While I couldn’t be there for the Princeton Garden Theatre’s “Jaws Fest” celebrations on Friday, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the film’s release, I was able to catch the movie itself yesterday afternoon – and of course there’s no way I could pass up this banner.

Author Peter Benchley and his wife, Wendy (who served three terms on the former Princeton Borough Council), attended the film’s Princeton opening at the Garden Theatre in June 1975.

The Garden continues to show “Jaws” every summer, and I manage to catch it in one form or another just about every year. Last year I got shut out of the theater when I learned too late that Wendy Benchley would be speaking before the film. Still, I have seen it a lot.

When I last caught it at the Garden two years ago, I was dazzled by just how well it still works. Yesterday, it mostly made me miss the ‘70s, when movies could still surprise and awe, while keeping one foot in “reality.” The shark may be omnipresent (if little seen), but the interplay between Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, the kids, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Murray Hamilton, and even the locals is unbeatable.

Memorable characters, great performances that conceal their craft (Shaw gets a couple of monologues, selling himself as shark-exterminator and recollecting the horrors of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, but otherwise most of it unfolds naturalistically), breathtaking directorial invention and technical brilliance (again, only occasionally do they draw attention to themselves), plenty of foreshadowing and thematic parallels, irony even, but the whole thing is never less than relatably human, which is a quality it seems the big Hollywood movies have really lost.

Of course John Williams’ score rachets up the tension with its inexorable rhythms and jangling dissonances, but he always has a good sense of when to lighten things up and even lift the spirits. “Jaws” begins as a horror movie, then leans into the suspense, and then finally explodes into a frequently euphoric, rip-roaring adventure.

The local color, the bureaucratic cover-up, the inevitable panic, the yahoos who gather to take out the shark, all of it rings true. Even in a world in which police reports are no longer filled out on typewriters, everyone has cell phones, and for many books are no longer a primary source of information, “Jaws” loses none of its bite. In another 50 years, it will be as evergreen as “Casablanca.”

“Jaws” is usually a one-night affair in Princeton – and the theater is packed – but this year showings will continue at the Garden through Thursday afternoon, diluting the crowd, perhaps, but providing more chances to catch it on the big screen. For showtimes, follow the link.

https://www.princetongardentheatre.org/films/jaws

If you can’t make it, there’s always next summer.

In the meantime, do check out the Garden’s schedule of repertory films. September and October are especially strong. With offerings such as “Rashomon, “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” “Bicycle Thieves,” “High and Low,” “The Asphalt Jungle,” “Metropolis, “The Golem,” and the Spanish language “Dracula” (shot at night on the same sets used for the Lugosi version), I intend to be there a lot.

https://www.princetongardentheatre.org/specials/

Oh yeah, and they show new films too. It’s probably the only theater in which I would have watched the new “Superman,” as I can’t stand the hassle, the soullessness, the inanity, the sonic overkill, and now the seating reservations of the big chains.

If you’re in the area, and you miss being able to watch quality movies in a decent theater, I recommend dropping by and even looking into a membership. It’s obvious that the owners and the employees really care about the entire experience of taking in a good film.