Movie Review # 745: Jaws (1975)

And now, everyone, today, we review a classic film that captured, and scared everyone when it hit theaters fifty years ago. Apparently, it was Steven Spielberg’s first big debut. Oh, and it was just re-released in theaters in honor of it reaching its 50th anniversary. So now, let’s discuss the one, and only Jaws.

Plot: When Chief officer Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) observes that a tiger shark has been attacking people on the shores of Amity Island, New England, it is up to him, along with an oceanographer named Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and a sailor named Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt, and take down the shark once and for all.

Okay, so the PG-13 rating didn’t come out until 1984, nine years after this film’s release, am I right? If that is the case, then I’m sure that has this film been released around then, or shortly after, I’m sure it would probably have been given that rating instead of the PG rating that it currently has. There is plenty of violence from beginning to end. Okay, not to the point where it should have been given the R-rating. Still, Jaws is nonetheless very intense. Also, side note, I was surprised to hear that this movie was Steven Spielberg’s big debut. Anyway, to a degree, Jaws almost felt similar to films like The Ghost & The Darkness. Very interesting, considering that, one, that film came out 21 years after Jaws, in 1996, two, that film had two lions working in a pack to attack people in a region of Africa, instead of a shark attacking people on a beach, and, three, The Ghost & The Darkness was based on a true story, while Jaws was just a work of fiction. Anyway, the musical score was really good too. The score was done by music legend John Williams. Wow, and this film was released two years before the beginning of the Star Wars trilogy that he also composed for, and then sometime way before the Star Wars prequel trilogy got released as well. Additionally, this film does well with developing its characters really well. I mean you have characters with some common sense when it comes to both good, and dangerous situations, and you have ones that are so stubborn that they’re not willing to listen to good advice of others. Seeing as that was life back then, and is the case even now, it was good how this film portrayed that aspect. The acting was really great too. I mean having characters like Chief Martin Brody being played by Roy Scheider, or the oceanographer, Matt Hooper, being played by a young Richard Dreyfuss at the time, that was great too. Anyway, there is lots of action in this film too. Yeah, that’s the case more so when the shark’s onscreen, but still. That is another thing. Finally, while there is plenty of action, the movie does a great job of slowing down when it needs to have the more slow, and quiet moments.

If there was one thing that might have been negative, it would probably be that this film might have been a little more violent than it needed to be. While this film did need to do well with showing how brutal, and cruel a situation like that can be, it also probably could have scaled back a little bit more in that regard.

And that’s my review for Jaws. Sorry that it took me a long while to finally get to seeing this film. Well, hey, seeing it being re-released for it’s 50th anniversary was certainly the perfect opportunity for me to do so. I would say that if you still want to see it, and are okay with a film with lots of intense moments, then I would say go for seeing it, and see what you think!

Final Rating: 9.5/10