Jaws Month at the Monolith!

It was 40 summers ago that I first saw the Steven Spielberg classic Jaws, and I’m celebrating the anniversary with a month of Jaws posts!

Back in the summer of ’75 I went to see Jaws for the first time, with my parents and brother at the Fashion Valley 4 theater in San Diego, and from that point I was forever hooked; it made such an impact on my 12-year-old Disney-weary mind that day, I declared it my favorite movie as soon as the end credits began to roll, and it has remained my favorite to this day. I saw it five times that summer—including twice in one day—and once more during its re-release in 1979, before network television took over and I watched every airing I could. Once I secured a VHS copy years later, I made it a ritual to watch it every July 4th, and have done so without fail ever since.

I’ll continue that tradition tonight, when I sit down with a recently-restored version on DVD and a bowl of Pop Secret popcorn, and enjoy it for maybe the thirtieth time (an estimation, since I’ve seen it so often over the decades, I’ve lost count). This won’t be my first viewing of the year, however; last month I walked next door to my neighborhood multiplex and caught a 40th anniversary screening there, where I got the idea to honor the film with a month of posts on Cinema Monolith. I have four in mind, which I’ll post once every weekend throughout July, and if I think of anything else that might be worthy of inclusion, I’ll post it during the week.

And now, I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone for their patience during a rather dry and static past few months—okay, past several months—here at the Monolith, and hopefully these thirty days of Jaws posts will kick-start a more consistent and productive posting schedule. I’d also like to apologize to everyone whose movie blog sites I’ve been neglecting over these same few months; beginning this weekend, I’m going to do my best to get back to visiting and commenting on a daily basis again.

So anyway…thanks for stopping by, and enjoy Jaws Month!