Film: Jaws
Director: Steven Spielberg
Country: USA
Released: June 1975
Runtime: 124 minutes
Genre: Thriller
Studio: Zanuck / Universal
Influenced: James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Robert Zemeckis, Patty Jenkins, Renny Harlin
After getting this far through 70 years of cinema history, it suddenly feels like we've reached the modern age with Steven Spielberg and Jaws. The film's immense success paved the way for the emergence of the modern summer blockbuster. Jaws became the first real megahit in cinema history, grossing over $470 million worldwide. Based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Peter Benchley, Jaws was produced by Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown and directed by Spielberg, a relatively young director at the time, whose Hollywood career would be launched into the stratosphere by the film's success.
Set in the fictional beach town of Amity Island, where a great white shark begins to terrorise the community during the busy summer season, Jaws stars Roy Scheider as the town's police chief, Martin Brody. Suddenly the ex-New York cop is out of his depth as the attacks increase, leading him to call on the help of a marine biologist, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and a seasoned shark hunter, Quint (Robert Shaw). Shaw's performance is one of the film's highlights, bringing a sense of ruggedness and complexity to the character, notably in the USS Indianapolis monologue scene where he recounts the harrowing tale of the ship's sinking, commanding the screen and delivering a mesmerising performance that underlines his motivations and the darkness that haunts him.
Due to technical difficulties with the mechanical shark, Spielberg opted to limit its on-screen appearances and this decision inadvertently heightened the suspense of the film, leaving the audience's imagination to fill in the gaps. Jaws opens with a chilling scene in which a young woman is attacked and killed by the shark while swimming at night, setting the tone for the suspense and terror that follows. Rewatching the film for this blog reminded me how harrowing those early scenes still are. John Williams composed a haunting and instantly recognisable score that added tremendous tension and became synonymous with the approaching shark. The simple, repetitive notes create a sense of impending doom that have been imitated by many a parent while in the swimming pool with their kids.
Together, Brody and Hooper set out on Quint's boat, known as the Orca, to hunt down the menacing shark and very soon they realise that they're "gonna need a bigger boat". The tension and fear escalate as the crew faces numerous challenges, including mechanical failures, psychological pressure and the sheer power and determination of the shark. The crew attaches barrels to the shark, enabling them to track its movements. The tension builds as the shark repeatedly surfaces and attempts to attack the boat. One of Spielberg's main innovations was the "shark's-eye view" camera designed to enhance the suspense, and a zoom lens to convey the characters' reactions. Jaws ends with one of cinema's most wonderfully climactic scenes ("smile, you son of a bitch") involving a scuba tank and a rifle. Perhaps the film's only drawback was sparking a global widespread fear of sharks that still resonates today.
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