Review of Jaws (1975) by Jacob M — 26 Jan 2014

In 1975, a relatively unknown director at the time, Steven Spielberg decided to make a movie like no other about a man-eating shark. The project proved to be extremely difficult, with many huge delays to difficulties in operating the mechanical, animatronic shark. There were tons of production delays and due to going way over-budget, Spielberg thought this was the end of his filmmaking career and many thought the film was going to be the biggest disaster in the history of film. When Jaws was released however, audiences were wowed and scared by it, breaking many records, and this film, along with George Lucas's Star Wars, are credited for the founding of the summer blockbuster. It also made Spielberg one of the most successful directors of all-time, creating other acclaimed films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and ET. How does Jaws rank up today compared to modern blockbusters as The Avengers and Lord of the Rings? Well, it's still an amazing, horror thrill ride.

Jaws begins when a great white shark attacks a female skinny dipper at a late-night party. When her remains appear on the beach, Amity police chief Brody (Roy Scheider) intends to close the beaches, but mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), believing that news of the shark attack will hurt the beach business during 4th of July weekend, dismisses it ("When you say shark, then we've got a panic on our hands on the 4th of July."). After several more shark attacks, the Mayor eventually agrees for a major shark hunt. Shark hunters catch a shark, but it's discovered that it's not the shark who attacked. So then, Brody, shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw), and marine biologist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) go on an epic mission to kill the shark before it attacks again.

Also, Lorraine Gray plays Ellen Brody, Brody's wife and Craig Kingsbury plays Ben Gardner, a shark hunter who gets attacked and shows up in a famous jump scene.

Jaws was the film that launched the massive directing career of Steven Spielberg, even though he had made films prior, such as The Sugarland Express. His honors over the years are well deserved, cause it still remains one of his best films. Spielberg has returned to the horror/suspense genre again with films like Jurassic Park and Temple of Doom, but Jaws remains to this day his definitive horror masterpiece.

Originally, the shark was going to be seen more, but due to the mechanical difficulties of the animatronic shark, Spielberg decided to pull an Alfred Hitchcock, where the shark wouldn't be seen at all until towards the end. That concept really makes the film work in it's thrills. I enjoyed the fears and tensions that the shark was going to show up, and it turned out to be a false alarm, and then, the shark shows up finally, which makes Jaws a true horror icon. Now, when we actually see the shark, the mechanicalness of the shark feels a little cheesy and dated in today's times, but the suspense still carries on to where you don't care at all if the shark is a mechanical shark.

For a horror film, there's some fun humor as well, particularly in the scenes on the boat. When the shark shows up for the first time, Brody tells the captain, Quint, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." Another instance. when Brody and Quint are arguing, Hooper mentions, "Oh boys! I think he's back for his noon feeding." I also love the part where Hooper crushes a plastic cup in anger due to frustration over finding the shark. These scenes make us care for the three main characters and their intentions to kill the shark once and for all.

The casting is also spectacular. Roy Scheider is great as Chief Brody, and I love the fact that he's scared of the water, making his character the more entertaining. Richard Dreyfuss is also well-cast as scientist Brody, and the scene where he goes into a shark cage is one of the most suspenseful sequences in the film, and possibly, film history. The one who really steals the show is Robert Shaw as Quint, the crazy shark hunter. Cleary inspired by Captain Ahab from Moby Dick, Shaw gives it his all and gives us some chilling speeches, particularly a sequence where he tells the audience about his encounter with sharks on the USS Indianapolis, which is based on a real life incident that occurred during WWII. That speech there gives me goosebumps and is just as suspenseful as the shark scenes.

And speaking of shark scenes, none of the shark scenes would have worked without the score by my all-time favorite composer, John Williams, who became a longtime Spielberg collaborator after the massive success of Jaws. The Jaws theme, which consists of only two notes, is the biggest reason why Jaws works so well in the suspense department. It's dark, creepy, and awesome. There's also some cool, adventure, piratey music that shows up throughout the film that's also a highlight. This is one of Williams's best scores ever, and it definitely deserved the Oscar for Best Score.

Jaws remains a horror landmark, a Spielberg classic, and one of my all-time favorite films. I'm not a big fan of the horror genre, as the overuse on gore has caused the genre to go massively downhill, but Jaws, like Psycho, maintains the level of suspense and scares that creates what an essential horror film should be. No wonder why many people were scared of going back into the water. (I'm not one of these, however.).

"Smile you son of a...!".