Two Must-See Movies on Martha’s Vineyard…Both Believable and Unbelievable

There is a delightful three-hour bus tour of Martha’s Vineyard where the driver tells the story about two movies that are part of the MV lore. Both are believable and unbelievable.

One movie was produced by Steven Spielberg and released in 1975. It made $472 million in the U.S. box office. By the time it made it around the world and into all kinds of other income streams it grossed $1.1 billion.

You have already probably guessed the movie — “Jaws.” It’s the one that makes you think twice about swimming in the ocean after you have seen this menacing story of a great white shark. Some say it did for swimming what Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” did for showers.

Forty-six years later, everywhere you turn at the shops at Oak Bluffs on MV you run into that big-mouthed white shark leaping off a tee shirt.

The second movie almost seems like a family story that you tell quietly.

“Chappaquiddick”, released in 2017, recounts the tragedy in 1969 when Senator Ted Kennedy drove off Dike’s Bridge in the middle of the night. He escaped but Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year old campaign strategist for Bobby Kennedy, drowned.

The film made $18 million at the box office. But, as our bus driver reported, “It’s a good movie…