Spielberg's First........and Finest

Rating: 9/10 (11 June 1999)

Actually, contrary to what people believe, this is not Spielberg's first film. That honor officially belongs to Duel, his first silver screen movie about a truck trying to run over a guy. After just finishing a biography of Steven Spielberg by John Baxter, I found one of the most interesting things to be all the problems of shooting this film. The shark, while not only looking terribly fake, also almost never worked in the water. For a fledgling director, this movie is remarkable. It's got just about everything: action, suspense, good acting, and a great storyline, thanks to Peter Benchley. I especially liked Robert Shaw as Quint, giving an almost flawless performance. Richard Dreyfus does a good job as the young, rich Hooper and Roy Schreider plays the movie's protagonist and all-around good guy Chief Brody well. My favorite part of the movie is the first half, contrary to popular opinion. It does a great job of setting the tone of Amity, and we can relate with the town's struggles. The last half is great too, however, and some of the best action scenes ever filmed are in it. This is a movie you should really see. I have no problems with it whatsoever, except it would have been nice to have more. Bravo to Spielberg for pulling it off!