Jaws

Jaws (1975)

Jaws is the film that changed it all. It created what we consider the modern blockbuster and launched the career of one of the most influential directors of the 20^th century, Steven Spielberg. The film stars Roy Scheider as Chief Marin Brody who, with the help of Captain Quint played by Robert Shaw and Richard Deyfuss as marine biologist Matt Hopper, must track down and kill the giant great white shark that is terrorizing the small beach town of Amity Island.

The most notable element of Jaws is the infamous score done by John Williams. It is so simple, yet derives such an emotional response from the audience. The slow buildup of speed puts the viewer on the edge of their seats, which goes perfectly in conjunction with the suspense of what is happening on screen to create all-inclusive, overwhelming and legitimately terrifying scenes.

The film’s strongest factor is the three men: Brody, Quint, and Hopper. The argumentative relationship between Quint and Hopper is a pleasure to watch play out on screen and their contrasting personalities finally comes to accordance after a great scene where the two men show off their different battle scars. It is in this scene too that arguably the most famous part of Jaws, besides the score, takes place. Captain Quint’s monologue about the shark attack at the USS Indianapolis is so well performed and so well written and becomes a very pivotal part of the film for heightening the audience’s fears of the shark higher than they were before.

Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is a landmark film that contains some of the most memorable and terrifying moments in modern cinema. Being one of his first feature films, it wasn't hard to see how gifted Spielberg was and easy to predict how successful this 29 year old director would become. The influence Jaws has had on the blockbuster genre has forever changed the way people view movies and will continue to inspire filmmakers for years to come.