I'm gonna need a bigger TV

Rating: Null/10 (25 November 1999)

Unfortunately, I am too young to have ever seen Jaws at the cinema. But people who have have assured me that the experience ranks alongside Star Wars or 2001. I have since watched it on a big TV and I have to tell you, the waves become stronger, the soundtrack becomes more ominous and Quint getting bitten in half becomes more horrific. I could almost smell the sea-salt in the room. Its no surprise that this film scared half of New York city witless in the summer of '75, its such a thrill.
Jaws was really the first summer blockbuster, kicking off a trend that is still present today. A film that reminds us of the terrors of the unknown, the fear of an untamed, unleashed primeval force, capable of destroying a whole community. Amity will surely never recover (not for three sequels anyway) from the arrival of a twenty-five foot rubber shark. The fact that the shark itself is so fake looking is immaterial, the abscence of large fish merely heightens the terrible suspense felt.
The performances from the three male leads is exemplary, Scheider, as the hard-bitten New York cop no longer used to dealing with such hysteria that envelopes his peaceful coastal resort,plays Martin Brody close to his chest, calm and regulated until his fear of the sea (and a big fish) overpowers him and he loses it aboard the Orca.
Dreyfuss brings the essential touch of humour to the proceedings, and I doubt that without his smart observations and comical mimicry of Quint that the movie would have been so successful with the younger audience, who would have seen only a shark eating people. And Robert Shaw as Quint, salty sea-dog supreme, a master fisherman, confident in his ability to land the great white. Jaws taps into your irrational fears and brings them to the surface, it dives into your subconscious and makes you realise fears you never even knew you had. Spielbergs relentlessly uncomforting direction will leave you distressed in the ocean the same as Fat Alfred made you disturbed in the shower.