He’s Back: Reliving the Legacy!

Hollywood

by Janet Donovan | on August 11th, 2024 |

Photo credit: Courtesy of Wendy Benchley

It’s the 50th Anniversary of JAWS.

JAWS was the movie by Peter Benchley that terrified people from going into the ocean.

The iconic 1975 film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Benchley’s novel is credited with revolutionizing the thriller genre and had a huge impact on public perception of sharks. The movie’s portrayal of a monstrous great white shark terrorizing a small beach town led to a significant increase in fear and caution about sharks and swimming in the ocean.

The opening scene of Jaws is a masterclass in suspense and terror.

The scenes were filmed in and around “The Vineyard,” an island south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, close to Falmouth and Hyannis Port where I spent a lot of summers. When I met Wendy Benchley, Peter’s wife, at an event hosted by Kandie Stroud in Washington, DC, I admitted that I was one of those that had never been back in the ocean again. She told me that her husband felt apologetic to those he scared and expressed regret about the impact his novel and its subsequent film adaptation had on public perceptions of sharks and the ocean. Benchley was also deeply concerned about the fear and misunderstanding that his book and the movie adaptation fostered and so in later years, Benchley became an advocate for shark conservation and ocean protection. He acknowledged that his work had contributed to a negative image of sharks and worked to raise awareness about their importance in marine ecosystems. Benchley’s shift in focus reflects his recognition of the need to protect sharks and to educate the public about their role in the environment. Wendy has followed that path and his legacy.

Wendy Benchley at the Edgartown Library book signing

“Can you believe that JAWS was 50 years ago? It’s hard to imagine, “said Wendy as she opened the event. “And Peter’s book was on the bestseller list and the movie crew was here on the vineyard in the spring of 1974. I know it was chaos, but it was fun chaos. I’ll bet some of you were here that summer. It was an extraordinary time for us. The original cover of the book people I think have forgotten about because what you know now is the cover with all the snaggle teeth. But that cover that you now know was done by Howard Castel. It was a painting. He went to the Natural History Museum, looked at the first shark that he saw there. He didn’t know the difference between a mako shark and a white shark. So he basically painted a mako shark with all those snaggle teeth. White sharks have beautiful triangular teeth, nothing like that. And also it is extraordinary that the New York Times Magazine did a full cover on Peter with this terrible photograph, with this painting.”

Photo credit: Courtesy of NYPost

Some amusing tidbits from the event.

On why the title of the movie was named JAWS:

“Peter and I and Tom Condon and his dad had about 50, a hundred different names and some of them were pretentious, like Leviathan Rising or something on that line. And some were just trying to be very terror. The terror in the deep. In any case, none of them seemed to quite work. And so Peter said, ‘Let’s just settle on JAWS. Nobody knows what it means, but at least it’s short.’ And isn’t it astonishing that nowadays if you say JAWS, maybe 50% of the people you meet with say Shark, but why? How bizarre when it first came out, why would JAWS as mean Shark? So that was quite remarkable. And of course the book also has been interpreted in many different ways depending upon who reads the book and who the critic is and who the teacher is and the college. And a lot of people compare it to Moby Dick all the time. But the one I love is that Frank Mankiewicz was meeting Fidel Castro in his office in Cuba and Fidel was reading JAWS. And Frank said to Fidel, ‘Why would you be reading JAWS?’ And Castro, of course said, ‘because it’s a book about the evils of capitalism.'”

Wendy has attended numerous environmental events in DC, but this one was special, hosted by The Ambassador of France…CLICK ON HERE: Swimming with the Sharks.

And in case you don’t remember JAWS, here ya go.

Footnote: The great Sylvia Earle told Hollywood on the Potomac at a NatGeo event that she felt safer swimming with sharks than driving a car! I’ll stick to driving.