One of Spielberg's best films, and, indeed, one of the greatest movies ever made **spoilers**

Rating: 9/10 (22 February 2003)

I'm not going to go over the plot too much; this movie isn't really "scary" per se, but it's well-made, perfectly written, and perfectly cast.
I have never read Benchley's novel, though it doesn't sound any good (at least not in comparison to the film). So, I won't compare the two. As I often do, I will analyze the acting and other important aspects of the film itself.
There are no big-names among the cast - Scheider had made "The French Connection" prior to this, Shaw "From Russia With Love" and "The Battle of the Bulge", and Dreyfuss . . . nothing worth mentioning - but they were hardly big stars. Nonetheless, the three heroes handle their roles perfectly.
Roy Scheider's performance is very good as Martin Brody, a police chief with a childhood fear of the water (due to an implied shark attack on him) and who's superiors (the Mayor, et al) think he's crazy. Scheider is very good here, in a subtle way, as a man trying to protect both his town and his family - nothing flashy, just a solid performance.
Richard Dreyfuss, as Professor Matt Hooper, is my favorite character - he is very smart with a sense of humor - his quarrel with Quint is well-acted out and neither actor goes over the top. What more can I say?
But it is Shaw's performance as the crazed Navy veteran Quint that carries this film. In his earlier scenes, Shaw is merely somewhat eccentric; in the protracted finale, he snaps; he seems to go insane, which Shaw handles very well. He smashes the "Orca"'s radio, sings sea shanties as the shark tries to ram the ship, and . . . well, he's nuts. Listen to the deadpan way he recounts the sinking of the "Indianapolis" (ending with the perfect "So we delivered the bomb"). Shaw should've won an Oscar for his performance - just goes to show how tasteless the Academy is. The rest of the supporting cast (especially Murray Hamilton as the Mayor and Lorraine Gray as Scheider's wife) is very good as well.
As for the shark? Not seen until more than halfway through the film, the shark is not as horribly unrealistic (at least not always) in most of its scenes - I've seen more phony-looking pictures of "real" sharks elsewhere. Besides, at least it's there - I prefer Spielberg's cheesy but somewhat realistic shark to the heartless computer effects of "SpiderMan" and the new "Star Wars" films any day.
The attacks are all well executed; the opening scene is very well-shot. The dialogue is near-perfect; not a wasted line exists. The scene with all the "bounty killers" hunting for the shark is one of the best of the movie; it portrays the panic, the confusion, the frenzy, the desperateness of the fisherman, shooting at anything that moves, carrying dynamite (!), overloading boats . . . well, I think Hooper summed it up nicely: "They're all gonna die!"
I could say more, but why? I think "Jaws" stands for itself.
Nine stars.