Jaws (1975) Review

Jaws (1975) 

Rated PG
Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw

 Ba Dum… Ba Dum… Is there any movie that screams summer more than Jaws? Jaws is one of the most entertaining and well-made movies of all time. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For the uninitiated let’s talk about the plot. A shark has set its sights on Amity Island for its feeding grounds, and every beachgoer and tourist are possible victims. So, it’s up to a new sheriff (Roy Scheider) who’s in over his head, an oceanographic expert (Richard Dreyfuss) and a crotchety old shark hunter (played by the always wonderful Robert Shaw) to find it and put an end to its blood thirsty rampage. That’s it. That’s the plot, and I know what you’re saying “That sounds like a thousand movies I’ve seen before. What makes Jaws worth watching?” Well voice in my head I’ll tell you. As with all things it’s about the execution of the premise more than the premise itself. In the hands of a different director, this movie wouldn’t be nearly as effective or memorable. Speaking of memorable, let’s talk about the two things that make Jaws stand out from other films that have tackled stories like this before and since. They are; relatable and well written characters, and finely crafted tension.  First things first; the characters. Here we have three main characters that all have different personalities, that play off each other extremely well. As I said previously, Roy Scheider’s character Chief Brody is in over his head on his first summer as chief of police. He is by far the most relatable character of the three. We see the day to day problems he faces as chief, such as a kid’s karate class that karate chopped a store owners white picket fence. We also learn about Chief Brody’s fear of the water, and his family life. But by far the most relatable, human moment (and quite possibly my favorite scene out of the whole movie) is the scene where a disheartened Brody sits at the dinner table after a really bad day, and his son starts mimicking his father’s hand and face movements to cheer him up. Spielberg is a master of down to earth characters and Brody is one of his best. But Brody is not alone in his quest, along for the ride is Richard Dreyfuss’ Matt Hooper. He mostly functions as comic relief, with such lines as; “I’m not going to stick around and try talking to a man who’s lining up to be a hot lunch”. But he also is one half of the fictional (and apparently real life) rivalry with Robert Shaw’s Quint. Both are experts on sharks, but have very different approaches on how to kill one. Hooper’s is very high tech (by 1970s standards) like shark cages, sonar, and shark tranquilizer; while Quint’s is very low tech like throwing out raw meat to lure the shark, and a harpoon gun to attach barrels to the shark to keep it from diving too deep. On that note, let’s switch to Quint. He is a man with a very personal vendetta against sharks, which we learn about in the other best scene in the movie; the USS Indianapolis monologue. This scene (which fits with actual accounts from the survivors of the USS Indianapolis) reveals Quint’s Ahab like obsession with sharks. Upon the conclusion of it we have everything we need to understand and sympathize with him. Now let’s talk a little about the excellent tension on display in Jaws. Because the characters are so relatable and human, the audience doesn’t want to see them eaten by the antagonist. Spielberg could have been lazy with the tension, but he wasn’t. Possibly the best example of this is the lead up to the second shark attack. At this point in the movie Chief Brody knows that there is a killer shark out there, but is forbidden by the mayor from closing the beaches. So, all that Brody can do is go to the beach and try to keep an eye out for the shark. At the beach everyone else is blissfully unaware of the danger that threatens them. Spielberg raises the stakes with a number of fake-outs and by having people walk past the camera and block Brody’s view of the sea. But eventually things end with the shark attacking and killing a young boy, just as Brody feared. What also helps with the tension is the fact that our killer shark goes unseen for most of the movie. Spielberg uses camera shots of swimmers’ legs creating the shark’s point of view and John Williams’ masterful and iconic score to create a sense of forbidding dread before the shark attacks. This ends up being more effective than if the shark just attacked, because oftentimes our minds can make things scarier than they probably are. I don’t know if Jaws created this “less is more” idea with movie monsters, but it sure popularized it. It since became the standard that movies like Alien strove for. So, if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably asking how I would rate this film. Well I don’t want to reduce movies to a simple 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 scale. So, I’ll just say that if you’re tired of big, dumb summer blockbusters that are more focused on showing off how much better their computer effects are then grounded and relatable characters. Then Jaws is the cure for what ails you. I honestly wish that more blockbusters would try for the simple premise that’s executed to its fullest potential, rather than a half decent premise that’s executed not as half as well as that. Jaws is a great movie that I believe that everybody should see at least once, preferably during the summer heat. Indoors with AC and as far away from the beach as possible.