The movie opens with one of the more memorable deaths ever filmed. A young girl decides to go for a late night swim, then gets attacked by something beneath the surface of the water. We see her scream, thrash about, try to get away, and finally disappear under the water. We never see a shark, and therein lies the genius of the scene. It is simply something innocent and normal that is interrupted by something strange and horrifying.
The film from there splits into two acts. Act one is about politics, as Martin Brody, the town top cop struggles to get the beaches closed to protect people. Against him are all the political forces of small town Amity Island ("Amity as you know means friendship!") that must keep the beaches open to attract the tourist money that is so important to the economy of the town. This aspect of the film is wonderfully effective. We wonder how anyone can willfully blind their own eyes and put people in danger for the sake of money. I guess we don't like our reflection in the mirror all that much.
Act 2 then is the hunt for the shark. We are left with our three lead characters -Brody the sheriff, Quint the old salt shark hunter, and Hooper the young shark expert with all his modern tools. Without question some of the best scenes (comparing scars) and best lines ("You're gonna need a bigger boat.") are from this section. By the end we get into the realm of the improbable, but the journey is so satisfying it does not matter. Jaws still remains today one of the most exciting and well-crafted thrillers ever made.
Naturally, many individual elements of the movie are somewhat hit-or-miss. While the acting of some supporting characters is questionable, the three main parts played by Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss are superb. Especially in the second act the strength of these actors really helps to carry the film.
The shark itself is phenomenally scary. Except when you get a good look at it. The robot shark prop used in filming is rubbery, does not move very realistically, and overall looks like the very fake shark that it is. Amazingly, this fact does not take you out of the film, since you never get a very good look at it until long after the shark is established as a real terror and threat. You might even say that Jaws would have been a forgettable, even laughable monster movie if not for a combination of serendipity and one monumentally good directorial decision by Spielberg. As the story goes, the opening scene as written actually called for the mechanical shark to breach out of the water and swallow the girl whole. I can't even imagine how ghastly that would have been. Fortunately, the shark was not functioning properly, and Spielberg made the decision to rewrite the scene so that the shark was not even seen. This of course made everything much more frightening, as we always fear that which we cannot see. The pattern was then followed the rest of the film, where the audience never gets a good look at the shark -we only see the awful results of the attack. So by the time we actually see the rubber robot we stay scared because of how we've been conditioned. If I may say so, Jaws could not have been made more terrifying even with today's computer effects.
Of course, much of that also had to do with the music. Almost everyone knows the very simple tones of the Jaws theme. The music has become synonymous with sharks. Those notes somehow find a primal part of each of us and keeps us from the water. Jaws was the second time that John Williams worked with Spielberg, but this is the work that cemented one of the most successful working relationships in Hollywood.
Jaws is often relegated to the category of popcorn thriller, a popular movie without substance. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes it is exciting, and yes it is popular. But this is a film of substance, one that explores themes such as risk vs reward, old ways vs new, and how and why to face your fears. It remains one of my favorite films and is one I highly recommend.
Entertainment: 10/10
Artistic value: 6/10
Technical merit: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10
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