Movie #9: Jaws

Date Watched: 1/12/10
Viewing: 1st

For some reason I refused to watch this movie because I just knew it would disappoint. The kind of movie your parents rave about and tell you it scared them so much that they never went swimming again (oh and that's why you never vacation by a beach, thanks Spielberg). But in the spirit of having a balanced genre pool, I gave it a shot. The basic idea of the plot is simple: There is a shark, he attacks people, eventually it is decided that the shark must be killed.

I have to humbly say that this movie earns its "classic" status. I feel like it's one of the movies that is so well made that you can't argue that it's not "good". Whether you truly love it or not, you know while watching it that it'd be hard to improve in any way (similar to "The Godfather"). Yes, you can tell that the movie is about 20 years older from the sheer picture, yet it's hard to find many complaints. It was a pretty excellent script that preys on a fear that still plagues many of us: sharks. The actual attack footage was more gory than I expected and actually was probably incredibly bold for its day (1975). It provides a great deal of suspense which is probably all credit to Spielberg and how it was shot. I looked away for a few seconds and heard a shrieking noise, so I decided to rewind it so I could see what happened. When I rewatched it and reached that scene, I still jumped even though I knew it was coming. It definitely did a great job of actually showing the shark which also didn't look half bad for the day. The acting performances were absolutely awesome and I believe why the movie has withstood the test of time. Dreyfuss was awesome (also rocked a huge beard) and Roy Schneider and Robert Shaw were very good as well.

Overall, a classic movie that deserves all the respect in the world. Personally classics and artsy movies aren't my genre of choice, but I did enjoy Jaws thoroughly.

I would recommend this if: you like classic, well-made movies, consider yourself a movie buff and haven't seen it, want to frighten your children from swimming in the water, or have an appreciation of good beards.

Rating: 4 Stars