For the 50th anniversary: from North Sea to Lake Constance: “The White Hai” again in the cinema

He is the first Hollywood blockbuster, set new standards for excitement and is still fascinating film art: “The White Hai” by Steven Spielberg from 1975. On the occasion of his 50th anniversary, the masterpiece is now coming back to the cinema. In addition to the direction, John Williams’ music with the alarming DAA-DAM, DAA-DAM is legendary.

From Flensburg to the Allgäu in 250 cinemas

As an event for participating cinemas in the “Best of Cinema” series, the film runs today in more than 260 cinemas in Germany – from “UCI Flensburg” to the “Lichtpielhaus Wangen im Allgäu”.

Among the cinemas that put the classic on the program are not only multiplexes and halls in large cities, but also smaller houses.

Among them are the “cinema in the Kurtheater” on the North Sea island of Norderney, the “City Kino Buxtehude”, the “Filmpalast Bautzen”, the “Dream Palace Nürtingen” and the “Cineplex Friedrichshafen” on Lake Constance.

The German original synchronization from 1975 is usually shown. Numerous open-air cinemas, for example in Essen, Leipzig and Berlin, will also show the film in the coming days.

That is what the film is about: The community of the seaside resort Amity is exposed to the fatal attacks of a marine animal. The local police chief (Roy Scheider), a young marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and an aging shark (Robert Shaw) want to kill the monster before it strikes again.

The poster of “The White Hai” is one of the most memorable ones: a shark head with an open mouth under a floating woman. The cinema release in the USA was on June 20, 1975, in West Germany in December ’75.

Create fear with hints

The then only 28-year-old Spielberg relied on an important knowledge of the horror genre in the film: fear is not generated by what you see, but by what you do not see and only guessed.

Accordingly, in the first part, he was largely limited to hints, such as underwater shots from the perspective of the shark. Around the middle of the film, the plot shifts from the coast to the open sea. Three men against the beast.

Birth hour of the summer blockbuster

In retrospect, “Jaws” (pine) – as the film is called – is the birth of the summer blockbuster. It is almost forgotten today that it was often said in the 1970s that cinemas had no future, films were enough to watch on TV. “The white shark” heralded a new era of expensive Hollywood productions. To be seen on a large screen was stylized for an experience, a topic of conversation with hype about merchandise products.

Perhaps the most sustainable effect has developed by the fact that it caused ancestrian fears before swimming in the sea in countless people. It is paranoia not to know what is located below the water surface.

At the same time, sharks, especially white sharks, were demonized. This contributed to the decimation of the stocks. The picture has changed in recent years, also with media aid: films shared millions of times show divers who swim with white sharks without protection.