Steven Spielberg made his name with this film. Every person who has any trepidation when stepping into the ocean, I think in someway it's because they are consciously or subconsciously thinking about this film. Who hasn't gone swimming and sung the theme to JAWS at least once in their lives? The film is a masterpiece. It's a horror picture with heart and extremely well-developed characters.
The plot is simple, a man-eating shark has staked grown off the shore of a beach community as the summer vacation season is about start. Police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider, ALL THAT JAZZ) is new to Amityville, which won't accept him and his family as Islanders because they weren't born there. After the first two attacks, Brody wants to close the beaches, but community pressure forces him to open them. After a third attack, which threatened his son's life, Brody heads out with oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss, ONCE AROUND) and crusty seaman Quint (Robert Shaw, THE STING) to kill the beast.
It's the dynamic between the college-educated, rich kid Hooper and the blue collar WWII vet Quint with well meaning and determined Brody in the middle that makes this film so great. These are real characters, not just the next item on the menu for the big fish. There's a moment with very little dialogue where Brody's little son imitates his father's movements that really defines Brody's character. He also has one of the greatest lines in film history, "We're gonna need a bigger boat." The film also has one of the best monologues in film history, Quint telling the tale of the USS Indianapolis and how the soldiers waited five days for rescue with most of them dying from shark attacks.
The editing and shot design are amazing. This is one of those films that has to be seen in letterbox. The pacing and beauty of the shots are ruined otherwise. Watch how the camera cuts in on Brody at the beach after the first attack. The choice to show the shark in glimpses was by accident due to a mechanical beast that didn't work, but it works so serendipitously. Not knowing where the shark is or when it will attack is far more frightening. Another aspect of the story that adds to the tension is that the "monster" is real. The audience can relate more directly to the threat. It's not a mythical creature that on some level we know is not real. The subsequent JAWS sequels really lost this by making the shark more like primordial sea demon.
The 1970s was a great decade for film. We not only received revolutionary dramas, but some of the great entertainments as well. Along with NETWORK, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, JAWS makes 1975 one of those amazing years in cinema history.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
