Jaws: The Ferry Conversation

I think many of us take for granted the little things. Filmmaking craft. People hate Spielberg, and I can get that sometimes. Going with the happy conclusion in War of the Worlds, or accepting an Oscar for Schindler's List.

But Jaws. This seems to be the exclusion. Thank goodness, at least this one generally escapes much criticism. But still, watching the opening prior to the little boy eaten by the shark, as Chief Brody (Scheider) hesitantly listened to the mayor and his underlings/yes men, (including a rather conflicted medical examiner, pressured into agreeing that the opening girl's death could have been by a fishing boat propeller), about *not* closing the beaches until the shark (if that is what killed the girl), I smiled about how I never really remembered the whole thing taking place on a moving ferry. All the time, the mayor (Murray Hamilton with the coat covered by boat anchor symbols, haha), thinking about the Almighty Dollar, eventually, through all his happy-go-lucky presentation, convinces a shaky Brody to change his mind on keeping people from the beaches as 4th of July was on its way. I was amused because the profit-minded mayor and his yes man are so involved in their strategy to motivate Brody away from the right decision to investigate and find the predator out in the water that the ferry ride to a completely different location in Amity escapes them. Like I said, its the little things.