Review 637: Jaws

 

Jaws is the quintisential blockbuster film, exciting, suspenceful and featuring plenty of

Based on the novel Jaws by Peter Benchley, When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's cheif of police Martin Brody (Roy Schieder), marine biologist Matt Hopper (Richard Dreyfuss) and grizzled shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again.

One of the most innovative directional choices from young filmaker Steven Spielberg are shooting the underwater scenes shot from the point of view of the shark, clearly inspired by classic horror movies such as Creature of the Black Lagoon. Watching this movie, I was surprised (and certainly terrifyed) by how little the shark is actually seen onscreen. It's very Hitchcockian in his approach. 

The score by John Williams is paricularly and appropriately ominous. Notable is a minimalist two note theme to indicate the sharks impending approach.