Jaws was the first real summer blockbuster, and to this day it's still the best.

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2001)

Unlike most blockbusters of today, Jaws was blessed with a superb cast, a fantastic director, and a good screenplay.
Most of Jaws's success can be attributed to Steven Spielberg's masterful direction. He brilliantly utilizes the Hitchcockian method of showing less and there by giving the audience more. By not showing the shark for the first half of the movie and only showing the evidence of its strength and the aftermath of its attacks, Spielberg triggers the audience's imagination making the film all the more suspenseful.
Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb's screenplay is well written. Now granted, this is not a brilliant character study but the script is more character driven than most of today's blockbuster scripts. Evidence of the screenplay's strong characters can be found in the extraordinary chemistry between them and their motives for their actions.
The cast does a fantastic job at giving life and voice to the characters of the screenplay. Roy Scheider wisely underplays his character, Martin Brody, making him very believable. Robert Shaw is absolutely wonderful as the sea-worn fisherman, Quint. Richard Dreyfuss is very convincing as the energetic, young scientist. Lorraine Gary gives a very naturalistic performance as Brody's wife. Murray Hamilton does a nice job at playing the greedy, sleazy mayor of Amity; the town endangered by the shark.
Bill Butler's cinematography is first-class. He brings the ocean right into our laps by placing the camera at the water's level.
Although there are many continuity errors, Verna Fields's editing is smooth and fast paced. Despite the fact that the shark is not seen for the first half of the film, the movie still manages to be suspenseful and interesting.

John Williams's musical score, for this film, has reached legendary status for good reason. His simple use of a few notes to characterize the shark was ingenious. He brings the suspense/action scenes to life with his energetic score.
Many people complain that the shark looks too fake. Do sharks really look all that life-like to begin with? I personally think the shark effects could have been much worse; they weren't that bad.
All of these fine qualities are why Jaws has remained one of my favorite films for quite some time.