Happy Anniversary to two GREAT movies:

--Surely it hasn't been 25 years since the movie "Airplane!" debuted. But it has and "Don't call me Shirley."

--And, not until "Jaws" came along in June 1975 did a movie top $100 million in first release. Thirty years later, $100 million seems almost paltry. Heck, "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," made by Spielberg's pal George Lucas, took in $108 million on its opening weekend.

Spielberg and Lucas are true movie savants. "Jaws" and "Star Wars," the movies that made their careers, are pictures that are imbued with the spirit of true fanship: "Yeah! That's the kind of movie I'd really like to see." And so they went out and made them.

The great irony of "Jaws" is that although it is a special- effects movie, its greatness is due in large measure to the fact that its central special effect, the shark, didn't work very well. Spielberg, just 27 when he made the picture in 1974, took an immense risk when he decided to make "Jaws" on location in the ocean off Martha's Vineyard.

Posted by: Lawrenkm at 07:38 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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