While I still think
Jaws is a very good movie on the whole, since I just talked about this a bit
on another forum, and I never got around to getting into it as in-depth here as I wanted to, I'd like to take this chance to revisit my biggest criticism of it that I mentioned in another thread here earlier, which is; the material not directly dealing with "Bruce" or the hunt for him aren't as gripping as the ones that do, due to the reduction of atmosphere/environmental tension in those scenes (which, to compare it to a peer movie in
Alien, is the reason why that one's my favorite 70's monster movie, since it has that tension throughout, even in the scenes that don't feature, or even threaten the appearance of the Xenomorph at all).
I stand by this point because part of the reason why the "USS
Indianapolis" monologue is such a great scene, and possibly the most iconic moment in a movie that's overflowing with 'em, is due to the sheer amount of environmental tension in the scene, with the steady sounds of the boat creaking, the waves crashing, and the ominous score, along with the sights of the light fixture swaying overhead, and the disorienting visual of the sea and the darkened sky continually bobbing up and down in the background all creating an incredibly unsettling mood, and setting the stage perfectly for Quint's story, so it only stands to reason that the scenes that don't have this tension lose something in the process.
Of course, that something can be replaced by other things, and, like @
crumbsroom said,
Jaws is under no obligation to be tense or scary in every scene just because it's partially a Horror movie, but if those other things aren't as engaging, then I can't help but find the movie to be slightly uneven as a result. I mean, it's not fundamentally different from my opinion on the
secretary montage in the middle of
Schindler's List, which I've always felt was an ill-advised digression into unnecessary comic relief, even though it takes place in what otherwise might just be my favorite movie of all time, you know?