Jaws (1975)

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Jaws (1975)

8/10

Starring

Roy Scheider

Robert Shaw

Richard Dreyfuss

Lorraine Gary

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Distributed by Universal Pictures

Every shark movie after this (except for Deep Blue Sea) is a felony.

Wow! Talk about captivating, Spielberg was at the top of his game here with this movie that cost $9 million dollars and made over $470 million dollars. It was also responsible for introducing the idea of summer block buster releases as the movie was shown in over 450 screens, accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign.

The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley, but Spielberg focused on the main theme “the shark” removing all the other subplots.

Shot mostly on location on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, the film had a troubled production, mostly due to the mechanical shark’s malfunctions, it also overran its budget and ran past its schedule, and some of these reasons are why some believe Spielberg opted out of being involved in Jaws 2.

The movie plot was thus: During the summer break some teens were having a night party on fictional Atlantic resort Amity Island.

One of the girls went skinny dipping while her friends continue to party on the beach.

While waiting for a boy to come join her she got pulled under by something that leaves only you the view with the idea that death came.

When pieces of her body washed ashore, the Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) feared that it was a shark attack and wanted to close the beach for the town’s safety, but Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) disagreed.

His point being, the town’s people survived mainly on tourist trade and the July 4th holiday was also approaching so he refused to close the beach.

He soon changed his mind after a boy and a man also died due to shark attack. He then decided to hire Quint (Robert Shaw), the only local fisherman willing to take on a Great White.

The movie score is something that will stick with you and it resembled that used by classic thriller director Alfred Hitchcock. 

To overcome some of the difficulties encountered Spielberg mostly used an ominous, minimalistic theme created by composer John Williams to indicate the shark's impending appearances.

Jaws have had three sequels, none with the participation of Spielberg or Benchley.

Jaws also won three Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score, and Best Sound.  It was also nominated for Best Picture but lost it to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (which starred Jack Nicolson).