My Review of Jaws (1975)

 

Written by Peter Benchley And Carl Gottlieb

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Brody: "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

Look, so far this year, I've watched at least two straight to streaming shark themed movies. For obvious reasons, it's madee go back to this particular movie. A movie, I should point out that I've ever watched once in my life and a very long, long time ago.

One of the most iconic movies ever and one of Steven Spielberg's most seminal of works. It's also pretty damn straightforward too. A local seaside town. One great white shark. Throw in a very flawed hero and you've got a movie classic.

The flawed hero being police chief Martin Brody (Rob Scheider). It was his responsibility to protect his town from the man eating shark and it was a task that he wasn't entirely up to. People died and it took getting slapped by a grieving woman to make him step to saving the town from that troublesome shark.

At least on that front, Brody teamed up with marine biologist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) to actually try to stop the shark. Throw in some group tension, chum and World War II stories and you've got one hell of a team up.

I did like the rapport between Brody, Quint and Hooper as they did their best to actually solve the great shark problem of the movie. It's amazing how simple the sheer tension and horror in trying to take one shark out can be.

The shark itself might not look too terrifying for a modern audience but the way it's shot certainly helped convinced it's effectiveness. There's a few more deaths before one incredibly explosive ending.

- The film was based on Peter Benchley's 1974 book of the same name.

- Three sequels released between 1978-1987 emerged as a result of the success of this film.

- Standout music: Irving King's Show Me The Way To Go Home and of course that score music choice during a certain scene.

- Chronology: Set in the beach town of Amity Island, New England.

Over half a century later and yes, Jaws (1975) absolutely and most definitely holds up as a nautical themed horror fest. It's so simple but effective in it's in terror. I guess I better watch those sequels now.

Rating: 8 out of 10