Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
The film “Jaws” opened on June 20, 1975 – which means we are barreling down on its 40th anniversary. (Personally, I find that concept much more terrifying than anything portrayed onscreen.)
The blockbuster success of “Jaws” is widely credited with having laid the foundation for the phenomenon which was to become known as the summer movie. This week, we celebrate Steven Spielberg’s game-changer with music from films about underwater threats.
“Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” (1953) stars Robert Wagner and Peter Graves in a Romeo and Juliet story about two families of competing fishermen along the Gulf coast of Florida, one working class and of Greek origin, and the other a family of privileged WASPs. Gilbert Roland is the Greek patriarch who runs afoul of an improbably large octopus. Bernard Herrmann wrote the music. The complete score, characterized by ample harp glissandi for the underwater sequences, has been reissued on Kritzerland Records in a limited edition of 1000 copies.
In “The Sharkfighters” (1956), Victor Mature joins Navy scientists in trying to develop a shark repellent (from octopus ink, actually) in order protect downed pilots at sea. The score, by Jerome Moross, employs an expanded percussion section reflective of the film’s Cuban environs.
A young Henry Mancini was one of three composers to work on “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954). Mancini was teamed with veteran film composer Hans J. Salter and Herman Stein. None of the three are credited on screen – typical of what was considered at the time a low-budget B-movie.
It all culminates in “Jaws” (1975). What can be said about John Williams’ masterful music? It’s right up there with “Psycho” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” in terms of most recognized and most-frequently parodied. Everyone remembers the primal shark theme, but what is sometimes overlooked is that “Jaws” is also one of the great adventure scores, the music effortlessly navigating the choppy waters of suspense, horror, and seafaring swashbuckler. The composer was recognized with a richly-deserved Academy Award.
I hope you’ll join me (on the beach) for “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this evening at 6 ET, with a repeat tomorrow morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.
