DrPhibes1964

This color episodes are terrible. The characters have gotten dumber and more obnoxious, especially Aunt Bee, whom I've always found to be a self-righteous stick-in-the-mud throughout the series. She is at the height of her obnoxiousness in this particular episode. But this just bad writing and funny ideas to keep the series alive were not coming as naturally as they once were. Sending the Taylors off to Hollywood might be considered a precursor to "jumping the shark" before it became a popular term for a series in rapid decline. She's a wet blanket from beginning to end. Seeing Davin McCloud playing "Sheriff Taylor" in the fictitious Sheriff Without A Gun gets a couple chuckles, especially when it annoys Aunt Bee that he's being portrayed as a "rough neck" and they should show him delivering Easter baskets. Who wouldn't pay to see that on a big screen? It's amazing the series lasted as long as it did.

I didn't get to see Jaws when it was released in 1975 and had to wait until it aired (in an edited form) on network television, and later unedited on HBO. Seeing the film on an IMAX screen was quite an experience and I jumped a little at a moment I knew was coming but the sound and the enlarged image provoked that reaction.

Jaws is one of two films by Steven Spielberg that I can actually sit through and enjoy---the other being Raiders of the Lost Ark. I've seen it many times over the decades and still become absorbed in the story. This is primarily due to the characters and the actors bringing life and charm to them, especially Robert Shaw. I cannot believe he wasn't even nominated for an Academy award for Best Supporting Actor. Quint is by far the best character in the film and his monologue about his experiences on the Indianapolis during World War 2 is a scene that is amongst the best in cinema history. I know Shaw himself is a writer and I don't know if he contributed anything to his character, but he steals every scene he's in, even when the Great White is also present. The interaction between Quint, Brody, and Hooper are the lynchpin to the entire film. I don't know if they had others in mind when it came to casting but Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss are absolutely perfect together, especially the tension that existed between Shaw and Dreyfuss. Whether the antagonism was genuine or just to enhance the relationship between those two characters is a matter of speculation. It worked in the benefit of the film.

I highly recommend watching it on a big screen. I don't know how the 3D version looks like but it really doesn't need to be embellished by any new technology. It's a timeless classic that looks and feels as fresh as it did 50 years ago. It's hard to believe it's been that long.