Jaws (1975) review

Jaws was the first major blockbuster to ever be released and hence it is a revolutionary piece of cinema. To think that by now, all Speilberg had to do was create a simplistic story about a killer shark and only show it very briefly in order to gain a masterpiece. Indeed one of his best films, I’d rank it his second finest next to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

During shooting of the film, there was much production problems especially with creating a larger than life shark and make it convincing. Eventually they settled into using the shark only at the most desperate moments and hence, created a film so extraordinarily brilliant that all it took was glimpses of the shark and one of the most simplistic premises. A police chief named Brody, a shark hunter named Quint and a scientist must work together to catch and kill this shark before further mayhem is ensued.

A very simplistic premise and incredibly effective, Jaws heavily relies on fantastic characters which it masterfully achieves. Quint is clearly shown, from the moment where he scrapes his fingers on a chalkboard, to be a troubled man. His hate for sharks is evident throughout the film in one of the best scenes, where he recounts a story about a killer shark wiping out the majority of passengers on an expedition. Hooper is the comedic relief character and whilst the least interesting of the trio, is provided with fantastic sequences. Brody is a guilt stricken man who feels heavily responsible for the death of a young boy and girl, thus convincing him that he must head out to kill the shark. His character is given fantastic depth, especially a fantastic scene at the dinner table with his young son as they imitate one another. This shows that whilst he is guilt stricken, he is still and he is only human. Quint is introduced in one of the greatest and most memorable ways as he scrapes his fingers on a chalkboard. The sound alone is irritating and attention grabbing and the scene, whilst definitely not annoying is most definitely memorable. He proves later to be the best character of the film.

Speilberg’s directing is absolutely brilliant perfectly allowing the story to unfold smoothly. His brilliant use of the shark and the effective characters and simplistic story gives extra layers to an otherwise fascinating story. Despite no shark present for the majority of the film, its presence is felt the entire way through as a result of fantastic directing. The script too, is extremely engaging and John Williams’ memorable score makes the film all the better. Speilberg has revealed that half of the success of Jaws is due to the score, which has become one of the most identifiable pieces of music ever put to film, right up there with various other John Williams classic tunes. The cinematography and the various tricks used to enlarge the shark is brilliant seeing as how much production problems rose with the film.

The pacing to the film is perfect. The first hour masterfully builds up mystery and suspense and the second half completely delivers, providing some incredible suspense and humor in the mix. The chemistry between Roy Schneider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss was amazing as the three resembled the ideal movie trio. Thankfully, the production problems were overlooked by the cast and crew and what we have now is one of the all time greatest films and one of the most unforgettable movie scores. 

Grade- 10/10