Jaws (1975) Review
One of the big gaps in my movie viewing history is having not seen the original Jaws. I’ve finally seen this movie, so how is it? Is it one of Spielberg’s best Or is it overrated? Let’s get started!
The Good:
With this movie you have to talk about the iconic score by John Williams. It’s one of the best film scores out there and one of the most iconic film scores out there. Like I said, I watched this movie for the first time just a couple weeks back and even though I haven’t seen this movie I loved the score and knew the score almost tune by tune. And in the context of the movie the score works even better, it adds this sense of danger and tension. Whenever you hear the music you know that the shark is nearby. And you are looking as to who is in the water, who is going to get attacked. And I can’t really think of another movie where the movie builds that tension like this one does. So in a couple of months I plan on sharing my 10 favorite film scores of all time, this one will most definitely be on there.
Speaking of the tension it just does a great job of building it. It’s one of those movies where as soon as the girl is attacked in the opening scene it just terrifies you. And you have these scenes where Brody watches the beach and the people swimming in the water, trying to make sure nobody gets eaten by a shark. You see kids going into it, which just builds more tension. People try to talk with him and get in his way, and you know that even if he takes his eye off for one second somebody could drown. And it takes this idea, this fear that people have that is “will I get attacked if I go into the ocean? What is in the ocean?” and it takes this concept and plays that out really well.
From there, the characters are great and a lot better than I was thinking. Because the three main characters Brody, Hooper, and Quint are the three people out to get the shark. And each of them brings a different side to the adventure. Brody is very much the leader of the group, the glue holding them together. Hooper is an expert of the bunch, he knows a lot about sharks. Quint is the hunter of the group and he knows how to kill animals. And the three of them just are fleshed out. We know enough about them to care about them. And it also helps that Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw are great as these characters.
Another thing here is it very much does explore the different world views of how different people would react to a shark on the beach. Where the town is very much a tourist town and that’s how they get their money. So the mayor views closing the beaches as a negative because they would lose money, some people agree with that. While others think the beaches should be closed because nobody else should be attacked by a shark.
Finally, I think the movie as a whole is made better by the background of this movie. And that is that Steven Spielberg made this anamontric shark that he would use. But with it being in the water messed up with the circuits. So they couldn’t use the shark all that much in this movie, and I think because of that it just adds this greater sense of tension in it. Because it doesn’t show the shark, until the end of the movie and I think that just helps the movie as a whole.
The Bad:
And the big thing here is when Brody, Hooper, and Quint set out on the boat to get the shark. They repeat this scene of them using the barrels to destroy the shark, but it doesn’t work. And the movie does that a few too many times and I did notice it. And I wish they cut some of the scenes because they didn’t really need to be there.
And tied to that, I feel like the movie could have been cut by 5-10 minutes. Some scenes at the beginning of the movie I think went on for a bit too long. It’s not a big issue by any means but it is something that I noticed and bugged me.
Final Thoughts: I went into this movie hearing all of its praise. Some people have called it one of Spielberg’s best movies, and I can confirm this to be true. It’s a fantastic thriller with proper thrills, great characters, and a fantastic score that brings the movie together. So this is one that I check off my list of movies that I need to watch.
The Score: 9.0/10 (A-)
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