JAWS (1975)
50TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION
Fifty years ago, director Steven Spielberg scared people out of the water and changed the way Hollywood released movies. In his second big-screen picture, he captured something magical in Peter Benchley’s tale of a great white shark stalking the waters off the New England coast. With Roy Scheider as the town’s new police chief, Richard Dreyfuss as an ichthyologist, and Robert Shaw as a grizzled shark-hunter, he created a resonant tale of heroism in the face of unimaginable horrors, underlined by John Williams’ iconic score. Universal’s marketing department decided to break tradition by releasing it in the summer—usually a dumping ground for lesser films—and instead of platforming it to a few major theaters, it opened in over 400 screens around the country, creating the first of what would become many summer blockbusters. Jaws became the top-grossing film of that time and paved the way for Spielberg’s rise to become one of Hollywood’s most successful directors.
d. Steven Spielberg, 124m, 35mm
Courtesy of the British National Archive and Universal Pictures.
Print source: BFI National Archive. 1975 Technicolor dye transfer release print preserved by the BFI National Archive.
The British Film Institute is the UK’s lead organization for film and the moving image. In 2025 the BFI National Archive turns 90 years old. From preserving early silent films on fragile nitrate film prints to collecting contemporary work via the latest digital innovations; from bringing to life unproduced ‘lost’ works through scripts and production sketches, to caring for the stills and posters of familiar cultural touchstones; and from their holdings of small-scale home videos to the most epic of cinematic odysseys, since 1935 the BFI National Archive has been a gateway to the past, present, and future of screen culture. The BFI National Archive at TCM Classic Film Festival this April, celebrating this major milestone, are presenting a number of rare archive film prints (including nitrate), new 35mm prints and restorations from their collection.