A Holiday Classic

There are two things I look forward to each Fourth of July — the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and an annual screening of the ultimate summer classic, "Jaws."

I guess the reason for the first of those things is obvious. The Coney Island celebration pretty much sums up America, as spectators around the world travel to see the hot dog eating contest live or watch it on ESPN. It slays me that the announcers treat the contest as a real "athletic" battle and that competitive eating is a sport. I think it probably speaks to our culture of excess, but I still can't turn away. Watching someone down 54 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes is entertaining, though yesterday's American victory for Joey Chestnut felt a little hollow with competitor Kobayashi, a six-time champion, watching from the crowd.

The second of my Fourth of July passions probably seems a bit harder to fathom. "Jaws" was given to the world 35 years ago. It was one of the first summer blockbusters and remains an eminently quotable and re-watchable film. It's also set around the Fourth of July holiday, making it a natural tie-in to an Independence Day celebration.

I love all the classic lines and moments, and the way the film has seeped into our culture. Anyone who watches the TV show "House" gets a "Jaws" reference every week as the closing credits roll. Writer/director/producer Bryan Singer, a huge "Jaws" fan, named his company Bad Hat Harry Productions. He is a producer of "House" and at the close of each episode is uttered the line "That's some bad hat Harry" over his company's logo. The line and the company name comes from an obscure scene in the early second act of "Jaws," and is a reminder that even sequences that could have seemed mundane in other films have become iconic because of the way "Jaws" resonates with audiences even today.

What I also love is that the film is that it is a testament to the joys of the unexpected. Included on all 25th and 30th anniversary DVD releases of the film is a two-hour documentary about the making of "Jaws." I've seen it a couple times and what I find fascinating is that all the parts of "Jaws" that are viewed as iconic sprung from production failures.

Steven Spielberg, who directed "Jaws," is considered a legend for the patience shown in revealing the shark to the audience in "Jaws." Sure, it feels like a great filmmaking technique, and it is, but it wasn't the original plan. They couldn't get the mechanical shark to work early on, but they had a schedule to keep, so like all great artists Spielberg improvised. That scene on the Orca where Quint shares the story of his time on the Indianapolis — it isn't in the original script. It was improvised to add something to the film, and boy did it. In fact, most of the best lines were improvised because the script and story was in a constant state of flux. In short, all those little things that went wrong along the way ended up making "Jaws" a huge classic that resonates with audiences.

I think the same is true in our lives. All the little ways that we get knocked off our plans and pushed in a different direction often help paint a beautiful masterpiece. We may not see it at the time, but God does, and I find that comforting.