"You're Going To Need A Bigger Boat "

Rating: 10/10 (17 October 2012)

An Understatement if there ever was one. "Jaws" (1975) is without a doubt, one of cinema's greatest achievements. Here you have what could easily be considered your standard B-movie material (not that there's anything wrong with that) that gets turned into a masterpiece by the one and only Steven Spielberg. The movie starts out innocent enough, a group of teenagers are hanging out on the beach, a young man and a girl decide to go off on their own. The girl wants to go swimming and the young man wants to accommodate her, however, he is clearly suffering under the effects of alcohol and doesn't make it into the water. Lucky for him, because shortly after the girl goes in, we, the audience, can clearly see that something is lurking under the surface and is getting closer and closer and then STRIKE, the girl is grabbed, whipped back and forward, pulled under again and again, and screaming for her life. In a few seconds, its all over as she is pulled down for the last time. From then on, we know that we're in for one hell of a ride. There are so many great things about this movie that I'm not even sure where to start. The acting is superb: there's the always reliable (and sadly, now deceased) Roy Scheider as Chief Brody and Richard Dreyfuss as the brilliant and sarcastic Hooper. However, the most brilliant performance may be that of the late, great Robert Shaw, who plays the hot-tempered but likable old fisherman Quint. Despite his enormous ego, you can't help loving him. In addition, there's Murray Hamilton who gives a great performance as a typical politician and Lorraine Gary in the role of the supportive chief's wife. The real star of the movie though, is the shark himself, who is created with a combination of real shark footage and a mechanical creation, which, while it may look a little fake in some scenes, still looks pretty scary after all these years. Filmed at the famous Martha's Vineyard, "Jaws" is a movie that revolutionized the film industry by creating the summer blockbuster and made people afraid to go into the water. Oh, and who can forget the iconic theme by John Williams, a theme that has become so embedded in pop culture that every time anyone hears it, they know what it is. To put it bluntly, you are robbing yourself by not seeing this monumental achievement. Watch it and be afraid, be very afraid the next time you go into the water, because you never know what might be down there.