Friday, April 17, 2009

That's Some Big Shark Harry


Now that's a movie. The most important thing to come out of watching Jaws was how sweet it is that I now know what "That's some bad hat Harry" comes from. Bad Hat Harry Productions, run by Brian Singer, produces House, M.D. and after the credits roll a cartoon dude says the famous quote. I never knew what it was from but always thought it was catchy. Apparently Singer liked Jaws, or just the line, or both.

In the early going I was loving the fact that the people of the town, especially the mayor, were so angry about not having the beach open. I don't know about you, but if anyone mentioned that there might be a shark in the water, I wouldn't go near that beach ever again. I would live with no money if it meant I didn't get eaten by a great white shark.

So granted this movie was made in 1975 and the special effects of the shark are horrid, I was still freaked out a good amount of the time. It's a good thing I had the lights on while watching or things could have gotten a little out of control. When Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) is out on his boat with Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) and he goes down to check out underneath the small boat, I almost fell out of my comfortable recliner when the dead dude's head popped out of nowhere.

Mr. Quint (Robert Shaw) was real sweet until he got eaten by Jaws. While the three dudes were out on the boat and it started getting a little too scary for Chief Brody, he decided to call the Coast Guard for help. Quint wanted none of this and smashed the radio to pieces, while Brody was in mid call. Mr. Quint quietly said "Excuse me, Chief" and handed him the bat. Classic.

As far as Chief Brody goes, I could take him or leave. But what made this shark hunting experience great was the combination of Quint and Hooper. These two guys were extremely different, yet I loved them both. Sure they both loved sharks, but the similarities ended there. The Dreyfuss laugh was unbelievable as always.

The only thing I didn't really like about this movie was that it ended immediately after they killed the great white shark. I would've enjoyed a nice little homecoming for Hooper and Brody. With the town all happy that they can have a worry free rest of the summer and Brody reuniting with the family as he says goodbye to his new friend Hooper. But hey that's just one man's opinion.

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