Jaws

"Jaws" is my third favorite movie of all time...in case anyone was wondering...after "Psycho" and "12 Angry Men."  "Jaws," was released in 1975 and was directed by a young Steven Spielberg....who would soon become one of the greatest American directors of all time.  This of course is completely ignoring "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which as I have mentioned before is all George Lucas' fault.

When Jaws was released it not all made nearly every American scared to go anywhere near the ocean it also became the first summer blockbuster.  This classic and amazing movie has a great cast which includes Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, and Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody).

I assume most know the story but I will briefly go into it.  It takes place on the fictional, Amity Island...Theres a shark (Jaws!) nearby that is terrorizing...and eating people.  This all starts with a stupid drunk girl who wandered into the ocean late at night, with little clothing on...of course she gets eaten...and you really don't have any sympathy for her because she is ridiculous.  Some of the other victims do warrant sympathy.  Everyone is scared of the ocean and for good reason.  Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), the chief policeman wants the beaches to be shut down.  Amity Isand is a vacation town and the greedy mayor will have none of this losing money nonsense...what an idiot...apparently he doesn't care about the citizens of his town. Well anyway Martin Brody along with a fish expert, who is partial to sharks, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter, Quint (Robert Shaw) are put in charge of finding and killing Jaws.

  This movie is great...and that's an understatement.  Everything about it is.  There is great suspense throughout the entire thing.  The shark is not even seen for the first part of the movie, adding to the suspense and several camera shots are from the sharks point of view which makes it even better.  Everything is just leading up to that great final scene that should be ingrained in everyone's minds for all of eternity. Very true the shark is fake and mechanical. But, come on guys for 1975 it was all that they had and they did a darn good job with it.

I can't write this review without mentioning the music.  The "Jaws" theme is probably one of the most recognizable in film history...similar to how well known the "Raider of the Lost Ark" theme is.  Both were scored by the amazing composer, John Williams.  Much of the success of "Jaws" should be credited to John Williams.  It is fantastic, suspenseful, gripping, memorable...and any other really good adjective you can think of.  Right from the start of "Jaws" people are sucked in by the memorable score that makes the shark attacks even more terrifying.  It would have been a really sad thing had someone else scored the movie because it would not have been that great.  Luckily, John Williams scores pretty much all Steven Spielberg's movies and each one is amazing and perfectly compliments the film.  Alright, I needed to get that out of my system.  I love John Williams almost as much as I love Bernard Herrmann.

  If you haven't seen this movie yet...you should...it's one of those things that every human being should experience multiple times in life.  35 years later people are still watching it and loving it and it's regarding as an American classic and according to the American Film Institute it is one of the top 100 films...which of course it is.

Oh, and by the way "Jaws"...one of the greatest movies, spawned some of the most horrible sequels that any human being ever thought of making.  I guess that's why Steven Spielberg  steered clear of all of them...they are so horrendous and awful and I swear that the budget was cut by half with each sequel and Jaws definitely roared in "Jaws: The Revenge," you know after following Ellen Brody to the Bahamas which doesn't make sense in any way, shape or form.  I had to get that out of my system too.  It's ridiculous how greedy Hollywood is and how much they love to sell out.

Ok, I'm done ranting.  "Jaws" is amazing.  Watch it.

-Joseph Sbrilli