Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story Adds to the Thrilling Legacy

A still from Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story - Director Steven Spielberg on the set of Jaws with the mechanical shark in the background.

Director Steven Spielberg on the set of Jaws with the mechanical shark in the background. (Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC)

As Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster film turns 50 years old, Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story finds that there are still more things to say. If you’ve previously redeemed a digital code for Jaws, the documentary was automatically added to your MoviesAnywhere account on Tuesday. Unless you really want the Limited Edition SteelBook, there’s honestly no need to re-buy the film just for this documentary. There is a sale on MoviesAnywhere, Fandango at Home, Prime Video, etc. at the time of publishing this review. If you don’t want to wait until Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story airs on National Geographic/Hulu/Disney+, I’d recommend taking advantage!

I was curious going into the 90-minute documentary as to what else was there to say about the blockbuster. It turns out there’s so much more than I thought. For starters, there’s the environmental legacy–for better or worse. On the other end of the coin, there’s the effects of PTSD and what that does to someone, especially if the feelings are kept inside. I’ll have more on this in a moment or two. Something that sets this film apart from filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau’s 1995 documentary, The Making of Jaws, is the access to personal archives.

The fact that technology is so much different now than 30 years ago means that this film features more material with either Spielberg or Jaws novelist Peter Benchley by way of their archives. The archives hadn’t been transferred in the early 1990s. Benchley died in 2006, but his family is well represented in the documentary. One thing I didn’t really know about Benchley was how he became an ocean conservationist following the film. The Benchley family offers an incredible amount of insight into the novel and their own post-film legacy in shark conservation.

It’s natural that the film led to an increase in fear of sharks–guilty as charged–or shark hunting. The latter part did a number on the global shark population. On the other end of the coin, however, is the rise is marine scientists and other conservationists. That’s the Jaws effect at work and Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story captures this to the full extent, especially through interviews with Benchley’s family and marine scientists.

As far as the film’s core cast, Bouzereau draws from archival footage for Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story. Again, this one takes a different focus than a making-of film. It’s focusing more on the film’s legacy itself. That’s not to say that it doesn’t feature behind-the-scenes footage from the 1970s, because it does. We see a good bit of the troubles that went into the film–you know, the whole thing about the shark not working and going well over the planned about of days filming in Martha’s Vineyard.

A number of minor and background actors do discuss their experiences from filming Jaws. For a number of them, it really wasn’t until seeing the film that they knew what it was truly about. There are new interviews with crew members while others–such as Oscar-winning editor Verna Fields–appear by way of archival interviews in Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story.

Steven Spielberg, Director of Jaws is pictured during an interview for National Geographic's Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story. — Steven Spielberg, Director of Jaws is pictured during an interview for National Geographic’s Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story. (National Geographic/Chris Johnson)

As I mentioned earlier, we can’t discuss Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story without discussing mental health–Steven Spielberg’s PTSD from making the film, in particular. Something that is new to the film’s conversation–and legacy to that effect–is how Spielberg would just hide out on the boat at Universal Studios in the years following the film’s release. It didn’t matter that it had been a massive juggernaut and changed the game for cinema. The film he thought would end is career is what allowed Universal to give Spielberg final cut approval, something he’s maintained for 50 years now. The thing is, he had lingering PTSD and that’s something that just cannot be ignored.

But like I said earlier, Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story is about more than just the film. It’s an exploration of the legacy on the scientific side of things. Whenever I watch Jaws, I don’t really think about what it’s meant for fans and the relationship with the ocean. Jokingly or not, the first thought that comes to mind is, Is it safe to get back in the water? A number of marine advocates and scientists look at this aspect of the legacy–how has public perception transformed from fear into conservation efforts?

In as much as Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story is about the 1975 film, it captures the lasting pop cultural and shark conservation legacy beyond Benchley’s novel and Spielberg’s film. It’s about the fans. It’s about the filmmakers inspired by the 1975 film and there’s certainly no shortage of them. It’s about all the marine scientists and conservationists that might not have pursued their career without the film. We’re gonna need a bigger boat.

DIRECTOR: Laurent Bouzereau
FEATURING: Steven Spielberg, Joe Alves, Jonathan Filley, Lorraine Gary, Carl Gottlieb, Jeffrey Kramer, Ian Shaw, Jeffrey Voorhees, John Williams, J.J. Abrams, Emily Blunt, James Cameron, Cameron Crowe, George Lucas, Greg Nicotero, Jordan Peele, Steven Soderbergh, Guillermo del Toro, Robert Zemeckis, Wendy Benchley, Tracy Benchley Turner, Clayton Benchley, Nat Benchley, Philippe Cousteau, Candace Fields, Austin Gallagher, Gibbs Kuguru, Dr. John Mandelman, Brian Skerry, Dr. Greg Skomal