Classic summer thriller!

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 2006)

Chief of Police on Amity Island, Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider) is presented with a monumental problem one summer on the relatively peaceful island of Amity in the form of a huge, man-eating, great white shark feeding in the offshore waters. He is first alerted to the problem when the decomposing body of Christine 'Chrissy' Watkins (played by Susan Backlinie) washes up on shore and is found and reported. At first, the Mayor, Larry Vaughn (played by Murray Hamilton) gets the medical examiner to attribute her death to a simple boating accident, but, with the arrival of shark expert Matt Hooper, this verdict is questioned. Hooper contends that the cause of death could only be a large,hungry, predatorial shark. Larry, however ignores his expertise and continues to let the beaches be open. It is only with a second death,that of Alex M. Kintner (played by Jeffery Voorhees) that the townspeople are called to a meeting wherein the people continue to shortsightedly agree with Larry and call for the beaches to remain open. When the Fourth of July finally comes, business is booming and the beaches are packed, partially due to the fact that no one will go into the water. Then, after the urging of Larry, two of his friends, an old couple, venture into the water. They break the ice and cause others to join, but this only ends in disaster where another man is killed. After this final offense, the townspeople commission Quint (played by Robert Shaw), a shark hunter, to find and kill the shark for $10,000. Chief Brody and Hooper join him on this expedition upon his vessel, the Orca. They then play a suspenseful game of cat and mouse with the shark where it becomes unclear exactly who is hunting who for a while. But finally, after Quint is messily devoured, Brody kills the shark and Hooper and him swim safely back to shore.
This movie was Spielberg's seventeenth, it ranks 91st on the list of the top 250 films of all time according to the International Movie Database and is one of the highest grossing films of all time. I completely agree with'lurker_from_persia's' take on the film, "...I seriously do recommend you seeing this if you haven't, and if you have, watch it again " When this film came out, it shocked audiences as one of the most graphic movies to come out yet and sent many moviegoers to the lobby or the bathroom in order to avoid throwing up. (Which seems unbelievable by today's standards.) But, it was light-years ahead of many of the movies filled with senseless nauseating gore that come out today. Because, in contrast to them, the plot of Jaws is both engrossing and suspenseful.Both of these characteristics are amplified by the unforgettable musical score. From the start, you feel vulnerable, since the first attack victimizes a naked woman, her nakedness makes her even more vulnerable and makes you question your own safety. Chief Brody is my favorite character from this movie, but I think that he would be incomplete without the wit of Hooper to accompany him. Both of them have many engrossing scenes such as the one where Hooper first arrives and attempts to help Chief Brody organize the 'shark hunters.' "You know the eight guys on the fantail launch out there? Well none of them are gonna get out of the harbor alive." Hooper to Brody
Aside from comic relief, Hooper is also by far the most intelligent character in the story. He is called to Amity to convince Mayor Larry of the danger of the situation with the shark, but is met, at every turn, with the single-minded uncooperative spirit that Mayor Larry strives to keep. "What we are dealing with is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all. Now, why don't you take a long look at this sign. Those proportions are correct. Hooper to Mayor Larry
"Love to prove that, wouldn't ya? Get your name into the National Geographic." Larry's response to Hooper
"You are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ass" Hooper to Larry
Spielberg exploits people's 'hot spots' of fear in this movie and shows how ignorance can be bliss in the case of deadly creatures. "Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July" Larry to Chief Brody
Spielberg also shows how excitable people are in panicked situations. In the scene following one of the shark attacks, where the eldest Brody son is playing on his boat, Chief Brody's wife changes from encouraging her son to play in the boat he got for his birthday to yelling at him to get out of it when she sees a picture of a shark eating a boat. He uses his directing genius to profile different types of personalities and their reactions to stressful situations. He shows Quint, the psychotic, run-and-gun, personality taking it all in stride versus Chief Brody, the responsible parent being noticeably worried and fighting for the safety of his family.
When Spielberg directed Jaws, he made a blockbuster, a classic, and revolutionary movie. The first Jaws deserves all the credit it has gained, but the later sequels also deserve the more negative credit that they have gained. Spielberg created a monster in Jaws, one that has stood the test of time much like The Mummy or other classic creeps and one that continues to scare children before their summer trip to Florida.