The 50th Anniversary of Jaws (1975) has kicked the marketing machine for the film into overdrive. There have been LEGOs, popcorn buckets, t-shirts, posters, Funko Pop figures, Hot Wheels, and more. The film is back in theaters in IMAX and in 3-D, it’s streaming, and it has special Blu-ray releases. There is only one definitive coffee table book that celebrates the film and the experience of making the film. Matt Taylor’s Jaws: Memories From Martha’s Vineyard (Titan Books) originally came out in 2011. This multi-pound hardcover book has been updated and revised for the 50th Anniversary.
Buy Jaws: Memories From Martha’s Vineyard (Rev. and Updated)Jaws was one of my favorite films from opening weekend, when I was merely seven in the summer of 1975. For years, it was just a favorite film, and I didn’t know about the challenges of the creation of the film until The Making of Jaws (1995) on the first DVD Anniversary release. The backstory was developed even further in In the Teeth of Jaws (1997) and perfected in The Shark Is Still Working (2007). Most of that material was incorporated into the new Jaws @ 50 (2025) documentary from Nat Geo. These documentaries have focused so much on the difficulty of getting the film made that they forgot to celebrate all of the things that were going into making this one of the best films ever. This Matt Taylor book is just that celebration.
The book has quotes and memories from over 40 participants including actors, writers, and production staff. The best coffee-table books don’t overwhelm you with text and that’s the case here. The background and production photos are the stars of the book.
“Hurricane Hollywood”: The first chapter is the most text heavy of the book. It’s mostly about the casting and the location scouting. The casting of islanders for all but seven of the parts gives the film character.
“Hurry Up and Wait”: The first few scenes are more masterful than people give the film credit. The final third of the film eats up so much emotional energy that’s it’s easy to forget that the first few scenes are pure cinema. Jeremy Kramer finding Chrissy’s body on the beach was hugely influential on David Lynch’s opening scenes in Twin Peaks. The harbor scene where everyone is headed out to search for the shark is the best humor of the film.
“Harthaven to Menemsha”: This features some of the first appearances of Quint, but the story of the breakaway dock is one of the turning points in the thriller aspect of the film. This is when the shark becomes a villain with bad intentions.
“You’re Gonna Need Another Boat”: The creation of Bruce, the shark, and the Orca is fascinating from an engineering point of view. This is the part of every documentary when we hear about how difficult it was to make the film. The costs are running over and time is running out in the production. There’s doubt if the film would ever be finished. What you need to see is the smile on the average folks working on the film to know there’s another side to the story.
“In The Good Ol’ Summertime”: I love the beach scenes because they show Spielberg at his most Hitchcockian. These pictures with production photos gives a geography to the beach that I desired when watching the film. This chapter in particular offers some of the best insights into what it was like on the set and island since it included so many islanders as extras.
“Slow Ahead”: This chapter on the third act of the film is what most people remember about the film other than the opening scene. Shooting on the open ocean was a crazy idea that you would never do today. That’s compounded with a shark that isn’t working most of the time. The content in this chapter is the most covered in documentaries, but I still found the pictures and recollections to be fresh.
The legacy of Jaws has been well covered over the past 50 years. It’s impressive on all levels of acting, writing, and directing. Watching the film for the first time or the 50th time is fun and entertaining. I saw it on IMAX recently, and I was still transported to that mall theater in the summer of 1975. This book is the perfect behind-the-scenes accompaniment to the film. It’s not a book you take on vacation, it’s a tome by any definition. If this film has ever meant anything to you, this belongs in your library.
