Review of Jaws (1975) by Jonathan B — 29 Dec 2016

Peter Benchley and Steven Spielberg conspired to make me terrified to even take a bath when they created this classic movie. Straight away, we have to deal with the giant rubber shark that leaps onto the boat towards the climax of the movie.

It didn't really work in the 1970s and it really doesn't work now but by the time it appears, it ceases to matter as the sheer terror has been well established. The movie is formed of two distinct acts.

Firstly, we have the onshore story of how the small American community of Amity Island learn of the monstrous, great white shark that has come to visit their shallows at the start of the holiday season.

While in the second act, we go aboard the fishing vessel Orca with her captain, the local police chief and a shark expert and follow their attempt to track and kill the beast. This second act is a real jewel of a character piece thanks to the fine acting talents of Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss.

I love the scene where Shaw's Quint and Dreyfuss' Hooper compare scars in an attempt at one-upmanship and the line from Schneider's Chief Brody "You're going to need a bigger boat!" has entered film legend.

There's also that terrific score by John Williams that does so much to terrify the viewer. The theme is now such a part of popular culture that there can be few of us that haven't had those menacing bars of music reverberating through our heads at some point while we paddle in the sea at Paignton.