(RAHWAY, NJ) -- On July 15, the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) will reclaim its reputation as a movie theater, which goes as far back as its founding in 1928 when it saw the invention of "talkies," by showing the classic 1975 film Jaws on the big screen. Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss, the film follows the story of Amity Island, a resort whose waters are tormented by a great white shark.
In the film, swimmers are consistently attacked and lives are lost, forcing the need for someone to take care of the creature once and for all. Police Chief Martin Brody (Scheider), shark hunter Quint (Shaw) and oceanographer Matt Hooper (Dreyfuss) head out on a vessel together with that very purpose: using their combined expertise to find the shark and put an end to its killing. The journey they take, as well as the events leading up to it, are packed with old-school special effects that are still jarring to this day. While rated PG at the time, Jaws would most likely receive a PG-13 rating today.
The tickets will be $2 per person, the same price they were when the film opened 42 years ago. Tickets can be purchased online at ucpac.org, over the phone by calling (732) 499-8226 or in person at the box office. Box office hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11:00am- 5:00pm, with extended hours of 11:00am- 8:00pm on Thursdays. (During July and August, there are no Saturday hours.)
Fans old and new will be able to enjoy the cinema experience of the film in a theater ripe with 1920s and '30s era ornamentation. This showing is only the first in the UCPAC's upcoming "Movies on the Main Stage" series, which will see several other nostalgic films screened throughout the year.
The Union County Performing Arts Center is located in downtown Rahway at 1601 Irving Street and is easily accessible to major roads and public transportation.