Jaws

Dun nun. Dun nun. I have washed up on the coastline of a fictional New England town with my second Spielberg review. This 1975 thriller boasts an enduring legacy and helped forge the very concept of the Hollywood summer blockbuster. Jaws has carved out a name for itself in the history books, and as the infamous overture began, I braced myself, knowing I was about to bear witness to a cinematic goliath.

Jaws is a classic I have been trepidatious to watch, perhaps I have been scarred by more recent, garish, shark films (yes, I am talking about The Meg). I had nothing to fear, though... I had a fantastic time with this one.

The story opens with an attack on a skinny-dipper at dusk. John Williams' score plays a simple yet deeply unsettling motif as underwater shots isolate the lone swimmer as prey. As she thrashes in the water, the camera stays close, keeping us bobbing at the surface alongside her until she finally disappears. Straight off the bat, Jaws is not afraid to place the viewers directly in the gruesome action, a strategy it will continue to utilise for the duration of the film. In the aftermath, we meet Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), the cool-headed sheriff of a small beach town, Amity Island, tasked with investigating the gruesome death. Amity is a cosy oasis: neighbours greet neighbours, children cycle along sun-stained streets and holidaygoers flock to the sandy dunes. It is a place of comfortable, summer bliss. The Town Mayor, Larry Vaughn, is too preoccupied with raking in the holiday profits to give credence to the severity of the gruesome death, discarding it as a 'boating accident'. Brody remains unconvinced and calls in shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss). The opening 20 minutes of Jaws packs a punch, swiftly introducing us to a very American tension: moral responsibility versus commercial profit.

The following day, Brody anxiously monitors a packed beach. Chaos erupts when a young boy is dragged underwater by an unseen predator in a horrifying sequence. Blood washes ashore and beachgoers desperately flee from the scene. Unable to deny the murmurings of a shark attack linking the two incidents, Vaughn offers up a £30000 award for anyone who can kill the beast. What follows is a comical frenzy: eager fishermen, locals and intrigued tourists swarm the waters in small dingies and rickety boats, intoxicated by the thrill of the reward. These occasional off-beat moments inject levity into the dire situation, giving Amity Island a colourful heartbeat. Hooting and hollering, the 'intrepid explorers' revel in the hope of a cash prize, whilst the two murdered fade into the background. The scene exposes an unfortunate truth: that media spectacle and conspiracy theories often overshadow the real trauma experienced both by the victims and their loved ones. This truth hits hard when a tiger shark is hauled up onto shore and paraded around like a prize ham. The boy's grieving mother confronts the crowd, condemning their ludicrous hunger for attention. It is a devastating moment, fantastically performed by Lee Fierro, and offsets the clichés encircling the action. We are then properly introduced to Hooper, whose disarming wit and shaggy appearance firmly fits the ' know-it-all science nerd' archetype. Paired with Brody's clean-cut authority, the clichés comfortably set up a likeable, albeit unconventional, partnership that is set to take us through the rest of the film.

Brody and Hooper later venture out to sea on a late-night excursion. It's worth noting that all the onboard scenes in Jaws actually took place on open water; this caused various logistical issues during filming, but created an authentic sense of peril as the men are whipped by wind and spray. It is one of the many production issues that ultimately helped the film endure the test of time (more on that note later). The men encounter a half-sunk, battered boat. Hooper enthusiastically dons some scuba gear and hops into the water, eager to investigate. It is almost impossible not to scream at the scientist through the screen as he is trailed underwater, mimicking a predator's perspective. Hooper pulls an abnormally large tooth from the wreckage, confirming his suspicions of a ginormous animal. In a perfectly curated jumpscare, a decapitated head floats into view, forcing Hooper back to the surface. Phew. Jaws thrives on playing our own common sense against the characters' ignorance - it is equally infuriating and fantastically entertaining.

After another close shave involving Brody's son, the pair enlist Quint, an outlandish fisherman with a penchant for hunting sharks. Quint's ramshackle home/shed/lair is adorned with shark memorabilia and various 'shark-killing' weapons, again leaning comfortably into cliché. Together, the motley crew head out onto the high seas, set on ending the homocidal predator once and for all. Naturally, Quint's unorthodox bravado clashes hilariously with Hooper's bookish precision. The group plans to lure the shark in before harpooning it with floating barrels and, as Brody flings chum into the water, our elusive shark rears its ugly head. Despite the animatronic having aged, and thus generating a strange mix of shock and humour, the moment still has the required effect. Unlike typical horror films that reserve danger for the night, the moment reminds us that daylight offers these characters no protection.

Later, the men manage to harpoon the shark and the bright yellow barrels work as an inspired storytelling device. The animatronic marred production due to frequent malfunctioning, forcing Spielberg to reduce its screen time and instead, rely on editing, score and suggestion to allude to the shark's enormity. The result is an increased sense of spectacle that limits the more modern 'cringe factor' triggered by the dated effects.

As night falls, the group have the required 'bonding moment', where they jovially share their 'battle scars' and Quint recounts his experience onboard the USS Indianapolis. This true event took place in 1945, when the US warship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea. Over the course of 5 days, over 500 men died, many losing their lives to shark attacks as they lay helplessly in wait for rescue. In Quint, Hooper and Brody, the film presents three distinct attitudes towards sharks: scientific fascination, vengeful obsession and relative indifference.

In the final act, the shark attacks and damages the boat. The men work overnight to repair it, but with little success. When Brody attempts to call the Coast Guard for help the next morning, Quint destroys the radio, determined to finish the job alone. Unable to accept the trauma of his past and the limits of his small-town mortality, Quint pursues an act of revenge that will affirm his dominance at the top of the food chain. They scramble to create another plan, in which Hooper will spear the shark with poison from an underwater cage. Again, the plan goes awry, with Hooper narrowly avoiding death by escaping the destroyed cage and hiding (suffocatingly) on the sea floor. Above the water, the shark thrusts its body onto the sinking ship, tipping it downwards and sliding Quint straight into its jaws. After a brief fight, he inevitably comes to a grisly end in the only satisfying death of the entire film.

As the boat sinks slowly into the water, Brody faces the shark alone. During the last stand, the shark partly swallows a gas cannister. In a death-defying feat, Brody delivers a perfectly timed shot, hitting the tank and detonating the shark in a suitably explosive conclusion that matches the ridiculousness of the ordeal: the shark blows up ten feet into the air, blood and guts spraying everywhere. Whilst absurd, it feels a worthy conclusion to an otherwise impossible escape. Hooper resurfaces and the two survivors paddle leisurely to the shore in an amusingly relaxed ending. "I used to hate the water", Brody muses. Hooper replies, "I can't imagine why."

Jaws was a blast: amusing when it intended to be, and occasionally when it didn't. The characters are vivid pastiches, the action is thrilling and the takeaway of the story.... ah. We run into some issues here. Jaws made a huge impact on the world of cinema, but also transformed global perceptions of sharks. Whilst Hooper represents an admiration for the animals, the film does an exceptionally good job at fuelling an intense fear of them. Amity Island provides us with a sun-bathed microcosm of the American dream, threatened by a tangible monster that embodies the greed and vengeance we see onshore. As climate change warms currents, ecosystems shift and shark encounters increase. There has been a resurgence (fuelled further by the media) in public fear of sharks, despite efforts from shark advocates to challenge misconceptions and promote conservation. Cinema has always utilised the 'other' to embody anxiety, whether it be zombies in 28 Days Later, natural disasters in The Day After Tomorrow or alien life forms in Spielberg's upcoming Disclosure Day. These action-packed thrillers sit comfortably with these alternatives, projecting our fears outward rather than confronting ourselves as the life-threatening 'evil'. So Hollywood pours our anxieties into martyrs...and we go fishing.

6.5/10

Yours sincerely,

The Film Buff