I'll never put on another lifejacket again...

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2002)

"Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies..." - when I first saw Jaws, I don't even remember the crusty Robert Shaw saying those words, in fact I hardly remember any of the dialogue from the film. What I do remember, though, was the incredibly frightening fin of the man-eating great white. How it used to glaze on up out of the water like a knife as the ominous thumping of John William's orchestra filled the air with horror. That was the sign to bury your face into the pillow as the voices of panic began to increase in pitch and power. Needless to say, I was afraid, and still am to a degree, to go into the pool alone. The power and ferocity and terror of Jaws scared me to death when I was five years old, but now it remains on the top ten list of my all time favorite movies. Jaws was something of a problem for me when I was younger. My parents would say they were going to watch Jaws on the T.V. just to get me out of the living room and into bed. Now, when I actually sit down and watch the movie (for the thousandth time) it actually is a quite beautiful film. The dialogue that goes on between Shaw, Schieder, and Dreyfuss is incredible. Shaw delivers an awesome performance - especially in his U.S.S Indianapollis speech. Dreyfuss and Schieder are both funny and serious and terrified and don't know what to make of Shaw - and my feelings are that the audience doesn't either. Shaw is not your typical hero, but he is a great character anyway. The real jewel to the film is the score, however. John Williams, as in all his music, captures the audience in the deadly melody which is mesmirizing, beautiful, adventurous, deadly, bold, and simple all at the same time. The chase music is especially fun to listen to, but the theme of the music is what everyone remembers. This is such an incredible movie and is not something that you see very often nowadays. I give it a 10/10 and encourage all who have not experienced the magic of Jaws to get up and go rent it!