Still a classic.

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2003)

I watched this film for the first time when I was 8 years old and that was in 1979. It was playing in a holiday resort cinema at the time. A real run of the mill movie by the time I seen it, so even though I was so young and on my own, it was ok to go in and watch it. I ran out of the cinema and back to our apartment when I seen the head scene. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards. Since then I've seen this classic countless times and I enjoy it every time. There's just something about the atmosphere in the film that I find infectious. The casting is the most natural I've seen. Each of the main characters is so believable, different and interesting in their own way. A tired middle aged cop from New York, a young rich scientist in love with his work, and an old weather beaten shark fisherman with scars to remember most of his encounters. I've yet to see interaction like this between 3 actors. The love\hate atmosphere on the boat is just gripping. I bought the DVD version for my kids. I'd rather the original because in the DVD version in the scene before they sing; `Show me the way to go home', the whale sound effect is smudged out and replaced with a more 90's politically correct whale sound. I thought the original effect added much more to the atmosphere of the film. But it is cool to see it digitally touched up. And what about the Score? Is there a more memorable score for a movie? Space Odyssey 2001 springs to mind but even that masterpiece borrows from the classical world. That music was not written for that film. I loved the book too, but I have to say the movie is better. I know it's strange but it's true. I love movies but I've yet to get the same level of enjoyment from a movie as I did from Jaws. And that includes E.T., Close Encounters, Star Wars and so on. Jaws is a marvel. I'm glad I was so young when I first seen it because it probably wouldn't have had the affect on me that it had had I watched it at an older age. Ok in hindsight and if you like nitpicking you can find a few things wrong with this film. Like the missing chair after the scene were they caught something with the fishing rod, or it wasn't really summer when the filmed it. Big deal! Movies like this are about imagination aren't they? These inconsistencies had to be pointed out to me before I could see them for myself. In my opinion a good movie with no directing or editing errors is not what makes it good movie. Jaws is King and very underrated in my opinion.