8 Movies To Get You Ready For Summer

1. Jaws

I wanted to include at least one summer blockbuster on this list, since that's a big part of summer for all of us who frequent WhatCulture. However, also wanting to keep with the theme of this article, I also wanted to choose a film with a distinct summer flavor, a movie that couldn't really be set during any other season. It was a nice piece of serendipity, therefore, that the first summer blockbuster, and arguably the best-made of all such films, is also a perfect summer-set film. It also happens to be in my top-5 list of favorite movies, but that's beside the point. The film revolves around Martin Brody (Roy Schieder), a former New York City cop (I sometimes like to think of Jaws as the sequel to The French Connection) who's now chief of police of the Cape Cod-like beach community Amity Island. After a shark-attack victim washes up on the beach one morning, Brody decides to close the beaches, but is stopped by the town's mayor (Murray Hamilton), who's not about to let the hot-shot city cop throw his weight around and, therefore, ruin the Island's summer profits. After several more shark attacks, however, mayor Vaughn agrees to close the beaches until the shark can be killed. Given carte blanche to do whatever he can to bring the shark in dead, Brody brings in a young shark expert, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and an Ahab-esque fisherman named Quint (Robert Shaw) to assist him in the hunt. The three go out to sea in Quint's dangerously inadequate vessel, the Orca, to confront the great white, and that' s when the movie kicks into high gear. As the men make attempt after attempt to kill their adversary, the shark's attacks become more aggressive, killing one of the men and sinking the boat before it's eventually killed in an explosive (literally) climax. The thing that makes this movie a great movie to watch in preparation for summer is that it'll cause you to never look at a classic summer activity, going to the beach and swimming, in the same way again. This is the movie that instilled every generation that came after its released with a fear of sharks, fear of the ocean in the case of some, and, in a few cases, fear of water in general. Any movie that can affect lives so deeply and so permanently is a masterwork. However, all of that's really an afterthought; you should see Jaws (or, if you've seen it already, re-watch it) because it's a truly great movie. We've probably all heard the horror stories about the production of the film, how the mechanical shark refused to work except for the few shots we see in the film, how working on the unstable ocean managed to ruin shots that didn't even involve the shark, and how the film ran extremely over-budget and over schedule. However, Spielberg and his cast and crew made the most of these challenges, eventually crafting an exquisite horror/adventure flick with lots of Hitchcockian touches, a solid plot and structure and well-written, believable characters. As I said earlier, however, if you want to get the premium summer enjoyment out of the film, you really should watch it, as the trailer states, "before you go swimming." Well, fellow WhatCulture-ites, there you have it: nine films that are sure to get you into a summery mood. What are some of your favorite summer movies? Let us know below!