The Original Covered Everything You Could Want in a Killer Shark Film

Rating: 10/10 (15 March 2011)

I have always been perplexed why Hollywood thought they needed sequels to this great film. As far as I know, Peter Benchley who penned the original novel never wrote a sequel, and Spielberg declined to direct Jaws II. Of course the answer is the producers and executives believed they would make even more money off the Jaws franchise, particularly among those who just could not get enough of the original. But as an artistic statement, this movie really doesn't warrant sequels as it covers just about everything you could possibly do with the subject. Aside from the shark killings themselves, the characters and the audience actually learn a little bit about sharks, there are political "currents" regarding whether or not to close the beaches, forces more interested in profits than safety are exposed, and there is even the lynching of a poor tiger shark which turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, i.e. he wasn't "the shark". I always felt sorry for the little innocent tiger shark.
Two characters represent somewhat opposing views of the knowledge spectrum concerning their understanding of sharks: an expert scientist from the oceanographic society, Matt Hooper played by Richard Dreyfus, and a fisherman who makes his living catching sharks and other large sea animals, Quint played with convincing realism by the immortal Robert Shaw. Quint is not college-educated but he learned his trade through direct experience. Late in the film when Hooper and Quint are asked to sign on to a charter to kill the shark, their worlds collide. At interesting points, both characters misjudge the shark. Roy Scheider as Chief Brody, who used to defend innocent victims from mobsters in New York, finds his number-one most wanted man in Amity is not a human being but a shark. He ends up playing referee between Hooper and Quint. But as the last segment unfolds, we find Quint has some ulterior motives which may run contrary to killing the shark.
The brilliant dramatic decision which pushed this movie into the realm of par excellence (rather than merely very good) is the delay in seeing the shark for nearly half the film. Despite the posters which show a young woman enjoying a care-free swim in the ocean with a large set of teeth propelling toward her from the depths like a menacing underwater rocket, the audience never actually experiences this scene as shown. Yes, the young swimmer is the first victim, but you never see her killer, sort of akin to a murder mystery in which you see and hear the victim's demise but you don't see the murderer. Certainly, the title of the film JAWS is a give-away as to the identity of the perpetrator, but the story begins as a kind of mystery, and almost immediately, the politics of the town begins to encroach on the decisions of Chief Brody who is mainly concerned with public safety. In one of the most memorable scenes, Brody and Hooper come upon the remains of the shark's destructive power without actually seeing the shark itself.
This film was Steven Spielberg's big-time debut into the upper echelons of cinema. All kinds of interesting camera techniques are used to heighten dramatic and suspenseful effects. He even borrows a couple of trademark tricks from Hitchcock and Welles. The cast is A-list, although none of them were and ever have been big movie stars, but simply top tier actors doing what they do best. As the producers pointed out, the star of the film was the shark himself, so there was no need to put big name stars into the feature. If there is a standout in the acting department, I think it would have to go to Robert Shaw as Quint who is absolutely believable as the rough-and-ready harpooner, "sharker" and World War II veteran, a modern equivalent of Captain Ahab of Moby Dick fame. This is one of the all-time great action/suspense films, but don't waste your time on the ridiculous sequels. I think the original says all that needs to be said.