In 1975, Steven Spielberg was a fairly novice director, having previously made a few short films for TV (which included the superb “Duel) and one extremely entertaining crime-character study (The Sugarland Express). The author, Peter Benchley, at the time, hit pay dirt with his pulp fiction novel about a giant shark wreaking havoc on a summer island resort town. Titled “Jaws” for obvious reasons, Benchley’s simple story became a best seller, but it was the discovery of Spielberg as a directing talent to be reckoned with that made the movie version of the book one of cinema’s most iconic horror films.
Around the time of the 4th of July weekend on the fictional New England island of Amity, a great white shark takes a claim to the island’s shores and beaches as its feeding ground. Since tourism is what brings money to this peaceful holiday island, it takes more than one attack to convince the mayor to close the beaches. Once closed, the Island Chief of Police, an ex-NY City cop named Brody (Roy Scheider in his most recognizable role), a young oceanographer expert on sharks, Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and a grizzled tough shark hunter, Quint (Robert Shaw in his greatest role), are called upon to hunt down the shark and kill it. The movie is divided into two sections. The first one revolves around the shark attacks and the political efforts to hide the danger from the public. The second section is the hunt for the killer shark.
Spielberg understood, through the story and the film title, that he was not making a mystery. Instead, what he created was a non-stop, edge-of-your-seat vehicle of suspense. If Hitchcock taught us the meaning of suspense, it was Spielberg who took that suspense to a terrifying extreme. In making the movie, the producers build a very unrealistic mechanical model of a giant shark, and it was Spielberg’s brilliant decision to never show the entire shark or its kills directly until the movie’s conclusion that gives this movie a vision of a true monster that we, the audience, believe can and does exist. People were afraid to go into the ocean for a swim after watching this movie. This decision to not openly show almost all the kills also keeps the movie from being dated, as it is one of the few horror movies that retains its power to scare even today. I actually feel that Spielberg’s film has a lot in common with Tobe Hooper’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” from the previous year. One of the main differences between the two films is that Spielberg’s film, portrays the American Dream, and has a soft, human touch clearly stamped throughout its horror, while Hooper’s movie was dark and grim from beginning to end.
The movie begins with the first shark kill, where we never see the shark as it is nighttime. We are shown the pretty young and nude female victim, as she is violently swung left and right until dragged down to her demise. Her terror is palatable, and the opening sets us up for the tension-filled kills that were to come later. It is also here that we initially see the point of view of the shark, which was a revolutionary technique that Spielberg used that allowed our imaginations to believe this monster exists. In one attack, I watched through the shark’s eyes as he studied a large selection of prey from all the swimming innocents in the water before deciding on who to kill. In the end, this horrifying and thrilling style of filmmaking made me believe so much in the existence of the shark that when, at the film’s conclusion, we were shown the complete mechanical model used, I never even noticed how unrealistic it looked. To me, it was the killer I was enthralled by throughout the film. This is the great genius of Spielberg, and this is the movie that rightly thrust him into the superstardom of living directors.
There are other wonderful directorial touches in the movie that add to the fun. When the mayor forces the beaches to stay open on July 4, Chief Brody is sitting on the beach, searching for any signs of danger. In this scene, I saw what he saw: bobbing, snorkeling kids and others would get his heart pumping. Mine as well. In another scene during the hunt for the shark, Brody is throwing dead fish in the water, looking the other way, when the giant shark briefly shows itself in a quick looping dive, causing Brody, in a famous Spielberg close-up, to back up and then mumble to Quint that he’s going to need a bigger boat. It has since become one of cinema’s most famous quotes.
“Jaws” was the movie that not only started Spielberg’s magnificent career but also the career of soundtrack composer John Williams. The score here is especially famous for the “Shark Theme,” which was used in addition to the Spielberg first shark point of view shots to depict the shark when it was within the action being shown. The theme is a simple alternating pattern of two notes that are ominous and as iconic in horror movie music as Hitchcock’s shower killing score from “Psycho.” In addition, the music during the shark hunt on the open sea has a classic Hollywood pirate adventure feel to it that worked to keep me off guard with its light, touchy feel until the shark appeared.
Spielberg was helped by a superb cast throughout. Scheider’s Brody is likeable and self-aware. He is way over his head with what has happened to his quiet island town, and his inability at the start to overrule the mayor is telling. If a more heroic actor, such as Charlton Heston, played Brody, it would not have been as effective. Dreyfuss is, as he always is, superb in one of his early roles as a rich, smart kid who initially brings a lot of lighthearted humor to the proceedings. The person who steals the show, however, is Shaw, as his Quint is as colorful a character as there can be. He is first introduced in the town hall meeting, whereby he grabs everybody’s attention by scratching his nails on the blackboard. Then his New England accent and tough, no-halls barred demeanor utter fear into the hearts of everyone. During the hunt, he endears himself to Brody and Hooper by recalling his WW2 experience of surviving a shipwreck that had over 700 people eaten by sharks.
I have heard many people look down on Spielberg and “Jaws” as a glorified B-grade schlock movie, especially considering all the terrible copycat films that followed it. I beg to differ, as this is a superbly crafted, utterly suspenseful film that I will never tire of viewing, no matter how many times I have seen it. It is heart-stopping fun and wonderfully entertaining. If that is not the makings of a great movie, then I do not know what is.
1001 Movies before you die 