A miracle that filmmakers survived pre-CGI life with sanity intact

The Shark Is Still Working gathers (seemingly) every participant in Steve Spielberg's coming-out party, meticulously dissecting the mid-'70s phenomena. Chirpy writer Peter Benchley (now deceased), classy star Roy Scheider (looking almost deceased), irritating actor Richard Dreyfuss (you'll wish was deceased) and Steve Spielberg himself (a giddy 27-year-old kid at the time) all pipe in with some tall fish tales.

It's fascinating stuff, especially the tribulations of working with a malfunctioning shark robot long before CGI would make such extravagant chores obsolete. Filming proved arduous enough to stretch the initial planned 60-day shoot well into seven gruelling months, with Spielberg fleeing the set before the last shot. The toil was indeed well worth the trouble, as history will attest. You can't argue with a 100 percent rating on the Rotten Tomatoes scale.

There are some great, dug-up moments, such as a home video of Spielberg awaiting an Oscar nomination, but too much time is spent on the locals whose lives (apparently) still revolve around their fading 15 minutes of extras fame. A little chomp-chomp editing in this overly long doc would have been welcome.

The Shark Is Still Working
Mayfair Theatre, June 4 and 5 (with Jaws)

 
 

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