'Jaws' bares its teeth Friday at the Egyptian Theatre

‘Jaws’ bares its teeth Friday at the Egyptian Theatre

By Susan King

June 30, 2013 12 AM PT

The American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood is turning the clock back Friday to the summer of 1975, when movie audiences were screaming their lungs out over Steven Spielberg’s seminal big-fish-in-water thriller “Jaws.”

Not only was the film the equivalent of a heart-pounding thrill ride, “Jaws” also became the first summer blockbuster and forever changed the movie business.

The Cinematheque’s “Jaws & Friends: Movies to Sink Your Teeth Into” celebrates the classic film that put Spielberg on the international map and the countless imitators that followed. The Cinematheque is also throwing in a documentary for good measure.

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Besides “Jaws,” the Friday night lineup includes “Tintorera: Killer Shark,” a 1977 Mexican production about a voracious tiger shark with Susan George, Priscilla Barnes and Fiona Lewis, and “Blue Water, White Death,” a well-received 1971 documentary chronicling the journey of filmmakers from South Africa to South Australia in search of great white sharks.

On tap for Saturday is the highly enjoyable 1978 Roger Corman production “Piranha,” penned by John Sayles and directed with great humor and gusto by Joe Dante. Bradford Dillman is among the stars.

Christopher George and Richard Jaeckel headline “Grizzly,” a 1976 hungry-bear thriller that’s sort of “Jaws” set in a forest. Rounding out the bill is 1980’s “Alligator,” also penned by Sayles and directed by Lewis Teague. Robert Forster plays a Chicago detective trying to find out why an alligator living in the city sewer system has grown to epic proportions.

The series ends Sunday with a sneak of “Beneath,” a new chiller about six high school graduates who find themselves in a leaking rowboat on a lake just waiting to be the next meal for a man-eating fish.

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