← Back to Reviews
in
Jaws, 1975
Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) finds his small-town, beachside turf threatened when a large shark begins viciously dispatching the locals. After some initial, tragic politics that see more deaths than necessary, Brody teams up with local fisherman Quint (Robert Shaw) and shark expert Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) to catch and kill the beast.
This is one of those movies I've seen a ton of times. As I have mentioned before, my little sister and her best friend had a Friday night tradition of ordering a medium cheese pizza and watching Jaws. Like, almost every Friday. For several years.
Weirdly, that means that it's a movie I feel kind of "talked out" on, having discussed it many times.
The film operates in two parts. The first part is sort of a drama/horror as Brody must battle against the pressure of the local officials, particularly the mayor, who do not want to admit that there's a shark out there. Then they will admit it, but don't want to close the beaches. It's a compelling first half because we all know what is going to happen, and Brody himself knows what is going to happen. The film wonderfully captures the slow-motion horror of watching someone else make a mistake that you know will end up hurting someone, but not being able to do much about it. The encounter between the grieving Mrs. Kitner and Brody after the death of her son Alex hammers this home via a resounding slap. (Which hurts all the more since it should have been aimed at the mayor or the waffling medical examiner).
There's a patience to Jaws that you see throughout the whole film, but especially in this first half. Between the screaming and geysers of bloody ocean water, we get quiet domestic moments, like Brody and his wife hosting Hooper for dinner. These calm moments acknowledge something that is sometimes missed in horror films: it's not all death all the time. And it can be easy to be in denial or minimize something when you have the moment to let your guard down. Even once the three men are aboard Quint's boat and floating on the water at night, there is time for conversation and banter so that the magnitude and fear are able to sit just under the surface.
The second half of the film morphs into more of an adventure mode. After a relatively crowded first half, now it's just these three dudes and one persistent shark. This half of the film is also paced very well, and is chock full of memorable moments, including the infamous "You're gonna need a bigger boat" and Quint's monologue about his experience on the Indianapolis. At regular intervals, the film lets us (and the characters) know that they have underestimated this creature---its strength and its cunning. "He won't be able to dive, not with three barrels" Quint asserts . . . right before the shark dives under the water taking all three barrels with it.
Great flick, and I really have very few complaints about it.
Jaws, 1975
Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) finds his small-town, beachside turf threatened when a large shark begins viciously dispatching the locals. After some initial, tragic politics that see more deaths than necessary, Brody teams up with local fisherman Quint (Robert Shaw) and shark expert Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) to catch and kill the beast.
This is one of those movies I've seen a ton of times. As I have mentioned before, my little sister and her best friend had a Friday night tradition of ordering a medium cheese pizza and watching Jaws. Like, almost every Friday. For several years.
Weirdly, that means that it's a movie I feel kind of "talked out" on, having discussed it many times.
The film operates in two parts. The first part is sort of a drama/horror as Brody must battle against the pressure of the local officials, particularly the mayor, who do not want to admit that there's a shark out there. Then they will admit it, but don't want to close the beaches. It's a compelling first half because we all know what is going to happen, and Brody himself knows what is going to happen. The film wonderfully captures the slow-motion horror of watching someone else make a mistake that you know will end up hurting someone, but not being able to do much about it. The encounter between the grieving Mrs. Kitner and Brody after the death of her son Alex hammers this home via a resounding slap. (Which hurts all the more since it should have been aimed at the mayor or the waffling medical examiner).
There's a patience to Jaws that you see throughout the whole film, but especially in this first half. Between the screaming and geysers of bloody ocean water, we get quiet domestic moments, like Brody and his wife hosting Hooper for dinner. These calm moments acknowledge something that is sometimes missed in horror films: it's not all death all the time. And it can be easy to be in denial or minimize something when you have the moment to let your guard down. Even once the three men are aboard Quint's boat and floating on the water at night, there is time for conversation and banter so that the magnitude and fear are able to sit just under the surface.
The second half of the film morphs into more of an adventure mode. After a relatively crowded first half, now it's just these three dudes and one persistent shark. This half of the film is also paced very well, and is chock full of memorable moments, including the infamous "You're gonna need a bigger boat" and Quint's monologue about his experience on the Indianapolis. At regular intervals, the film lets us (and the characters) know that they have underestimated this creature---its strength and its cunning. "He won't be able to dive, not with three barrels" Quint asserts . . . right before the shark dives under the water taking all three barrels with it.
Great flick, and I really have very few complaints about it.