With John Williams’ masterful blockbuster score, there’s more than meets the “black, lifeless eye”
Da-dum. You know it. Da-dum. I know it. Da-dum. We all know it.
Even if you haven’t taken in the thrills of Jaws first-hand, its two-note musical motif is instantly identifiable. Alternating between half-steps, the relentless rhythm in John Williams’ ostinato of doom is inseparable from our fear of the open water and whatever horrors lurk below its surface.
UW Cinematheque unofficially started its “Music By John Williams” program with a The Force Awakens prelude last week, but the series begins in earnest on Sun, Feb 5 with Steven Spielberg’s 1975 breakout hit and what is essentially the movie responsible for summer blockbusters as we know them. What better way to reacquaint audiences to Williams than with such a recognizable cue? During a celebration of the film’s 40th Anniversary Blu-ray release in 2012, Film Music Society reflected on the main theme’s primal nature and how “rarely have six basses, eight celli, four trombones and a tuba held more power over listeners.” Like the titular Great White Shark as it terrorizes the New England denizens of Amity Island, this musical threat feels omnipresent.
But is it actually? In a 1995 documentary, Williams lovingly describes Jaws as “primal but also fun and entertaining,” and it’s those latter two elements that get drowned out in the sludgy signature music. “Quint’s Tale” is the diametric opposite cue, an understated atmospheric companion for Orca Captain Quint (Robert Shaw), who traumatizes Amity sheriff Brody (Roy Scheider) and marine biologist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) with a white-knuckle soliloquy about the horrors witnessed on the U.S.S. Indianapolis. “Father and Son” and “Ben Gardner’s Boat” are both vintage John Williams, occupying the precious middle ground between suspense and curiosity.
These are the sounds that would eventually endear “The Maestro” to a generation raised on the music of Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, and that’s to say nothing of the aforementioned “fun” in his score. “Montage” is bouncy and joyous with a rousing, medieval-styled melody. The vivacious “Shark Cage Fugue” and, later, “Man Against Beast” feature a plucky adventure theme, a perfect encapsulation of the Orca crew’s intrepid mission to dispatch with the shark once and for all. Williams’ favorite cue, “The Great Shark Chase,” plays as Hooper dumps harpoon barrels into the water while Quint and Brody trade shots at the leviathan. They’re engaged in the hunt, but it’s a thrill steeped in the classical tradition of Erich Korngold; musically, it’s miles from the dread-filled minimalism we all know.
Jaws is a rejection of solitude; doubly so for Peter Benchley’s original novel with its extraneous side plots. Quint sets out to bag his “white whale” at all costs, but it’s strength in numbers that ultimately win out, pitting together three oddballs who manage to stare back into Mother Nature’s lifeless, black eyes. The music’s the exact same way, a rousing and complex rejection of its lone antagonist. If you go into the theater humming that ominous refrain this weekend, don’t be surprised if you walk out singing a different tune.
- UW Cinematheque presents Jaws on Sun, Feb 5 at 2:00p in the Chazen Art Museum. Admission is FREE and open to the public.