Review of Jaws (1975) by Tony G — 28 Sep 2017

One would think that a film about a shark that terrorizes a fictional New England community would be a silly, dumbed down movie. This isn't the case at all. Terrific film directed by Steven Spielberg who did so much to make the film work with so little.

A couple shark attacks cause police chief Brody (Roy Scheider) to act fast to try and keep the people and the incoming summer tourists safe. He is paired up with shark expert Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss). Upon discovering that they're dealing with a rather large great white shark, they have a hard time convincing the clueless mayor (Murray Hamilton) that they need to take serious measures to stop the predator. It's not until another shark attack on a beach crowded with tourists that they hire local fisherman Quint (Robert Shaw) to kill the shark. Soon the three men board Quint's boat to take down the shark and it's tense action from then on.

Based on the book by Peter Benchley, there are a lot of changes made for the film but you may not care because it's so well paced and put together. Due to reported production issues, we don't see the shark a whole lot but Spielberg made it work through John Williams' famous score. For me it made sense because the shark does look fake. The performances are wonderful, the script is well written and the characters are developed and interesting. Even better, the action in the third and forth acts is exciting and tense. A terrific film that I highly recommend.