Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Go Back in the Water

It’s unbelievable to me that I’m still talking about a crazy shark tale from fifty years ago, but apparently, Jaws made a big impression on me. Not only was the movie the first drive-in I ever drove to, but the book by Peter Benchley was the one that got me hooked on reading.

It’s also unbelievable for me to think that I literally did not read an entire book until I read Jaws at sixteen years old. I have Dear ole Dad to thank for that enlightenment.

My father was one of the thousands of dads who schlepped out from Long Island into New York City for work in the 1970s. And, like most of them, Dad took the Long Island Railroad (LIRR).

There were many rituals to riding the LIRR. Like, don’t touch the big piece of cardboard shoved between the seats and window in car so and so, as the same group of four uses it every morning when they lay it across their laps (two riding backwards, so they face one other), to play cards. And, when you finish a newspaper or paperback, do feel free to leave it on the seat for a fellow commuter.

This is how I got to read Jaws. Dad picked it up on the LIRR; and, when he was done, he left it lying on a table at home, carrying on the railroad’s pseudo library lending system.

I’m sure it was the intriguing photo on the cover that piqued my unmotivated, teenage interest, as I devoured the book, couldn’t wait to see the movie, and forever after was a voracious reader.

Thanks, Dad!

I am not big on rewatching movies, and I really don’t like sequels (unlike Dad who famously said, “The higher the number, the better the movie.”) So, I have not seen Jaws since that warm June night when I drove a bunch of us in my mother’s station wagon to the local drive-In.

Fortunately, I have a cinephile niece who was willing to join me for the re-release of 1975’s summer blockbuster (and, apparently, the movie that created the word “blockbuster”). It was better than I even remembered, and that opening scene – chillingly and skillfully achieved with no blood, and no shark – is still one of the most vivid movie memories for me and still has me talking about it all these years later.