"Jaws " Movie PosterBased on the novel by Peter
Benchley, the film sees New York cop, Martin Brody (played by
Schneider), investigating a series of deaths that bear all the
evidence of a shark attack. This was originally rated as a PG but when
re-released a 12.
A great opening scene showing Chrissy ‘the stereotypical blonde’
being devoured by the unknown killer, puzzles most reviewers in the
question is it a horror or a thriller? The famous Dah Dum holds
suspense until the attack and every time we hear it we think ‘get out
of the water!’ After the shark feeds on little Alex Kintner, his
mother sets a reward for the destruction of the shark and the costal
resort of Amity Island becomes a frantic place to stay. Spielberg
reveals the shark bit by bit making us imagine what it looks all
together like e.g. only revealing the dorsal fin and a bit of the
torso in the Kinter boy attack. Brody reels in Marine Biologist Matt
Hooper (played by Dreyfuss) and the two men discover that a Great
White has come to feed off their shores.
What sets Jaws apart from your average creature feature is the amount
of suspense used while interest is sustained through good
characterization, acting and great dialogue. The film also offers an
insight into small tourist dependent town on an island gripped by
fear, paranoia with town Mayor Larry Vaughn (played by Hamilton) eager
to keep the beaches open for the much needed tourist trade. Like most
holiday resorts in America, Amity Island survives on the money made in
the summer season. The Mayor gives in to his own greed and jeopardizes
the islands safety by turning down Brody’s plead to close the beaches.
The red herring of the two boys with a cardboard fin makes us relax
for the time being until Brody’s own son has a close encounter with
the shark, this is the first time we see the shark’s face this makes
us feel vulnerable as Spielberg may do this again in the film.
Meanwhile Brody’s finally given the green light by the Mayor to hunt
the eating machine down.
Unfortunately with the whole town’s resources at his disposal, Brody
chooses to go to sea with Hooper and Quint (played by Shaw) a mad
fisherman who owns the most rickety boat you have ever seen. Why
didn’t they just take Hooper’s boat, the one with the metal hull and
sonar? This ensures you that it’s going to be a weak link for the
adventurers and there is going to be rough time ahead.
What then follows is the most ‘nail biting’ fishing trip of all time,
with Quint trying to reel the shark in with a fishing rod! Quint then
larks about with a harpoon and a stack of barrels which I would fire
all at once. This makes you feel insignificant as they have no
high-tech weapons to kill the shark and when it takes 3 barrels
underwater with it Quint contemplates how to destroy the shark. Quint
then decides to try and drown it but runs his ship into the ground and
they are stranded. This results in the ship sinking, Quint finds
himself being ripped open in what I consider the worst shot of the
shark in the whole film as the shark is seen with rubber like skin and
bendy teeth. Hooper disappears after being lowered in the
‘indestructible’ shark cage where we see a mixture of real shark
footage mechanical shark and the comparison of the monster’s size to
Hooper. When the cage returns absolutely demolished you realize how
huge and powerful the great white actually is. The ship sinks within a
matter of minutes of Quint dying; Brody then comes eyeball to eyeball
with the Great White in a sinking ship. Fortunately he read a book
earlier in the film and got an idea of putting a gas canister in the
sharks mouth and then Kaboom!
The shark is history, Hooper returns from under the sea but they swim
back to shore but then again if there is a sea of blood wouldn’t more
sharks be attracted this is another aspect of the film that makes it
slightly fake.
Jaws can be thought as a thriller as it has a threat of the unknown
but I think horror is the right title for it. It has many more aspects
of a horror than a thriller because the film is more open to what the
killer is than the killer in a thriller as they are normally revealed
at the end of the film. The only change that could be made in my
opinion are the special effects that in them days were good, could be
made now with modern technology.