Jaws (1975)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Directors C

  
  Jaws is the undefeated master of horror, terror and suspense. Simply because of how little you see the shark is why your sitting on the edge of your seat eagerly awaiting the next suspenseful scene.

• Alexander D

  
  The main reason so many people refuse to go back in the water.

• Thomas B

  
  There is a famous saying; imitation is the highest form of flattery. Yet often said imitation can be to the original's detriment, as it undermines its power. But like all classics, it doesn't matter how many tryhard attempts at recreating a masterpiece appear on our cinema… More
  There is a famous saying; imitation is the highest form of flattery. Yet often said imitation can be to the original's detriment, as it undermines its power. But like all classics, it doesn't matter how many tryhard attempts at recreating a masterpiece appear on our cinema screens, there is no denying the pure injection of fear which comes from watching Steven Spielberg's masterpiece; Jaws. The story takes place in a sunbaked little town called Amity Island, a town which lives for the summer because the tourists come to town. But things are thrown into disarray when new-to-town Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) discovers the victim of a shark attack on one of the beaches. Unwilling to lose the influx of customers as a result of the tourist season, Mayor Vaughn decides to keep the beaches open. After the attacks continue, however, Chief Police Brody, icthyologist (read: shark nerd) Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and local shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw), unite to hunt the shark down. Steven Spielberg is the man to be thanking for this masterpiece. Without him, the film could have turned into an uninteresting shark fest which would work for shock value but wouldn't have the devastating impact that it still has today. What could have been a string of disjointed set-pieces is put together brilliantly to make this film one of the greatest horrors of all time. The mystery and restraint shown by Spielberg throughout the film is reason enough to call him a genius, not to mention the expert characterisation which he cleverly weaves in here and there. Each of our characters are fleshed out and 3-dimensional, as well as being equal parts loveable and frustrating. The perfect use of music, the incredible camerawork, the nerve shredding moments of fear, all of it is put together seamlessly by a master at work. There are moments of pure shock and there are moments of extended tension which will have you tearing at the cushion which you hold for comfort. One thing's for certain, it keeps you on your toes. The acting in this film is far over and above what you'd get in today's cookie-cutter horrors. Roy Scheider is great as Police Chief Martin Brody. He shows the incredible frustration which his character feels as he is overruled again and again by a man motivated by greed. He shows that he can do humour as well, with wry lines like "He's in the yard not too far from the car." But while he is great as our lead, It's Richard Dreyfuss who steals the show as the more-than-slightly hyperactive Matt Hooper. Like an over-caffinated obsessive-compulsive, Dreyfuss inhabits his character perfectly, showing his indignation, his frustration and his fear with a childlike exuberance which makes him such a likeable character. Robert Shaw plays the almost crazy shark hunter Quint and is fantastic in his role. He mumbles, working class hero-like through his lines "You go in the cage, cage goes in the water, you go in the water? Shark's in the water. Our shark." with a perfect condescending feel which suits his character to a tee. The comradery between these three characters is one of the best parts of the film, and as three initially different characters begin to accept and even embrace one another for their differences, you can almost forget that there is a monster shark on the loose. This is a tribute to not only Spielberg for luring us into a false sense of security, but the realistic relaxation by the actors onscreen which double the effect. Every part of this brilliant film works together perfectly in order to create this incredible experience. Yes, accidents on set did make scary scenes even scarier and the experience made Spielberg vow to never film on open sea again, but there's not too many films which can boast that an audience ran out of the cinema, into the bathroom, threw up, and ran back inside to keep watching the test screening. It's a morbidly fascinating and pants-wettingly scary film which have you steering clear of beaches for some time, yet coming back for repeat viewings over and over again. Defining Scene: That brilliant first death sequence. The combination of John Williams infamous strings and Spielberg's fantastic direction makes this scene unforgettable. Quotes: "You're gonna need a bigger boat." "That's some bad hat harry." "Here's to swimming with bow-legged women." "Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain." "This was no boat accident." "Here lies the body of Mary Lee; died at the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years she kept her virginity; not a bad record for this vicinity." "Smile you son of a bitch." "I used to hate the water." "I can't imagine why."

• Christopher H

  
  A film that demonstrates that it is what you don't see that scares you. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw give excellent performances. The story is compelling and the music is chillingly iconic.

• Brad W

  
  Jaws is one of the most thrilling and realistic experiences I have ever seen on film, and what makes it even better is that experiences with sharks happen all the time and its just terrifying that stuff like this happens. The plot is not just a story about a shark attacking… More
  Jaws is one of the most thrilling and realistic experiences I have ever seen on film, and what makes it even better is that experiences with sharks happen all the time and its just terrifying that stuff like this happens. The plot is not just a story about a shark attacking people, it has characters we grow to enjoy and a story that teaches much about the nature of sharks, a truly great story that I got into. The cast is incredibly great, Roy Scheider is cool and started the line "We're gonna need a bigger boat," Richard Dreyfuss is funny and smart and he was definently a great pick, and Robert Shaw is really tough and awesome and I think he played a very memorable role. The horror is incredible, what is scarier knowing that the same exact thing could happen to you, I was scared sh!tless. Jaws is a american classic that will be often remembered as the greatest horror film of all time, and I can honestly say that every moment of this movie is exciting and thrilling, I love this film and its one of the greatest films of all time.

• Samuel R

  
  Jaws is quite possibly one of Steven Speilberg's greatest movies. It's very intense,violent and even today, keeps people afraid of the water. There will never be another film which will have this achievement or have such a massive impact on society.

• Tim S

  
  A best-selling book, a superb cast and a masterful young director come together to make one of the screen's greatest all-time classic films: Jaws. Everything about this film is fresh even if it is a little dated in look. Most films today don't ever come off this strong. The… More
  A best-selling book, a superb cast and a masterful young director come together to make one of the screen's greatest all-time classic films: Jaws. Everything about this film is fresh even if it is a little dated in look. Most films today don't ever come off this strong. The dialogue is fantastic, the pace keeps the thing moving by quickly, the cinematography is great and the performances are amazing from everyone. This is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite films that I could watch over and over again - and most likely will. An absolute masterpiece and one of Steven Spielberg's top 5 best films.

• Eric A

  
  Didn't see this movie until 2010, but I can see why it was such a thrill during it's release. To this day it is still a very relevant movie, and a classic to say the least.

• BG Movie Reviews 2

  
  What is there to say about Jaws really that you don't already know? It's a classic American film directed by Stephen Spielberg, it is one of the best films of all time according to many lists and has some very iconic music. But the problems I found with this film was that I… More
  What is there to say about Jaws really that you don't already know? It's a classic American film directed by Stephen Spielberg, it is one of the best films of all time according to many lists and has some very iconic music. But the problems I found with this film was that I only watched it once! A film can always be good when you watch it the first time, but for it to be really good, you've got to actually want to watch it again. Unless I'm mistaken I only ever saw Jaws once. I may soon watch it again, but other than that I haven't seen it much compared to other films. I think one of the things with it that made me not watch it that much was the fact that it was a bit too long. The film itself was good, but is too long for what is only an average film on the whole when you look at it carefully enough. The other main problem, as noted by Spielberg himself, was that it was Jaws that sparked a fear of sharks across the world, making Spielberg regret creating the Jaws films. Spielberg noted that sharks were not on a rampage to kill all humans, but are merely looking for food and mistake humans for dolphins. What I'm trying to get at is that the film, although good, caused a large amount of unnecessary fear of sharks and was one of those films that should have been made a tiny bit shorter, just so I could be bothered to take it out of it's box!

• Unknown H

  
  Now I understand why this movie is penned as one of the greatest of all time and maybe its just me and my modern hunger for special effects, but seriously, the mechanical shark? The cast of Finding Nemo was more intimidating, and this is coming from a woman who is scared of Orca.

• Daniel M

  
  When interviewed for Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments, Clive Barker commented that sometimes the best ideas of how to scare people are so seemingly obvious that we overlook them without realising. In hindsight it seems absurd that no-one ever considered making a horror film… More
  When interviewed for Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments, Clive Barker commented that sometimes the best ideas of how to scare people are so seemingly obvious that we overlook them without realising. In hindsight it seems absurd that no-one ever considered making a horror film about sharks before. And after Steven Spielberg set the bar with Jaws, no-one would ever come close again. Jaws is Spielberg doing what he does best: pure popcorn entertainment, with a school of memorable scenes, cracking dialogue and substance trickling through in amongst the thrills and spills. What seems on the surface to be a one-trick film drawn out over two hours gradually emerges as something which is not only scary but very well-made, with characters which are intelligently drawn and action scenes which communicate the themes rather than feeling like awkward set-pieces. Like Star Wars after it, you could be forgiven for hating Jaws given the legacy it has left behind. Apart from the three inferior sequels and dozens of derivative knock-offs, it was the film which invented both the summer blockbuster and the high-concept movie -a film which you could sum up in 25 words or less, which would be translated by producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer into the aggressive money-driven ethos of modern Hollywood. Jaws has been blamed for everything from the death of New Hollywood to the infantilisation of mainstream cinema, and that's not to mention the recent criticism of conservationists about falling shark numbers. But whatever one's attitude to Spielberg in light of his subsequent career choices, it's at best guesswork and at worst sour grapes to argue that he intended any of these things to happen. Had he gone the path of his colleague George Lucas, and milked his hit for everything it had, only then would it be fair to pose such questions. With this in mind we have to re-assess Jaws as nothing more than a piece of entertainment. And on that level, it's undeniably brilliant. In adapting Peter Benchley's potboiler, Spielberg quickly dispensed of the melodramatic subplots involving extramarital affairs and power struggles on Amity Island. On this occasion, it was best to quite literally cut to the chase, with the shark becoming the centrepiece and fear being the driving force. Spielberg once described Jaws as an aquatic version of Duel, his made-for-TV film from four year earlier about a man being chased by a truck. The comparison is very close both in Spielberg's knack for creating tension and in the characterisation of the villain. Both the truck and the shark are irrational forces of nature: they have no backstory, no character origin and no discernable motivation other than a relentless desire to kill. As a further connection, the deaths of both truck and shark are overdubbed with the sound of Godzilla dying from the 1954 original - an indication of Spielberg's affinity for B-movies and that he understands that monster movies can have a deeper significance. As with Duel, it doesn't matter that the monster in Jaws doesn't make a lot of sense. There was and is precious little to suggest that sharks prey on humans for sport; more people die every year from falling coconuts than being eaten by sharks. But the film is not so much about killer sharks as it is about characters being confronted by an unstoppable force which they never faced before and cannot hope to understand. It could almost be called the father of Hallowe'en in its contrast of peaceful, boring middle-class life with a ruthless, blood-hungry predator. This contrast is best observed in the opening section of the film. Having given us a great early jump with the death of the skinny-dipper, Spielberg withholds the shark to build up the relationships between the townsfolk. We see Roy Scheider's sleepy world slowly descend into panic and really feel his frustration when the town council and the press ignore his demands about closing the beach. As the children enter the water to swim and the attack begins, the dramatic irony kicks in and what was once a perfectly ordinary and rational community is torn apart forever. Much has been written about the production problems which Spielberg faced on Jaws which meant he could not shoot as much of the shark as he wanted. Three full-scale mechanical sharks were built for the production, and all three regularly failed due to everything from short circuits to corroding skin and getting caught in seaweed. Such failures were one of the main reasons the film went so far over-schedule and over-budget: what started as a $4m movie shooting for 55 days ended up as a $9m movie that shot for 159 days. In the end, the problems with the shark were not merely serendipitous: they helped to create one of the defining features of the film. Because he could not show the monster as he wanted, Spielberg had to improvise with different techniques which could hint at what the shark was capable of doing. It's testament to his ability as a filmmaker that he could achieve so much threat and suspense from little more than a dorsal fin and a few barrels - enhanced by his use of the former to comedic effect early in the film. Through these techniques, the shark takes on a quality of amorphous evil whose only real equal at the time was Rover from The Prisoner. But as before, Jaws is less about the shark than the characters reacting to it, and no matter how much of the action revolves around 'Bruce', we keep coming back to the people. In its second hour, where most of the action takes places on the Orca, we genuinely bond with this foolhardy trio and soak up all the conflicts within their personalities. Brody's determination to protect his family is contrasted by Quint's obsessive streak and Hooper's feeling of being - no pun intended - a fish out of water. As with The Sting, Robert Shaw dominates every scene that he is in. His accent may be a little harder to pin down this time, but his piercing intensity and unkempt manner give him unrivalled screen presence. Although much of his early lines are played for comedy, to set him up as a loose cannon against the uptight Brody and Hooper, he gradually takes on a more intense, obsessive quality which lead you to wonder whether or not the shark has driven him mad. The best scene in Jaws comes when the three men are sitting in the boat at night and Quint begins talking about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. In a speech co-written by John Milius (who scripted Apocalypse Now), he talks about his experience with sharks in the same way that Colonel Kurtz talked about horror - as something to be somehow embraced and understood, even at the cost of one's sanity or soul. The dialogue in this section is reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway's work in The Old Man and the Sea, with man and nature locked in battle, both mentally and physically, while all around there is only silence. Jaws remains a high-water mark in Spielberg's career and in those of all the performers. It isn't as relentless as Hallowe'en in its ability to sustain fear, and Spielberg's work on the Indiana Jones series would eventually surpass it. But that is mere nit-picking in the face of a film of great craft and vision, a film which proves that simple entertainment can be smart and that, under the right circumstances, people enjoy being scared.

• Bethany M

  
  Classic horror film and pretty scary! Steven Spielberg is an amazing director and I love most of his work.

• Michael E

  
  though the movie does have a lot of boring character dialogue scenes and there is a lot of random deaths but those are the best things about the movie cause to me a monster movie is a movie about a monster running amuck killing people except for the gremlin movies but there are some… More
  though the movie does have a lot of boring character dialogue scenes and there is a lot of random deaths but those are the best things about the movie cause to me a monster movie is a movie about a monster running amuck killing people except for the gremlin movies but there are some funny scenes like the scene where the three main characters are below the boat talking about there wounds and the shark but to me this film is just average

• Jennifer X

  
  Robert Shaw basically makes this movie. Surprisingly funny at times.

• Jason S

  
  When you think about how untested Spielberg was when he tackled this project it makes you realize just how good it really is. He was doing a film that required a very big practical special effect which just happened to have to be in the water and if it didn't work the movie… More
  When you think about how untested Spielberg was when he tackled this project it makes you realize just how good it really is. He was doing a film that required a very big practical special effect which just happened to have to be in the water and if it didn't work the movie wouldn't work. And he did it. The performances are all top notch and the movie feels very full without seeming crowded. The suspense is there and that's all we could really ask for but he delivered more.

• Mike S

  
  This is the monster movie, that all other monster movies wants to be. Already back in 1975, Spielberg was a visionary genius, and this is the title that put him on the map. High-calibred directing, accompanied by its classic music theme, are just a few of the countless reasons as to… More
  This is the monster movie, that all other monster movies wants to be. Already back in 1975, Spielberg was a visionary genius, and this is the title that put him on the map. High-calibred directing, accompanied by its classic music theme, are just a few of the countless reasons as to what makes it so brilliant. Two hours of blood-pumping thrills and a horror flick that still defeats all its competitors on the market. A masterfully crafted, edge-of-your-seat experience, that long after the first viewing, still makes me think twice about swimming in the ocean.

• Spencer S

  
  After numerous years this tale of shark on beach goer vengeance is still as thrill imbibing as it was when it was released in 1975. This classic stays classic with the help of the beautiful score by John Williams, the superb give and take between the characters Quint, Matt Hooper, and… More
  After numerous years this tale of shark on beach goer vengeance is still as thrill imbibing as it was when it was released in 1975. This classic stays classic with the help of the beautiful score by John Williams, the superb give and take between the characters Quint, Matt Hooper, and Chief Martin Brody, and the panic that came from the special effects of a large animal throwing off blood from its snout and into the deep recesses of the sea. Even though it's been nearly forty years since the original, it still holds up as one of the scariest films of all time. It preys on the uncommon but horror inducing fears of a populus that values their limbs.Not only does it touch on public panic, but broaches upon a saga of unimaginable intrigue concerning the killing of the Great White, a battle between man and intelligent beast. Utterly amazing monolouge by Robert Shaw, a cornerstone of cinema. It's a horror/thriller classic.

• danny d

  
  this is a landmark film. the simple score is haunting and effective and the terror instilled is legitemate. its rare to have a blockbuster horror, but this is a fine example of both. this is a truly great film.

• AJ V

  
  The classic shark attack movie! It's good, but it does have it's slow scenes too. Most of the time it's exciting and scary, though. If you haven't seen it, I recommend checking it out.

• Cassie H

  
  In the little town of Amity, there is an evil lurking from within it's water's. It's a great white shark & it's going to take the team of Chief Martin Brody, Matt Hooper & Quint to fight off this beast of a creature. One of the absolute greatest terror… More
  In the little town of Amity, there is an evil lurking from within it's water's. It's a great white shark & it's going to take the team of Chief Martin Brody, Matt Hooper & Quint to fight off this beast of a creature. One of the absolute greatest terror suspenseful movies ever made! :)

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