Total total classic - the original blockbuster and definitely one of the best

Rating: Null/10 (12 July 2004)

Jaws is one of the first mega Hollywood blockbusters - and definitely one of the best. It follows the Peter Benchley book of the same name - an obsessed police chief enlists the help of a marine scientist and a veteran fisherman to help track down and hunt a giant Great White Shark who has been terrorising the North-eastern US community of Amity Island. Spielberg - who knows how to shock and keep an audience at the edge of their seats with Duel - is certainly in his element here in Jaws. He places the audience in an strange environment - underwater camera shots at swimmers who are blissfully unaware that they are about to become Shark dinner. The excellent John Williams score also keeps up the tension. All the leads are well cast - Roy Scheider as the outsider Police Chief who is on the edge and Robert Shaw as the old, wry fisherman. Yes - the mechanical shark might look cheesy by today's standards - and yes - the film depicts the shark quite unfairly and inaccurately - But I was sucked into this film when I first saw at the age of 3. Ever since seeing this (I'm sure I'm not alone here) - but I always felt like there is something waiting for me down at the beach.