When a small New England seaside town becomes victim to several attacks from a Great White shark, the police chief, a grizzly seaman, and a young shark expert go out to sea in order to try and stop the shark from attacking.
Based on the Peter Benchley novel, this film manages to take the relatively simple plot and make so much more out of it. This movie's insane success supposedly jump started the type of film known as the summer blockbuster. With this film, Steven Spielberg became a household name and one of the world's most famous directors. Spielberg manages to create a Hitchcock-style thriller while putting his own unique touch on it. Indeed, just like how Hitchcock's PSYCHO made people afraid to take a shower, Spielberg made people afraid of going swimming. Spielberg doesn't show the shark on screen for a great deal of the film, which works to the film's advantage. When he does show the creature, he gives it the right amount of menace and terror to make it believable. Besides being incredibly frightening, Spielberg creates a fascinating character study. He sets the last third of the film on-board a small fishing boat, which allows the three main actors to play off of each other and create natural performances. Roy Scheider gives a natural performance as Chief Brody. Schieder makes Brody feel like Everyman, a person you'd know in real life. Robert Shaw gives an incredibly intense and raw performance as Quint, the grizzled seaman. His intensity matches the film's tone perfectly. Richard Dreyfuss has some funny moments as Hooper. What review would be complete without mentioning the music by the legendary John Williams? His main theme for the film is one of the most recognizable in film history, and right up there with Bernard Hermann's score for PSYCHO as one of the best scores for a horror film. Followed by three sequels, but the original is by far the best of the lot. Highly recommended. 10/10.
Based on the Peter Benchley novel, this film manages to take the relatively simple plot and make so much more out of it. This movie's insane success supposedly jump started the type of film known as the summer blockbuster. With this film, Steven Spielberg became a household name and one of the world's most famous directors. Spielberg manages to create a Hitchcock-style thriller while putting his own unique touch on it. Indeed, just like how Hitchcock's PSYCHO made people afraid to take a shower, Spielberg made people afraid of going swimming. Spielberg doesn't show the shark on screen for a great deal of the film, which works to the film's advantage. When he does show the creature, he gives it the right amount of menace and terror to make it believable. Besides being incredibly frightening, Spielberg creates a fascinating character study. He sets the last third of the film on-board a small fishing boat, which allows the three main actors to play off of each other and create natural performances. Roy Scheider gives a natural performance as Chief Brody. Schieder makes Brody feel like Everyman, a person you'd know in real life. Robert Shaw gives an incredibly intense and raw performance as Quint, the grizzled seaman. His intensity matches the film's tone perfectly. Richard Dreyfuss has some funny moments as Hooper. What review would be complete without mentioning the music by the legendary John Williams? His main theme for the film is one of the most recognizable in film history, and right up there with Bernard Hermann's score for PSYCHO as one of the best scores for a horror film. Followed by three sequels, but the original is by far the best of the lot. Highly recommended. 10/10.