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Courage & Stupidity

When Jaws was released in the 1970s, the motion picture industry would be forever changed in two ways. First, Jaws became the initial definition of "summer blockbuster." And second, the film's director - Steven Spielberg - would be propelled to permanent prominence as a cinematic force to be reckoned with.

Courage & Stupidity is about the making of this movie. Sort of.Courage & Stupidity

Darin Beckstead's short movie is a tribute to Jaws and its auteur director, but manages to push itself beyond the limitations of most fan films. The director is referred to as Steven (played sincerely by Todd Wall), but his last name is never mentioned. Steven's filmmaking friend George (Aaron Fiore) comes to visit him on the set of his first big movie, and even though Steven takes some time to excitedly explain to George that the antagonist of his current production has the same amount letters as the antagonist of one of his previous movies about a truck, director Beckstead went to great lengths to make sure Courage & Stupidity stood on its on as a short film without relying on Jaws. (It doesn't even contain any music by John Williams, or even a Williams-like score. The closest the movie gets to that "Williams-sound" is the music used in the DVD's opening menu.)

The story revolves around what happens when Steven wants to show George the titular mechanical shark of his film. In a yellow-rain-jacketed scene straight out of Jurassic Park, the two young filmmakers sneak into a prop warehouse one stormy night. In Courage & Stupidity, as its been reported in reality, they break the shark, and the rest of the movie revolved around young Steven's efforts to finish his film.

It is definitely an homage (listen to the tones when Steven punches in the access code at the prop warehouse mentioned above). Clever Spielberg-ian nods are scattered throughout the entire movie. I don't want to ruin all of them for anyone, but some are direct references to other Spielberg films:

Amistad Island

And some are more direct, personal references to director Spielberg himself:

Capshaw

For a cast assembled primarily via email, the performers all seem to play well off of one another. Only two of the three main players of Jaws are represented here - Tom Bitler plays the Roy Scheider character (but almost plays him a bit too parody-like for my tastes) and Kahil Dotay plays the Richard Dreyfuss character (Dotay threatens to steal the show in every one of his scenes - he captures the essence of 1970s Dreyfuss wonderfully). I had hoped to see Robert Shaw represented, but seeing Steven interact with the frustrated screenwriter of the movie (Johnny Biscut) almost made up for this missing element (for another one of those Spielberg-ian nods, listen for Steven's explanation for why he used a red pen to make copious notes and changes to the screenplay).

The movie is a definite coming-of-age film, and even though we all know how the story is going to end (and maybe even because of this), Courage & Stupidity plots along at a brisk pace. After a montage-like sequence highlighting Steven making his film, the film ends with Steven talking with his friend George about making his way through his movie and overcoming all the hurdles put up before him. George listens to his friend, and then makes a comment about how, "someday, this will all be done with computers."

As a DVD, Courage & Stupidity is a little less-than-satisfying, actually. Because it's such a short film, I was hoping for a bit more weight in the Special Features department. There is some audition footage (a bit dry), some behind-the-scenes footage and photos, but not a lot from the filmmaker himself. I would have liked to have heard from director Beckstead directly, maybe in the form of a commentary-track. I just would have liked more. (There is a fine line, though, when it comes to short films and including special features. Watch for my upcoming review of Mindscape Pictures Bent series, coming soon!)

Courage & Stupidity is available for purchase here, and it is also available through Netflix. If nothing else, I'd recommend watching the movie, especially if you're a fan of Jaws or director Steven Spielberg.