Martin Brody, who has relocated to a small coastal island town, only to have his bad case of "aquaphobia" put to the ultimate test. Richard Dreyfuss is perfectly cast as a shark expert and provides some truly funny comic bits along the way. Lorraine Gary who director Steven Spielberg says was the first person to be cast for the film does an excellent job of being the concerned wife and mother. Finally, there's Murray Hamilton, who gives one of the best performances of his career as Mayor Vaughn, who seems to be more concerned about the economy of the town than the safety of the residents. In a way, Vaughn is really the film's villain. Solid cast indeed. The screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb is tight and well-written, as is Spielberg's direction. Whether it was the mechanical shark's failure to operate correctly or Spielberg's decision to simply see less of the shark until the end of the film, the "less is more" idea works perfectly, particularly in the opening scene, which is chilling to this day.One thing I do want to add: if you choose to watch this film at home, do yourself a favor and rent or buy the WIDESCREEN version. The full-screen pan and scan version is a travesty that ruins the great camerawork that Spielberg and cameraman Bill Butler made. I always recommend the widescreen version but it is especially important for JAWS.No offense to fans of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, but this is the film that should have taken home the Oscar gold. Grade: A+

was STEVEN Spielberg turned this horrifying book and made it into a reason to hate sharks. He brilliantly took what could have been a cheesy movie and turned it into a classic that will never be forgotten. To this day, I still need a friend to hold onto, it's that score! Duh na... duh na.... dun dun dun dun.... Oh, my gosh, that music just scares the heck out of me! On such a low budget, Jaws not only turned into one of the greatest horror movies of all time, it turned into one of the greatest movies, period.Jaws starts off with one of the most terrifying scenes in horror movie cinema, a young pretty girl goes into the water and is brutally attacked and killed by an unknown creature in the water. The next day Chief Brody investigates suspecting a shark attack, and urges the mayor, Larry Vaughn, to shut down the beach, but afraid of a panic and less tourists, Larry ignores the chief's suggestions and keeps the beach open leading to another attack on a young boy. Brody calls in Matt Hooper, a marine scientist to see if they can find the shark. But when another attack ensues and almost kills Brody's young son, Michael, he, Matt, and a cocky man, Quint go out to find Jaws themselves.This turns into several of the greatest cinematic scenes of all time, like the "Indianapolis" speech brilliantly given by Quint, how he describes seeing his first shark was just so intense and you couldn't turn away from the screen. Then, one thing that is interesting about this movie, you do not see the shark until Brody is just chucking blood to attract the shark over his shoulder and Jaws appears roaring out of the water! "We're gonna need a bigger boat!" he replies to Quint. And then the scene where Jaws jumps onto the boat and Quint is trapped sliding into Jaw's, well, jaws! That's the scene that nightmares are made out of! Jaws is one of my favorite films of all time. It's one of those films that should never be missed, because it is so important. To many, including myself, the shark looks fake, but it's your imagination that gets with you. Spielberg embraced that and you could tell there was just something special about him. Jaws will scare you out of the water just like The Exorcist scared you to the church! 10/10

tension, the typical Spielberg humor, the music, everything! It's hard to name just one thing why this movie is such a masterpiece. It is the mix of everything combined that makes the movie work. Probably my favorite thing about the movie would be the dialogue, they are very raw and performed well by the perfect cast. Another thing of course would be the music and I'm not just talking about the main theme but about the entire musical score in general.The cast is great but they are mainly great together. All of the Scheider/Shaw/Dreyfuss scene's are like three ingredients thrown together and the end result of it is pure gold.And than Bruce the shark. Yes, he really looks believable even now days.A real classic masterpiece that launched Spielberg's career10/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

shoe...Chrissie turns and starts for shore... But her expression freezes... Something terrible is hurting her underneath... She struggles with all her forces, but she is soon submerged in a horrifying scene... Police Chief Martin Brody Roy Scheider reacts quickly to the news of shark attack, and emerges with enough poster-board, wooden stakes, nails, paint and brushes to close every beach on the island... But as Amity is a beautiful summer resort with clean air, clear water, and beautiful white sand beaches... Mayor Larry Vaughn Murray Hamilton tries with his town officials to convince the insecure police chief to file the incident as a 'boating accident.' Brody reluctantly agrees, but later regrets his decision after few more fatal incidents... The shark has claimed Amity Island as his territory...Quint Robert Shaw , an eccentric old shark killer, offers to kill the menacing Great White Shark for ten thousand dollars... Matt Hooper Richard Dreyfuss , an arrogant young oceanographer, proves that the giant shark that killed Christine Watkins is still on the loose... 'They caught a shark. Not the shark,' he determines... and predicts future outbursts of attack activity in the area...Brody, Quint and Hooper become allied in a life-and-death hunt... They go after the monstrous creature with rifles and poison pistols... They try to tire him, slowing him down with coiled ropes and barrels... They fight him with everything, harpoons, poles, gaffs and compressed air tanks...Shaw is absolutely convincing as the colorful master fisherman whose obsession for destroying sharks was triggered by an actual incident in World War II... Scheider is quiet likable as the dedicated family man who doesn't even like the water, swimming or boating... His line to Quint 'You're going to need a bigger boat." suggests a specific cause...Dreyfuss manages to humanize the picture while stealing it... Spielberg alarms us with unexpected twists, and heart-stopping scenes wonderfully engaging... His grasp for sustaining the feeling of terror comes not only from what we see, but from what we're afraid we're going to see... He uses an imposing classical score to prepare the audience for something really scary that is about to show up... With every breath, every thought, heart beat and movement, the realism of the increasing menace is present from the opening to the end... And believe me, we are never allowed the relief of looking away from the screen…

absorbs you, as the trio of shark hunters venture off to try to snare the great white you begin to feel part of their adventure. You fear for them, get excited with them and dread what will happen next. When that fishing line starts spinning your heart starts pumping. This is pure class.The dynamics of Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw's relationship s work brilliantly. The differences in their characters persona's is such that they rub each other up the wrong way, disrespect one another and wind each other up but in the end they are there for each other and develop a bond that I think surprises them all.As things begin to unravel your heart goes out to the trio and trepidation is the only way forward. They have the fight of their life on their hands, their bravery is boundless. You feel in awe of them. An absolute legend of a movie which I am grateful to have been able to watch and enjoy.

book like the politics of the town , and the sexual subplots and made the ending truly climatic . Compare this film version to Peter Benchley's BEAST which is basically the same story where a greedy capitalist is in denial , an obsessive boatman tries to catch the monster etc the only real difference is that BEAST features a giant squid as the monster . You would probably be correct in arguing that JAWS is the only time when a film adaptation actually improves over the source novel Sadly at the age of 28 the then unknown Steven Sielberg seems to have reached his creative peak . True EMPIRE OF THE SUN , SCHINDLER'S LIST and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN may contain more artistic achievements but JAWS is certainly a more consistent movie that's difficult to fault . The only time there's any disappointment is when the eponymous shark appears in the last segment of the movie . It's obviously a giant animontronic model of some kind and since Spielberg has spent so much time using very effective suspense like the soundtrack and the shark's POV for much of the running time the on screen revelation is unfortunately going to be a disappointment But let's not talk about minor disappointment and just admire what the director has given us here . We know that someone is going to get chewed up on the crowded beach so Spielberg teases us . A fat woman walks past the screen and the audience snigger " I bet she'd make a good meal for the shark " so everyone in the audience puts money on Mrs Obesity being eaten , especially when she's surrounded by cute kids because cute kids never get eaten in movies . ooopppps I spoke too soon . Perhaps the reason it is a good film is because Spielberg has ignored convention , certainly we don't get drowned in sentiment or family life , unlike say THE TERMINAL or ET . Non existent are the other Spielberg faults like overlong shot duration , here everything is shot in a very snappy manner and the movie is quite rightly regarded as a classic fright fest

out of 10 for the Spielster this time.

like Barry Lyndon, The man who would be King and Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the box office. Those movies were great. No accounting for intelligence I guess. Bottom line: It stinks.

theme music that is quite effective if unoriginal he lifted it from Dvorak's Ninth Symphony .