Jaws

What would be the average persons opinion of the film Jaws had there never been any sequels? If your my age then you likely grew up watching bits and pieces of all 4 Jaws films on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, ultimately concluding that you don't see what the big deal is. In fact, you probably feel like you have seen the movie a dozen times without ever watching it from start to finish. So, what is the big deal with Jaws?
To answer that question you must begin by clearing your mind of every part of the Jaws sequels. The equivalent to Jaws in our generation is The Matrix, a film that was tremendously well crafted and left you dieing to get back in line to see it again as soon as it was over only to be let down by it's sequels. Could you argue the sequels weren't that bad? Sure, but in no way do they live up to what the first film started. With Jaws, the sequels are far worse (Jaws in Sea World, really?) and therefore have done more to make people dismiss the first one. That would be a mistake.
For those who are not fully aware of Jaws place in film history it was nominated for best picture in 1975 and is presently ranked 56th on the American Film Institutes list of the 100 greatest films of all time. It is also considered to be the original summer blockbuster film and the first film to ever gross over $100 million dollars. Oh yeah, and it also introduced the world to Steven Spielberg who is has directed more of the films I own than any other director. In short, Jaws is freaking awesome!
What most people talk about with Jaws is the shark and to that end Spielberg and his team did an incredible job making the shark as terrifying as possible. How did Spielberg do it? He didn't bother trying to over do it with a ridiculous body count or any over the top stunts. What makes the shark in Jaws so terrifying is Spielberg's use of scale and the incredible shots he gets of the Shark along side the boat. The shark is able to provide the image of something terrifying simply by being there. There is also a sense terror developed in the juxtaposition of hunter and hunted we see as the shark seemingly is the one hunting his potential slayers.
Those slayers of course are not Captain Ahab. Well, one of them kind of fills that role, but the three of them together provide a unique and extraordinarily human perspective to the hunt. In particular, I love watching Roy Scheider's Chief Brody character learning about Sharks adds tremendously to the sense of curiosity the film has for it's antagonist. Richard Dreyfuss brings even more shark knowledge and respect for their foe while Robert Shaw gives us a bit of the Captain Ahab. All three characters have great chemistry together as they fight to save a town that doesn't want to admit it has a problem. Much of the first hour of the film focuses on Chief Brody's attempts to ensure his beaches are safe while those around him focus on keeping the beaches open in order to turn on profit during the summer tourist season.
The second hour of the film sees the action move to the sea as our 3 heroes set out to capture the great white. Here Spielberg shows influence's from directors like Hitchcock as he takes these men out in there boat and manages to continually make that boat feel smaller and smaller until the very end. If your claustrophobic this will really make you feel queezy.
To be fair, I too was once some one who had written off the Jaws films as cheezy. Then I found the film in a Walmart $5 dollar bin and thought to myself that I should give it a try. I had no idea this film was so good which of course has lead me to conclude that the sequels must be some of the worst sequels in movie history. While she didn't finish it with me because we both struggle to finish movies in our old age, my wife admitted while we watched it that it was better than she was expecting. Your darn right it is honey.