today, Daily Briefing features a special guest! Let's close out the week with Friday's news: Even if you haven't seen it recently, you know 'Jaws' Hello! I'm Brian Truitt, USA TODAY movie critic and the guy behind the Watch Party newsletter. It's a big weekend for film lovers because Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" is turning 50, and from the infamous John Williams two-note musical theme to some gnarly shark attacks, it still holds up so many decades later. We're diving all in on that killer fish flick, with shark movie rankings, a look at the "Jaws" legacy and a rundown of the best summer blockbusters since 1975. 🦈 Here's why we never got over "Jaws." Should US go to war with Iran or support Israel from afar? President Donald Trump said there was a "substantial chance" of U.S. negotiations with Iran and that he would decide within two weeks whether diplomacy keeps America out of the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. The possibility of direct U.S. involvement is a growing debate among elected leaders and American voters. Some in the Republican Party want limited involvement in the escalating conflict. Meanwhile, elected leaders from both parties are hoping to stop an all-out war. More news to know now What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here. Dodger Stadium becomes a ICE flashpoint The Los Angeles Dodgers say Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were denied entry to the stadium grounds – while ICE says the agency was "never there" and the Department of Homeland Security claims the masked agents were with Customs and Border Patrol. The Dodgers were supposed to make an announcement about their "plans for assistance to immigrant communities" but club president Stan Kasten said the organization would be delaying an announcement after the federal agents showed up. The delay comes after protesters showed up at Dodger Stadium. Mega rocket explodes another SpaceX setback In what the company called "a major anomaly," SpaceX's Starship exploded late Wednesday, shooting a massive fireball and giant debris into the Texas night sky. The explosion is not the first for SpaceX and comes on the heels of a string of set backs for the 400-foot rocket system this year. Founder Elon Musk said via social media no hazards are posed to residents in the communities surrounding Brownsville, and initial inspection suggest the incident "is the first time ever for this design." The last Starship explosion was less than a month ago. Today's talkers The longest day of 2025 is here Summer has not even officially begun. The summer solstice will occur Friday at 10:42 p.m. ET and will be both the longest day and shortest night of 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere, according to the National Weather Service. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere will greet winter with its winter solstice. During the summer solstice, the tilt brings the Earth's northernmost point closer to the sun, resulting in more sunlight. The solstice itself only lasts moments, but is widely celebrated with festivals. Here's where you can snag solstice deals and free food to celebrate. Photo of the day: Celebrating freedom Americans across the country celebrated Juneteenth this week, commemorating the day the last group of enslaved African Americans were informed they were free.
Economist
3 hours ago
- Business
- Economist
Does Donald Trump fear a nuclear Iran more than he hates war?
The most consequential decision of Donald Trump's presidency is now on pause for two weeks. We examine how the choice pits two sides of Mr Trump against one another. India is an advanced-manufacturing powerhouse, but can it become a hub for high-tech innovation, too? And as 'Jaws' turns 50 our correspondent says its hero is probably not who you remember. Runtime: 24 min
USA Today
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Will we need a bigger boat? Martha's Vineyard awash in 'Jaws' at 50 mania
Will we need a bigger boat? Martha's Vineyard awash in 'Jaws' at 50 mania Amid a feeding frenzy of interest in the 50-year movie milestone, the island is celebrating and educating on all things sharks. Show Caption Hide Caption Athlete marks 'Jaws' 50th anniversary with 60-mile swim Swimmer Lewis Pugh circumnavigated Martha's Vineyard to mark the 50th anniversary of the movie "Jaws" and draw attention to the plight of sharks. In the summer of 1974, A. Bowdoin Van Riper had just gotten out of school when Hollywood came to town. Van Riper, then 11 years old, went down to the beach on Martha's Vineyard with a friend to watch the filming of what would become Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws." When a crew member called out for volunteers, the two raced into the water and pretended to panic for a scene in which two kids frighten swimmers using a cardboard fin. 'It was a very, very short brush with Hollywood, but it is still − after 50 years − cool to know that I played a very, very, very small part in helping the film get made,' Van Riper said. Like many locals who helped create the first summer blockbuster, Van Riper is now gearing up for an elaborate, summer-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of "Jaws." Upon its release on June 20, 1975, 'Jaws' struck fear in the hearts of beachgoers nationwide, leading to an increase in shark phobias and trophy hunting that helped decimate shark populations. Though viewers say the movie scared them away from beaches, pools and even bath tubs for a time, that fear has become an American fascination. 'Jaws' fandom has become a huge tourism draw for the island and some proprietors are expecting their biggest summer ever. As the population − and reputation − of sharks off the coast of Massachusetts has begun to rebound, many are using the 50th anniversary of "Jaws" to remind the public how important sharks are and how to stay safe as beachgoers increasingly find themselves in close proximity to the predators. 'At the time 'Jaws' came out, we virtually knew nothing about sharks and nobody knew how important of a role they play in their ecosystem,' said Megan Winton, a scientist at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on nearby Cape Cod. 'We're still honestly learning new things about that every day, but learning how to live with great white sharks is tough.' 'Jaws' scared swimmers out of the ocean: See the real locations of Amity's terror 'Jaws' fans flooding Martha's Vineyard On Martha's Vineyard − the real-life version of Spielberg's fictional Amity Island − planning for the 50th anniversary of "Jaws" has been in the works for years. There will be screenings of the film and a documentary about its production, a live performance of the movie's famous score, and parties where fans can meet some of the cast and crew, said Erica Ashton and Alessandra Hagerty, executive and deputy directors of the Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce. Most shops and restaurants are decked out with "Jaws"-themed merchandise from custom-poured shark candles to a bloody-looking cranberry sweet treat at Murdick's Fudge. Even the local baseball team − the Sharks − will be playing this weekend. 'There's like 'Jaws' mania, pretty much,' Hagerty said. In the peak summer months, the island can see as many as 200,000 visitors, according to the Chamber of Commerce. But with hotels fully booked and anniversary weekend events nearly all sold out, officials are expecting a surge of visitors that could be tens of thousands higher than normal, far exceeding previous events related to the film. Michael Currid said he has already had 'exponentially more' advance bookings for his 'Jaws' walking tour than he has in the past 15 years. 'I'm confident that, at least from the 'Jaws' side, this will be my biggest season ever,' said Currid, owner of Edgartown Tour Company. Currid leads groups on walking tours of Edgartown that mirror the path taken by one of the film's protagonists, police chief Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider. On his full island tour, he takes visitors to filming locations farther afield such as the fishing village of Menemsha, where Brody and grizzled shark hunter Quint, portrayed by Robert Shaw, set sail. Often, Currid pulls up clips from the movie on his iPad to show tourists just how little has changed on the island since the film was shot. 'One home may have added bay windows,' he said. 'On one street that I show, the biggest change is the color of the fire hydrant.' Cape Cod's white sharks: The new stars of eco-tourism 'Jaws' events urge tourists to 'respect the locals' "Jaws" fans have already begun flocking to the Martha's Vineyard Museum to check out memorabilia and movie props such as the one-eyed head of a fisherman attacked by the shark in the film. The exhibition, which dominates the museum's entire second floor, has been five years in the making, according to Cathy Mayone, the museum's managing director. 'We've been very busy ever since Memorial Day, when we opened up the exhibit, and we are seeing a lot of people,' she said. 'Every day I walk through the museum and I talk to people that are visiting the island for the first time.' Though much of the programming focuses on the islanders who helped make the movie, the museum will also hold a lesson on sharks for kids and a talk by ocean conservation advocate Wendy Benchley, widow of "Jaws" author Peter Benchley, Mayone said. Both the late Benchley and Spielberg have expressed regret for the impact the book and the film had on real sharks. 'Part of our exhibit about 'Jaws' is a room devoted to teaching people more about sharks as a species, and efforts to understand them, protect them,' said Van Riper, the museum's research librarian who is gearing up to deliver a three-hour deep dive on the film to a sold-out crowd. 'So we hope we can do our bit to promote that whole 'respect the locals' attitude toward them.' Locals aren't the only ones using the anniversary to draw attention to the threats facing sharks. Lewis Pugh, a long distance swimmer from England, braved the island's chilly waters in just a pair of speedos, a swim cap and goggles in a bid to raise awareness. Pugh embarked on a brutal 12-day swim around Martha's Vineyard not long after the first shark sighting of the season in the area. Though he didn't spot any sharks on this journey, he did feel wary in the water after breaking the unspoken rule among swimmers by talking so frequently about the animals. 'I saw ("Jaws") when I was about 12 years old. I haven't seen it again. I'm frightened of sharks. I'm normal, OK?' he said with a laugh. 'But I'm terrified of a world without sharks.' Though more than a third of Americans say they're afraid of sharks and some attribute that fear to "Jaws" directly, Pugh said sharks are the ones in real danger. Sharks bite just a few dozen people each year, but humans kill millions of sharks worldwide. Pugh − who celebrated finishing the swim with an ice cream on the beach before heading to a U.N. conference on oceans in France − called the killings 'an ecocide.' 'We need to, No. 1, educate ourselves about them. No. 2, we need to respect them. And then lastly, we really need to protect them.' Shark research and conservation still has 'a long way to go' Great white shark populations in the Atlantic may have declined by as much as 70% before they were designated as a prohibited species in most American waters in 1997, said Winton, of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Populations around Massachusetts began to rebound as protections increased for sharks and seals, their preferred prey, Winton said. 'What we're seeing on Cape Cod, really is, it's a huge conservation success story,' she said. With that success comes new challenges. The animals spend about half their time hunting for seals in shallow waters offshore, and when swimmers and surfers get in their way, deadly encounters can occur, Winton said. In the summer of 2018, one man narrowly survived after being bitten by a shark on the Cape Cod National Seashore, and another died after a shark bit him while he was boogie-boarding. 'People were scared. They wanted to do something about it, and so there were calls for lethal control measures,' Winton said. Winton said conflicts with humans remain the biggest threat to white sharks in the waters of Massachusetts, adding that researchers have increasingly come across sharks with boat strike injuries. White sharks are still considered 'vulnerable,' one step below endangered, by the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. And though "Jaws," particularly actor Richard Dreyfuss' portrayal of oceanographer Matt Hooper, has inspired many marine biologists to study white sharks, Winton said researchers still don't have answers to basic questions about their biology, such as where they mate and give birth. 'We've come a long way since 'Jaws' in terms of shark conservation and our understanding of sharks and our appreciation for them and how important they are to the health of our oceans,' Winton said. 'But we've still got a long way to go.'
New York Post
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Long Island's ‘monster' shark hunter legend may have inspired ‘Jaws,' iconic Capt. Quint
Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they wouldn't get it right. The Steven Spielberg classic 'Jaws' takes place in a fictional small town in New England — but Long Islanders claim the blockbuster movie and novel that inspired it owes a hat tip to a late local legend. 'Monster' hunter fisherman Frank Mundus — a proud son of Montauk — was the inspiration for Robert Shaw's salty Capt. Quint in the movie, which turns 50 on Friday, family and friends said. Advertisement 4 Although Steven Spielberg's epic 'Jaws,' which turns 50 Friday, depicts unprecedented terror and calamity offshore in the small fictional New England town of Amity Island, its true story belongs to Long Island. Courtesy of Pat Mundus 'Anybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it's based on him,' the shark hunter's daughter Pat Mundus told The Post. 'Everybody on the East End knows,' she added of the mighty man who died in 2008 at 82. Advertisement Mundus, who lives in Greenport, said people still ask her daily if she's related to Frank. The Brooklyn-born seaman came to the Montauk Point from the north jersey shore in the early 1950s to do what wasn't traditionally done before: intentionally go out in search of the feared apex predators of the sea. The self-branded 'monster fisherman' turned the tide of 'the family-friendly inshore fishing image that Montauk had,' said Pat, a former oil tanker worker who is now 68. Advertisement Mundus couldn't give two flying fins, however. 'He branded himself a 'monster fisher' because he knew that it would attract more charter customers,' she explained, adding that there was a method to the madness. As a boy in the city, Mundus tried jumping from roof to roof between a pair of three-story buildings and fell to the ground, breaking his arm and developing a near-fatal infection. The miracle recovery — one that hindered his schooling to the point he finished eighth grade at nearly 18 — is what gave Mundus his 'big booming energy.' 'He painted one toenail red and the other blue and called them port and starboard. He wore an earring. He went barefoot everywhere. He played pranks and made a public spectacle of himself.' Advertisement Perhaps Mundus' most iconic gag was when 'he had another guy dress up as a Frankenstein-like monster and they put him in a waterproof casket and marked it offshore.' 'They 'discovered' the guy, they brought the casket back and opened it up on the dock, and this big monster sprang out.' By the 1960s, the attention-grabbing antics were enough to reel in 'Jaws' author-to-be Peter Benchley. The penman fatefully rode on Mundus' boat, the Cricket, which was named for the running joke that its captain looked like Jiminy. 'My father was a very intelligent person, but not terribly well-educated, so he didn't know who Peter Benchley was,' Mundus, one of Frank's three daughters, said. 'He just thought it was a guy who was interested in listening to stories about catching fish.' The depiction of Quint and the lack of recognition of the real story sent Mundus overboard, his daughter said. 4 The real-life story of 'Jaws' is based on the 'monster' hunter fisherman and local legend from Montauk, Long Island, Frank Mundus. Courtesy of Donnie Braddick Advertisement 'He had very carefully crafted his whole image in his own brand for 30 years,' she added. 'And then some guy just came along and stole it without acknowledging who he was.' Even Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine laments to this day that Mundus and the setting of Montauk were shortchanged. 'Frank Mundus was a legendary fisherman who could be in Hemingway's 'Old Man and the Sea,'' he told The Post. What 'Jaws' got wrong Mundus said her father isn't the bitter old salt that his Hollywood counterpart. Advertisement 'He was never in the Navy, he had no revenge against evil — he didn't seek restitution for the loss of his shipmates, who were all eaten by sharks, none of that,' she said. 'He had a flair for being outrageous, but he wasn't angry and pissed off, and would never take a baseball bat to a VHF radio.' When they saw the film in theaters together, Mundus wasn't afraid to speak his mind. 'A couple of times he stood up and said, 'that's impossible, that wouldn't ever work!'' she recalled. Advertisement 4 Pat Mundus, who is the daughter of the famed shark hunter, told The Post, 'Anybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it's based on him.' 'He laughed through all the parts that everybody else was totally scared about.' Although Pat said that her dad moved on from his gripes, Roy Scheider apparently didn't get the message and worried Mundus would do something like give him a black eye — like a doll's eye. The man who played Chief Brody told publicist Todd Shapiro he was petrified of doing film anniversary events on the East End in case he would run into Mundus, according to the PR consultant who tried recruiting Scheider for a reunion. Advertisement Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! The real sequel Regardless of whether it was fact or fiction, the fame of 'Jaws' reshaped Montauk in the 1980s and transformed the then-quaint fishing village into Sharktown USA. Sam Hershowitz began hosting annual shark tournaments at his marina on Star Island, 'that brought people all the way up from the Carolinas,' he said. 'The first year we had 82 boats, the year after we had 150,' Hershowitz, 85, told The Post, adding that he would play John Williams' iconic 'Jaws' score before they all left for sea. 'The motel owners used to thank me because they would be booked solid.' During the 1986 competition, Mundus and his former colleague Donnie Braddick made more fishing history. 4 Frank Mundus died in 2008 at the age of 82. Courtesy of Pat Mundus They brought in what some record books call the largest ever rod-and-reel caught great white at a whopping 17 feet and 3,427 pounds. Sam's Star Island Yacht Club and Marina has a replica of the big guy that remains a tourist selfie favorite to this day, Hershowitz said, adding that due to shark fishing regulations, it's a record that will never be broken. Braddick, now 69, was captaining a tuna fishing boat when he spotted tons of sharks devouring a dead whale about 25 miles southeast of Montauk Point. The boaters he was with were too frightened, so Braddick had to wait until he brought them back to make a go at the sharks. En route back to land, Braddick spotted Mundus coming in from an overnight charter. 'If you needed heart surgery and the best heart surgeon was passing by, it would be a good idea to grab him,' Braddick, who left Montauk for North Carolina when it became 'credit cards and spending mommy and daddy's money,' told The Post. The duo returned to port and stocked up on essentials — beer and pizza — and headed back out in their respective boats into the moonlit hours. 'In the middle of the night, we felt the boat get bumped…and then it was like, 'oh boy, they're here,'' he recalled of the 'all-star' team that sprang into action to nab a great white. 'We reeled the boat to the fish, not the fish to the boat…after an hour and a half, that fish was like 'f–k it, I've had enough of this s–t' and it just charged the boat…All I see is him steaming at us.' Finally, after masterful gaffing and angling, the beast fell to the men of the sea and was towed back to land. 'The rest was one big friggin' party,' added Braddick. 'A lot of people know about it, and they still talk about it.' While the legend of Mundus is as eternal as the sea, Pat is ready for a new wave and wants to live a life of her own rather than echo family tales, she said. Still, there's one thing Mundus told his kin that she remembers to this day. 'Fear is just not understanding something,' Pat recalled. 'And if you want to get over a fear, you have to gain competency in it.'
