Patrick's Favorite Movies: Jaws (1975)

Ever since I started this blog, I've always wanted to create a series on my favorite films. Now it's the summer, I figure I do a review of Steven Spielberg's first masterpiece, Jaws. Both this film and Star Wars were responsible for the summer blockbuster trend that is still going on in the American cinema today.

In 1975, Steven Spielberg unleashed his first masterpiece, Jaws. Based on Peter Benchley's 1974 bestseller, the movies follows the basic premise of a killer shark that eats people while they were swimming and it's up to water hating police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), crazy shark hunter Quint, (the late Robert Shaw), and nerdy shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) to stop the creature.

This film had a very troubled production. Filming began without a completed script, many of the big names like Jon Voight and Robert Duvall turned down the project, there were technical difficulties with the mechanical sharks used in the film, Robert Shaw bullied Richard Dreyfuss, and the film fell behind schedule and over budget due to the hazardous nature of filming the second half of the film entirely in water. And yet, the film somehow became a major critical and critical success, became the top grossing film of it's time, and kick started the summer blockbuster.

The first half of the film keeps us in suspense both because we don't see the shark right away but we feel what it's up to with John Williams' creepy musical score and underwater photography by Bill Butler which films the shark's point of view. And when our 3 heroes get to ocean to kill the shark, the film gets even more intense as the team struggles to work together while the shark is surrounding them. Even the quieter moments is more suspenseful because the team are stranded in the ocean with no human contact (apart from the radio that's later destroyed by Quint), not knowing where they are, and not figuring out when the shark is coming back. As the tension and suspense builds, the film ends in one of the most thrilling climaxes in film history, which I won't give away.

Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss were perfectly cast in their roles and gave great performances that helped fit the personalities of these 3 charterers. We have Scheider's bravery, Shaw's eccentricity, and Dreyfuss' sense of humor and all three have great chemistry when they are brought together.

Jaws was often credited as the very first summer blockbuster and rightfully so. It's suspenseful, well acted, and helped establish Steven Spielberg as one of the great directors of his generation. It's still holds up after repeating and is much better than the thrillers than we get today. I highly recommend this film.

RATING: 4/4